BOOK VIII.

325

cling to the coverings. Pockets are made in various ways, either with ironwire or small cross-boards fixed to the frame, or by holes which are sunkinto the sluice itself or into its head, but which do not quite go through.These holes are round or square, or are grooves running crosswise. Theframes are either covered with skins, pieces of cloth, or turf, which I willdeal with one by one in turn.

In order to prevent the sand which contains the particles of gold fromspilling out, the washer fixes side-boards to the edges of a plank which is sixfeet long and one and a quarter wide. He then lays crosswise many ironwires a digit apart, and where they join he fixes them to the bottom plankwith iron nails. Then he makes the head of the frame higher, and into thishe throws the sand which needs washing, and taking in his hands the handleswhich are at the head of the frame, he draws it backward and forwardseveral times in the river or stream. In this way the small stones and gravelflow down along the frame, and the sand mixed with particles of gold remainsin the pockets between the strips. When the contents of the pockets havebeen shaken out and collected in one place, he washes them in a bowl andthus cleans the gold dust.

Other people, among whom are the Lusitanians 16 , fix to the sides of asluice, which is about six feet long and a foot and a half broad, many cross-strips or riffles, which project backward and are a digit apart. The washeror his wife lets the water into the head of the sluice, where he throws the sandwhich contains the particles of gold. As it flows down he agitates it with awooden scrubber, which he moves transversely to the riffles. He constantlyremoves with a pointed wooden stick the sediment which settles in the pocketsbetween the riffles, and in this way the particles of gold settle in them,while the sand and other valueless materials are carried by the water into atub placed below the sluice. He removes the particles of metal with a smallwooden shovel into a wooden bowl. This bowl does not exceed a foot and aquarter in breadth, and by moving it up and down in the stream he cleansesthe gold dust, for the remaining sand flows out of the dish, and the gold dustsettles in the middle of it, where there is a cup-like depression. Some makeuse of a bowl which is grooved inside like a shell, but with a smooth lip wherethe water flows out. This smooth place, however, is narrower where thegrooves run into it, and broader where the water flows out.

ls Ancient Lusitania comprised Portugal and some neighbouring portions of Spain.