Journey from Vienna. 91 



aperture, and the labours throughout, even where they are the 

 deepest. 



Exclusive of these magnificent works, which are essential 

 to the mining, and which contrast, in a striking manner, with 

 mining labours in general, particular decorations have been 

 added on certain points. Here is a spacious hall, agreeably 

 ornamented, in the middle of one of the cavities, produced by 

 the clearing away of the salt ; there appears a chapel, with 

 columns, statues, &c. cut in the salt itself; in other parts are 

 terraces on the brink of the excavations, also gates represent- 

 ing the entrance of a strong castle, an obelisk commemorating 

 the visit of the Emperor Francis, all regularly fabricated of 

 rock salt. We find also, in different points, inscriptions noticing 

 the presence of the sovereigns ; decorated radeaux, on which 

 they pass over the collections of waters and fakes; consecrated 

 paintings, dedicated, by the veneration of the workmen, to the 

 patrons of the labours. Nor is this all ; at every step we find 

 traces of magnificent illuminations which have been made, at 

 different periods, in the heart of these depths. Such are the 

 real facts, which have been embellished by a thousand fictions. 

 Some of these may be quoted here ; springs and streams of 

 fresh water, a windmill, houses with several stories, as in a 

 town. It has been further reported, that the workmen, wheti 

 once entered, never quit the place, but this is only true as ap- 

 plied to the horses. Among other fabulous reveries, children 

 were born here that had never seen the day. 



In general, this depot may be considered as an immense 

 mass of argile, called by the workmen, halda, disposed, not in 

 strata, but in vast bodies -unusually voluminous, to which, 

 names have been given according to their respective positions, 

 and the degree of purity in the salt. The works are divided 

 into stories ; the first, or uppermost, is a coarser sort, called 

 gransalz, or green salt. The second story exhibits a purer 

 salt, named spiza, immense quantities of which are exported 

 to foreign countries. The third and last story, named szibik, 

 is lamellated, that is, divided into a number of thin plates. 



These different collections of salt, as also the saliferous argile 

 that contains them, are of great solidity. Each of them, when 

 worked, is nearly cleared throughout, and then appear immense 

 excavations, the walls of which are well able to support them- 

 selves. In the lower parts, the works are only advanced into 

 such bodies of salt as, by their position with respect to the 

 upper galleries, cannot, by fresh cavities, impair the solidity of 

 the rest. From the solidity of these masses, combined with 

 the facility with which they are penetrated, those beautiful 

 escaliers, with the spacious galleries and architectural decora- 



