Journey from Vienna. 57 



which, till then, obstructed the view, we overlook "another 

 open country, and approach the basin wherein we survey 

 Schemnitz and Dulln. This country has acquired considerable 

 celebrity, from the immense mineral riches that it contains. 

 The traveller's attention is arrested, when he reflects that it 

 has been the nurse of geologists, Jacquin, Delin, De Born, 

 Scopoli, &c. The engines for extraction seem numberless, 

 and may be every where distinguished by their conical roofs, 

 exhibiting all the appearances of bustle and activity. AH 

 around are immense lialdes, heaps of excavated matter now 

 re-agglutinated from decomposition, and attesting the antique 

 origin of the mines, by the prodigious mass of their materials 

 drawn from the bowels of the earth. 



The road descends rapidly on Schemnitz, and I arrived 

 there early, to trace a rapid sketch of the environs, and form a 

 general notion of the country. The little town of Schemnitz 

 (Selmecz, Germ. Banya, Hung.) is situated at the northern 

 extremity of the comitat of Hont, on the southern border of a 

 little basin, encircled on all sides by groups of mountains. In 

 the middle of the basin rises the mountain Calvarienberg, with 

 a conical form, and completely isolated. A chapel on the 

 summit, and certain stations constructed on the southern de- 

 clivity, give it, from the plain, an inviting air. Its summit is 

 about 2239 feet above the level of the sea, and 101 above 

 Schemnitz. The view from it is very much narrowed by the 

 surrounding mountains, but their sinuous elevations, with the 

 forests that cover them, form a delicious panorama. The 

 town of Schemnitz, which lies southerly, appears from it like 

 an amphitheatre of houses, which, blended with verdure, in 

 carpets of grass that partially cover the country, exhibits a 

 landscape that never fails to be attractive. 



Here 1 may remark, that the Germans have, pretty general- 

 ly, given name to various places wherein they have settled ; 

 sometimes it is a corruption of the native name, and some- 

 times a word that has no relation to it. Most places have 

 various names, and one or other is used as the discourse is 

 directed to an Hungarian, a Sclavonian, or a German. There 

 are even Latin names pretty common, modelled on one or 

 other of these languages. 



Schemnitz, according to report, was in being under the 

 reign of St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary, about the year 

 1000 of the Christian sera. It was then partly built on a rocky 

 point that lies to the N. W. near the town, and which was 

 overthrown by an earthquake. There were gold mines then, 

 working at Dulln, when those of Schemnitz were first disco- 

 vered. Tradition relates, that this was effected by a hog, 



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



