1228 The Salt Mountains of Ischil. 



raents having been made by means of pipes for conducting water to 

 and from it, the outlet is stopped up, and the chamber is filled with 

 fresh water, of which the mountain streams furnish them with abun- 

 dance. In a few weeks the water in the chamber is saturated with 

 salt ; it is then let out, and conducted by aqueducts to Ebens-see, a 

 distance of twelve miles, where, as I have already described, the wa- 

 ter is evaporated artificially, and the salt is shipped for tiie store- 

 house at Gmunden. When the chamber has become sufficiently 

 dry, the workmen descend into it, clear it from the stones and dirt 

 which have been loosened by the water and fallen from the ceiling, 

 and the chamber is then ready for another flooding. The large 

 chamber we were in, as the guides informed us, requires one month 

 for the process of filling, fifteen days more for completing the satura- 

 tion : it holds eighty thousand German Emers, is filled four times a 

 3'^ear, and has been in use thirty years : one hundred lbs. of water 

 furnish twenty-six and three-fourth lbs. of salt. There are thirty- 

 four chambers in all, in which two hundred men are employed, work- 

 ing night and day, six hours at a time. They work four days in a 

 week, and get forty-eight cents per week. When the chambers are 

 .approaching so as to threaten a breach from one into the other, the 

 further encroachment of the water in that direction is prevented by 

 a compound formed by the clay and pulverized rock, which is beaten 

 against the wall so as to form an effectual barrier. At intervals, in 

 the descent of the mountain, are three reservoirs, into which the wa- 

 ter is successively discharged, I believe for the purpose of breaking 

 the violence of the descent. 



There is a chain of six or seven very beautiful lakes in this neigh- 

 borhood, two of which we visited after leaving Ischil, and on the 

 29th August stopped for a short rest a_t Salzburg. Our consul at 

 Vienna had described in glowing terms the beautiful scenery at 

 Berchtsgaden, a short day's journey to the south of Salzburg, and 

 as it had also a salt mountain, I determined to pay it a visit. There 

 are also salt mines at Hallein, south from Salzburg, which I did not 

 examine ; but which I was informed are worked, and are about as 

 productive as those of Ischil. 



Berchtsgaden is now comprehended in the kingdom of Bavaria. 

 The royal family were there on a visit at this time : they had just 

 been inspecting the mines, and I found many parts of the interior 

 ornamented in a fanciful manner ; the richest crystals of the salt and 

 gypsum having been collected and disposed so as to form grottoes, 



