3<J^ CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



through its whole length. He also perceives that the shaft is filled with a thick haz* 

 or mist, -which is, in fact, the accumulation of foul air, and all sorts of impurities, 

 which are driven out of the mine by a rising current of pure air, and which thus 

 ascend by the shaft. Darker and darker each moment becomes the shaft, and the 

 upper orifice is now an inconsiderable circle of brightness, and still the machine 

 descends ; — down— down. 



•' Landing at length, after his easy transit, the visitor finds it difficult to discern 

 the objects about him, even with the assistance of the candle which is placed in his 

 hand — in the double blackness occasioned by the absence of light, and by the sable 

 hue of the ribs and walls of coal by which he is surrounded. * * » 



" Arrived at the part where active work is going on, several candles, stuck by 

 means of lumps of clay against the sides, shed a feeble light ; and by each of these, 

 a workman is seen pursuing his laborious occupation. It is the universal custom 

 for the colliers, when engaged at work, to have the upper half of their bodies un- 

 clothed ; thus leaving their limbs completely at liberty, and lessening the incon- 

 venience which would be felt if fragments of coal were continually falling within 

 their dress. Their arduous employment prevents their suffering from cold ; and 

 indeed, the temperature, at these depths, is always rather high, and receives but 

 little variation from the changes which alfect the state of the upper air. 



" Noting the operation of getting out the lowest coal, it will be a matter of 

 astonishment to perceive into how small space the human figure can be packed, 

 while the pick or pike is constantly applied. An excavation below the stratum, 

 perhaps eight or nine yards square, being driven — the cavity not more than two 

 feet to two feet six inches high ; the colliers next proceed to the still more difficult 

 task of cutting upwards, in the sides of the impending mass, forming a channel of 

 eight or ten inches wide, and four or five feet high, leaving here and there a small 

 point called a spern,* still attached to the main wall. 



*' The smallest coal and slack are all along carried away by boys employed for the 

 purpose, and removed, if the work be a new one, or if there be a demand for it ; 

 nut if the mine be partially cleared, and no demand exists for the small coal, it is 

 laid in heaps, on the nearest cleared space. 



•'The cavity completed, it is obvious that a solid mass of coal, eight or nine 

 yards square, and four or five feet thick, hangs, supported only by the occasional 

 points or iperns before mentioned. Retiring then to a safe distance, the miners, 

 with light poles, fifteen feet long, shod with hooks and points of steel, and termed 

 • prickers,* by degrees work away a portion of the support, till a slight warning 

 crack is heard. Every one then gets out of danger, and shortly after, the vast 

 mass thunders down. The quantity of coal which descends at a single fall, varies 

 according to circumstances, from one hundred to three hundred tons. This is then 

 broken into removable pieces, and piled on the small low four-wheeled carriages, or 

 skips, before alluded to, which run on the railways. The pile on the skip is carried 

 to the height of four or five fret, by means of three or four broad iron hoops thrown 

 over it, as necessity requires, to keep the coals in their places ; and is further 

 secured by two strong chains. When arrived under the shaft, the hook of the 

 descending rope is attached to these chains, and the entire load, including the 

 carriage, is drawn up. 



" The lower fall of coals being thus cleared away, the miners prepare to bring 

 down the next stage above, by cutting upwards in a narrow channel as before, as 

 far as they can reach, leaving the requisite holds or sperns, in a similar manner. 

 In this work they are partially assisted by the heaps of slack, when these are left 

 behind ; but when they can no longer reach to make their strokes, temporary 

 BcaflFoldings are affixed into the perpendicular sides of the mine, by means of short 

 and stout wedges of wood, called byets, which are driven into holes bored for the pur- 

 pose ; these byets carry planks, on whose frail and precarious footing the workmen 

 stand, to pursue their dangerous task of detaching the enormous impending mass, 

 which a few superfluous or injudicious strokes may bring down in resistless ruin on 

 their heads. Such accidents, however, are of rare occurrence ; practice enables 

 the workmen to judge very accurately how far they may proceed to sap the support 

 of the upper strata ; and the weight is seldom known to fall without some notice. 

 When the proper degree of cutting has been efi'ected, the pricker is used, as in the 

 former case, to bring down the loosened mass. 



♦' In clearing out the coal, care is taken to leave at such distances as are thought 

 necessary, strong pillars to support the superincumbent strata ; so that when a 

 mine of ten yard coal has been some time worked, it presents the appearance of 

 an extensive and regular range of cavities, technically termed stalls, supported by 

 massy columns of thirty feet in height. 



* " Spern (German}, a spur, buttress, &c. 



