ioo BOOK IV. 



When it is time to go to work the sound of a great bell, which the foreigners 

 call a " campana," gives the workmen warning, and when this is heard they 

 run hither and thither through the streets toward the mines. Similarly, 

 the same sound of the bell warns the foreman that a shift has just been 

 finished ; therefore as soon as he hears it, he stamps on the woodwork of the 

 shaft and signals the workmen to come out. Thereupon, the nearest as soon 

 as they hear the signal, strike the rocks with their hammers, and the sound 

 reaches those who are furthest away. Moreover, the lamps show that the 

 shift has come to an end when the oil becomes almost consumed and fails 

 them. The labourers do not work on Saturdays, but buy those things which 

 are necessary to life, nor do they usually work on Sundays or annual 

 festivals, but on these occasions devote the shift to holy things. However, 

 the workmen do not rest and do nothing if necessity demands their labour ; 

 for sometimes a rush of water compels them to work, sometimes an impending 

 fall, sometimes something else, and at such times it is not considered 

 irreligious to work on holidays. Moreover, all workmen of this class are 

 strong and used to toil from birth. 



The chief kinds of workmen are miners, shovelers, windlass men, carriers, 

 sorters, washers, and smelters, as to whose duties I will speak in the fol- 

 lowing books, in their proper place. At present it is enough to add this one 

 fact, that if the workmen have been reported by the foreman for negligence, 

 the Bergmeister, or even the foreman himself, jointly with the manager, 

 dismisses them from their work on Saturday, or deprives them of part of 

 their pay ; or if for fraud, throws them into prison. However, the owners 

 of works in which the metals are smelted, and the master of the smelter, look 

 after their own men. As to the government and duties of miners, I have 

 now said enough ; I will explain them more fully in another work entitled 

 De Jure et Legibus Metallicis 11 . 



17 This work was apparently never published ; see Appendix A. 



END OF BOOK IV. 



