by which oftentimes fome of the workmen come up and 
down. The other, which is the ufual way, is at the beginning 
not difficult 3 the deicent not being much 5 the greateft trou- 
ble is^ that infeveral places you cannot ftand upright : but 
this holds not long , bcfoire you come to defcend in earneft by 
perpendicular Ladders , where the weight of on's body is 
found very fenfiblc. At the end of each Ladder, there are 
boards a cro% where we may breath a little. The Ladders, 
as was faid, are perpendiculap^but being imagined produced, 
do not make one Ladder 3 but feveral parallel ones. Being 
at the bottom, we faw no more then what we (aw before, on- 
ly the place, whence the Mineral came. All the way down, 
and thebottom,where there are feveral lanes cutout in the 
Mountain , is lined and propt with great pieces of Firr-trecs, 
as thick as they can be fet. They digg the Mineral with Pick- 
axes, following the veins : 'tis for the moft part hard as a 
ftonc , but more weighty 5 of a Liver-colour , or that of 
Crocus MetaUorum, I hope fliortly to fhew you fbme of it. 
There is alfo Ibme foft Earth, in which you plainly fee the Mer- 
cttry in little particles. Befides this, there are oftentimes found 
in the Mines round ftones like Flints, of feveral bignefles, ve- 
ry like thofe Globes of Hair, which I have often feen \x\ Eng- 
land^ taken out of Oxes bcllys. There are alfo feveral 
^^rr4/&^j and ftones 5 which feem to have ipccks of Gold in 
them 5 but upon try al they fay, they find none in them. Thefe 
round ftones are fome of them very ponderous , and well im- 
pregnated with Werr^/r^ 5 others, light, having little or none 
in them. The manner of getting the Mercury is this ; They 
take of the Earth, brought up in Buckets , and put it into 
a Sive, whofe bottom is made of wires at fo great a diftance, 
that you may put your finger betwixt them : 'tis carried to a 
ftream of running water, and wafti'd as long as any thing will 
pafs through the Sive. That Earth which pafleth not , is laid 
afide upon an other heap : that which pafleth, referved in the 
hole, G.in Fig. i. and taken up again by the fecond Man^and fo 
on, to about ten or twelve fives proportionably left. It often 
happens in the firft hole, where the fecond Man takes up his 
Earth 
