CHAP. X. 



MIDDLE AGES. 251 



Dorado. How much earlier they had been 

 worked does not appear; but in the year 1523 

 they produced 38,000 pounds of silver; in the 

 next year, 33,700; in 1525, 52,800. In 1564 they 

 fell off so as to yield only 11,400 pounds; and 

 though once they increased again to 20,000 

 pounds, they never more attained that point ; 

 and have long since ceased to afford any \ 



About two miles from Zell, in the Tyrol, is a 

 small establishment where the sand is washed 

 for gold. Mines were opened here for gold by 

 one Spengler, who was brought from the Hartz 

 in 1435 ; and between that time and the year 

 1504 sixteen mines in the whole were opened. 

 As the mines were situated in a province belong- 

 ing jointly to the archbishop of Salzburg and 

 the prince of Tyrol, disputes arose which im- 

 peded the work, and finally suspended it 2 . 



Besides the product of the mines, gold was 

 obtained by washing in many parts of the Aus- 

 trian dominions. In the Danube there were 

 formerly gold washings, and even in the present 

 day some is found in the sands between Vienna 

 and Presburg, mixed with transparent quartz and 

 iron, but the quantity is so small as to be almost 

 unworthy of notice. 



More extended accounts of the Austrian mines 

 than of other countries have been deemed pro- 



1 Vierthaler, vol. ii. p. 178. 2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 191, 



