Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

CHAP.

X.

Broddebo.

Custom in

passing a

Grave.

Upon the 12th of November, leaving Avestad', in our first stage to Broddebo we passed the boundary between Dalecarlia and Westmania or Westmanland. Here, in the forest, by the road side, we observed several heaps made with Robber's sticks and stones; upon which the natives, as they pass, cast either a stone, or a little earth, or the bough of a tree; deeming it an uncharitable act to omit this tribute, in their journeys to and fro. As this custom appeared closely allied to the pious practice in the Highlands of Scotland, of casting a stone upon the cairn of a deceased person, we, of course, concluded that these heaps were places of sepulture; which was so far correct, but they were not described to us as graves of very antient date. The peasants who accompanied us believed them to contain the bodies of banditti, who, according to their account, formerly plundered the merchants in this forest, when the copper-ore used to be carried, upon the backs of horses, from Fahlun to Westerås. As the whole band of robbers was gradually destroyed, so the individuals composing it were severally buried, where they fell, by the side of the public way. This is the

(1) At a quarter of a Swedish mile from Avestad are the brass-works of Bjurforss, which we did not stop to examine.

X.

CHAP. tradition which the present inhabitants have concerning these heaps; not to call them barrows, because they have neither the magnitude nor the appearance of an antient Celtic mound. If they may be compared to any tumuli of antiquity, they rather resemble those heaps which the Romans raised by the side of their highways, as marks of distance. A little sketch which we made upon the spot will serve to give an idea of their appearance, and the manner in which they occur in the route.

[graphic]

We had a new proof of the surprising superiority of the public roads in Sweden, soon after we left Broddebo; a beautiful highway, as fine as the best-kept gravel-walks in any nobleman's

X.

Mine of

Salberg.

grounds, having been actually constructed CHAP. through the waters of a lake. It was about four o'clock, P. M. when we arrived at Sala. Sala. The inn was full, but we hired lodgings in an adjoining house, and immediately set out for the famous silver-mines, which are distant about an English mile west of the town. At this late hour, a descent into them was described to us as rather hazardous; but our curiosity got the better of our fears, and we reasonably concluded that the want of day-light could be no serious obstacle in a subterraneous excursion. These mines have been so long worked, that there is no record of the time in which they were first opened. Every thing relating to the Nature of geological position of the great bed of ore has been most accurately and scientifically described by Professor Thomson': it lies in a vein of primitive limestone, about half a mile in breadth, which occurs between granite and gneiss. In this vein lies the whole of the Sala excavations. The limestone itself is granular, with a shade of green, and possesses a good deal of beauty. It is the common stone employed at Sala for building the walls of enclo

the Ore.

(1) See Trav. in Sweden, p. 233. Lond. 1813.
(2) Ibid.

CHAP.

X.

sures. The veins containing the silver-ore are of galena, or sulphuret of lead, containing other metallic sulphurets, as those of zinc, iron, and copper: they traverse the limestone from northwest or south-east'. The name of a silver-mine has therefore been bestowed upon a lead-mine at Sala, as it often happens where the veins of argentiferous galena are worth working for the silver they contain. The appearance of the richest of the Sala silver-ore is not unlike the galena of Alston Moor in Cumberland: it has the same grey aspect, but is more granular; that of Alston Moor having a fibrous structure, when it is amorphous and rich in silver. Few mines are so rich in beautiful and rare minerals. We arrived before it was too late to examine the heaps around it; and were soon convinced that an interesting collection might be formed from the discarded materials which lie near to its mouth. Formerly, the quantity of silver found here was much more considerable than it is now'. We descended into the mine, which is

(1) Professor Thomson also notices a vein of basalt, as a very remarkable and uncommon object in a primitive country, quite flat, with no remains of floetx trap in the neighbourhood. Ibid. p. 235.

(2)" In the year 1506, the annual produce was 32,266 marks: at present, I am told, the quantity extracted does not exceed 2000." Thomson's Trav. in Sweden, p. 235.

X.

Descent

Salberg.

called Salberg, by means of ladders; but they CHAP. were in such excellent order, and so strong, that we entertained no apprehension of falling. into the The descent is easy; but it is very curious, and unlike any other mine we ever visited. It exhibited to us a succession of circular caverns, the floor of one constituting also the roof of the other; through which we passed downwards by a series of cylindrical apertures, each of which, like the chimney of the inferior chamber, conducted us into some new grotto of wonder and curiosity. At the depth only of forty fathoms, we arrived at one of the working-places. The ore seemed to be in small quantities; a thin vein, entirely of galena. Sometimes, but very rarely, the miners have met with native silver, and then only in very small portions, which have been immediately bought up for more than it was worth, owing to its extreme rarity, as a curiosity. Much greater rarities have also been occasionally discovered in the Sala mine; namely, antimonial silver, of which the Assessor shewed us some fine specimens; also native antimony; and the native amalgam of silver and mercury.

(3) The minerals found in the Salberg mine, near Sala, are enumerated by Engeström, in his Guide aur Mines, p. 17. Stockholm, 1796. But substances have since his time been discovered there which have rendered

this

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »