222 Visit to the (Quicksilver Mines of Idria. 



The furnace is half a mile lower down the valley and at the ex- 

 treme end of the village. It consists of a circular walled building 

 about forty feet diameter by sixty in height, on each side of which 

 is a continuous range of chambers ten or twelve feet square, and 

 nearly as many in height : by means of small square openings in the 

 partition walls, the air is allowed to pass from the center building 

 to the remotest. Each has also a door communicating with the 

 external air. These buildings are all of stone and are plastered 

 within. The gangue, after being prepared in the washing house as 

 already described, is removed to this edifice and placed in earthen 

 pans four inches deep and fifteen in diameter, which are piled up 

 so as to fill the center building. The doors of the chambers are 

 then carefully walled up ; and a strong fire having been lighted 

 under the center building, the quicksilver rises in the form of va- 

 por, and passing into the small chambers, is there condensed by the 

 cold atmosphere around them. Some of the gangue you will observe, 

 is brought here in the form of the native rock : I understood them 

 to say that the expansive power of the vapor, together with the heat 

 of the fire, was sufficient to cause the rock to disintegrate and thus 

 allow the escape of the quicksilver. When this process is over, the 

 door ways of the chambers are once more opened, and the quick- 

 silver, which is found chiefly adhering in drops to the sides and 

 ceiling, is scraped off, and running into a hollow in the floor, is ta- 

 ken thence to the cleaning and bottling room. It appears to act on 

 the mortar of the chambers, for I found the latter flaky, and the 

 crevices all filled with small globules. 



The cleaning process is very simple, a piece of canvass being 

 merely spread over a funnel and the quicksilver being made to pass 

 through this, comes out sufficiently pure. That intended for home 

 consumption is then tied up in sheepskins, while that for exportation 

 is put in iron bottles large enough to contain sixty eight pounds. 

 The furnace is kept in operation only during the winter months, and 

 then the vapor which escapes from it is a serious annoyance to the 

 town : they have a blast three times every fortnight. 



The price of quicksilver at the mines is 112 florins for one hun- 

 dred German pounds, or about 44 cents for an American pound. 

 The quantity annually procured is about one hundred and sixty four 

 tons : formerly it was greater, and brought a better price, their mar- 

 ket, which is chiefly in China, having been injured by competition 

 from the quicksilver mines near Almeria, in Spain. 



