NOTF.S ON CRICH HILL. 49 



decomposed, and of a green colour. Here is the place where 

 they were then working. 



The ore occurs in a lode, i.e., a rent or fissure, vertical, or 

 nearly vertical. This fissure has been filled with vein stuff, 

 consisting mainly of calc and fliior spar, and galena, or lead ore. 

 The gate or level along which we had come followed the course 

 of the vein for a greater part of the way. The method of working 

 is to remove the vein stuff from the roof of the gate, thus 

 increasing the height of the roof. A stempel, or thick wooden bar, 

 is placed across the gate from one wall to the oiher, at a height of 

 about a yard from the ground. This forms a step, on which a 

 man can stand and still further increase the height of the roof by 

 removing more ore and other material, Another stempel is fixed 

 about a yard above the first one, and a little to the front, and 

 so the men work upwards into the lode, leaving behind them 

 a fissure, with wooden stempels placed across from one wall to 

 the other. 



Climbing by stempels for the first time produces an uncomfort- 

 able feeling, and the higher one gets, the more important becomes 

 the question how to get back again. I think, however, that the 

 descent is easier than the ascent. We ascended about twenty 

 yards in this way, and came to the vein of lead ore. On the way 

 up I saw amygdaloidal toadstone in an advanced stage of 

 decomposition. The rock at the sides of the vein is hard, and 

 sparks are produced when it is struck with the hammer, probably 

 due to the pyrites contained in it. The miners called the rock 

 toadstone; to me, however, it seemed to be a compound of 

 calcareous material and pyrites. Standing on a platform com- 

 posed of a few planks placed across stempels, I detached a good 

 specimen of lead ore in large cubes, and obtained some of 

 the rock in which the vein occurs. We then descended to the 

 tram line, and made the return journey, having been underground 

 for four hours and a half. 



The loadstone in this mine is a very much altered rock. It 

 first consisted of Olivine, Augite, Plagioclase, Felspar, and Mag- 

 netite. These minerals have been altered to other products, 

 4 



