BOOK VI.

157

A—Small batea. B —Rope. C— Large batea.

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their necks. Pliny 8 is our authority that among the ancients everythingwhich was mined was carried out on men’s shoulders, but in truth thismethod of carrying forth burdens is onerous, since it causes great fatigueto a great number of men, and involves a large expenditure for labour ; forthis reason it has been rejected and abandoned in our day. The length ofthe larger batea is as much as three feet, the width up to a foot and a palm.In these bateas the metallic earth is washed for the purpose of testing it.

Water-vessels differ both in the use to which they are put and in thematerial of which they are made; some draw the water from the shafts andpour it into other things, as dippers ; while some of the vessels filled withwater are drawn out by machines, as buckets and bags ; some are made ofwood, as the dippers and buckets, and others of hides, as the bags. Thewater-buckets, just like the buckets which are filled with dry material, are oftwo kinds, the smaller and the larger, but these are unlike the other buckets atthe top, as in this case they are narrower, in order that the water may not bespilled by being bumped against the timbers when they are being drawn outof the shafts, especially those considerably inclined. The water is pouredmto these buckets by dippers, which are small wooden buckets, but unlike thewater-buckets, they are neither narrow at the top nor bound with iron hoops,but with hazel,—because there is no necessity for either. The smaller bucketsare drawn up by machines turned by men, the larger ones by those turned byhorses.

,, *Pliny (xxxiii., 21). “ The fragments are carried on workmen’s shoulders ; night

and day each passes the material to his neighbour, only the last of them seeing the daylight.”