Visit to the Q^uicksiher Mines ^qf Idria 



221 



cupy about one third or one half of the enth'e mass of rock. 

 Proceeding a short distance, however, we came to galleries where 

 the cinnabar is less common and the quicksilver is the chief ob- 

 ject of search. It occurs here sometimes imbedded in a fi-iable 

 rock, sometimes in a kind of earth, in appearance and hardness 

 resembling talcose slate, but principally in the former. Gener- 

 ally, it is in particles too minute for the naked eye, but often when 

 the rock is broken, small globules present themselves, varying from 

 t size just large enough to be seen up to that of a common pin's 

 head. These globules are not distributed at random through the 

 mass^ but the substance in which they occur forms strata usually 

 about one inch or two in thickness. 



Descending still lower, we soon came to the richest part of the ■ 

 mme. Here the gangue consists almost entirely of talcose earth 

 mentioned above, and the globules are so large that when it is broken, 

 they fall out and roll to the bottom of the gallery. The laborers 

 here are relieved every four hours, being unable from the state of 

 the atmosphere, to work longer than this at one time. In the other 

 parts of the mine they work eight hours.- There are three hundred 

 and sixty altogether employed in the mines, divided into three com- 

 panies, and working, each, eight hours out of the twenty four : 

 their pay is only from 15 to 17 kreutzers (12 to 13^ cents) a day, 

 the usual pay of day-laborers throughout Germany. I found several 

 of them suffering from the effects of the mercury. 



Having loaded myself and the guide with specimens, I returned 

 hy the same way to the upper mine and proceeded next to examine 

 the washing rooms, which are situated a few hundred yards from 

 the mines. The gangue containing the metal is carried to this 

 house, and if it Is of the earthy kind, it is broken up and thrown 

 upon large seives, by means of which the loose or native quicksil- 

 ver (called here yung frau or virgin quicksilver) is separated from 

 tlie earth : the latter is then cast into shallow boxes open at the 

 ends and a little inclined, and a gentle stream of water being made 

 to pass over it, a rake is used, and the earthy matter is carried off. 

 There are seven of these boxes in succession, and by the time the 

 residuum reaches the last of them, it resembles a heavy gray powder, 

 and is sufficiently pure to be carried to the vapor furnace. The 

 •stony fragments require only a slight washing to cleanse them from 

 the outward earthy Impurities. 



