Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/234

 220 STRABO. CASAUB. 146. grains of gold lumps havejeenjbund weighingjhalf apoand T these they"call palce; they need but little refining? 1 They also say that in splitting open stones they find small lumps, resembling paps. And that when they have melted the gold. and purified it by means of a. kind of alnn^innna partly the re- sidue left is electrum. This, which contains a mixture -of silver_and gold, blsing again subjected to the fire, the silver is separated and the gold left [pure] ; for this metal is easily dissipated and fat, 2 and on this account gold is most easily melted by straw, the flame of which is soft, and bearing a simi- larity [to the gold], causes it easily to dissolve : whereas coal, besides wasting a great deal, melts it too much by reason of its vehemence, and carries it off [in vapour]. In the beds of the rivers the sand is either collected and washed in boats close by, or else a pit is dug to which the earth is carried and there washed. The furnaces for silver are constructed lofty, in order that the vapour, which is dense and pestilent, may be raised and carried off. Certain of the copper mines are called gold mines, which would seem to show that formerly gold was dug from them. 9. Posidonius, in praising the amount and excellence of the metals, cannot refrain from his accustomed rhetoric, and be- comes quite enthusiastic in exaggeration. He tells us we are not to disbelieve the fable, that formerly the forests hav- ing been set on fire, the earth, which was loaded with silver and gold, melted, and threw up these metals to the surface, forasmuch as every mountain and wooded hill seemed to be heaped up with money by a lavish fortune. Altogether (he remarks) any one seeing these places, could only describe them as the inexhaustible treasuries of nature, or the unfailing ex- chequer of some potentate ; for not only, he tells us, is this land rich itself, but riches abound beneath it. So that amongst these people the subterraneous regions should not be regarded as the realms of Pluto, but of Plutus. Such is the flourished style in which he speaks on this subject, that you would fancy 1 Pliny, (lib. xxxiii. c. 4,) writing on the same subject, says, " Inveni- untur ita massse ; necnon in puteis etiam denas excedentes libras. Palacras Hispani, alii palacranas, iidem quod minutum est balucem vocant." 2 This passage is evidently corrupt, nor do any of the readings which have been proposed seem to clear up the difficulties which it presents.