DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0140
118 THE SALT MINES OF POLAND.
a dirty ash colour, like what we call brown salt. The mine
appears to be inexhaustible, as will easily be conceived, from
the following account of its dimensions, given by Mr. Coxe.
“ Its known breadth (says he) is 1115 feet, its length 6691
feet, and depth 743this, however, is to be understood
only of the part which has been actually worked ; as to the
real depth or longitudinal extent of the mine, it is not pos-
sible to conjecture.
Under the mountains adjoining the Kiow, on the fron-
tiers of Russia, and in the deserts of Podo’lia, are several
catacombs, or subterranean vaults, which the ancients used
for burying-places, and where a great number of human
bodies are still preserved entire, though interred many ages
since, having been better embalmed, and become neither
so hard nor so black as the Egyptian mummies. Among
them are two princes in the habits they used to wear. It is
thought that this preserving quality is owing to the nature
of the soil, which is dry and sandy. Of antiquities, Poland
can boast of but few, as ancient Sarmatia was never per-
fectly known to the Romans themselves. Its artificial cu-
riosities also are not numerous, consisting chiefly of the
gold, silver, and enamelled vessels, presented by the kings
and prelates of Poland, and preserved in the cathedral of
Gnesna.
//✓/////
A POPISH MISER.
A Chronicle, of the City of Venice, for the year 1685,
mentions a person of great property in that city, who had
such a love of gold, that the bare mention of a large sum
had the same operation upon his pulse, as though he had
been seized with a violent fever. The spirit of Mammon is
also said to have possessed him in such a degree, that even
when he made the sign of the cross, as he affected much
devotion, he always made use of a gold coin called a
zequin. His chests, drawers, &c. which were filled with
? bags
a dirty ash colour, like what we call brown salt. The mine
appears to be inexhaustible, as will easily be conceived, from
the following account of its dimensions, given by Mr. Coxe.
“ Its known breadth (says he) is 1115 feet, its length 6691
feet, and depth 743this, however, is to be understood
only of the part which has been actually worked ; as to the
real depth or longitudinal extent of the mine, it is not pos-
sible to conjecture.
Under the mountains adjoining the Kiow, on the fron-
tiers of Russia, and in the deserts of Podo’lia, are several
catacombs, or subterranean vaults, which the ancients used
for burying-places, and where a great number of human
bodies are still preserved entire, though interred many ages
since, having been better embalmed, and become neither
so hard nor so black as the Egyptian mummies. Among
them are two princes in the habits they used to wear. It is
thought that this preserving quality is owing to the nature
of the soil, which is dry and sandy. Of antiquities, Poland
can boast of but few, as ancient Sarmatia was never per-
fectly known to the Romans themselves. Its artificial cu-
riosities also are not numerous, consisting chiefly of the
gold, silver, and enamelled vessels, presented by the kings
and prelates of Poland, and preserved in the cathedral of
Gnesna.
//✓/////
A POPISH MISER.
A Chronicle, of the City of Venice, for the year 1685,
mentions a person of great property in that city, who had
such a love of gold, that the bare mention of a large sum
had the same operation upon his pulse, as though he had
been seized with a violent fever. The spirit of Mammon is
also said to have possessed him in such a degree, that even
when he made the sign of the cross, as he affected much
devotion, he always made use of a gold coin called a
zequin. His chests, drawers, &c. which were filled with
? bags