436

BOOK IX.

a bellows. From the crucible is a small pipe through which the moltenbismuth runs down into a dipping-pot, and from this cakes are made.

On a dump thrown up from the mines, other people construct a hearthexposed to the wind, a foot high, three feet wide, and four and a half feetlong. It is held together by four boards, and the whole is thickly coated atthe top with lute. On this hearth they first put small dried sticks of fir wood,then over them they throw broken ore ; then they lay more wood over it,and when the wind blows they kindle it. In this manner the bismuth dripsout of the ore, and afterward the ashes of the wood consumed by the fire andthe charcoals are swept away. The drops of bismuth which fall down intothe hearth are congealed by the cold, and they are taken away with thetongs and thrown into a basket. From the melted bismuth they makecakes in iron pans.

A —Hearth in which ore is melted. B—Hearth on which lie drops of bismuth.

C—Tongs. D —Basket. E—Wind.

B'-'X

Others again make a box eight feet long, four feet wide, and two feet high,which they fill almost full of sand and cover with bricks, thus makingthe hearth. The box has in the centre a wooden pivot, which turns in a holein two beams laid transversely one upon the other ; these beams are hard andthick, are sunk into the ground, both ends are perforated, and through