the Quicksilver Mines of Idria in Illyha, 389 



rock has been cut through, there is of course no occasion for 

 these precautions. 



The woikmeu are classed according to their rates of pay. 

 They are divided into companies, and their classification with 

 respect to the distribution of llie corn which is furnished ihem, 

 is in proportion to ihe number of children belonging to each 

 family, and to the rank the workmen respectively hold. 



Every month the labours for the interior of the mine are re- 

 gulated. With this view the chiefs of the establishment call a 

 general meeting of all the workmen, who are bound to attend, 

 A person called the Schickteii Sckreiier reads with an audible 

 voice the arrangements which have been made for all the works. 

 The workmen are formed into companies of four men for the 

 galleries, and each designated by his name for the spot which 

 is intended for him. 



The hours in which the labourers work are from four in 

 the morning to noon, — from noon to eight in the evening, — and 

 from eight in the evening to four o'clock in the morning : this 

 gives each man eight hours labour daily. The masons who are 

 employed in building up the mine walls, as also some other per- 

 sons who are not exactly miners, work ten hours. 



At three o'clock every morning a bell rings to summon the 

 ■workmen to the hall or geselstiiheoiihQ mine, where their names 

 are called over previous to descending. 



Every person then proceeds to the spot allotted to him, fur- 

 nished with a common oil lamp. The masters and other sub- 

 altern officers also descend into the mine to superintend the 

 various gangs of miners. At mid-day these sets of workmen arc 

 removed, and again at eight o'clock in the evening. 



The chief director of the mines visits them on the 1st and 

 loth of each month, accompanied by all the engineers, &c. of 

 the establishment, when he inspects all the works and regulates 

 the price of the ulterior labours. There are two ways of settling 

 with the workmen ; either by the day or by the piece, but the 

 latter way is preferred. They are paid a certain sum for each 

 c ubicfathom. 



The price of the cubic fathom of ore, or of cutting into the 

 rock, is regulated by the hardness, the difficulty of working, the 

 distance of the workman from the mouth of the pit, and the 

 temperature of the region in which he works; and sometimes the 

 deleterious effects of a particular spot are taken into the ac- 

 count. 



Besides sweeping clean the gallery in which he works, the 

 workman is also obliged to pick out the richest ores, to put them 

 aside in a corner, and to mark them with a cross of wood, that 

 they may not be confounded with those which are poor, 



y 2 The 



