more than a foot or two above their heads. The shaggy lamp-bearers—generally old men unable to perform heavy work—stood close at hand, and the glare of the light falling upon the flashing crystals of salt that flew in the air, and covered the half-naked bodies of the perspiring workmen, made a picture which I cannot adequately describe. I do not know that I ever looked upon a spectacle more weird than this.
"We had expected to see the men in large gangs, but found that they
MEN CUTTING SALT IN THE MINE
were nearly always divided into little groups. One would think they would prefer any other kind of occupation than this, but our guide told us that the laborers were perfectly free to leave at any time, just as though they were in the employ of a private establishment. There were plenty of men who would gladly fill their places, and frequently they had applications for years in advance. As prices go in Austria, the pay is very good, the men averaging from twenty to fifty cents a day. As far as possible they are paid by the piece, and not by time—the same as in the great majority of mines all over the world.
"But the horses which draw the cars on the subterranean railways are
