New-York daily tribune., 1858-08-16

dome kss rs,her a shabby look IN c]nseq Iencs. An
ox.sced Polish prizes. tcoh in chsse, and sho <ei
CO the uonumen:s Of many king, .ni r1)re b'sho2s
--Ii0epg historical NAMES, sone Of Hhi,h ctr the
blood. The c,tsfLl1es Of Cssimir the Grea' oi
Wfatislaw, OF Stephen BAtory, Of JOHN sobieshi,
sDd others, ri,h with marble and silver, FL The
side chspeIs Of this ,tcried pie. There still exists
the s.sn Of precious marble, where the kiogs OF
Poland attended moss, with wooden sea.s on el'ner
side for the Ministers; while in me ctsucel, before
the mag i6cent gi.'ed al,sr, stsnis the velvet
canopy under which they were crowned The sspul-
chral monuments are poor, except two statues by
Thorwsldsen-a repetition Of hi. Christ, and tie
Roman, hslfnute figure Cf Prince Po.ocki.
We af,erward descended into thu crypt Of the
church by trsp-door in the pavement Here,
gropipg along after the wsxen torch in the priests
h.nd we came TO the massive silver sarcophsgi Of
Wladslaus Nv. and bis queen. Beyond these gilt
terDg shells at the end Of the dusky vault rlOomed
a ,arcopbsgus Of black marble, inscribed with the
name of John Sobieski. The Saviour Of Austria
(who repaid bis services hundred years a.er , lies
in fitting company: on his right hand is Ponia-
tow,ky, on bic left Koscluik), both in marble cof-
fms went up reverently, and placed my hand
upon the stone which covers each-prOud, noble,
glorious hearts, now dust forever
Every boy who reads " The Wonders Of the
World in the chimney corner, in the long Winter
evenings, as l have done, has heard Of the Salt
Mines of Wieliczks. The account Of this subterra-
mean saline world made profound impression upon
b.p Ia r0u
my direct route on purpOset visit it. All wonders
which we first hear of in the dear, iecluded nest OF
home, most attract us after our wings have grown
and we have become restless birds of passage; but
not all retain the old magic after we behold them
The Maelstr5m turned oat TO be an immense exag
geratiop; Teneriffe and the Natural Bridges of
IconoDzo lie far out of my track, but here are the
Salt Mner within eight miles of Cracow, and
sbould have been false to every promise of youth if
/ had not visited them. II the " Wonders Of the
World is still extant, aud some Of the boys who
read THE TRIBUNE are acquainted with the book,
] know they will not overlook this letter Talking
is pleasantest when ore is sure Of an interested
audience beforehand.
In company with a Professor from ST. Peters
burg, we left CrscOw this morning, crossed the Wis
tula, and drove eastward through low, undulating
country, covered with fields Of rye, oats and pota-
toes The village of Wieliczka occupies charm
ing situation on the northern slope of long, wood
crowned hill The large store houses for the salt,
the Government Offices, aud the residences Of the
superinteDdents, on slight eminence near the foot,
frat strike the eye. After procuring permit from
the proper official, we presented ourselves at the
Office, over the mouth of the mine, in company
with five Piussan travellers, two of them ladies'
and wandering German mechanic, who had
tramped out from Cracow in the hope of seeing the
place. We were all enveloped 10 lOpg, coarse
blou,es of white linen, and having bespoken sup
ply of Bengal lights, a door was opened, and we
commenced descending into the bowels of the earth
by all easy staircase, in square shaft. SIX boys
carrying faring lamps, were distributed among our
party, and one of the superintendent assumed the
ofice of conductor.
After descending 2l0 feet, we saw the first veins
of rock salt, in bed of clay and crumbled sand
stone. Thirty feet more, and we were in a world
of salt. Level galleries branched of from the foot
Of the staircase; overhead ceiling of solid SALT
under foot floor of salt, and on either side dark
gray walls of SALT sparkling here and there with
Minute crystals. Lights q mmered ahead, and on
tuning corner we came upon gang OF work
men, some hacking away at the solid floor, others
tranding wbeelb,rrows full Of the precic IS cubes
Here wss the chapel of st. Anthony, toe Oldest 10
the mines-a Byzantine excavation, supported BY
columns, with altar crucifix, and life-sze statues
of saints, apparently 10 black marble, but all as salt
as Lots wife, as discovered by putting my tongue
to the nose of John the Baptist. The humid air
of this upper story of the mines has damaged s,me
Of the taints Francis, especially, is running away
like dip cantle and all of his head is gone except
bis chin The limbs of Joseph are dropping of as
if he had the Norwegian leprosy, and Lawrence has
deeper scars than his gridirOn could have made,
running up and down bis back. Bengal light
burned at the altar, brought into sudden life this
strange temple, which presently vanished into
utter darkness, q. if it had never been.
cannot follow, step by step, our journey of two
hours through the labyrintbs Of this wonderful mne
1t is bswilderipg maze of galleries, grand halls,
staircases and vaulted chambers, where one soon
o,es all sense of distance or direction, aud drifts
along bindly in the wake Of his conductor. Every
thing was solid salt except where great piers of
hewn logs had been built up to support some
threatening roof or vast chssms left in quarrying
had been bridgsd across. As we descended to
lower regions, the air became more dry and agree
able, and the saline walls more pure and brilliant.
One hall, 1OS feet in hight ressmbled Grecian
theater the traces of blocks taken out in regular
layers representing the seats for the spectators.
Out of this single hall 100000 cwt. Of salt had
been taken, or enough to supply the 4O,OO0,0O0