252
MINING IN THE
CHAP. X.
per: they were the chief sources of mineralwealth through the middle ages. Their producein no instances and in no periods seems to havebeen large, when compared with what was yieldedin distant ages in Egypt, in Spain, in Asia , andin Thrace, and in modern times in Mexico andPeru . But their effect on the transactions ofthe world must be contemplated, not by whatthey would produce on the stock of gold andsilver in existence in the time of Augustus or inthe present day, but by what they must haveproduced on the very small amount of the pre-cious metals which was possessed at the time oftheir respective workings.
The mines of Saxony were first discovered inthe tenth century, when the whole district inwhich they are situated was covered with wood,and without inhabitants 1 . Some carriers fromHalle, on their way to Bohemia , where theycarried salt, observing metallic substances in thetracks made by the wheels, some of these weretaken up and sent to Goslar to be examined,when they were found to consist of lead with aconsiderable quantity of silver. This led to theestablishments formining, which have continued,with some variations in their products, from theyear 1169 to the present day. For some years,
1 Merkel’s und Engelhardt’s Erdebeschreibung von Kur-sachsen. Vol. i. p. 99.