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REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 149
would not fuffer the mines which had been difcovered in Italy to be opened, for the
purpofe of preferving the lives of the people; and they thought that thofe wretches who
had forfeited their lives could not be more cruelly punifhed than in fuffering them to live,
for the purpofe of con{tantly employing them to dig their own graves. In this mine are
found native fulphur, blue and green vitriol, and o€taedrons, which are ftones naturally
cut in a pyramidal form on all fides.
From Coperberyt we came to a filver mine at Salberyt, a little village two days’ jour-
ney diftant from Stockholm, and one of the moft delightfully fituated places in that
country. We travelled next day to the mine, which is about a quarter of a mile dif-
tant from the village. This mine has three large mouths, at which it is impoflible to
fee the bottom: the half of a tub, fupported by a cable, is employed inftead of a ftair-
cafe, for the purpofe of defcending this abyfs : it rifes and falls by means of a very cu-
rious machine, which is wrought with water. The extent of one’s danger may eafily
be conceived, when one muft defcend in this manner, having only one foot in this ma-
chine, and one’s life depending on the ftrength or weaknels of a rope. A fatellite,
black as a devil, holding in his hand a torch of pitch and rofin, defcended with us, and
{creamed out an air fo melancholy, that it feemed to have been made on purpofe for
this infernal defcent. When we were about the middle we felt great cold, which, joined
to the water which fell on us in torrents from all quarters, roufed us from the lethargy
into which we had fallen in defcending to thefe fubterraneous regions. We at length
arrived at the bottom of this gulf, after half an hour’s journey ; there our fears began
to difappear ; we no more beheld any thing frightful: on the contrary, every thing
was brilliant in thefe nether regions. We defcended ftill farther below ground, upon
extremely high {fcales, for the purpofe of vifiting a faloon which is in the bofom of this
cavern, and which is fupported by a number of columns of filver, with which every
thing is covered. Four {pacious galleries difclofe themfelves, and the reflection of the
lights, which fhone on all fides, and dazzled on the vaults of filver, and a clear rivulet
which ran at their foot, did not tend fo much to give light to the workmen, as to render
this abode more magnificent than the palace of Pluto, which the ancients placed in the
centre of the earth, where the god of wealth has eftablifhed all his treafures. Men of all
countries are to be feen in thefe galleries, feeking with care that object which confers
fo much pleafure on mankind. Some draw carriages, others roll ftones, and others
are tearing the rocks afunder. It is a town below a town, and contains houfes, taverns,
ftables and horfes; and what is very remarkable, there is a mill in the bottom of this
gulf which raifes the water out of the mine. One remounts by means of the fame
machine for the purpofe of viewing the different operations by which filver is made.
The firft ftones taken out of the mine are called _/uf, which are dried in a furnace,
which burns flowly, and which feparates the antimony, arfenic, and fulphur from the
ftone, the lead, and the filver, which remain together. This firft operation is followed
by another, in which the dried {tones are thrown into troughs and piled upon each
other, for the purpofe of being reduced to duft, by means of large hammers wrought
by water : this matter is kept in water which runs conftantly upon a large cloth, placed
in a floping pofition, and by which all the thick and earthy matter is carried off, while
the lead and the filver remain at the bottom ; it is afterwards removed from hence, and
thrown a third time into furnaces, which feparate the filver from the lead, which is con-
verted into fcum.
_ The Spaniards of Potofi do not now employ fo many different methods for the pur-
pofe of purifying filver, and rendering it malleable, fince they found out the method
of mixing it with quickfilver, which is the determined enemy of all the other metals,
I which
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