Geological Collections. 317 



which would admit of the establishment of large washing stations, at a 

 small expense. 



It would be as difficult for the government to limit this liberty of mining, 

 or to enlighten the people as to their true interests, as to change so many 

 other customs and laws, which form part of a constitution made only for 

 the nobles, and eminently opposed to the moral improvement of the people, 

 and the increase of the riches of the country. 



The richest mines of Transylvania are in the districts of Carlsburg, 

 Hunyad, and Zarand. There are 303 mines of gold, 21 of silver and gold, 

 7 of silver, 2 of lead and silver, 6 of cinnabar and native mercury, and 4 of 

 lead. The metals sometimes form a network of little threads, sometimes 

 in threads of greater extent, as those of gold and silver. Besides, there is 

 the gold which is obtained by the washing of the sand in general, and that 

 which is extracted only from the sand of rivers. 



The government of the King of Hungary has four mining districts, 

 namely, Draiska, the hills of Kirnik, near Abrudbanya, of Kapnik, and of 

 -Ohlalapos. The national government of Transylvania, — a separate adminis- 

 tration from the preceding, — mines the districts of Nagyag, Boicza, and 

 Radna ; the district of Abrudbanya, is in the hands of private persons. 



The principal gold washings in the deposits of sand and pebbles are at 

 Olapian, Korosbanya, and Nagy-Aranyos. 



The cinnabar is found massive, with quartz, in small veins of a schist, 

 associated with limestone, ten leagues north of Zalathna, in the mountains 

 of Baboja and Dombrava. In this latter place the schist, varying in hard- 

 ness, and slightly siliceous, and the gray compact limestone, have the 

 appearance of an intermediate schist, though we are by no means certain 

 that they are really of that age. — Journal de Geologic, Vol. II. p. 267. 



True position of the Quicksilver Mines of Idria. By A. Boue. - — In the 

 Alps, mercury has been long known at Idria, near Neumarkt, in Carinthia, at 

 Visdende on the Po, according to M. Catullo, on the Wallersee, at a place 

 called Urfelde, near Fussen, on the left bank of the Lech, opposite the 

 end of the Salzoberberg in Bavaria, near Radein in the Grimmerjoch in 

 Tyrol, at the foot of Wuchselstein in the HoUenthal, a lateral valley of the 

 Partnach near Partenkirchen, at Zalz on the Reiting, and at Erzberg. 

 This mineral is either native, or in the state of cinnabar. It is found in 

 this latter state at Neumarkt, and near Partenkirchen. The fluid mercury 

 lies disseminated in black indurated marls (Leberstein, liverstone,) which are 

 slightly bituminous, or mixed with anthracite, as at Idria, while the cinnabar 

 is in large nodules, called Lebererz (liver ore,) in these same marls, and in 

 little interlaced threads in the calcareous rocks. 



. These marls, which resemble the saliferous marls, but which occur in 

 general only in the inferior beds of the Alpine limestone, have been found 

 in various parts of the Alps ; but they are rarely metalliferous. The most 

 celebrated locality is that of Idria ; and when one has been at the place and 

 in the mines, one cannot help feeling astonished that the true position of 

 this deposit should have been so singularly misunderstood. 



Idria is situated in a valley, and on the declivity of the metalliferous 

 mountain. This mountain stands almost isolated towards the south; is 

 separated from the neighbouring hills on the east by the river Idritza, and 

 on the west by the ravine of Spickel-Bruch. It is connected in the north 

 to the Vogelsberg, and to Schirmischerberg. It is composed of beds, bent 

 irregularly into arches, the convexity of which is downwards, and the greater 

 part of the calcareous and marly beds cross out at the Spickel-Bruch. The 

 general composition of the mass is as follows, commencing at the surface : — 



1. Marls, hard, black, schistose, containing nodules of black limestone. 



2. Similar marls in beds, containing nodules of gray compact limestone, 

 fluid mercury, and cinnabar. 



