316 Geological Collections. 



generally througliout the mountains, the geognostical constitution of which 

 seems to indicate the treasures they contain. On the contrary, several of 

 the richest mines have been discovered by accident, as that of Nagyag, which 

 a shepherd, or, as some say, a pig, first brought to light. 



Vorospatak is one of the most auriferous spots in Transylvania; the 

 mode of working the mines at this place will illustrate the defects of the 

 present system. 



[ The heights surrounding this village have long been public property. 

 tAny person, for a trifle — from ten to twenty shillings — obtains permission 

 to dig, on condition that he do not deviate, on either side, more than seven 

 fathoms from his main gallery, and that he stop whenever he meets the 

 workings of another. If these mountains were poor, this singular mode 

 would be attended with few inconveniences, for then few persons, and these 

 chiefly miners, would venture to engage in excavating them ; but here the 

 richness is such, that every body, even the most ignorant peasant^ is tempted 

 to try his fortune. Every one excavates and digs for himself, often 

 without any rules of art, so that these mountains actually resemble, on a 

 great scale, the surface of a country crowded with molehills. There are 

 veins wrought out, partially or entirely, in their upper parts, and the walls 

 of which, left without support, haA^e remained in some places standing, in 

 others have crumbled away. In other places, large tunnels, or heaps of 

 fragments, indicate more considerable workings, proofs of the richness of 

 the spot from which they have been excavated. Peasants, it is true, when 

 they have become rich, sometimes send their sons to study the art of 

 mining at Schemnitz ; but, on their return, they are unable to put in 

 practice the precepts of art, because it would be necessary to operate upon 

 a surface already turned up, and belonging to a multitude of proprietors, 

 whose interests must be respected ; and because the funds are wanting for 

 piercing into the bowels of the mountain. 



Formeily the government engaged also in mining ; but it was cheated by 



**i]ts agents, and has therefore given it up. It derives more profit by buying 



Up the gold of the mines at a sufficiently low price. The government had 



pushed a long gallery into the Orlaer Gebirge, and had crossed 113 veins, in 



an extent of 300 or 400 fathoms. The value of these veins has not been 



'•fexamined. 



As the mere mining of this celebrated place is in the hands of ignorant 

 men, the mode in which the gold is extracted is absolutely bad. Who 

 would imagine that the proprietors of every mine make a daily division, 

 according to their respective shares, of the minerals that have been raised ; 

 not a quantity of gold proportioned to the capital advanced, but a heap of 

 crude ore, of a certain size, so that it may happen, after the extraction, that 

 one receives much more, and another much less, than he ought to receive ? 

 Again, the miner does not wash his ore, but has recourse to a third party. 

 A few washing stations would suffice for all the mines, whereas there is a 

 crowd of them placed one higher up the hill than another, and so badly 

 constructed, that when the water is abundant, the auriferous clay, or particles 

 of gold, are carried down from the higher to the lower washings, and there 

 are some people who gain their livelihood by washing what descends from 

 the other stations. The spirit of combination is a thing so little known 

 among them, that probably every one would melt his own schlich (washed 

 ore,) if the government did not require it to be sent to the Royal Founderies 

 of Zalathna. 



One of the government officers residing at Vorospatak had a very just 

 idea of the advantages which might be derived from this metalliferous 

 locality ; but, as a public functionary, he could only conform to the orders he 

 received. As the greater part of the mass of five auriferous mountains ig 

 metalliferous, he conceived it practicable to mine the whole by open quarry- 

 ing, and by an inclined plane to convey the ore to the Arangos, a river 



