114 The Hartz. 



dreasberg is situated on the side of a mountain of so great an in- 

 clination, as scarce to admit of the passing of carriages in certain parts 

 of the town. The environs are very uneven, so much so that the 

 roads which lead to the town ascend the mountains in zig zag. This 

 city was founded in 1 52 1 . The constructions are principally of wood. 

 The veins here are numerous and are not celebrated so much for their 

 length, as for their extreme richness. They vary in breadth from fifteen 

 to twenty three inches, differing in this respect from those at Clausthal. 

 It appears that the ores increase in richness in proportion as they de- 

 cend. A remarkable instance of this fact exists in the celebrated mine 

 Samson, which is incomparably the deepest shaft in the Hartz ; the 

 lowest gallery being 50 feet below the surface of the Baltic, and 333 

 lachters, about 2229 feet below the surface of the earth. The de- 

 scent into these mines is practiced altogether by means of ladders ; 

 one half of the main extracting pit being separated into distances of 

 about 25 feet by means of platforms, thus rendering the fatigue more 

 supportable and the descent less dangerous. The vein upon which 

 the Samson is constructed, is limited on the N. W. by the the vein 

 termed Neufang, limiting in its turn the vein Gnade-Gottes on the S. 

 W. A remarkable fact, here observed, is that the riches of the vein 

 are not increased at the point of junction of two veins ; on the contra- 

 ry the crossing vein always becomes barren beyond the joining point. 

 After the two mines already mentioned, the most celebrated are those 

 of Andreaskreutz, Clausfrederick, &£c. having a mean direction from 

 N. W. to S. E., occasionally crossing each other at different and ap- 

 preciable angles. These mines are worked by the waters of the dam 

 Oderteich, which are brought by the canal Rehbergergraben. Many 

 of the ores here extracted are celebrated in science, and form dis- 

 tinct mineralogical species ; among them may be distinguished, red sil- 

 ver (sulphuret,) antimonial silver, the antimonial sulphuret of silver 

 and arsenical silver giving to the schlich an extraordinary richness. 

 An experiment has been lately made, upon the results of which has 

 been founded a new method of treating these minerals ; in one single 

 melting one thousand one hundred and eighty one marks of silver 

 were extracted from fourteen quintals of schlich. In this experi- 

 ment, the above mentioned minerals were alone treated. The argen- 

 tiferous galena (which is much richer than that found at Clausthal) 

 was thrown aside not being sufficiently rich. The principal gangues 

 found with these minerals are carbonate of lime, which prevails, not- 

 withstanding we observed that quartz formed the principal part of 

 that found in the bottom of the Samson. Notice should be taken of 



