I did not learn what quantity was produced at the time of my visit here, but have since seen it stated to be about one thousand flasks per month, or nearly a million pounds a year. According to Dumas, the an

in Bætica, and says that this mine was kept sealed with the greatest care, and was only opened to take the quantity of cinnabar necessary for the consumption of Rome. (Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 7.) The Romans considered this mineral poisonous; but notwithstanding this, their matrons painted their faces with it, and their painters employed it as a pigment. The Romans certainly worked this mine, but no traces remain of their labors. The Moors, perhaps owing to some prejudice, did not work it.

"The country about Almaden abounds in iron mines; and what is more surprising, in the same mine we find iron, mercury, and sulphur, mixed so as to form one mass. The neighboring hills are found of the same stone, and on all of them the same species of plants grow; from which we may infer that the mercury does not possess any poisonous qualities, as is generally supposed, injurious to vegetation.

"The brothers Mark and Christopher Fugger, of Germany, undertook to work this mine, and contracted to give the government four thousand five hundred quintals (of 100 lbs. each) of mercury, annually; but not being able to fulfil their promise, they abandoned it in 1635, together with the silver mine of Gualcanal, which they also had. While connected with these mines, however, their riches became proverbial in Spain, and their descendants live at present in Germany, with the rank of princes. A branch of this family afterwards took the mine, and worked it till 1645. In the following year, the government undertook the management of it. Don Juan Bustamente established the furnaces, and also troughs for cooling the mineral. These furnaces are twelve, and are called by the names of the twelve apostles. Each is capable of containing ten tons weight of stone. The furnace is kept burning for three days, and the same period is required for cooling."-Introduction á la Geografica Fisica y la Historia Natural de España.

The other quicksilver mines worthy of notice, are one at Huancavelica, in Peru; at Idria in Carniola; in Hungary, Transylvania, and the district of Deux Ponts in Germany. There is a mine of cinnabar near Alicante, and another not far from San Felipe in Spain. Mercury has

nual product of the Spanish mine at Almaden is about three millions of pounds.

April 4th. After breakfast we set out on foot for the mine, which is situated near the top of a mountain immediately adjoining the works. The ascent begins directly in the rear of the store-houses, by a well con

also been found in China and Japan: and though the amount of the produce is unknown, it is believed to be considerable.

Le Play, a French geologist, who visited Almaden in 1833, describes the mines as being richer than at any former period, furnishing anually nearly 2,244,000 pounds of mercury. About seven hundred workmen are employed under ground, and two hundred in the operations connected with extraction of the metal from the ore at the surface.

According to Dumas, the following mines yield annually, the annexed number of quintals of mercury (a quintal is 108 lbs. avoirdupois, nearly):

At present, it is understood that Messrs. Rothschild, of London, have the control of the Almaden mines.

During the year 1853, the total exports of quicksilver from San Francisco, amounted to 18,800 flasks, valued at $683,189. All this, together with the large amount used in California, was the product of the New Almaden mine. The following shows to what points the quicksilver was exported: "Hongkong, 5,642 flasks, valued at $180,272; Shanghae, 812, $31,199; Canton, 366, $14,125; Whampoa, 300, $11,500; Calcutta, 50, $1,875; Mazatlan, 2,811, $96,250; Mazatlan and San Blas, 255, $10,000; San Blas, 1,942, $72,463; Callao, 1,800, $66,500; Valparaiso, 1,977, $71,875; New-York, 1,845, $77,180; Philadelphia, 1,000, $50,000."

structed road of gradual and easy ascent, which the Company has been engaged in making for the last six months. It is a mile in length, and is now only used by mules; but it is intended to use carts and wagons on it. It winds the whole way along the side of the mountain, rising twenty-five feet in every hundred until you reach the mouth of the mine, at an elevation of a little less than one thousand feet above the commencement of the ascent.

About one hundred and fifty feet, in a direct line below the opening, they were digging a tunnel for the purpose of intersecting the main shaft. This tunnel, which is cut entirely through the solid rock, had already pierced the mountain seven or eight hundred feet, and will, when completed, be not much short of one thousand feet. It is about eight feet high, and between eight and ten feet wide. This will prove a vast saving in labor; for the ore up to the time of our visit was transported on the backs of men in leather sacks from the bottom of the shafts to the entrance to the mine, a distance of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. It is not the cinnabar alone that has to be thus carried from the bottom of the mine, but the refuse rock, which forms a greater bulk than the ore itself. It cannot be separated in the mine, but has all to be brought to the surface.

We waited for Mr. Bester, the engineer, to join us before entering the mine; and as he had not returned from San José, where we left him, we determined to forego the examination of its interior to-day, and content ourselves with what we could see on the surface.