TRIESTE, _April 15, 1857_.
The distance from Vienna to this free Austrian port is about three
hundred and fifty miles, which, upon the completion of the railway,
in the month of August, will probably be accomplished in eighteen or
twenty hours; I was once four days in accomplishing the same route.
The Semering Pass is about fifty miles this side of Vienna. It
is a gigantic work, and excites the admiration and wonder of all
travellers. The immense arches of the granite aqueducts spanning the
mountain torrents, and the road winding in a serpentine manner, with
extraordinary curves, through the valleys, penetrating the huge long
tunnels in and out, afford a fine rear view. The iron horse climbs
continually up the ascent, to a height of two thousand seven hundred
and ninety feet; then a tunnel four thousand feet long is passed, and
the rail continues to Murzuschlag, in connexion with the southern
or Trieste road, to Gratz, in Steyermark, or Styria, a city with a
population of some sixty thousand inhabitants, the residence of the
Archduke John, uncle to the Emperor, whom I saw at the German Congress
of nine hundred, in Frankfort, in 1848, when the city was illuminated,
and he was proposed for the Emperor of United Germany. I saw him here
under other circumstances, sitting quietly in a provincial theatre. The
town is beautifully situated in a healthy position, and in it are some
objects of interest.
March is a bad month in Vienna for coughs and colds, and suffering from
the same, I made my escape to Gratz, where I spent several days to
recruit, and then took the railway to Laibach, distant some one hundred
and twenty-five miles, noted for the Congress of sovereigns in 1820.
At Marburg, some fifty miles south, the German language, badly spoken
as it is in Styria, begins to be lost; and at Cilley, in Carinthia, a
language, entirely unintelligible to the Germans, is found. It is the
Sclavisch tongue, which is used by many millions of Austrian subjects.
At that period I was travelling by post, which prevented a visit to the
great quicksilver works of Idria, which demanded a ride of twenty-five
miles over a bad road, some one thousand five hundred feet high, over
the mountains. I had always regretted having lost the opportunity of
seeing those immense government mines, and I now resolved to make
up for it, notwithstanding that the season was early for the trip.
Having in the interval of time visited the Almedan quicksilver works,
in the Valley of San Jose, California, the silver mines of Peru, the
lead mines of Galena, the iron mines of Sweden and of the Island of
Elba, my curiosity was the more quickened to inspect this mountain
of quicksilver ore, particularly as I had recently heard a series of
lectures on these subjects, at the University in Vienna. Procuring a
close carriage and a pair of strong horses with a driver, for a three
days’ excursion, I was enabled to accomplish this tour, and also to
visit the renowned Grotto of Adelsberg, on my way to Trieste.
The village of Idria, of four thousand population, lies in a valley of
a round bowl form, with an abundance of water power. The ascent of the
mountain is by zigzag roads, with at intervals a peasant’s cottage,
bleak and dreary; the summit once reached, we can scarcely realize that
a smiling village, with gardens and fruit trees, exists in the low
grounds. There are seven hundred men employed in these works. A ticket
of admission is granted, a miner’s suit is provided, and a guide, with
lights, procured, all to be paid for in turn. The descent commences
through narrow arches and long galleries, of a man’s height, of stone
work; then by flights of steps cut in the rock, from seventy to one
hundred and forty in number, leading from one gallery to another. They
are more fatiguing than the salt mines at Hallein. Some two thousand
steps are here made to the fourth gallery, whose perpendicular depth
is seven hundred and fifty feet. At a depth of three hundred feet I
noticed that the timbers employed in the passages were charred, and
learned that only a few years since fire had occurred by accident,
which cost the lives of many miners, whose bodies were drawn out after
suffocation. A portion of the pits have also been flooded with water;
the steam and water pumps were exhausting it. The heat at this great
depth is apparent, and the miners who are on duty with picks and axes,
and blasting the rocks, have a warm berth of it. The poor fellows, in
shirt and trowsers, with the dull light of the lamps in the close murky
atmosphere, sweating at their toil, look certainly haggard, and excite
one’s sympathy when he learns that the recompense is only sixteen
kreuzers (or fourteen cents) per day. The government furnishes flour
and fuel at fixed rates, which are less than current prices. The ore in
some cases will average sixty parts, and the liquid quicksilver is seen
in the pores of the stone formation. They turn out annually from two
and a half to three million centners, of one hundred pounds each. The
price is now low, being about fifty cents per pound.
The ascent is by steam or water power. From the bottom, seven hundred
and fifty feet, a perpendicular square shaft communicates with all the
galleries, for hoisting the ore. One puts himself in a square box, of
solid wood construction, with a board seat, supported by four chains
from the corners, attached to a rope cable, and trusts to its strength
and the movement of the water wheel to see daylight once again. The
reflection is anything but agreeable; for should an accident occur, not
a vestige of frail humanity would remain. The ascent on foot is too
fatiguing, although many persons prefer it.
The smelting furnaces here are on a large scale, as also the
manufacture of red vermilion from quicksilver and sulphur combined,
under the action of great heat. It is a singular fact that those
employed in these works not only lose their teeth early in life,
through the salivation of the mercury, but the atmosphere being
impregnated, young people of twenty-five years of age show the same
signs of decay. They had recently four shocks of earthquakes, and a
house near the pits was considerably cracked, but the miners said the
vibrations were only slightly felt below.
A singular idea prevails, not only in this country, but in other
parts of Europe, among certain classes, which reminds me of the days
of Miller. It is the prophecy of the destruction of the world on the
thirteenth of June, by a comet. I have seen several newspaper articles
confirming the probability. I tell the people they must emigrate to
America, where the vicinity of icebergs will keep them thawed out.
A seven hours’ ride brought me to the cave of Adelsberg, recently
visited by the Emperor, Empress, and suite, on their return from Italy.
Some three hundred laborers were employed for several months, carrying
in sand for the purpose of making dry walks, repairing the bridge over
the rushing waterfall, which loses itself here and appears again some
miles distant, and in the preparation of the twenty thousand lights,
along all the passages, and the grand illumination of the Dome of
Neptune chapel, whose death-bell music is produced by beating sticks
upon the suspended stalactites, and the riding school, organ, altars,
and the ascent to Mount Calvary, with its twelve stations. The roof
from the base of this enormous cave at this point is scarcely visible,
but from the summit of Calvary, it is strikingly grand. The immense
dancing hall is used once a year, for the people’s festivals. The
distance walked over is probably four miles. I cannot describe the
beauties of this nature’s wonder. Thousands of columns are formed and
are forming, from the dripping, and one can see the most exquisite
imitation of curtains, and drapery like lace of various colors, and
the imagination conjures up a thousand forms of animals, antiquities,
Hindoo and Egyptian deities. The amount expended for the Imperial
reception was twenty thousand guldens, or ten thousand dollars. I
happened along at a favorable time, as the decorations and evergreens
were not removed, and the cave was perfectly dry; and I fortunately
found two Austrian officers who were willing to join in employing
twelve guides and torch-bearers, for lighting up, with one hundred and
forty wax candles, in order to examine the old, as well as the newly
discovered grotto, and see all to advantage.
Another six hours by mail coach, and we were on the summit of the
mountain, descending to Trieste, with the beautiful placid waters of
the Adriatic before us, the blue sky and an Italian sunset above us,
the almond trees in bloom, and the city lying at our feet, with its
hundred thousand inhabitants, and the flags from the ships, of all
nations, waving in the mild and gentle breeze. The sight of the sea is
refreshing after so long an absence, and on this occasion the elements
conspired to make it particularly striking. The growth of the city has
been rapid, and great changes have been made since I was last here; the
new part is most substantially built; the streets are wide, and paved
with flat slabs. The costumes are various, from all parts of the Levant
and Archipelago. It is a perfect Babel for languages.