G56 
SALT MINES IN POLAND, 
tliat b}' boring, stronger springs might be found in the neighbourhood; 
In Lancashire there are several salt springs, but, if we except those 
at Barton, which are as rich as the spring at Norwich, by no means 
so famous as those of Cheshire, called in general'by the name of the 
Wiches. At Naraptwich, situated on the river Weever, the brine is 
still richer, for six ounces of salt are obtained from sixteen of water. 
The inhabitants of Wales, who, before that country was incorporated 
with England, v/ere supplied chiefly, if not solely, w'ith that necessary 
commodity from these two towns, called the former Heilath Wen, 
and the latter Heilath Dn ; i. e. the white and black salt-pit. 
In 1670 a rock of salt was discovered at a small distance from 
Norwich, which has been wrought to a great depth, and to a vast 
extent, so as to be justly esteemed one of the greatest curiosities in 
England; and it is highly probable that there is an immense bodv of 
fossil salt in the bowels of the earth, under this whole county, for, 
upon boring, brine pits have been found in many places on both sides 
of the Weever. This is the more likely, since at Middlewich, which 
stands at the confluence of the Croke and the Dan, there are salt 
springs with a fresh brook running between them. The brines from 
these pits are of unequal strength, but when mixed, they commonly 
obtain four ounces of salt from a pound of brine. In these springs 
the water is strongest near the boltom, richer in dry weather than in 
wet, and w'hen long drawn than when first wrought. But there are 
no rules in respect to other salt springs, for in those of Franclie 
Comte the brine is strongest in wet weather. There are several other 
bodies dissolved in those brines, besides salt : in some a sulphureous 
substance, which sublimes as the brine lieats ; a sort of dirty ochre^ 
which discolours the brine, but, if suffered to stand, speed iiy subsides ; 
and, in most brines, a calcareous, or rather selenitic earth, wiiich 
settles to the bottom of the pan. 
Salt Mines .in Poland. 
The salt mines of Vielicza, near Cracow' in Poland, are very extra- 
ordinary caverns. Mr. Wraxall describes them thus, in his Memoirs 
of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Warsaw, and Vienna. “After being let 
down,’^ says he, “ by a rope to the depth of two hundred and thirty 
feet, our conductors led us through galleries, which for loftiness and 
breadth seemed rather to resemble the avenues to some subterranean 
palace, than passages cut in a mine. They were perfectly dry in 
every part, and terminated in two chapels, composed entirely of salt, 
hewn out of the solid mass. The images which adorn the altars, as 
well as the pillars and ornaments, w'ere all of the same transparent 
materials ; the points and spars of which, held by the guides in their 
hands, produced an effect equally novel and beautiful. Descending 
lower into the earth by means of ladders, I found myself in an immense 
hall or cavern of salt, many hundred feet in height, length, and di- 
mensions, the floor and sides of which were cut with exact regularity : 
one thousand persons might dine in it without inconvenience, and the 
eye in vain attempted to trace or define its limits. Nothing could be 
more sublime than this vast subterranean apartment, illuminated by 
