DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0136
114 THE SALT MIMES OF POLAND.
the world, and from it a great part of the Continent is sup*
plied with that article. Wielitska is a small town, about
eight miles from Cracow; the mine is excavated in a ridge
of hills at the northern extremity of the chain which joins
to the Carpathian mountains, and has been wrought above
600 years; for they are mentioned in the Polish Aunals,
so early as 1237, under Bolessaus the Chaste*, and not
then as a new discovery: how much earlier they were
known cannot be ascertained. There are eight openings
or descents into this mine, six in the field, and two in the
town itself, which are mostly used for letting down the
workmen, and taking up the salt; the others being chiefly
used for letting in wood and other necessaries. The open-
ings are five feet square, and about four wide; they are
lined throughout with timber, and at the top of each there
is a large wheel, with a rope as thick as a cable, by which
things are let down and drawn up; and this is worked by
a horse. When a stranger has the curiosity to see the works,
he must descend by one of these holes: he is first to put on
a miner’s coat over his cloaths, and then being led to the
mouth of the hole by a miner, who serves for a guide, the
miner fastens a smaller rope to the larger one, and ties it
about himself; he sits in this, and, taking the stranger in
his lap, gives the sign to be let down. When several go
down together, the custom is, that when the first is let
down about three yards the wheel stops, and another miner
takes another rope, ties himself, takes another in his lap,
and descends about three yards further; the wheel then
stops for another pair, and so on till the whole company
are seated: then the wheel is again worked, and the whole
string of adventurers are let down together. It is no un-
common thing for forty people to go down in this manner.
When the wheel is finally set-a-going, it never slops till
* Lengnich, Jus. Pub. vol. i. p. 249.
they
the world, and from it a great part of the Continent is sup*
plied with that article. Wielitska is a small town, about
eight miles from Cracow; the mine is excavated in a ridge
of hills at the northern extremity of the chain which joins
to the Carpathian mountains, and has been wrought above
600 years; for they are mentioned in the Polish Aunals,
so early as 1237, under Bolessaus the Chaste*, and not
then as a new discovery: how much earlier they were
known cannot be ascertained. There are eight openings
or descents into this mine, six in the field, and two in the
town itself, which are mostly used for letting down the
workmen, and taking up the salt; the others being chiefly
used for letting in wood and other necessaries. The open-
ings are five feet square, and about four wide; they are
lined throughout with timber, and at the top of each there
is a large wheel, with a rope as thick as a cable, by which
things are let down and drawn up; and this is worked by
a horse. When a stranger has the curiosity to see the works,
he must descend by one of these holes: he is first to put on
a miner’s coat over his cloaths, and then being led to the
mouth of the hole by a miner, who serves for a guide, the
miner fastens a smaller rope to the larger one, and ties it
about himself; he sits in this, and, taking the stranger in
his lap, gives the sign to be let down. When several go
down together, the custom is, that when the first is let
down about three yards the wheel stops, and another miner
takes another rope, ties himself, takes another in his lap,
and descends about three yards further; the wheel then
stops for another pair, and so on till the whole company
are seated: then the wheel is again worked, and the whole
string of adventurers are let down together. It is no un-
common thing for forty people to go down in this manner.
When the wheel is finally set-a-going, it never slops till
* Lengnich, Jus. Pub. vol. i. p. 249.
they