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BOOK III.

II are northern directions lying toward the east, IV and V are easterndirections lying toward the north, and III is assigned, half to the north andhalf to the east.

One who wishes to know the direction of the veins underground, placesover the vein the instrument just described ; and the needle, as soon as itbecomes quiet, will indicate the course of the vein. That is, if the veinproceeds from VI to VI, it either runs from east to west, or from west toeast; but whether it be the former or the latter, is clearly shown by theseams in the rocks. If the vein proceeds along the line which is between Vand VI toward the opposite direction, it runs from between the fifth andsixth divisions of east to the west, or from between the fifth and sixthdivisions of west to the east ; and again, whether it is the one or the otheris clearly shown by the seams in the rocks. In a similar manner wedetermine the other directions.

Now miners reckon as many points as the sailors do in reckoning upthe number of the winds. Not only is this done to-day in this country, butit was also done by the Romans who in olden times gave the winds partlyLatin names and partly names borrowed from the Greeks. Any miner whopleases may therefore call the directions of the veins by the names of thewinds. There are four principal winds, as there are four cardinal points :the Subsolanus, which blows from the east; and its opposite the Favonius,which blows from the west ; the latter is called by the Greeks Z tyvpog, andthe former ’Am iAiwtw. There is the Auster, which blows from the south ;and opposed to it is the Septentrio, from the north ; the former the Greekscalled Noroe, and the latter ’AwapKAag. There are also subordinate winds,to the number of twenty, as there are directions, for between each twoprincipal winds there are always five subordinate ones. Between theSubsolanus (east wind) and the Auster (south wind) there is the Ornithiaeor the Bird wind, which has the first place next to the Subsolanus ; thencomes Caecias ; then Eurus, which lies in the midway of these five ; nextcomes Vulturnus ; and lastly, Euronotus, nearest the Auster (south wind).The Greeks have given these names to all of these, with the exception ofVulturnus, but those who do not distinguish the winds in so precise a mannersay this is the same as the Greeks called Elpoc. Between the Auster (southwind) and the Favonius (west wind) is first Altanus , to the right of theAuster (south wind) ; then Libonotus ; then Africus, which is the middleone of these five ; after that comes Subvesperus ; next Argestes, to the leftof Favonius (west wind). All these, with the exception of Libonotus andArgestes, have Latin names ; but Africus also is called by the Greeks A/iLIn a similar manner, between Favonius (west wind) and Septentrio (northwind), first to the right of Favonius (west wind), is the Etesiae ; thenCircius ; then Caurus, which is in the middle of these five ; then Corns ;and lastly Thrascias to the left of Septentrio (north wind). To all ofthese, except that of Caurus, the Greeks gave the names, and thosewho do not distinguish the winds by so exact a plan, assert that the windwhich the Greeks called Kopor and the Latins Caurus is one and the same.