1854.] WILSON CALIFORNIA CINNABAR MINES. 321 



and is most acutely felt there, and after passing that point it becomes 

 diffused. 



The Quicksilver Works and Cinnabar Mines. — After travelling 

 about fifteen miles from San Jose, we arrived at the quicksilver works, 

 which we found situated in the bottom of a beautiful glen, through 

 which a clear stream of water continually flowed. We obtained 

 permission of the Superintendent to witness the process by which 

 quicksilver is extracted from the Cinnabar. In this I found that they 

 had abandoned the old method of using retorts, and adopted a mode 

 by which the process is managed on a more extensive scale, by using 

 a number of large furnaces, each built somewhat in the form of an 

 oven, and having a chamber attached, in which condensation of the 

 mercurial vapour is effected. 



We next went to see the mines, one mile and a half distant. The 

 road led up a rather steep ravine, along one side of which it has been 

 cut at very considerable expense. On our way we met a number of 

 mules laden with cinnabar, on pack-saddles, this being found the 

 readiest method of conveyance to the works. 



At the head of the road we found a number of men employed in 

 cutting a level into the hill, intended to pass through the vein below 

 the present workings. About 150 feet higher up the hill we could 

 see the present opening to the mine, to which we ascended by a 

 steep, winding path. On a terrace formed in front of the opening a 

 number of men were sorting the ore, while others were employed in 

 carrying it out of the mine in bags suspended on their backs, by 

 means of straps passing across the front of their heads ; while in their 

 hands they each carried a stick, which they used in the manner of a 

 long staff, but having a socket fixed on it, near to the lower end, in 

 which they carried a candle to light them through the dark and 

 rocky passage. 



The mine is near the top of a mountain, about 1500 feet elevation 

 above the level of the sea. The rock is clay-slate, and the cinnabar 

 is found in a vein with quartz. The vein is vertical, but the slates 

 lean at a considerable angle eastward. In walking across the hill, I 

 found two other quartz-veins with apparently the same metallic 

 character, and I was told afterwards that they had been tested, and 

 found to contain quicksilver, but they were not included in the com- 

 pany's property. The cinnabar is red in colour, different from any 

 I had before seen, though I feel almost satisfied that it is identical 

 with a red mineral that I had frequently seen in Australia, but sup- 

 posed then to be merely an oxide of iron. 



Metalliferous Minerals of California. — Other metals exist in 

 California, but are not thought worth looking for while gold can 

 be got by digging. I was shown a specimen of sulphuret of silver, 

 found up the south branch of the Stanislaus, and which was said to 

 be abundant. It was discovered and identified as silver ore by a 

 South American woman. I was told likewise of the existence of a 

 rich lead-vein in the Coast-range, south of the Cinnabar mines. 



