T H E RH^ T I A N ALPS.
THIS city is exceedingly pretty, and pleafantly feated on tlie banks of tlie Inn. It is
not fo extenfive as Infpruck, but more commercial. Its buildings are fuperior, and
more regular: among which is the Mint, which is large and well built. The die with
which they ftamp their coin is curious; and it is the only place where I have feen the
machine by which the operation of coining is performed worked by means of water.
THE building where the procefs of cleaiifing and whitening the fait is carried on is
worthy of notice, and it is eilefted in the following manner;—'They evaporate by ebullition
the frefli water from the brine, which is made by throwing into pits dug for that
purpofe, on mount Salzberg, a quantity of folTiI fait and earth, found in a mixt ftatc,
on that fpot, in great abundance. Thefe _pits, which are then filled with freill water,
ferve to decompound thofe faline fubftances; for the earth, precipitated by its gravity to
the bottom, leaves the water impregnated with the faline particles, which are conveyed
from thence to Hall by wooden pipes, into feveral large coppers of nine feet in diameter,
fixed in the building abovementioned. The water being thus totally evaporated, the
fait is extraded from the coppers by a kind of rake. There are many people employed
about it, and the whole procefs is carried on with great regularity.
THE fait mines of Salzberg, more generally known by the name of Hall, are particularly
rich, as the greateft part of the mount is compofed of foffil iiilt and earth intermixed,
termed by Wallerius Muria foJfiUs lapide mineralifaia velfal cxdrumfpe. I brought
from thence two beautiful cryftaJs of foíTil fait; one of them a light blue, and the other
a reddiih yellow of the fpecies of fal gemmd folidum.
THESE mines are fuppofed to yield annually to tlie Emperor upwards of 200,000 rixdoliars,
clear of all expences.
THE bafe of mount Salzberg is compofed of a kind of gypfeous or felenite fpar, or
fpatum gypfeum, of a greyiih colour, or white, covered in feveral places with large beds of
lamellated fchiftus; but its fummit contains a ipecies of calcareous glimmer ilone, which
often fprcads through the gypfeous ilrata to the bottom of Weifenbach, eaft of the mount»
THIS valley, which is remarkably narrow, and the direft road to the mines, is curious,
from the extreme variation and inclination of the dilTerent ftrata of the lateral mountains.
A fmall torrent flows through the center of the valley, and makes a moft frightful noife in
defcending rapidly from rock to rock till it falls into the Inn.
IN afcending mount Salzberg, about halfway up, we find a fmall chapel, called St.
Magdalene, fituated at the entrance of two fmall vallies, the moft romantic and piñurefque
imaginable.
THE one towards the weft leads to the fait mines. Its foil is a kind of gypfeous or
felenite fpar, of a grey or rcddiili colour, intermixed with beds of calcareous glimmer
ftone. This fpot merits more attention than it was in my power to beftow, owing to
want of time. RETURNING il''