ON THE TRACK OF THE " OLD MEN." 
101 
pebbles of tin stone met with in the stream work. After leaving 
the grinding machinery the stream of water was allowed to 
descend on a series of clods of turf, about three or four feet 
square, and one foot thick. On these the tinner spread a little 
of the ground ore, gently stirring it with his spade, so that the 
running water carried off the light earthy substances, leaving the 
heavier tin stuff on the turf. For further purification this 
was placed in a wooden dish or tub, described as broad, flat, 
and round, and about two feet in diameter, and having handles at 
the side. The tinner, sitting down, carefully rocked this vessel 
between his knees, gently pouring off from time to time the 
remnant of the lighter impurities. The residue was black tin. 
In Carew's time two pounds of this smelted in the furnaces of 
the period yielded one pound of white or metallic tin. This was 
carried on in what were known as blowing-houses. The black tin, 
mixed with wood or peat charcoal, was reduced in a furnace, the 
heat of which was excited by means of bellows moved by a water- 
wheel. The tin was cast into ingots of about 250 or 300 lbs., 
which were slung over pack-horses, and taken at certain times 
to the nearest coinage town. There "the blocks or pieces of 
tin are brought into a great room ordained for that purpose, and 
there first peized or weighed, then tasted, that is proved whether 
they be soft tin or hard, and after marked with Her Majesty's 
stamp (Elizabeth). To the hard (less worth by 50 shillings in the 
thousand than the soft) the letter H is added ere it comes from 
the blowing-house. Each thousand must answer 40 shillings 
to the Queen, which with the other incident fees being satisfied, 
then, and not before, it is lawful for the owner to alienate and 
distract the same." The stamping and coining of the ingot rendered 
it saleable, heavy penalties being inflicted if tin was sold prior to 
coinage. The origin of this quality test is very ancient. 4 
The letter from William de Wrotham and others to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, previously mentioned, exhibits the 
regulations in force respecting the tin coinage in Devon and 
Cornwall at the end of the twelfth or commencement of the 
thirteenth century. Eeference is made to the admeasurement 
of the weights of the first and second smeltings, the stamping, 
and the disposition of the available profit of the king's tin. 
It is difficult to understand what is meant by first and second 
4 Op. ext. De la Beche. Appendix B. 
