ges had
exploded, the miners again descended to their work.

Although it cannot be classed among the wonders of the subterranean
world, the famous Erzgebirge or iron mountain in the Styrian Alps
deserves mention. It rises to the height of 3000 feet, the whole being
coated with a thin mantle of the richest ore. In all directions it is
covered with machines of various forms, horizontal and vertical
galleries, tunnels and roads, and represents, as it were, a mine turned
inside out. The whole of the operations are exposed to view, like those
in the Carclaze tin mine in Cornwall, only in the former the ore is
conveyed by tram-roads, galleries, and shafts to the bottom of the
mountain, where they all unite in one main shaft, from which a tramway
runs to the smelting-ovens of Eisenerz and Vordernberg.

Among the beautiful productions of nature, rock-crystal may be classed,
known as the false topaz when yellow, the morion when black, and the
smoky quartz when brown. The colourless kinds are often called Bristol
or Irish diamonds, and the violet the amethyst. Some few years ago, a
party of tourists, led by a guide, Peter Sulzer, set out from Guttannew,
in Switzerland. When descending the mountain they reached a dark
cavity, out of which they extracted some pieces of black rock-crystal
with the handles of their Alpine stocks. The following year, Sulzer and
his son, with a few companions, made an attempt to force their way into
the cave, by widening the entrance with gunpowder. In spite of hail,
rain, and bitter cold, they persevered, remaining during the night close
to the cavern, in order to renew their labours the next morning.

Having widened the entrance, they penetrated to a considerable depth
into the mountain, through a large cave piled up with debris, in which
were embedded large planes of jet-black morions. These beautiful
crystals had grown originally from the sides or roof, and had either
fallen from their own weight, or been shaken out by some convulsion of
nature. Their toil was rewarded by upwards of a thousand large
crystals, varying from fifty pounds to more than three hundredweight.

Their expedition and its result becoming known, the whole population of
Guttannew turned out with hammers, spades, and baskets, to carry off
what they had left. As it was reported that the Government intended to
interfere, they laboured night and day for a week, until, by the time
the authorities arrived from Ijri, the