260 MINING IN THE 



CHAP. X. 



quantity of metal must have been formerly ex- 

 tracted. The silver was coined at Ville-Magne, 

 at a mint established there ; the walls, the orna- 

 ments, and the sculpture of which display, even 

 in their ruins, a royal origin 1 . The number 

 of other and smaller mines, both of lead and 

 of silver, in the same neighbourhood, is very 

 considerable, but, according to Genssane, of 

 very little productiveness at present. Some of 

 them had been worked within the memory of 

 persons still alive, and of others it was merely 

 reported that they had been exhausted in re- 

 mote ages. 



Thus, near the baths of Rennes, in Langue- 

 doc 2 are remains of very extensive mines of 

 lead and silver, the ruins of which point out the 

 quality of the products. This is particularly 

 the case with the mines in the mountains of 

 Cardon and Roquenere, and with that of gold 

 in the mountain Blanchfort, about a quarter of 

 a league below the baths 3 . 



An ancient mine of silver, at the foot of the 

 Chateau de la Caunette, had been examined by 

 a commission from the king during the ministry 

 of Colbert, when it was found to be filled with 

 water. Genssane visited and examined that 



1 Genssane, vol. i. p. 278. 



2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 187- 



3 Idem, vol. iv. p. 187- 



