I will now leave the manager, and discuss him who controls the workmen of the mine, who is therefore called the foreman, although some call him the watchman. It is he who distributes the work among the labourers, and sees diligently that each faithfully and usefully performs his duties. He also discharges workmen on account of incompetence, or negligence, and supplies others in their places if the two Jurors and manager give their consent. He must be skilful in working wood, that he may timber shafts, place posts, and make underground structures capable of supporting an undermined mountain, lest the rocks from the hangingwall of the veins, not being supported, become detached from the mass of the mountain and overwhelm the workmen with destruction. He must be able to make and lay out the drains in the tunnels, into which the water from the veins, stringers, and seams in the rocks may collect, that it may be properly guided and can flow away. Further, he must be able to recognize veins and stringers, so as to sink shafts to the best advantage, and must be able to discern one kind of material which is mined from another, or to train his subordinates that they may separate the materials correctly. He must also be well acquainted with all methods of washing, so as to teach the washers how the metalliferous earth or sand is washed. He supplies the miners with iron tools when they are about to start to work in the mines, and apportions a certain weight of oil for their lamps, and trains them to dig to the best advantage, and sees that they work faithfully. When their shift is finished, he takes back the oil which has been left. On account of his numerous and important duties and labours, only one mine is entrusted to one foreman, nay, rather sometimes two or three foremen are set over one mine.
Since I have mentioned the shifts, I will briefly explain how these are carried on. The twenty-four hours of a day and night are divided into three shifts, and each shift consists of seven hours. The three remaining hours are intermediate between the shifts, and form an interval during which the workmen enter and leave the mines. The first shift begins at the fourth hour in the morning and lasts till the eleventh hour; the second begins at the twelfth and is finished at the seventh; these two are day shifts in the morning and afternoon. The third is the night shift, and commences at the eighth hour in the evening and finishes at the third in the morning. The Bergmeister does not allow this third shift to be imposed upon the workmen unless necessity demands it. In that case, whether they draw water from the shafts or mine the ore, they keep their vigil by the night lamps, and to prevent themselves falling asleep from the late hours or from fatigue, they lighten their long and arduous labours by singing, which is neither wholly untrained nor unpleasing. In some places one miner is not allowed to undertake two shifts in succession, because it often happens that he either falls asleep in the mine, overcome by exhaustion from too much labour, or arrives too late for his shift, or leaves sooner than he ought. Elsewhere he is allowed to do so, because he cannot subsist on the pay of one shift, especially if provisions grow dearer. The Bergmeister does not, however, forbid an extraordinary shift when he concedes only one ordinary shift. When it is time to go to work the sound of a great bell, which the foreigners call a "campana," gives the workmen warning, and when this is heard they run hither and thither through the streets toward the mines. Similarly, the same sound of the bell warns the foreman that a shift has just been finished; therefore as soon as he hears it, he stamps on the woodwork of the shaft and signals the workmen to come out. Thereupon, the nearest as soon as they hear the signal, strike the rocks with their hammers, and the sound reaches those who are furthest away. Moreover, the lamps show that the shift has come to an end when the oil becomes almost consumed and fails them. The labourers do not work on Saturdays, but buy those things which are necessary to life, nor do they usually work on Sundays or annual festivals, but on these occasions devote the shift to holy things. However, the workmen do not rest and do nothing if necessity demands their labour; for sometimes a rush of water compels them to work, sometimes an impending fall, sometimes something else, and at such times it is not considered irreligious to work on holidays. Moreover, all workmen of this class are strong and used to toil from birth.
The chief kinds of workmen are miners, shovellers, windlass men, carriers, sorters, washers, and smelters, as to whose duties I will speak in the following books, in their proper place. At present it is enough to add this one fact, that if the workmen have been reported by the foreman for negligence, the Bergmeister, or even the foreman himself, jointly with the manager, dismisses them from their work on Saturday, or deprives them of part of their pay; or if for fraud, throws them into prison. However, the owners of works in which the metals are smelted, and the master of the smelter, look after their own men. As to the government and duties of miners, I have now said enough; I will explain them more fully in another work entitled De Jure et Legibus Metallicis[17].
END OF BOOK IV.
FOOTNOTES:
[Pg 77][1] The nomenclature in this chapter has given unusual difficulty, because the organisation of mines, either past or present, in English-speaking countries provides no exact equivalents for many of these offices and for many of the legal terms. The Latin terms in the text were, of course, coined by the author, and have no historical basis to warrant their adoption, while the introduction of the original German terms is open to much objection, as they are not only largely obsolete, but also in the main would convey no meaning to the majority of readers. We have, therefore, reached a series of compromises, and in the main give the nearest English equivalent. Of much interest in this connection is a curious exotic survival in mining law to be found in the High Peak of Derbyshire. We believe (see note on p. [85]) that the law of this district was of Saxon importation, for in it are not only many terms of German origin, but the character of the law is foreign to the older English districts and shows its near kinship to that of Saxony. It is therefore of interest in connection with the nomenclature to be adopted in this book, as it furnishes about the only English precedents in many cases. The head of the administration in the Peak was the Steward, who was the chief judicial officer, with functions somewhat similar to the Berghauptmann. However, the term Steward has come to have so much less significance that we have adopted a literal rendering of the Latin. Under the Steward was the Barmaster, Barghmaster, or Barmar, as he was variously called, and his duties were similar to those of the Bergmeister. The English term would seem to be a corruption of the German, and as the latter has come to be so well understood by the English-speaking mining class, we have in this case adopted the German. The Barmaster acted always by the consent and with the approval of a jury of from 12 to 24 members. In this instance the English had functions much like a modern jury, while the Geschwornen of Saxony had much more widely extended powers. The German Geschwornen were in the main Inspectors; despite this, however, we have not felt justified in adopting any other than the literal English for the Latin and German terms. We have vacillated a great deal over the term Praefectus Fodinae, the German Steiger having, like the Cornish "Captain," in these days degenerated into a foreman, whereas the duties as described were not only those of the modern Superintendent or Manager, but also those of Treasurer of the Company, for he made the calls on shares and paid the dividends. The term Purser has been used for centuries in English mining for the Accountant or Cashier, but his functions were limited to paying dividends, wages, etc., therefore we have considered it better not to adopt the latter term, and have compromised upon the term Superintendent or Manager, although it has a distinctly modern flavor. The word for area has also caused much hesitation, and the "meer" has finally been adopted with some doubt. The title described by Agricola has a very close equivalent in the meer of old Derbyshire. As will be seen later, the mines of Saxony were Regal property, and were held subject to two essential conditions, i.e., payment of a tithe, and continuous operation. This form of title thus approximates more closely to the "lease" of Australia than to the old Cornish sett, or the American claim. The fundgrube of Saxony and Agricola's equivalent, the area capitis—head lease—we have rendered literally as "head meer," although in some ways "founders' meer" might be better, for, in Derbyshire, this was called the "finder's" or founder's meer, and was awarded under similar circumstances. It has also an analogy in Australian law in the "reward" leases. The term "measure" has the merit of being a literal rendering of the Latin, and also of being the identical term in the same [Pg 78]use in the High Peak. The following table of the principal terms gives the originals of the Latin text, their German equivalents according in the Glossary and other sources, and those adopted in the translation:—
| Agricola. | German Glossary. | Term Adopted. |
| Praefectus Metallorum | Bergamptmann | Mining Prefect. |
| Magister Metallicorum | Bergmeister | Bergmeister. |
| Scriba Magister Metallicorum | Bergmeister's schreiber | Bergmeister's clerk. |
| Jurati | Geschwornen | Jurates or Jurors. |
| Publicus Signator | Gemeiner sigler | Notary. |
| Decumanus | Zehender | Tithe gatherer. |
| Distributor | Aussteiler | Cashier. |
| Scriba partium | Gegenschreiber | Share clerk. |
| Scriba fodinarum | Bergschreiber | Mining clerk. |
| Praefectus fodinae | } Steiger { | Manager of the Mine. |
| Praefectus cuniculi | Manager of the Tunnel. | |
| Praeses fodinae | } Schichtmeister { | Foreman of the Mine. |
| Praeses cuniculi | Foreman of the Tunnel. | |
| Fossores | Berghauer | Miners or diggers. |
| Ingestores | Berganschlagen | Shovellers. |
| Vectarii | Hespeler | Lever workers (windlass men). |
| Discretores | Ertzpucher | Sorters. |
| Lotores | Wescher und seiffner | Washers, buddlers, sifters, etc. |
| Excoctores | Schmeltzer | Smelters. |
| Purgator Argenti | Silber brenner | Silver refiner. |
| Magister Monetariorum | Müntzmeister | Master of the Mint. |
| Monetarius | Müntzer | Coiner. |
| Area fodinarum | Masse | Meer. |
| Area Capitis Fodinarum | Fundgrube | Head meer. |
| Demensum | Lehen | Measure. |
[2] The following are the equivalents of the measures mentioned in this book. It is not always certain which "foot" or "fathom" Agricola actually had in mind although they were probably the German.
| Greek— | |||||||||||||||
| Dactylos | = | .76 | inches | 16 | = | Pous | = | 12.13 | inches | 6 | = | Orguia | = | 72.81 | inches. |
| Roman— | |||||||||||||||
| Uncia | = | .97 | " | 12 | = | Pes | = | 11.6 | " | 5 | = | Passus | = | 58.1 | " |
| German— | |||||||||||||||
| Zoll | = | .93 | " | 12 | = | Werckschuh | = | 11.24 | " | 6 | = | Lachter | = | 67.5 | " |
| English— | |||||||||||||||
| Inch | = | 1.0 | " | 12 | = | Foot | = | 12.00 | " | 6 | = | Fathom | = | 72.0 | " |