BOOK IV.

9i

within the memory of our fathers, miners have divided a silver mine, andsimilarly the tunnel at Schneeberg, first of all into one hundred and twenty-eight shares, of which one hundred and twenty-six are the property ofprivate owners in the mines or tunnels, one belongs to the State and oneto the Church ; while in Joachimsthal only one hundred and twenty-twoshares of the mines or tunnels are the property of private owners, fourare proprietary shares, and the State and Church each have one in thesame way. To these there has lately been added in some places one sharefor the most needy of the population, which makes one hundred and twenty-nine shares. It is only the private owners of mines who pay contributions.A proprietary holder, though he holds as many as four shares such as I havedescribed, does not pay contributions, but gratuitiously supplies the ownersof the mines with sufficient wood from his forests for timbering, machinery,buildings, and smelting ; nor do those belonging to the State, Church, andthe poor pay contributions, but the proceeds are used to build or repairpublic works and sacred buildings, and to support the most needy with theprofits which they draw from the mines. Furthermore, in our State, theone hundred and twenty-eighth share has begun to be divided into two,four, or eight parts, or even into three, six, twelve, or smaller parts. Thisis done when one mine is created out of two, for then the owner who formerlypossessed one-half becomes owner of one-fourth ; he who possessed one-fourth, of one-eighth ; he who possessed one-third, of one-sixth ; he whopossessed one-sixth, of one-twelfth. Since our countrymen call a mine asymposium, that is, a drinking bout, we are accustomed to call the money whichthe owners subscribe a symbolum, or a contribution 10 . For, just as those whogo to a banquet {symposium) give contributions {symbola), so those who purposemaking large profits from mining are accustomed to contribute toward theexpenditure. However, the manager of the mine assesses the contributionsof the owners annually, or for the most part quarterly, and as often herenders an account of receipts and expenses. At Freiberg in Meissen theold practice was for the manager to exact a contribution from the ownersevery week, and every week to distribute among them the profits of themines, but this practice during almost the last fifteen years has been so farchanged that contribution and distribution are made four 11 times eachyear. Large or small contributions are imposed according to the numberof workmen which the mine or tunnel requires ; as a result, those whopossess many shares provide many contributions. Four times a year theowners contribute to the cost, and four times during the year the profits ofthe mines are distributed among them ; these are sometimes large, some-times small, according as there is more or less gold or silver or other metaldug out. Indeed, from the St. George mine in Schneeberg the miners extractedso much silver in a quarter of a year that silver cakes, which were worth

10 A symposium is a banquet, and a symbola is a contribution of money to a banquet.This sentence is probably a play on the old German Zeche, mine, this being also a term fora drinking bout.

u In the Latin text this is “ three ”—obviously an error.