I. O. M.
C. SEMPRONIVS
VRBANVS
PROC. Φ. AVG[118].
The same gentleman shewed me also the cathedral church of this place, entertained me with the music of the organ, and presented me with a book called Breviculus de nationibus Transylvanicis. Another on the same subject was given me the day before by the rector scholae Cibiniensis, which place with the adjoining library I then visited. This night I likewise returned a visit to the reverend Isaacus Zabanius, primarius pastor Cibiniensis, et ecclesiae cathedralis decanus, by whom and his wife I was kindly entertained above three hours. He then gave me an Answer, which he had formerly compiled, to Campiani Rationes decem.
May xviii.
By six this morning his Excellency and retinue leaving Hermanstadt were attended by the General, and gentlemen above mentioned, beyond the adjoining river, after which they all took a cordial leave; especially lieutenant colonel Graven, to whom his Excellency presented a diamond ring. We now proceed in our way, at which time I received an obliging letter from Mr. Dunster, with an account of my successor’s arrival at Smyrna upon the seventeenth of April.
Hermanstadt is a fair city, consisting of well proportioned houses, regularly plaistered and covered with brick; and is incompassed with an intire brick wall, and that again with the water either of a mote, or river, which surrounds it. Over the gate, by which we entered, is the statue of Hermannus, the founder of the place. It is designed to be yet farther fortified by the Germans; for which end they are now marking out the place of a citadel, which they propose to build so strong and regular, as thereby to curb not only this city, but the whole province. It is intirely inhabited by Saxons, and consequently by professors of the Lutheran or Augustan confession. They have here three churches, of which the cathedral is large and well adorned. The General, and German garrison, which now consists of twelve hundred men, as likewise a few other papists, are fain to be contented with a private chapel. General Rabutin is a comely, courteous, and facetious gentleman, of severe discipline, and prudent management of the Imperial soldiery, which thro this whole province, to the number of about ten thousand men, is committed to his charge. He is of French extraction, and was forced to fly while young, on account of a duel, from his native country to the court of Vienna; where after long service he at length obtained favour of the Princess of Holstein then wife to Chancellor Sinsendorff; who after that minister’s death condescended to marry him, and so raised him to his present pitch of fortune. The civil government is in the hands of the Judex Cibiniensis, whose jurisdiction reaches not only over this city, but even the whole Saxon district. Next to him is the Consul Cibiniensis, whose government is confined within the city. And besides these there is a senate of about sixteen, and then a commonalty of about an hundred men. The place in Latin is called Cibinium, from the adjoining river Cibin.
Before eleven a clock we again take up our quarters at Visakna, that is, Saltzburg, so called from the salt mines; which I visited this afternoon, in company with the minister of the place, Joannes Nagy Borosnyai of the Helvetian confession. The salt is here dug, and cut into stones (as they call them) of a square figure, and about an hundred pound in weight. Being so prepared in the cavern, which at the bottom extends itself very wide in the manner of a dome, they are drawn up by cables, of which one winds round an adjoining machine drawn by four horses, and the other unwinds at the same time. The pit itself is square, lined within with planks, as far as the earthy soil reaches, and extending afterwards to the depth of about an hundred yards. These stones are afterwards laid up in magazines, to be transported on occasion by the Maros into the Danube, and thence vended into Turkey or Germany for the use of the Emperor, who is the sole proprietor of all the natural mines, with which this province abounds. The above mentioned minister here gave me some gemmae salis, as pellucid as ordinary crystal. He is a man well learned, and has traveled into many countries, particularly England. At the same place I likewise received a present of some specimina metallica, namely gold, cinnabar, antimony, and others; which were sent me by a gentleman, named Samuel Koloseri, the Emperor’s general inspector of the Transylvanian mines.