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[Book I.
the ropes were fibres of the palm tree, and the vessels of earthenware;while the Romans made the chains of iron and the vessels of brass. Theformerpeople were soft, effeminate, and easily subdued; the latter sternand inflexible—an iron race.
It is described by Agricola as employed in the German mines. De Re Metallica , pp. 131, 132, 133. The. chains and vessels are representedof various forms, and the latter both of iron and wood, and propelled bytread and water wheels.“ In Besson’s ‘ Theatre,’ A. D. 1579, itis figuredas worked by a pendulum and cog wheels—the teeth being continuedover half the peripheries only. b
In Spain it has remained in continual use since the conquest and occu-pation of that country by the Romans; and was perhaps previously introduced by the Phenicians, a people, to whom Spain was early indebtedfor many valuable acquisitions. It was employed there by the Moors in themiddle ages, under whom the inhabitants enjoyed a degree of prosperityand civilization unexampled during any subsequent period of their histo-ry. The arts and manufactures were carried to great perfection, so muchso, that in the twelfth Century, while the rest of Europe was in compara-tive barbarism, the tissues of Grenada and Andalusia were highly prizedat Constantinople , and throughout the eastern empire. To the Moors ofSpain , Europe was greatly indebted for the introduction and disseminatioiiof many of the arts of the east; among others they introduced the AsiaticSystem of agriculture, with its inseparable adjunct artificial Irrigation. Weare told they divided the lands into small fields, which were kept constantlyundertillage ; and “they conveyed water to the highest and driest spots.”
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The chain of pots in Spam, is in the form and material of Hs vessels
a The De Re 1 Metallica’ of George Agricola is invaluable for its account of the hy*draulic engines employed in the mines of Germany in the 16lh and preceding centnries ; being doubtless sitnilar to those usedby the Romans in some of the same mines.and continued uninterruptedly in use. The first edition of this work was published in1546, others in 1556—1558—1561—1621—and 1657, all at Basil . Brunet’s ‘ManuelDu Libraire et De L’Amateur de Livres.’ Paris , 1820. It is a copy of the last editionwe make use of. The author was born in 1494, and died in 1555.b See also Kircher’s Mnndus Subterraneus. Tom. ii. pp. 195, 228.