The veins after they have been discovered, and likewise the shafts and tunnels, have names given them, either from their discoverers, as in the case at Annaberg of the vein called " Kolergang," because a charcoal burner discovered it; or from their owners, as the Geyer, in Joachimstal, because part of the same belonged to Geyer; or from their products, as the " Pleygang " from lead, or the " Bissmutisch " at Schneeberg from bismuth[1] ; or from some other circumstances, such as the rich alluvials from the torrent by which they were laid bare in the valley of Joachim. More often the first discoverers give the names either of persons, as those of German Kaiser, Apollo, Janus; or the name of an animal, as that of lion, bear, ram, or cow; or of things inanimate, as " silver chest " or "ox stalls "; or of something ridiculous, as " glutton’s nightshade"; or finally, for the sake of a good omen, they call it after the Deity. In ancient times they followed the same custom and gave names to the veins, shafts and tunnels, as we read in Pliny: " It is wonderful that the shafts begun by Hannibal in Spain are still worked, their names being derived from their discoverers.
One of these at the present day, called Baebelo, furnished Hannibal with three hundred pounds weight (of silver) per day."[2]
- ↑ "These mines are in the Erzgebirge. We have adopted the names given in the German translation.
- ↑ The quotation from Pliny (xxxm., 31) as a whole reads as follows: " Silver is found in nearly all the provinces, but the finest of all in Spain; where it is found in the barren lands, and in the mountains. V/herever one vein of silver has been found, another is sure to be found not far away. This is the case of nearly all the metals, whence it appears that the Greeks derived metalla. It is wonderful that the shafts begun by Hannibal in Spain still remain, their names being derived from their makers. One of these at the present day called Baebelo, furnished Hannibal with three hundred pounds’weight (of silver) per day. This mountain is excavated for a distance of fifteen, hundred paces; and for this distance there are waterbearers lighted by torches standing night and day baling out the water in turns, thus making quite a river." Hannibal dates 247-183 B.C. and was therefore dead 206 years when Pliny was born. According to a footnote in Bostock and Riley’s translation of Pliny, these workings were supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Castulo, now Cazlona, near Linares. It was at Castulo that Hannibal married his rich wife Himilce; and in the hills north of Linares there are ancient silver mines still known as Los Pozos de Anibal.
END OF BOOK II.
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