of Plintes Naturall Hiftorie, 469 
A Conduits,andthofe are to bee paved by degrees one under another. Befides, thereis a kind of 
fhrub or buth, named Vlex, like unto Rofemarie, but that itis more toughand prickly, andthe 
fame is there planted becaute it isapt to catch and hold whatfoever peeces of yold doe pafie be- 
fide, The fides moreover of thefe canals or trenches, are kept in with planks and bourds, andthe 
fame borne upon arches pendant through fteepe places, that by this means the eanale may have 
paflage and void.away at length out of the land into the fea. ar 
Loe whata worke it istofearch out and meet with gold! And verely by this means Spaine is 
growne mightily in wealth, and full of treafure. In the former worke alfo of finking pits for gold, 
an infinit dealeof labour there is to lade out the water that rifeth upon the workeimen, for feare it 
choke up the pits; for to prevent which inconvenience, they derive it by other draines. As tou- 
B ching the gold gotten by cleaving and opening mountains, (which kind of worke I called Arru- 
gia) it needeth no trying by che bloume-fanithie, for fine itis naturally & pure of irfelfe: 8 found 
there be whole lumps and mafles of this kind, and in this manner. In pits likewife yee fhall have 
fuch peeces, weying otherwhiles ten pounds and more. Thefe groffe and maflie petce’s of gold; 
the Spaniards call Palacrz or Palacranze: but ifthey bee but {mall, they havea'pretie‘name for 
them, and that is Baluces. But to come againe to the fhrub or plant Vlex, whereof I'{pake be- 
fore ; after it is once dried,they burn it, and the afhes that come thereof, they wath over turfs of 
greene grafle,that the fubftance of goldmay reft and fertle therupon.Some writers have repor- 
ted, thatthe counties of Afturia, Gallacia, and Luficania, were wooiit to yedld’everie yeere 
_ 20900 pound weight of good gold gotten after this fortgyet fo, as they all do attribure the grea~ 
C teftproportion thereof to Afturia:and there is not any part of che world comparable into itei- 
ther forio great fertilitie of mines,or fo long continuance, holding out as they dofo many ages. 
As for Italie, our auncient Senat in oldtime thought good to have it fpared,and they made an 
A&G, forbidding expreffely to breake any ground for mines: otherwile thereis not, Idare bee 
boldtofay, aland more plentifull in goldand other mettals, And here there commethto my 
remembrance an Act of the Cenfors extant upon record, as touching the gold mine of lQimu- 
]uni,a towne in the territorie or countrey of Vercelles; which At contained an inhibition,thae 
the publicans who fermed that mine of the citie, (hould not keepe above five thoufand pioners 
togither at worke there. | PTR 4 5 
Moreover, there is one devife ro make atificiall gold,to wit, of Orpiment, a mineralldigged y. 
D outofthe ground in Syria,where itlyeth verie ebb, and the painters ufe it much: in colourit res | 
fembleth gold, but bricele it is in fubftance like as glaffe-ftones. And verely C. Caligula the Em- 
perour (a. covetous prince and greedie of gold) was in great hope to extrad gold ont of this mt 
nerall,& chereupon caufed a huge mafle thereof to be boiled,melted and calcined: and in wuth, 
he madetherotmoft excellent gold, but in fofimall a quantitie, that it would not quit for the coft 
and paines about it; infomuch,as he loft by the bargaine: yet his avarice was fuch, as hee would 
needs make the experiment, notwithftanding that orpiment it felfe was worth fourteen deniers 
the pound:but he {ped fo bad, that no man afterwards would go about torrie the like conclufion. 
Gold untried is ofa divers touch and generally there isnot any butit hath filver in it more or 
lef: for in fome places, the gold ore hath a tenth part in weightoffilver, in othersaninth, and 
E thereis again that hath a mixture of the eigth part. In one gold mine within Fraunce,catled Al. 
bicrarenfe,there is found in gold the fix and thirtieth part of filver andno more: fuch mettall is 
not elfewhere found to my knowledge,and therefore it paffeth all other whatfoever, 
There isa bafekind of pale and whitith gold, which hath init a fifth part of filver:andwhere- 
foever this is found, they call it EleGtrum, Such meteall lieth commonly in trenches and pits mi- 
nerall, and namely with that gold which I called before C analienfe . Morcover, there isan arti- 
ficiali Electrum made, namely by enteriningling gold with filver according to the naturall mix- 
ture: but ifit exceed that proportion of one part to five,it will not abide the hammer andthe an- 
vill. This white gold alfo hath been of great account,time out of mind, as may appeare by the 
tcllimonie of the Poét Homer ,whowriteth, that the palaice of prince Menelaus glittered with 
F gold,clectrum, filver,and yvorie. At Lindos (a cittie within the Ifland of the Rhodians) there is 
the temple of Minerva ;wherein ladie Helena did dedicat unto that goddefle a cup made of Ele- 
cirum: and as the ftorie faith moreover, it was fratned and wrought juftto the proportion and 
bignefic of one of her owne paps, This propertie hath Ele@rum naturally, To thine by candle 
light, more cleare and bright chan filver. This fingularitic and proper vertue it hath befides(if ic 
bs 
