BOOK
VIII.
fixed, prevents the sight from wandering higher than is needful, and confines it to the level
of the place; then in those parts where vapours are seen gathering and rising into the air,
there dig, for this sign cannot be in dry places.
In seeking for water, the nature of places is to be considered; for there are some in which
it is collected : in clay it is in little quantities, fhallow, and not of the best taste; in loose
fand also there is but little. If it be found in low places, it will be muddy and ill tasted;
but in black earth are found little rills and tricklings, produced by the winter rains, which
collect and settle in compact and hard soils: these have the best taste. In gravel there is but
a moderate quantity, and the springs are not certain, but it also is of a good flavour: in the
masculine, commôn, and carbuncle kinds of sand, it is certain and constant, and is withal of
a good taste: in red stone soils it is good, and is plenty, if it do not ooze through the pores
and waste: at the bottom of mountains, and among flint-stones, it is more copious, and is
colder and more wholesome. The salt, gross, and warm springs of the open country, are not
good, excepting those from mountains, which, flowing under the earth, break forth again in
the plains, and wheré the shelter of trees gives them the agreeablenes of mountain springs.
Ocher signs, besides those above written, of the kinds of earth under which there is water, are
these: the growing of the slender bulrush, the wild willow, the alder, reeds, ivy, and others
of a similar kind, which cannot grow or thrive without humidity; these usually grow near
lakes, which being lower than the other parts of the country, receive the rain water and floods
of winter, and by their concave form retain the water a long time: but these signs are not
to be trusted to, except in those countries and lands (not in lakes) where they have not been
planted, but have naturally grown of themselves.
In places where there are no such indications, the following experiments are to be made:
A hole is dug three feet wide each way, and at least five feet deep, and therein, about the time
of sunset, is placed a bason of bras, or lead, or earth, whichever may be ready: this being
anointed with oil on the infide, is turned upfide downward, and the top of the pit is cloled
with reeds or branches, and then covered with earth; the next day it is opened, and if any
drops or moisture be found in the vase, that place has water. Also, an earthen vessel un¬
burnt, being put in this pit, covered in the same manner, if the place have water, it wil,
when uncovered, be found moist, and be softened by the humidity. A flece of wool allo
being laid in the pit, if on the folloving day water can be pressed out of it, fhews that the
place has water. So if a lamp, prepared with oil, and lighted, be putin theplace, and covered,
and the next day be not exhausted, but some of the oil and wick remain, and is wet, it isa
son the place has water, for heat alvays daus moisture to ifelf; and if fire be made in the
place, and the heated earth sends forth cloudy vapours, the place has wate.