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hammer. The lower end is pointed so as to split the hard rocks and veins
with its point. All of these have eyes except the fourth. The first,
which is in daily use among miners, is three-quarters of a foot long, a digit
and a half wide, and a digit thick. The second is of the same width as the
first, and the same thickness, but one and one half feet long, and is used to
shatter the hardest veins in such a way that they crack open. The third
is the same length as the second, but is a little wider and thicker ; with
this one they dig the bottoms of those shafts which slowly accumulate water.
The fourth is nearly three palms and one digit long, two digits thick, and in
the upper end it is three digits wide, in the middle it is one palm wide, and
at the lower end it is pointed like the others ; with this they cut out the
harder veins. The eye in the first tool is one palm distant from the upper
end, in the second and third it is seven digits distant ; each swells out
around the eye on both sides, and into it they fit a wooden handle, which
they hold with one hand, while they strike the iron tool with a hammer, after
placing it against the rock. These tools are made larger or smaller as
necessary. The smiths, as far as possible, sharpen again all that become dull.
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A wedge is usually three palms and two digits long and six digits wide;
at the upper end, for a distance of a palm, it is three digits thick, and
beyond that point it becomes thinner by degrees, until finally it is quite
sharp.
2While these particular tools serve the same purpose as the "gad" and the "moil,"
the latter are not fitted with handles, and we have, therefore, not felt justified in adopting
these terms, but have given a literal rendering of the Latin.
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