1S Account of the Gold and Silver Mines of Hungary. 
larity is confined. This occurs in a place whcre several threads 
of ore which intersect the gangue unite. 
The direction of the great vein is from E. to W., or, as the 
miners say, ‘* they work it toward the sixthhour,”’ and is ele- 
vated at about an angle of 80°. It is at its oreatest width at 
the depth of seventy fathoms, being there nearly twelve fathoms, 
and continues so as far as it has been worked downward, which 
is about forty fathoms lower. As it ascends towards the day, it 
becomes narrower, a circumstance which I was informed is here 
rather an exception than a general rule. 
This is the richest vein at present worked, and yields almost 
one mark of silver from every centner of ore. During the last 
fortnight the quantity of ore obtained had been 319 centners, 
and this yielded by assay 282 marks of fine silver. The pre- 
ceding fortnight it produced 239 centners of ore, which gave 
262 marks of fine silver. At a former period, this mine in the 
course of twenty-eight years produced half a million of marks of 
pure silver. 
In working such large veins it is found necessary to begin 
from below and go upwards, and to fill up as much as possible 
as the miners ascend; for, were they to begin from above, there. 
would be no place in which to deposit the unproductive matter ; 
a prodigious mass of superincumbent rock would keep the work- 
men in perpetual danger, and by falling down might put a stop 
to all proceedings in the mine. 
Having now observed the mode in which the ore is collected, 
and raised to the:surface, and the means by which they free the 
mine of water, I will follow the ore to the operations which it 
afterwards undergoes. 
When brought from the mine it is carried to a building, where 
men, women and children, sitting at tables, select the rich ore 
from the poor, break it into pieces about the size of hazel nuts, 
and sort it, according to its worth, into different parcels. The 
value of these heaps is then ascertained by an assay, and the 
pay of the workmen regulated by the product. This is estimated 
on the number of half ounces or Joths of silver contained in the 
centner or hundred and ten pounds of ore, and this varies from 
the minutest quantity to one hundred loths or more. If it 
contains above two loths, it goes immediately to the smelting 
works; but if it be poorer, it is previously submitted to the 
pochwerk or stampers, where it is pounded and washed, and the 
most valuable articles concentrated. 
The process at the pochwerk is nearly as follows :—The ores 
are thrown by small quantities into a long trough, through which 
a gentle stream of water is constantly running. A row of stamp- 
ers, | 
