CoLENSO. — MemorahUia, Ancient and Modern. 323 



usual, they are often made up of quartz, and commonly in a 

 number of successive crystalline plates or combs ; but even 

 here they often exhibit charming little crystals of dolomite, 

 of specular iron-ore, of gothite, or of manganese spar. Tin- 

 ore (cassiterite) is the substance which has most largely con- 

 tributed to the wealth of this district ; occurring principally 

 where the lodes occur in the granite rock, it has been fol- 

 lowed down from the open " coffins "* of our remote Cornish 

 ancestors to a depth of 300 fathoms (1,800 ft.) from the sur- 

 face. 



While, however, certain of the veins, as the north lode of 

 Levant (and those of Huel Cock, a mine adjacent), carry a 

 good deal of yellow copper- ore along with iron and arsenical 

 pyrites, enormous wealth has been obtained from the courses 

 of vitreous copper-ore, the sulphide-of-copper glance, which, 

 especially in Botallack and Levant, extended for a great 

 length under the sea, and which ore was more or less con- 

 tinuous down to a depth of almost 200 fathoms. The occa- 

 sional occurrence of native bismuth, of cobalt-ores, of silver, 

 and the rare and costly ores of uranium, add much interest 

 to the mineralogical contents of these lodes. 



Dolcoath Mine is mentioned at the beginning of my paper. 

 This mine is situated near Camborne, and has long been the 

 premier mine in Cornwall. However, after several years of 

 continued unexampled prosperity, the mine is now worked 

 only at a great loss, the loss on the last three months being 

 nearly £6,000 (the total expenditure for the last quarter being 

 nearly £20,000), with no prospect of doing better without a 

 fresh and large outlay requii*ed to sink a new perpendicular 

 shaft that would cost from £3,000 to £4,000, and take two 

 years to complete, which is absolutely necessary. Tin-ore is 

 plentiful in the mine, which is still rich, but only found at 

 great depths, some of the levels being 364 and 425 fathoms. 

 To abandon the mine would mean great and absolute want 

 for many hundreds of the population. One of the obstacles 

 was the heavy amount of lords' dues, which should have been 

 levied on a more equitable and sliding scale ; while another 

 was the unwillingness of the adventurers (or shareholders, 

 many of whom lived in London) to respond to a call for a very 

 heavy outlay — a capital of £90,000 being required. A third 

 hindrance was the very low price of tin in the market, mainly 

 owing to the large quantity of that metal imported from the 

 Straits, where it is also plentiful, and can be worked cheaply. 

 However, after several meetings of the shareholders matters 

 seem to be in a fair way of arrangement, by forming the mine 

 into a limited liability company of 300,000 shares, and by the 



* Miners' term for the surface streaming-pita. 



