Journey ft -om Paris to Vienna* 41 



the other. The old miner that conducted me was in a trans- 

 port of joy to see me move along as nimbly as himself. These 

 miners, in general, expect to receive money from visiters, but 

 when a stranger takes an interest in their labours, converses 

 freely with them, and shuns no difficulties, betrays no fears in 

 following them, they redouble their efforts to satisfy and inform. 



After sliding thus along time, from top to bottom, we arrive 

 at a large gallery, whence there is a way to get out. There 

 we find miners with little wheel-barrows, that bring us up to 

 day light in a quarter of an hour, though to pass on foot would 

 require thirty-five minutes. 



This long gallery, partly dug or hollowed in the saliferous 

 mass, and partly in the calcareous, exhibited a phenomenon 

 rather unusual. We should naturally look for moisture as an 

 attendant on the saline substances, and if dryness could be 

 supposed any where, should expect to find it in marbles 

 or calcareous masses, but here the effects are directly the re- 

 verse. In the interior parts it is quite dry, where the congeries 

 of salt appears, but the calcareous masses* are found to be every 

 where dropping. Two causes may be assigned for this ; one, 

 that the argilous mass, which in some measure incloses the salt, 

 is not easy to be penetrated by water, which slides over it till 

 it finds a vent or issue j another, that what little of moisture 

 penetrates, is firmly retained by the argile as well as by the 

 salt, and cannot leak or run out. But a calcareous mass, even 

 the most compact, will easily let water filter through it; and, 

 besides, it is sure to contain a great number of fissures. 



While I was at Hallein, I macle an excursion to the valley of 

 Salza, surveying the adjoining mountains with the eye of a 

 geologist ; on my return, I took the straight road for Vienna. 

 I passed through Salzburg some days after a calamitous event 

 which was every where the subject of conversation. A dread- 

 ful conflagration had destroyed eighty-eight houses in the city, 

 together with the superb Chateau Mirabella, which had been, 

 ever recommended as an object of curiosity to strangers j also 

 four churches, and the little village of Frosheim. While the 

 inhabitants of this latter were affording their assistance in the 

 city, their own dwellings had become a prey to the flames. 

 The prospect from the mountain of Monchsberg, in the neigh- 

 bourhood, is magnificent, exhibiting the whole country like a 

 map to the eye of an observer. The landscape was beautiful 

 in itself, but to me was clouded by the smoking ruins that 

 tinged it with a sombrous hue. 



After passing through Molk, St. Polten, arid Burkersdorf, 

 we enter the plains of Vienna. Here are many pleasant vil- 

 lages that announce our approach to a great city. We leave 



VOYAGES and TRAVELS, No. L, VOL. IX. G 



