324 



MINE. 



the miner who sets firr to it may have time to retire 

 Ix-fore it reaches the chamber. The saucisson is laic 

 in a small trough, called an auget, to prevent it from 

 i-i>iitn;rt iii- any dampness. This is made of boards. 

 The mines of a fortress are called countermines, the 

 gallery of which runs under the covered way along 

 the outer margin of the fosse. From this, ramifica- 

 tions, called rameaux, extend under the glacis, from 

 which again little passages are made on both sides, 

 to afford means for listening and finding out the 

 enemy's subterraneous movements. If the powder 

 is lodged so deep under the ground that its explosion 

 is not perceptible on the surface, it yet shakes the 

 ground all round, and destroys the hostile mines in 

 ihe neighbourhood. This is the globe de compression, 

 invented by Belidor. The mining-war lias many 

 peculiarities. The miners are often armed with short 

 weapons, as pistols and cutlasses, in order to defend 

 themselves if they meet a hostile mine. The mines 

 are often so long that it is necessary to convey fresh 

 air by artificial means to the most advanced work- 

 men, and those who faint are passed back from one 

 to the other ; the same is done with the dead, if a 

 combat ensues below. Frequently, also, balls, made 

 of all kinds of substances which produce an offensive 

 smoke, are lighted, in order to stop the enemy, pro- 

 vided the mine permits the party who leave the ball 

 an easy retreat. Sometimes mines are dug in the 

 field, with a view of blowing up such of the enemy 

 as can be allured to the spot. In such case, a small 

 body of men must sometimes be placed there, in order 

 to induce the enemy to attack them ; these are sac- 

 rificed with the enemy. 



MINE; an excavation for obtaining minerals from 

 the bowels of the earth. The minerals are found in 

 veins, strata, lumps, and contain gold, silver, platina, 

 quicksilver, lead, iron, copper, tin, zinc, calamine, 

 bismuth, cobalt, arsenic, manganese, antimony, molyb- 

 dena, and other metallic substances; also sulphur, 

 brown-coal, pit-coal, bitumen, alum, and all combi- 

 nations of sulphuric acid with metallic bases. The 

 mines are generally denominated from the substances 

 obtained from them ; for instance, gold, silver, iron, 

 lead, coal, alum, salt-mines, &c. We must distin- 

 guish, I. the mines in primitive mountains ; II. those 

 in floetz mountains ; III. those in alluvions. 



I. Of the first sort the most important are the 

 following : 



1. The mines in the Cordilleras, in Spanish America. 

 There are few regions so remarkable for their richness 

 in minerals as this chain of mountains. The most 

 important mines are the silver mines; yet there are 

 also several gold, quicksilver, copper, and lead mines. 

 In Chile, especially in the province of Coquimbo, are 

 several silver and some important copper mines. The 

 richness of the silver mines of Potosi (Buenos Ayres) 

 may be judged of from the fact that over 1300 millions 

 cf dollars have been coined there since the year 1545; 

 but the ores are now poor. Copper, lead, and tin 

 are also found in Buenos Ayres, the latter, however, 

 in beds of sand or clay, from which it is obtained by 

 washing. On the opposite side of the chain, in a 

 low plain, are the silver mines of Guantajaya, famous 

 for the large lumps of solid silver, which they form- 

 erly furnished, and of which one weighed eight hun- 

 dred pounds. In Peru, there are forty districts 

 particularly famous for their gold and silver mines. 

 Gold is found especially in the provinces of Guailas 

 and Pataz, and silver in the districts of Guantajaya, 

 Pasco, and Chota. The mines of Pasco, which 

 twenty-five years ago produced more than two mil- 

 lions of dollars yearly, had been, like most of those 

 of Sr.uth America, very negligently managed, till, in 

 1816, miners from Cornwall bejran to work them by 

 means of steam-engines. The mines of the province 



of Chota now furnish about 42,000 pounds troy of 

 silver every year. The quicksilver mine of Guanca 

 velica, in Peru, is the only one of this kind in thr 

 new world. In the province of Guantajaya, rock- 

 salt mines also are found. North of the province of 

 Chota, the Cordilleras are not so rich in metals. In 

 New Grenada there are several silver mines ; at 

 Aroa, in Caraccas, a copper mine exists, which yields 

 1400 1600 cwt. of metal yearly, and at Santa Fe 

 rock-salt and pit-coal are found. Although Mexico 

 contains various metals, very little except silver has 

 been obtained from that country. Almost all the 

 mines are situated in the Cordilleras, and consist of 

 3000 pits, which comprise 45000 beds, or layers, 

 and maybe divided into eight large districts (reales), 

 beginning from the south : a. the district of Oaxaca, 

 on the southern boundary of Mexico, which, besides 

 the silver mines, contains the only gold mine of this 

 state ; b. the district of Tasco, fifty to seventy miles 

 south-west from the city of Mexico ; c. the district of 

 Biscania, about fifty miles north-east from the capi- 

 tal, contains the mines of Pachuco, Real del Monte, 

 Moran, all very rich; d. the district of Zimapan 

 contains, besides many silver mines, beds of lead 

 and arsenic; e. the district of Gnanaxuato, con- 

 tains the richest mines of Mexico, and among others 

 those of Guanaxuato, Catorce, Zacatecas, and 

 Sombrerete. This district produces half of all the 

 silver of Mexico. In the neighbourhood of this dis- 

 trict copper mines are also worked, yielding annually 

 4000 cwt. There are also mines of tin and quicksil- 

 ver. /. The district of New Galicia, where the rich 

 mines of Bolanos are. g. The district of Durango 

 and Sonora. A. The district of Chihuahua. Besides 

 the mines contained in these districts, there are seve- 

 ral others in Mexico. The working of all the mines 

 of Spanish America has been very imperfectly carried 

 on until the present times. Some years ago several 

 joint-stock companies were established in England 

 and on the Rhine, for the purpose of conducting them 

 better. Many of the companies suffered large losses. 

 The produce of silver in Spanish America at the 

 beginning 1 of the present century, according to A. 

 von Humboldt, was 3,259,153 marcs, about 2,036,970 

 Ibs. troy, of the nominal value of about 31,120,000 

 dollars. Of this sum, Mexico yielded 2,196,140 

 marcs ; Peru, 573,958 marcs ; Buenos Ayres, 463,098 

 rnarcs, and Chile 25,957 marcs. Gold is principally 

 obtained in America by washing. The principal 

 ^old-washings are on the western side of the Cordil- 

 leras ; in New Grenada, from the province of Bar- 

 bacoa to the isthmus of Panama ; in Chile, and on the 

 shores of the gulf of California ; or on the eastern 

 side in the upper valleys of the Amazon. The wash- 

 ings of New Grenada also furnish platina. 



2. The mines of Hungary, including those of 

 Transylvania, and of the Bannat of Temeswar, com- 

 pose four great districts : a. the north-western, 

 ivhich includes the mines of Schemnitz, Kremnitz, 

 Xaenigsberg, Neusohl, Sehmcelnitz, Bethler, Rosenau, 

 ., which chiefly furnish gold, silver, copper, lead, 

 . ; b. the north-eastern, containing the mines of 

 Nagybanya, Kapnick, Felsoebanya, Wiszbanya, Ola- 

 wsbanya and Olapos, which all yield gold, besides 

 he mines of Marmarosch, which furnish great quan- 

 tities of iron ; c. the eastern district, in which 

 ;he mines of Nagyag, Korosbanya, Vceroespatak, 

 Boitza, Csertesch, Fatzbay, Almas, Porkura, Bot- 

 schum, and Stonischa deserve notice, which chiefly 

 iirnish gold and copper; near Vayda-Huniad and 

 jyalar are important iron mines ; d. the south-wes- 

 ern district, or the mines of the Bannat of Temes- 

 war, yields silver and copper in Oravitza, Moldawn, 

 Szaska and Dognaczka, while in Dombrawa and 

 luchersberg, iron, quicksilver, and cobalt are obtain- 



