the superior and some the inferior parts of the veins ; to some he gives
the cross veins, to others the inclined veins. If the man who first starts
work finds the vein to be metal-bearing or yielding other mining products,
it willl not be to his advantage to cease work because the neighbourhood may
be evil, but he will guard and defend his rights both by arms and by the law.
When the Bergmeister11 delimits the boundaries of each owner, it is the duty
of a good miner to keep within his bounds, and of a prudent one to repel
encroachments of his neighbours by the help of the law. But this is enough
about the neighbourhood.
The miner should try to obtain a mine, to which access is not difficult,
in a mountainous region, gently sloping, wooded, healthy, safe, and not far
distant from a river or stream by means of which he may convey his
mining products to be washed and smelted. This indeed, is the best
position. As for the others, the nearer they approximate to this position the
better they are ; the further removed, the worse.
Now I will discuss that kind of minerals for which it is not necessary
to dig, because the force of water carries them out of the veins. Of these
there are two kinds, minerals—and their fragments12—and juices. When
there are springs at the outcrop of the veins from which, as I have already said,
the above-mentioned products are emitted, the miner should consider these
first, to see whether there are metals or gems mixed with the sand, or whether
the waters discharged are filled with juices. In case metals or gems have
settled in the pool of the spring, not only should the sand from it be
washed, but also that from the streams which flow from these springs, and
even from the river itself into which they again discharge. If the springs discharge water containing some juice, this also should be collected ; the further
such a stream has flowed from the source, the more it receives plain water and
the more diluted does it become, and so much the more deficient in strength.
If the stream receives no water of another kind, or scarcely any, not only
the rivers, but likewise the lakes which receive these waters, are of the same
nature as the springs, and serve the same uses ; of this kind is the lake
which the Hebrews call the Dead Sea, and which is quite full of bituminous
fluids13. But I must return to the subject of the sands.
Springs may discharge their waters into a sea, a lake, a marsh, a river,
or a stream ; but the sand of the sea-shore is rarely washed, for although the
water flowing down from the springs into the sea carries some metals or
gems with it, yet these substances can scarcely ever be reclaimed, because
they are dispersed through the immense body of waters and mixed up with
^Magister Metallorum. See Note i, p. 78, for the reasons of the adoption of
the term Bergmeister and page 95 for details of his duties.
12Ramenta. " Particles." The author uses this term indifferently for fragments,
particles of mineral, concentrates, gold dust, black tin, etc., in all cases the result of either
natural or artificial concentration. As in technical English we have no general term for both
natural and artificial " concentrates," we have rendered it as the context seemed to demand.
UA certain amount of bitumen does float ashore in the Dead Sea ; the origin of it is,
however, uncertain. Strabo (xvi., 2, 42), Pliny (v., 15 and 16), and Josephus (iv., 8), all
mention this fact. The lake for this reason is often referred to by the ancient writers by the
name Asphaltites.
