﻿94 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



number of retorts, or earthen vessels with long necks, each having a 

 little water in its lower part. The water condenses the smoke, and 

 the small globules of quicksilver which had come with it fall to the 

 bottoms of the retorts, where they are gathered easily together into 

 one mass. 



This mine is wrought at the expense of private persons, who are 

 obliged to sell the whole produce to the king at a stated price. 

 When the government has obtained enough for present purposes 

 from the mines, the work is suspended. This mine is worked by 

 the native Indians, who, in consequence of the noxious gases in all 

 mines of quicksilver, rarely live more than one or two years. They 

 work naked, and although they are required to labor only six months 

 at one time, yet many do not live even that short period, and those 

 that do are reduced to a state of great \vretchedness, and are unfit 

 for any other employment afterwards. 



There are various mines of quicksilver in Europe. One at Idria, 

 in Carniola, belonging to the Emperor of Austria, is worked by per- 

 sons condemned for certain crimes. They are said to be wretched 

 in the extreme. They labor in darkness, or far away from the light 

 of the sun, toiling out a miserable life under the lash of hard-hearted 



3 O 



task-masters. The entrance to this mine is in the side of a moun- 

 tain, at a hole about fifteen feet wide. The conveyance to the mine 

 below is in a bucket, to a depth of more than six hundred feet. The 

 opening widens as you descend, but becomes more and more gloomy 

 as you leave the light. After a pretty long swing in this manner, 

 you touch the bottom ; but the ground on which you tread sounds 

 hollow. The sound of your own feet echoes among the gloomy 

 caverns like thunder. Feeble lamps are placed here and there, just 

 sufficient to guide the workmen. But a person just descended from 

 the surface is not able to see anything, not even the persons who 

 come to conduct him about the place. 



This mine was discovered in 1497. The quantity of mercury 

 cleansed from the ore every year amounts to about one hundred and 

 thirty-five tons. Much pure metal, called virgin mercury, is caught 

 here as it oozes out of the crevices of the mine. 



There is another important mine in the province of La Mancha, 

 in Spain. This is worked by the king. Here, also, much pure 



