362 THE ISLE OF MAN — ITS AGRICULTURE, CLIMATE, ETC. 



as whenever they are able to work in the fields, they are bnt 

 too glad to send them out ; they thus grow up in ignorance. 

 Many of the parishes are large, and the parochial school may 

 he at some distance, which no doubt operates against their in- 

 struction. 



The parsons of the different parishes do not pay much 

 attention to the instruction of the people. Ploughmen in 

 general seldom attend any place of worship, although the 

 same cannot be said of their wives. Parish churches are very 

 indifferently filled. The Wesleyan Methodists have established 

 a good footing on the island ; they have several commodious 

 chapels in every parish, and preaching is supplied by what are 

 termed local preachers, who are planned to preach a day here 

 and another there, so that you do not hear the same preacher 

 two consecutive Sundays. Some of these preachers are well 

 read in Scripture, and from such you can get a tolerably fair 

 discourse ; from others you receive no edification. Many of 

 the rural labourers make a hobby of Methodism ; and although 

 they can neither read nor write, they will pray in public with 

 great fluency. 



A large portion of the inhabitants are employed at the various 

 lead mines throughout the island. Foxdale Mine, in the parish 

 of Patrick, employs several hundred miners ; they are paid so 

 much per fathom, or so much per ton of lead ore, after it is washed. 

 They generally make good wages ; and they work from seven to 

 eight hours per day. They work in gangs of four together, and 

 can make from 4s. to 6s. per day, clearing all expenses. At 

 Laxey, in the parish of Lonan, there is another extensive lead 

 mine, which has been worked for upwards of forty years. During 

 this period they have produced upwards of three-quarters of a 

 million sterling worth of ore, consisting of zinc and lead. The 

 present monthly produce is between 60 and 70 tons of ore, 

 containing about three ounces of silver to the ton ; about 300 

 tons of zinc ore, of about forty- five per cent.; and upwards of 200 

 tons of copper ore, of from six to seven per cent. The mine is 

 between 200 and 300 fathoms in depth. The machinery for 

 preparing these different metals is all driven by water, and is 

 considered the most extensive and efficient of the kind in exist- 

 ence. It requires six water-wheels to propel this machinery, 

 besides two powerful turbines ; the latter are used for the pur- 

 pose of drawing the produce out of the mines. P>esides these, 

 there is an overshot wheel, supposed to be the largest water- 

 wheel in Her Majesty's dominions ; it is over 200 horse power, 

 and is supported by a substantial structure of masonry. Though 

 properly an overshot, it moves in an opposite direction to the 

 stream of water. The following are its dimensions : — Diameter, 

 72 feet 6 inches ; circumference, 217 feet 6 inches ; breadth of 



