BOOK IV.

99

I will now leave the manager, and discuss him who controls the workmenof the mine, who is therefore called the foreman, although some call himthe watchman. It is he who distributes the work among the labourers, andsees diligently that each faithfully and usefully performs his duties. Healso discharges workmen on account of incompetence, or negligence, andsupplies others in their places if the two Jurors and manager give theirconsent. He must be skilful in working wood, that he may timber shafts,place posts, and make underground structures capable of supporting an under-mined mountain, lest the rocks from the hangingwall of the veins, not beingsupported, become detached from the mass of the mountain and over-whelm the workmen with destruction. He must be able to make and layout the drains in the tunnels, into which the water from the veins, stringers,and seams in the rocks may collect, that it may be properly guided andcan flow away. Further, he must be able to recognize veins and stringers,so as to sink shafts to the best advantage, and must be able to discern onekind of material which is mined from another, or to train his subordinatesthat they may separate the materials correctly. He must also be wellacquainted with all methods of washing, so as to teach the washers howthe metalliferous earth or sand is washed. He supplies the miners with irontools when they are about to start to work in the mines, and apportions acertain weight of oil for their lamps, and trains them to dig to the bestadvantage, and sees that they work faithfully. When their shift is finished,he takes back the oil which has been left. On account of his numerous andimportant duties and labours, only one mine is entrusted to one foreman,nay, rather sometimes two or three foremen are set over one mine.

Since I have mentioned the shifts, I will briefly explain how these arecarried on. The twenty-four hours of a day and night are divided into threeshifts, and each shift consists of seven hours. The three remaining hours areintermediate between the shifts, and form an interval during which theworkmen enter and leave the mines. The first shift begins at the fourth hourin the morning and lasts till the eleventh hour; the second begins at thetwelfth and is finished at the seventh ; these two are day shifts in themorning and afternoon. The third is the night shift, and commences at theeighth hour in the evening and finishes at the third in the morning. TheBergnieister does not allow this third shift to be imposed upon the workmenunless necessity demands it. In that case, whether they draw water fromthe shafts or mine the ore, they keep their vigil by the night lamps, and toprevent themselves falling asleep from the late hours or from fatigue, theylighten their long and arduous labours by singing, which is neither whollyuntrained nor unpleasing. In some places one miner is not allowed toundertake two shifts in succession, because it often happens that he eitherfalls asleep in the mine, overcome by exhaustion from too much labour, orarrives too late for his shift, or leaves sooner than he ought. Elsewhere heis allowed to do so, because he cannot subsist on the pay of one shift,especially if provisions grow dearer. The Bergmeisier does not, however,forbid an extraordinary shift when he concedes only one ordinary shift.