OF THE MINERAL WORK.

And usually, a great quantity of sulfur is prepared in the vicinity, from which the poor acquire their livelihood by digging it up, purifying it from impurities, and preparing it for human uses. But in my judgment, that clamor appears to be nothing other than the fire itself, wandering through narrow passages, hard rocks, and caverns with the greatest force, and producing a horrible sound, which the common people call an Ejulatum wailing/lamentation.

They add that around these burning mountains, specters and spirits are not rarely seen. This is also true, and founded in Nature; but you cannot prove that they must necessarily be demons original: "cacodæmones" and infernal spirits. Since diverse spirits are otherwise found and seen in the bowels of the earth—monsters not unusual to miners, by whom they are frequently injured, or even killed, dislocated, or infected—sometimes they are harmless, idle spectators, or playing with the workers' tools, or even performing tasks without filling their pockets, even though they show themselves working strenuously. Indeed, such spirits appear in many forms: often resembling a horse, a dog, or another beast; sometimes like a dwarf or a bent man; often dressed in a gray monk's cowl. More frequently, they are indicators of great fortune and rich mines, though sometimes they inflict much damage by suffocating miners with a malign habit, or by casting them headlong into pits. On account of their malice, not a few of the richest mines are forced to remain uncultivated, as they persistently guard the hidden treasures.