66 ‘THE QUICKSILVER MINES 
to any miner or carrier engaged in these subterranean 
labors. The workmen, nevertheless, are not without 
their fears, and have taken their own method to secure 
themselves from harm, by placing in a niche just with- 
in the entrance to the mine, an image of their saint, 
very prettily decorated with muslin and gaudy silks. 
Before this every man falls on his knees, and says his © 
. prayers, invoking the protection of the saint during the 
day. Ihave never seen a more happy and contented 
set of laborers than these. 
Knowing the effects of mercury on the system, the 
question will naturally arise in the mind of the reader 
as to whether those employed in the mine or about the 
furnaces suffer from their close contact with the ore or 
the quicksilver. The miners, and those who merely 
handle the cinnabar, are not injured thereby ; but those 
who work about the furnaces, and inhale the fumes of 
the metal, are seriously affected. Salivation is common ; 
and the attendants on the furnaces are compelled to 
desist from their labor every three or four weeks, when 
a fresh set of hands is put on. The horses and mules 
are also salivated; and from twenty to thirty of them 
die every year from the effects of the mercury. 
The ore, after it is deposited near the furnaces, is 
separated according to its quality. The larger masses 
are first broken up, and then all is piled up under 
sheds near the furnace doors. Seven or eight days are 
required to fill the furnaces, extract the quicksilver, 
and remove the residuum, the latter being the most 
dangerous part of the process. All is done as much 
in the open air as possible, the furnaces being merely 
protected by a roof. 
