MINES OF CREMNITZ. ^ 361 
Having first obtained permission from the chap. 
magistrates and superior officers, he conducted ■ 
us to the principal 7mne, prepared for the 
coming of the two Archdukes. This mine is 
the private property of individuals: it was 
visited by Joseph the Second, by Maximilian, and 
by other princes ; being always selected for 
that purpose, owing to the extraordinary facility 
of its entrance. The passage into it is so com- coidMme. 
modious, that we were conducted in a carriage 
drawn by horses, which had been placed ready 
for the arrival of the Archdukes. We were 
two hours employed in the examination of its 
interior; being conducted to the vein o^ gold ore 
by levels kept everywhere clean and dry. The 
miners were then employed in digging this ore; 
and as they had laid open a very rich part of it, 
we took the picks into our hands, and fell to 
work ourselves, that we might the better un- 
derstand the nature of the vein. It consisted Appear- 
ance of ihi.' 
of white quartz, containing auriferous silver ore, Ore. 
and auriferous pyrites. The latter, when pro- 
perly stamped and washed, yielded from two to 
three drachms of gold in the hundred. The 
direction of the vein was ?iorth and south, being 
at the same time inclined from the ivest towards 
the east, according to an angle which varies 
from 25^ to 30° and 40°. We brought away 
