192

MINES.

The limestones surmounting the southern slope of the Alps , contain also some leadmines; but the quicksilver mines of Idria, situated at the foot of the Alps , 10 leaguesN.W. of Trieste , is Worthy of particular notice ; it lies in a limestone which everythingleads us to refer to the zechstein, the most ancient of the secondary limestones.

The Apennines, which may be considered as a dependance of the Alps , present asmall number of mines. At Chiavary and Pignone, manganese is mined ; and at thebe-ginning of the eighteenth century a vein of mercury was worked at Levigliani in Tus-cany . An antimonial mine is mentioned at Pereta in the marshes of Sienna.

Before quitting these regions, we ought to notice the iron mines of the isle of Elba .They have been famous for 18 centuries ; Virgil denotes them as inexhaustible, andsupposes them to have been open at the arrival of JEneas in Italy . They are exploredby open quarries, working on an enormous mass of specular iron ore, perforated withcavities bespangled with quartz crystals. The island possesses two explorations, calledRio and Terra-Nuova; the last having been brought into play at a recent period. Theaverage amount extracted per annum is 15,000 tons of ore, which are smelted in thefoundries of Tuscany, Liguria, the Roman states, the kingdom of Naples , and the islandof Corsica.

There has been worked for a few years a mine of chromite of iron, at Carrada, nearGassino , department of the Var.

MINES SITUATED IN THE SCHISTOSE FORMATIONS OF THE BANKS OF THE RHINE , AN®

IN THE ARDENNES.

The transition lands, which form, in the northwest of Germany and in Flanders, ®pretty extensive range of hills, include several famous mines of iron, zinc, lead, andcopper. The latter lie on the right bank of the Rhine , in the territories of Nassa®and Berg, at Baden, Augstbach, Rheinbreitenbach, and near Dillenburg . That otRheinbreitenbach yielded formerly 110,000 libs, avoirdupois of copper per annum, anthose of the environs of Dillenburg now furnish annually 176,000 libs. There are alssome mines of argentiferous lead in the same regions. The most remarkable are i®flie territory of Nassau , such as those of Holzapfel, Piingstiviese, Lcewenburg, “ nAugstbach on the Wiede, and Ehrenthal on the banks of the Rhine , which all togeth eproduce 600 tons of lead, and 3,500 marcs of silver. To the above, we must add thosof the environs of Siegen and Dillenburg , in the territories of Berg. A little cobsis explored in the neighborhood of Siegen, and some mines of the same nature amentioned in the grand dutchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, and in the dutchy of Nass®Usingen.

But iron is the most important product of the mines on the right bank of the Rh )D j'Veins of hydrate of iron, or brown hematite, are explored in a great many points ^Hessia, and the territory of Nassau , Berg, Marck, Tecklenbourg, and Siegen, al° Ili ’with veins or masses of sparry iron, and beds of red oxide of iron. We may note J ,i Lticularly—1. The enormous mass of sparry iron, known under the name of Stahlb e s'mined since the beginning of the fourteenth century in the mountain of Martinsha ’near Miissen, where improvident excavations have occasioned, at several times, c0 _ n ® nerable downfallings of rubbish ; 2. The abundant and beautiful mines of hydrate ol Rand sparry iron on the banks of the Lalin and the Sayn, and among those of theof Bendorf; 3. The mine’of Hohenkirclien in Hessia , where a powerful bank of int [ I QgOniferous ore is worked, and where the mines are kept dry by a gallery more than Lyards long, walled over its whole extent. These several mines supply a great J®iron works, celebrated for their steel, and for the objects of hardware, sythes, & c ->ricated there. r c,

The Prussian provinces of the left bank of the Rhine , the dutchy of Luxembo ^and the Low Countries, include also many iron furnaces, of which a great numbe ^supplied, in whole or in part, by ores of hydrate of iron, occasionally zincifero >^ gtracted from the transition rocks, where they form sometimes veins, and sometn® byvery irregular deposites. A portion is explored by open quarrying, and a porunderground workings. Some of these mines penetrate to a depth of 87 yards, an b (a y S .ries may be observed in them cut in the form of vaults, and timbered with hoope 0 fThe Hundsruck, the Eiffel, and the territory of Luxembourg , present a great mthem. _ feebU

The Eiffel formerly possessed important lead mines. Some still exist, which ar ^ oS eworked at Berncastle, 8 leagues below Treves, on the banks of the Moselle -of Trarbach, situated 2 leagues lower, are now completely abandoned ; the s ® ] a t e , 3with those of Bleyalf, which were opened on veins incased in the greywack jfoleagues W.N.W. of Priim, not far from the line of separation of the waters o ^gaP"selle and the Meuse , in a district from which manufactures and comfort ha

ible>

peared since the mines were given up which sustained them. sidera 1

More to the north a great many deposites of calamine occur. The most con