Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950
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              Noricians
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              11
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              collect ore during the winter into sacks made of bristly pigskins,
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              and drag them down from the highest mountains, which neither horses,
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              mules nor asses can climb. </s>
              <s>Strong dogs, that are trained to bear pack
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              saddles, carry these sacks when empty into the mountains. </s>
              <s>When they
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              are filled with ore, bound with thongs, and fastened to a rope, a man,
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              winding the rope round his arm or breast, drags them down through the
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              snow to a place where horses, mules, or asses bearing pack-saddles can
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              climb. </s>
              <s>There the ore is removed from the pigskin sacks and put into other
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              sacks made of double or triple twilled linen thread, and these placed on the
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              pack-saddles of the beasts are borne down to the works where the ores
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              are washed or smelted. </s>
              <s>If, indeed, the horses, mules, or asses are able
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              to climb the mountains, linen sacks filled with ore are placed on their saddles,
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              and they carry these down the narrow mountain paths, which are passable
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              neither by wagons nor sledges, into the valleys lying below the steeper
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              portions of the mountains. </s>
              <s>But on the declivity of cliffs which beasts cannot
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              climb, are placed long open boxes made of planks, with transverse cleats to
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              hold them together; into these boxes is thrown the ore which has been
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              brought in wheelbarrows, and when it has run down to the level it is gathered
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              into sacks, and the beasts either carry it away on their backs or drag it away
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              after it has been thrown into sledges or wagons. </s>
              <s>When the drivers bring
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              ore down steep mountain slopes they use two-wheeled carts, and they drag
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              behind them on the ground the trunks of two trees, for these by their weight
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              hold back the heavily-laden carts, which contain ore in their boxes, and check
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              their descent, and but for these the driver would often be obliged to
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              bind chains to the wheels. </s>
              <s>When these men bring down ore from mountains
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              which do not have such declivities, they use wagons whose beds are twice
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              as long as those of the carts. </s>
              <s>The planks of these are so put together that,
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              when the ore is unloaded by the drivers, they can be raised and taken apart,
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              for they are only held together by bars. </s>
              <s>The drivers employed by the owners
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              of the ore bring down thirty or sixty wagon-loads, and the master of the
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              works marks on a stick the number of loads for each driver. </s>
              <s>But some
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              ore, especially tin, after being taken from the mines, is divided into eight
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              parts, or into nine, if the owners of the mine give “ninth parts” to the
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              owners of the tunnel. </s>
              <s>This is occasionally done by measuring with a bucket,
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              but more frequently planks are put together on a spot where, with the
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              addition of the level ground as a base, it forms a hollow box. </s>
              <s>Each owner
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              provides for removing, washing, and smelting that portion which has fallen
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              to him. (Illustration p. </s>
              <s>170).</s>
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              <s>Into the buckets, drawn by these five machines, the boys or men throw
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              the earth and broken rock with shovels, or they fill them with their hands;
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              hence they get their name of shovellers. </s>
              <s>As I have said, the same
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              machines raise not only dry loads, but also wet ones, or water; but before
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              I explain the varied and diverse kinds of machines by which miners are wont </s>
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