96 BOOK IV. 



Mining Clerk, and in common they receive the fee rendered by the foremen 

 of the separate mines. 



I now come to the Jurors, who are men experienced in mining 

 matters and of good repute. Their number is greater or less as there 

 are few or more mines ; thus if there are ten mines there will be five 

 pairs of Jurors, Uke a decemviral college^^. Into however many 

 divisions the total number of mines has been divided, so many divisions 

 has the body of Jurors ; each pair of Jurors usually visits some of 

 the mines whose administration is under their supervision on every 

 day that workmen are employed ; it is usually so arranged that they 

 visit all the mines in the space of fourteen days. They inspect and con- 

 sider all details, and dehberate and consult with the mine foreman on 

 matters relating to the underground workings, machinery, timbering, and 

 everything else. They also jointly with the mine foreman from time to 

 time make the price per fathom to the workmen for mining the ore, fixing 

 it at a high or low price, according to whether the rock is hard or soft ; if, 

 however, the contractors find that an unforeseen and unexpected hardness 

 occurs, and for that reason have difficulty and delay in carrying out their 

 work, the Jurors allow them something in excess of the price fixed ; 

 while if there is a softness by reason of water, and the work is done more 

 easily and quickly, they deduct something from the price. Further, if the 

 Jurors discover manifest negligence or fraud on the part of any foreman 

 or workman, they first admonish or reprimand him as to his duties and 

 obhgations, and if he does not become more diligent and improve, the matter 

 is reported to the Bergmeister, who by right of his authority deprives such 

 persons of their functions and office, or, if they have committed a crime, 

 throws them into prison. Lastly, because the Jurors have been given 

 to the Bergmeister as councillors and advisors, in their absence he does not 

 confirm the right over any mine, nor measure the mines, nor fix their 

 boundaries, nor settle disputes about boundaries, nor pronounce judgment, 

 nor, finally, does he without them listen to any account of profits and 

 expenditure. 



Now the Mining Clerk enters each mine in his books, the new mines 

 in one book, the old mines which have been re-opened in another. This 

 is done in the following way : first is written the name of the man who has 

 appUed for the right over the mine, then the day and hour on which he 

 made his apphcation, then the vein and the locality in which it is situated, 

 next the conditions on which the right has been given, and lastly, the day on 

 which the Bergmeister confirmed it. A document containing all these 

 particulars is also given to the person whose right over a mine has been 

 confirmed. The Mining Clerk also sets down in another book the names 

 of the owners of each mine over which the right has been confirmed ; 

 in another any intermission of work permitted to any person for cer- 



^*Decemviri — " The Ten Men." The original Decemviri were a body appointed by 

 the Romans in 452 B.C., principally to codify the law. Such commissions were afterward 

 instituted for other purposes, but the analogy of the above paragraph is a little remote. 



