256 MINING IN THE CHAP. X. 



The mines belonging to Prussia, besides the 

 small portion in the Hartz, which is before 

 alluded to, are very inconsiderable as far as re- 

 gards the precious metals. Those in the pro- 

 vinces of Mansfeld and Rothenburg, ceded by 

 Saxony in 1816, are said, in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, to have yielded yearly about thirty thou- 

 sand ounces of silver, but we have no means of 

 ascertaining if they were worked at any former 

 period. 



Prussia. The mines of Tarnowitz, in the Prussian pro- 

 vince of Silesia, exhibit evident proofs of having 

 been worked in very ancient times, and to a 

 much greater extent than in more modern 

 days. There are records which show that, after 

 an uncertain suspension, they were revived by 

 some protestant refugees from the county of 

 Mansfeld, about the year 1524. George Mar- 



the bases of the several manufactures carried on in this moun- 

 tain district. 



The paternal government of Hanover is liberal to the poor 

 inhabitants of the Hartz. It allows them wood for mining 

 purposes from its forests without payment, and stores up a 

 large quantity of bread-corn in seasons of abundance in a ma- 

 gazine at Osterode, which is dispensed to them at a cheap 

 rate, when, in the variations of years, the price advances. 

 These notices respecting the Hartz are abridged from Voyages 

 Metallurgiques de Jars, vol.i.; from Plethos Erdebeschreibung 

 der Fursten Wolfenbutel ; from Hassel, vol. iv. ; and part are 

 written from personal inquiries made by the author on the 

 spot in 1827. 



