THE SMELTING FURNACES. 215 



Descending from the mine to the level ground 

 by a short track down the hillside, through 

 scenery indescribably picturesque, I reach the 

 smelting furnaces ; these, occupying about four 

 acres of land, are built of brick, admirably neat, 

 and well contrived. As quicksilver is found 

 in several forms namely, native quicksilver, oc- 

 curring in small drops, in the pores or on the 

 ledges of other rocks, argental mercury, a na- 

 tive silver amalgam, and sulphide of mercury 

 or cinnabar, different processes are requisite for 

 its reduction. Here it is found solely in form 

 of cinnabar, and to reduce it a kind of reverbe- 

 ratory furnace is used, three feet by five, placed 

 at the end of a series of chambers, each chamber 

 seven feet long, four wide, and five high. About 

 ten of these chambers are arranged in a line, 

 built of brick, plastered inside, and secured by 

 transverse rods of iron, fitted at the ends with 

 screws and nuts, to allow for expansion. The 

 top is of boiler iron, securely luted. 



The first chamber is the furnace for fire, 

 the second for ore, separated from the first by 

 a grated partition, allowing the flame to pass 

 through and play over the cinnabar. This ore- 

 chamber, when filled, contains ten thousand 

 pounds of cinnabar. The remaining chambers 



