BOOK IV. 8i 



usual method of delimiting a vein : as soon as the miner found metal, he 

 gave information to the Bergmeister and the tithe-gatherer, who either 

 proceeded personally from the town to the mountains, or sent thither men 

 of good repute, at least two in number, to inspect the metal-bearing vein. 

 Thereupon, if they thought it of sufficient importance to survey, the Bergmeister 

 again having gone forth on an appointed day, thus questioned him who first 

 found the vein, concerning the vein and the diggings : " Which is your 

 vein ? " " Which digging carried metal ? " Then the discoverer, pointing 

 his finger to his vein and diggings, indicated them, and next the Bergmeister 

 ordered him to approach the windlass and place two fingers of his right hand 

 upon his head, and swear this oath in a clear voice : "I swear by God and 

 all the Saints, and I call them all to witness, that this is my vein ; and more- 

 over if it is not mine, may neither this my head nor these my hands henceforth 

 perform their functions." Then the Bergmeister, having started from the 

 centre of the windlass, proceeded to measure the vein with a cord, and to 

 give the measured portion to the discoverer, — in the first instance a half and 

 then three full measures ; afterward one to the King or Prince, another to 

 his Consort, a third to the Master of the Horse, a fourth to the Cup-bearer, 

 a fifth to the Groom of the Chamber, a sixth to himself. Then, starting 

 from the other side of the windlass, he proceeded to measure the vein in a 

 similar manner. Thus the discoverer of the vein obtained the head-meer, 

 that is, seven single measures ; but the King or Ruler, his Consort, the leading 

 dignitaries, and lastly, the Bergmeister, obtained two measures each, or two 

 ancient meers. This is the reason there are to be found at Freiberg in Meissen 

 so many shafts with so many intercommunications on a single vein — which are 

 to a great extent destroyed by age. If, however, the Bergmeister had already 

 fixed the boundaries of the meers on one side of the shaft for the benefit of 

 some other discoverer, then for those dignitaries I have just mentioned, 

 as many meers as he was unable to award on that side he duplicated 

 on the other. But if on both sides of the shaft he had already defined the 

 boundaries of meers, he proceeded to measure out only that part of the 

 vein which remained free, and thus it sometimes happened that some of 

 those persons I have mentioned obtained no meer at all. To-day, though 

 that old-established custom is observed, the method of allotting the vein 

 and granting title has been changed. As I have explained above, the head- 

 meer consists of three double measures, and each other meer of two 

 measures, and the Bergmeister grants one each of the meers to him who 

 makes the first application. The King or Prince, since all metal is taxed, is 

 himself content with that, which is usually one-tenth. 



Of the width of every meer, whether old or new, one-half lies on the 

 footwall side of a vena profunda and one half on the hangingwall side. If 

 the vein descends vertically into the earth, the boundaries similarly descend 



must be borne in mind that the form of rights here referred to entitled the miner to follow 

 his vein, carrying the side line with him in depth the same distance from the vein, in much 

 the same way as with the Apex Law of the United States. From this definition as given in the 

 Bcrgmerk Lexicon, p. 585, it would appear that the vein itself was not included in the measure- 

 ments, but that they started from the walls. 



