QUICKSILVER  MINES  OF  OLD  AND  NEW  ALMADEN.  335 
THE  QUICKSILVER  MINES  OF  OLD  AND  NEW  ALMADEN. 
Quicksilver  or  mercury  has  been  known  from  the  earliest  ages, 
but  is  found  nowhere  in  such  large  quantities  as  in  Spain  and 
California.  Almaden,  in  Spain,  has  long  been  famed  for  its 
mines  of  this  metal,  which,  according  to  Bowles,  are  the  richest 
in  their  produce,  the  most  instructive  as  to  the  mode  of  working 
them,  the  most  curious  for  their  natural  history,  and  the  most 
ancient  in  the  world.  We  find  them  mentioned  in  Theophrastus, 
300  years  before  Christ,  and  Vitruvius  also  speaks  of  them. 
Pliny  places  Cisapona,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  written,  Sisapona, 
in  Boetica,  and  says  that  this  mine  was  kept  sealed  with  the 
greatest  care,  and  was  only  opened  to  take  the  quantity  of  cin- 
nabar necessary  for  the  consumption  of  Rome.  (Nat.  Hist., 
xxiii.,  7.)  The  Romans  considered  this  mineral  poisonous  ;  but 
notwithstanding  this,  their  matrons  painted  their  faces  with  it,  and 
their  painters  employed  it  as  a  pigment.  The  Romans  certainly 
worked  this  mine,  but  no  traces  remain  of  their  labors.  The 
Moors,  owing  perhaps  to  some  prejudice,  did  not  work  it. 
In  the  Introduction  a  la  G-eograjica  Fisica  y  la  Historia 
Natural  de  Uspana,  we  read  that  "  the  country  about  Almaden 
abounds  in  iron  mines ;  and  what  is  more  surprising,  in  the  same 
mine  we  find  iron,  mercury  and  sulphur  mixed,  so  as  to  form  one 
mass.  The  neighboring  hills  are  formed  of  the  same  stone,  and 
on  all  of  them  the  same  plants  grow ;  from  which  we  may  infer 
that  the  mercury  does  not  possess  any  poisonous  quality,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  injurious  to  vegetation. 
"  The  brothers  Mark  and  Christopher  Fugger,  of  Germany, 
undertook  to  work  this  mine,  and  contracted  to  give  the  govern- 
ment 4500  quintals  of  mercury  annually  ;  but  not  being  able  to 
fulfil  their  promise,  they  abandoned  it  in  1635,  together  with  the 
silver  mine  of  Gualcanal,  which  they  also  had.  While  connected 
with  those  mines,  however,  their  riches  became  proverbial  in 
Spain,  and  their  descendants  live  at  present  in  Germany,  with  the 
rank  of  princes.  A  branch  of  this  family  afterwards  took  the 
mine,  and  worked  it  till  1645.  In  the  following  year  the  govern- 
ment undertook  the  management  of  it.  Don  Juan  Bustamento 
established  the  furnaces,  and  also  troughs  for  cooling  the  metal. 
These  furnaces  are  twelve  in  number,  and  are  called  by  the  names 
