the.dire&ion o f the hill. Some improperly call thefe
fuperficial veins, for there are fuch in the adjacent
hills, where no cinnabar was ever fufpe&ed to exift,
and all the country abounds in mines of iron ; what
is more, in the very mine of Almaden, pieces are fome-
times found, in which the iron, quickfilver, and fulphur,
are fo mixed together, as not to form a different body.
This deflroys the common opinion, that iron amongft metals,
is the only one, indiffoluble by mercury, the fallacy
o f which I have further experienced in the quickfilver
mines of Hungary, where it is certain there is a mixture
o f iron ore, and I have feen in the quickfilver mines of
the Palatinate, a great deal of ironized mineral ferve as a
matrice to .cinnabar.
The neighbouring hills are o f a fimilar O O kind of rock to
that of Almaden, and furnilh the fame forts o f plants,
which ihews that cinnabar does not exhale thofe poifon-
ous vapours fome have imagined, nor are they obnoxious
either to vegetation or mankind. A miner may fleep in
fecurity on a ftratum of cinnabar, and I have counted
above forty forts o f ufual plants that thrived and run to
feed within the precin&s of the twelve furnaces where
the mineral is roafted.
The felons who work there, feel no inconvenience
from it, and do nothing more than wheel about the earth
in
in barrows, yet many of them are fo crafty, as to counterfeit
paralytic and other complaints, to impofe on the benevolent
difpofition of thofe, who vifit the mine. Each
man coils government eight reals per day, (about two iliil-
lings) they are better fed, than any labouring man, fell half
their allowance, and enjoy good health ; yet from a principle
o f compaifion, are only made to work three hours 3
day, and the public think their condition fo infinitely
wretched, as to be-little ihort of death.
The very judges on the bench mull be o f that opinion,
when they affix this punilhment to the moft atrocious
crimes, yet they are deceived («), and may be affured,
every labourer in Almaden does of his own free will
double the work o f thefe felons, and for half the profit.
In this mine, two veins, from two to fourteen feet broad,
run the length of the hill, with branches fhooting out
into various directions. Every one knows that the fandr
ftone is com-poled of grains o f different fizes, the itone
of the vein is the fame as in other parts of the hill, and
ferves as a matrice for the cinnabar, which is more or lefs
abundant in proportion to the finenefs of the fand ftone,
on which account fome lumps of the vein will contain to
the amount o f teo ounces o f quickfilver in the pound,,
and others only three.
(a) Mr. Bowles follows on this occafion the opinion o f Don Antonio de Ulloa, in contradiction
to the experience of all ages.— See Dr. Robertfon’s hiitory of America, vol. ad;
note lxxxi.
G Og 2’ The;