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BOOK VIII

A—Cross grooves. B—Tub set under the sluice. C—Another tub.

iOTl

is to be washed, is thrown into the head and stirred with a wooden scrubber;in this way the water carries the light particles of gold on to the canvas,and the heavy ones sink in the pockets, and when these hollows are full, thehead is removed and turned over a tub, and the concentrates are collectedand washed in a bowl. Some people make use of a sluice which has squarepockets with short vertical recesses which hold the particles of gold. Otherworkers use a sluice made of planks, which are rough by reason of the verysmall shavings which still cling to them ; these sluices are used instead ofthose with coverings, of which this sluice is bare, and when the sand is washed,the particles of gold cling no less to these shavings than to canvas, or skins, orcloths, or turf. The washer sweeps the sluice upward with a broom, andwhen he has washed as much of the sand as he wishes, he lets a more abundantsupply of water into the sluice again to wash out the concentrates, which hecollects in a tub set below the sluice, and then washes again in a bowl. Justas Thuringians cover the sluice with canvas, so some people cover it withthe skins of oxen or horses. They push the auriferous sand upward with awooden scrubber, and by this system the light material flows away with thewater, while the particles of gold settle among the hairs; the skins areafterward washed in a tub ; and the concentrates are colleced in a bowl.