BOOK VIII.

269

melted out, and further, the solidified juices also impede the smelting of themetals and cause loss. The rock which lies contiguous to rich ore should also bebroken into small pieces, crushed, and washed, lest any of the mineral shouldbe lost. When, either through ignorance or carelessness, the miners whileexcavating have mixed the ore with earth or broken rock, the work of sortingthe crude metal or the best ore is done not only by men, but also by boys andwomen. They throw the mixed material upon a long table, beside which theysit for almost the whole day, and they sort out the ore ; when it has beensorted out, they collect it in trays, and when collected they throw it intotubs, which are carried to the works in which the ores are smelted.

The metal which is dug out in a pure or crude state, to which class belongnative silver, silver glance, and gray silver, is placed on a stone by themine foreman and flattened out by pounding with heavy square hammers.These masses, when they have been thus flattened out like plates, are placedeither on the stump of a tree, and cut into pieces by pounding an iron chiselinto them with a hammer, or else they are cut with an iron tool similar to apair of shears. One blade of these shears is three feet long, and is firmlyfixed in a stump, and the other blade which cuts the metal is six feet long.

1 WuJjHnJtm

A Masses of metal. B—Hammer. C—Chisel. D—Tree stumps. E—Iron tool

SIMILAR TO A PAIR OF SHEARS.

VO

1 llil'll'.

mm

20