chap. II.

ITALY.

87

In Upper Italy , the Salassi, a people who in-habited what is now the province of Aosta inPiedmont 1 , produced iron, gold, and othermetals. Their gold was very pure. It wascollected by washing the sands of the riverPo, whose streams were divided into variousbranches; and, after that tribe was conqueredby the Romans, the several rivulets were let ata yearly rent by the imperial farmer-general ofthe finances. The valleys still produce muchcopper and iron, but no gold has been yieldedby them since their total subjugation to theHoman power under Augustus .

The conqueror sold the inhabitants, to then umber of thirty-six thousand, as slaves, except-mg only nine thousand capable of bearing arms,who probably served to augment the forces ofthe victor.

The country round Aquileia , and the wholedistrict of the Noric Alps (now Illyria ), was richln gold, which was found partly in large grains° n the surface, and partly in mines so pure, thatan eighth part only was lost in the processes ofs melting and refining. At one period, this goldWas laboured so extensively, that its great quan-Pty caused a decrease of one third in the pricetrough all Italy , and induced the proprietorsto employ fewer workmen in order to raise the

Piemonte cliviso in quattre dipartimente. Milan , 1802.