58 THE QUICKSILVER MINES 
ry of various kinds was therefdre imported from Eng- 
land and the United States at enormous cost, much of 
which has since been rejected, either on account of the 
great expense of running it, or its inadequacy to per- 
form the service required. Six furnaces are now in 
operation reducing the ore, all of which seem to be 
alike, and of the most simple construction. On these 
furnaces the ore isheaped. A steady, though not very 
strong fire, is then applied. As the ore becomes heat- 
ed, the quicksilver is sublimed; and then being con- 
densed, it falls by its own weight, and is conducted by 
pipes which lead along the bottom of the furnace to 
small pots or reservoirs imbedded in the earth, each 
containing from one to two gallons of the ore. The 
furnaces are kept going night and day, while large 
drops or minute streams of the pure metal are constantly 
trickling down into the receptacles. From these it is 
carried to the store-house, and deposited in large cast- 
iron tanks or vats. These are of various shapes and 
sizes, and are fixed in solid beds of stone and mortar. 
The largest, a square vat between four and five feet 
across, contained twenty tons of pure quicksilver. BY 
way of illustrating the great specific gravity of this 
metal, a board was placed on it, upon which I sat, thus 
floating upon a bed of quicksilver ; yet my weight did 
not sink the board to the depth of a quarter ofan inch. 
On thrusting my bare arm into this vat, a most sing 
lar and chilling sensation was produced. I then took 
a stick of light and porous wood, which I immersed for 
about a minute; and when I withdrew it, the metal had 
penetrated through every portion of it, so that 
weight it was little less than the quicksilver itself. 
