1the place will permit, extending in
every direction more than sixty feet.
Thus, when the water of the river or stream in autumn and winter inundates
the land, the gates of the weir are closed, by which means the current carries
the mud mixed with fine tin-stone into the area. In spring and summer
this mud is washed on the canvas strakes or on the ordinary strake, and
even the finest black-tin is collected. Within a distance of four thousand
fathoms along the bed of the stream or river below the buildings in which
the tin-stuff is washed, the miners do not make such weirs, but put inclined
fences in the meadows, and in front of each fence they dig a ditch of the
same length, so that the mud mixed with the fine tin-stone, carried along by the
stream or river when in flood, may settle in the ditch and cling to the fence.
When this mud is collected, it is likewise washed on canvas strakes and on
the ordinary strake, in order that the fine tin-stone may be separated from
it. Indeed we may see many such areas and fences collecting mud of this
kind in Meissen below Altenberg in the river Moglitz,—which is always of a
reddish colour when the rock containing the black tin is being crushed under
the stamps.
Thus, when the water of the river or stream in autumn and winter inundates
the land, the gates of the weir are closed, by which means the current carries
the mud mixed with fine tin-stone into the area. In spring and summer
this mud is washed on the canvas strakes or on the ordinary strake, and
even the finest black-tin is collected. Within a distance of four thousand
fathoms along the bed of the stream or river below the buildings in which
the tin-stuff is washed, the miners do not make such weirs, but put inclined
fences in the meadows, and in front of each fence they dig a ditch of the
same length, so that the mud mixed with the fine tin-stone, carried along by the
stream or river when in flood, may settle in the ditch and cling to the fence.
When this mud is collected, it is likewise washed on canvas strakes and on
the ordinary strake, in order that the fine tin-stone may be separated from
it. Indeed we may see many such areas and fences collecting mud of this
kind in Meissen below Altenberg in the river Moglitz,—which is always of a
reddish colour when the rock containing the black tin is being crushed under
the stamps.
A—RIVER. B—WEIR. C—GATE. D—AREA. E—MEADOW.
F—FENCE. G—DITCH.