BOOK VI.

150

hammer. The lower end is pointed so as to split the hard rocks and veinswith its point. All of these have eyes except the fourth. The first,which is in daily use among miners, is three-quarters of a foot long, a digitand a half wide, and a digit thick. The second is of the same width as thefirst, and the same thickness, but one and one half feet long, and is used toshatter the hardest veins in such a way that they crack open. The thirdis the same length as the second, but is a little wider and thicker; withthis one they dig the bottoms of those shafts which slowly accumulate water.The fourth is nearly three palms and one digit long, two digits thick, and inthe upper end it is three digits wide, in the middle it is one palm wide, andat the lower end it is pointed like the others ; with this they cut out theharder veins. The eye in the first tool is one palm distant from the upperend, in the second and third it is seven digits distant ; each swells outaround the eye on both sides, and into it they fit a wooden handle, whichthey hold with one hand, while they strike the iron tool with a hammer, afterplacing it against the rock. These tools are made larger or smaller asnecessary. The smiths, as far as possible, sharpen again all that become dull.

A— First “ iron tool.” B— Second. C— Third. D —Fourth . 1 E— Wedge. F —Ironblock. G— Iron plate. H — Wooden handle. I — Handle inserted in first tool.

A wedge is usually three palms and two digits long and six digits wide ;at the upper end, for a distance of a palm, it is three digits thick, andbeyond that point it becomes thinner by degrees, until finally it is quitesharp.

2 While these particular tools serve the same purpose as the " gad ” and the " moil,”the latter are not fitted with handles, and we have, therefore, not felt justified in adoptingthese terms, but have given a literal rendering of the Latin.