Chap. V. Hungary, Thessaly, Macedonia, 779 
Way being laid all along with Fir-trees, and fo con- 
trived, that the Rowlers muft needs rowl upon the Fir- 
trees, without being able to over-turn or run out of the 
Way, fo as to be managed by a Child, and fometimes 
a Dog, there paffing fcarce a Week but that betwixt 
300 and 400 of thefe Chariots, containing each 400 
Weight of Ore, are carried down thus to every Buch- 
‘worke. There were then in this Mine two very perni- 
cious Damps, befides others that were lefs dangerous ; 
one was in a Schacht^ Shafts Pit or Puteus^ the other in a 
Stalk as they call it, or Paffage, or Cuniculus \ no Lamp 
•would burn in them for any Time, and fo long as they 
did, the Miners would venture to flay there •, but as 
foon as they went out, they were drawn up again : They 
find thefe Vapours more peftiferous, where the Water is 
very high *, but that in the Cuniculus they were in good 
Hopes to corretd: by Perflation, and digging another 
Paffage into it. 
They told me, that at one Time they loft twenty- 
eight Men in four feveral Paffages, wz. (even in each 
Cuniculus. At the firft finking of Leopold's Schacht or 
Pit, they were extremely troubled with pernicious 
Damps, v/hich they qualified in this Manner : They 
fix’d a Tube reaching from the Top to the Bottom of 
the Pit, but this not anfwering altogether their Expec- 
tations, they were obliged to have Recourfe to another 
Invention, viz. by flopping the Pit, by Means of a 
broad fiat Board, which covered all the Sides of it, ex- 
cept where the Tube was, and fo forced out all the Air 
in the Pit through the Tube, which they were forc’d 
often to repeat till they made feveral other Paffages in- 
to it, whereby the Air is render’d wholfome enough *, 
for as I was drawn up through it, I found not the leaft 
Difficulty in Breathing. Ahermans Fore-ftall or Cuni- 
€ulus, 500 Fathoms long, was, by the Carelefsnefs of a 
Boy, wiping the Snuff of his Lamp upon the Wood, 
burn’d in 1642, and fifty Men fmothered in it; they 
were all afterwards taken up, except one, whofe whole 
Body feem’d to have been confum’d by the Corrofivenefs 
of the Waters of the Mine ; there remaining nothing but 
his Cloaths, 
34. This Mine alfo contains red, white, blue and 
green Vitriol and vitriolate Waters. There is alfo in 
this Mine a certain Subftance adhering to the Gold 
jOre, and confifting of fmall pointed Parts like Needles 
of a purple Colour, and fhining, the Colour of it being yel- 
low like Brimftone, they give it the Name of Antimony 
of Gold. Various Sorts of Cryftals are alfo found here, 
and among them fome yellow ones. 
Near the Gold Mine in the fame Hills, is a Vitriol 
Mine, at leaft eighty Fathom deep ; containing a red, 
and fomewhat greenifh Ore or Earth. This they infufe 
in Water for three Days, and then pouring it off, boil 
it for feven Days fucceffively in Leaden Cauldrons till it 
is coagulated to a white thick Subftance, which being 
reduced to a Calx in a Furnace, they keep for the ma- 
king of Aqua Fortis., or the feparating Water ufed at 
Schemnitz. Where they pound the Gold Ore, a Foun- 
dation of Wood is laid, at leaft three Yards deep, upon 
which they fpread the Ore. Over this are twenty four 
Beams, covered at the Bottom with Iron, for the better 
grinding of the Ore, which is always covered with Wa- 
ter, and the Work continued Day and Night without 
Intermiffion, making Ufe of Fir, or fome other refi- 
nous Wood, inftead of Candles. 
This Grinding, as I told you, is performed by the 
twenty-four Beams, moved by four Wheels, viz. fix 
Beams by each Wheel ; the latter, which runs from 
the pounded one, being let into little Pots or Cifterns, 
perhaps feven or eight one after another, and at laft 
into a very large one, of perhaps half an Acre of 
Ground ; which, after it is well fettled, is let out. 
The pounded Gold Ore they call Slich, among which 
they account that the richeft, which is neareft to thp 
Beams, where it is firft pounded : Then they take the 
Slich waftied fo long, as, perhaps, in a hundred Pounds 
Weight there may be half an Ounce, or perhaps an 
Ounce of Gold and Silver, two Thirds whereof are ge- 
nerally Gold, (the Chremnilz Ore being rarely without 
Mixture of Silver, as the bell; of the Schemnitz 
Silver Ore contains, for the moft part, an eighth Parc 
of Gold, in Proportion of the Silver :) To this Slick 
they add Lime-ftone, and JlakeH and melt them toge- 
ther in the Melting-Furnace. This Melting produces 
that they call Lech, which Lech being burn’d with Char- 
coal to render it more porous, is then call’d RoPt. This 
Rofi they mix with Sand, and melt it again in the Melt- 
ing-Furnace, then let it out into the Pan, and proceed 
as in the Melting of Silver. 
Among feveral other Ways they have to feparate the 
Gold from the pounded Ore, they have one perform’d 
Without the Ufe of Lead, viz. The pounded Ore being 
•vt'ell wafli’d, they lay it in Powder upon Cloths, fo that 
by the eafy defeending of the Water over it, and their 
continual ftirring it, the earthy Parts are w^afli’d away, 
and the heavier and metalline remaining on the Cloth. 
In the fame Manner they proceed with Sheep-ikins and 
Wool, being placed where the Rivulets come either 
from the Works, or the Hills. The Cloths in which 
the Ore is thus fettled, they wafh in feveral Tubs, and 
the Water, after fettling, is poured off from its Sedi- 
ment : This Sediment being again wafhed feveral Times, 
and ftirr’d up in feveral Veffels, they at laft fprinklc 
Quickfilver upon it, and knead it well together for two 
Hours ; then wafliing it again in a wooden Veffel, (after 
they have firft feparated good Part of it, which the 
Qiiickfilver touches not, by ftriking the Veffel againfl: 
their Legs) they reduce the Mixture of Gold and (Jiick- 
filver into an Amalgama. 
After this, having feparated again the Quickfilver, 
by ftraining it through a coarfe Cloth firft, and after- 
wards through a fine, they put the remaining Mafs 
upon a perforated Plate, which they fet over a deep 
Pan placed in the Earth, in the Bottom of which is a 
good Quantity of Quickfilver : Over this Pan and Plate 
they lute a Cover, and making a Charcoal Fire upon if, 
force the Quickfilver, as yet remaining with the Gold, 
downwards to the reft in the Bottom of the Pan, and 
afterwards taking out the Gold, purify it once more ia 
the Fire. 
35. Having paffed feveral Days at Chremnitz, I tra- 
velled forward to Newfol ; and as I paffed over the 
Hills on the Eaft-fide of Chremniiz, upon the Top of 
one of them I faw a vaft Stone or Rock alone, near 
the high Road ; thefe Hills being for the moft Part 
covered with Wood, which are of great Service to the 
Gold Mine. Paffing on further, we came in Sight of 
the Village of Lila, near which are the Quickfilver 
Hills. From hence we came to the River Gran, upon 
which Newfol ftands, which has a handfome wooden 
Bridge over the River, and a handfome Row of Piles 
crofs the River to flop the Wood, which about ten 
Miles higher is thrown into the River, and without 
any further Labour, by the Force of the Current, car- 
ried down -to Newfol, for the burning, melting, call- 
ing, and hammering the Copper in that Copper-Mine. 
Newfol is a very handfome Town, having a fpacious 
Piazza, at the upper End of which ftands a fair Tower. 
The Church, which ftands within the Caftle, is cover- 
ed with Copper, and within it are many carved Figures 
of Wood and Stone Relicks, which, though not much 
reverenced, yet are preferved by the Lutherans, who 
are in Poffefllon of this Church ; the fame being ob- 
ferved in moft other ancient Lutheran Churches. 
All about this Town are the greateft Copper Mines 
in all Llungary ; but the Copper icfelf being fo ftrongly 
united to the Stone,- or Ore, the Copper Ore of this 
Mine is burnt and melted fourteen Times before it pro- 
duces Copper fit for Ule. The firft Melting is per- 
form’d with a certain Stone they call Flufi-ftein, and its 
own Drofs, and with Kis, or a Sort of Pyrites. Then 
it is carried to the Roft-hearth, as they term it, being 
great Stacks, or Heaps of Billets, upon which it is laid* 
and thefe being fet a-fire underneath, the Ore is burned 
into a Subftance called Roft ; which being repeated thus 
feven or eight Times, it is then melted again in the 
Melting-Furnace, and at two Furnaces more at Mif-- 
mills, and twice more at the Hammer. This Kis is 
brought hither from Jefma^ which melted is ufed ia 
the Melting of Silver, 
Ac 
