A TOLTEC BABYLON. 
75 
in the Bible. The rich ore, showing 
probably two hundred and fifty dollars 
to the ton, had been taken out of 
the vein with crowbars and by rough 
blasting, and then brought to the town on 
the backs of burros. Here the huge rocks 
were first crushed with sledge hammers 
until they were about the size of one’s fist 
and could be easily handled, then broken 
again with smaller hand hammers until 
almost as fine as coarse sand. This was 
reduced to a complete powder by being 
beaten in heavy leather bags. After these 
operations it was mixed with water and 
thrown into an arastra, a cross between a 
coffee mill and a quartz crusher ; in other 
words, consisting of four stones tied to a 
revolving mill-bar and turned by the inev¬ 
itable mule. This makes a paste rich in 
granulated silver, which is mixed with salt 
