DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0037
Chap, i.]
WIPPACH.
9
mines was extremely unhealthy; hut we were told that
none of the works were considered as prejudicial to health
except the smelting operations. In the evening, equipped
in working dresses, we visited the mines, to which we de-
scended by steps and inclined planes, the shafts "being only
used for drawing up the ore. The works are carried on upon
three different tiers or floors, a space of about twenty klafters
or fathoms being left between each, the lowest of which
is one hundred and thirty-nine fathoms below the mouth of
the shaft. We descended to the second floor only, but the
arrangements of the mines seemed excellent, and the works
were dry and well ventilated. The miners, or chief work-
men who dig out the ore, are paid from twelve to fifteen
guilders the square klafter (twenty-four to thirty shillings) ;
the others, of an inferior class, receive from eight to twenty
kreuzers per day of eight hours. In some cases the works
go on day and night; but this only happens during the
winter, when the ore can be smelted.
On the following day we returned to Trieste, crossing a
high range of hills which separates the plain of Wippach
from the valley of Idria. Near Wippach we stopped to
examine, though not so attentively as it deserved, a consi-
derable river which suddenly bursts forth at the foot of the
mountain, not from a cavern, but from seven or eight
copious springs which gush out under the loose rocks, and
visibly increase in size as they flow towards each other.
But besides these there must be many others beneath the
river, since they form a navigable stream before flowing
twenty yards. Nothing is known as to where it comes from,
and I might almost add as to whither it goes,—for the people
of Wippach say that it again loses itself under the
mountains to the westward several miles off; but we had
not time to investigate the grounds of their belief. Many
rivers in the neighbourhood seem to partake of this re-
markable character, agreeing as it does so closely with what
we learn of the "fontes Timavi," from Virgil and Strabo*
* Mn. I. 243; Strab. V. 8.
WIPPACH.
9
mines was extremely unhealthy; hut we were told that
none of the works were considered as prejudicial to health
except the smelting operations. In the evening, equipped
in working dresses, we visited the mines, to which we de-
scended by steps and inclined planes, the shafts "being only
used for drawing up the ore. The works are carried on upon
three different tiers or floors, a space of about twenty klafters
or fathoms being left between each, the lowest of which
is one hundred and thirty-nine fathoms below the mouth of
the shaft. We descended to the second floor only, but the
arrangements of the mines seemed excellent, and the works
were dry and well ventilated. The miners, or chief work-
men who dig out the ore, are paid from twelve to fifteen
guilders the square klafter (twenty-four to thirty shillings) ;
the others, of an inferior class, receive from eight to twenty
kreuzers per day of eight hours. In some cases the works
go on day and night; but this only happens during the
winter, when the ore can be smelted.
On the following day we returned to Trieste, crossing a
high range of hills which separates the plain of Wippach
from the valley of Idria. Near Wippach we stopped to
examine, though not so attentively as it deserved, a consi-
derable river which suddenly bursts forth at the foot of the
mountain, not from a cavern, but from seven or eight
copious springs which gush out under the loose rocks, and
visibly increase in size as they flow towards each other.
But besides these there must be many others beneath the
river, since they form a navigable stream before flowing
twenty yards. Nothing is known as to where it comes from,
and I might almost add as to whither it goes,—for the people
of Wippach say that it again loses itself under the
mountains to the westward several miles off; but we had
not time to investigate the grounds of their belief. Many
rivers in the neighbourhood seem to partake of this re-
markable character, agreeing as it does so closely with what
we learn of the "fontes Timavi," from Virgil and Strabo*
* Mn. I. 243; Strab. V. 8.