98 M. Beudanfs Travels in Hungary. 



the plains of Hernat and Tarza, consisting of depots of allu- 

 vion or of cultivated lands. I then passed over some hills also 

 under cultivation, and at length arrived at the opal mines, 

 which are at some distance beyond the village of Cservenitza. 



These mines, which constitute the riches and reputation of 

 the country, have heen worked for ages ; the labours are very 

 considerable. Fichtel reports, from papers in the archives of 

 Kaschau, that in the year 1400, three hundred workmen were 

 employed in the county of Cservenitza, either in the search of 

 opal or in the quicksilver works. It is not very likely that these 

 were in regular employment ; they might be peasants of the 

 neighbourhood, who anciently enjoyed the privilege of seeking 

 for opal wherever they could find it. It was only at a more 

 modern period that the labours in quest of this precious stone 

 became individual property. The Austrian government had 

 possession of it for a certain' time, and then abandoned it. The 

 Baron de Brudern has lately obtained some right herein, on 

 condition of employing workmen regularly ; till then the works 

 had been carried on without any general plan. At the passage 

 where I descended thirty men were at work, at the rate of 40 

 kreutzer per day, (about 14 Sous of French money.) Two 

 comptrollers were here to superintend the men and conduct 

 the works, also to see that no labours were carried on in the 

 adjacent parts. When at Vienna the Baron de Brudern had 

 promised me a letter, but not having seen him since, I should 

 have had no little trouble in getting permission to visit the 

 works, had I not been accompanied by the governor of the 

 children of M. Bujanovics. The comptrollers, however, con- 

 ducted me every where with a degree of complaisance, but 

 watching my every movement. My object was to examine the 

 rock, and to ascertain the variety of opal, the most important 

 in respect of science, though of little value in common estima- 

 tion, 'f-nv! 



I visited successively the principal mines, commencing with 

 the mountain of Dubnick. Here the opal is found in a rough long 

 conglomerat, in veins more or less extensive, the opaline mat- 

 ter filtrating into fissures which it fills up in whole or in part. 

 The most common sorts are the opaque opal, of a yellowish or 

 reddish white, and the milky opal, more or less pellucid'; there 

 is also thefruar opal, or opal of fire, in pretty good abundance. 



At a little distance is the Pred Branya, south of Dubnick, 

 and near that another mine, at the mountain named Libanka. 

 It is here that the works have been prosecuted with the greatest 

 activity, sometimes in open air, and sometimes by subterra- 

 nean excavations. I found much to reprehend in the plan and 

 disposition of these labours. 



