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suiFer from the roinimum of draught ; the open light being 

 perfectly safe in these pits, owing to the absence of inflammable 

 gas. At first the road was of sufficient height to allow of an 

 upright position, and horses were now and then passed dragging a 

 string of coal-laden trucks from the distant workings. Vice was 

 found to exist even 1,000 feet below the surface, as on one occasion 

 warnings were passed from the guide to give " Tommy" a wide 

 berth, as he was apt to resent the intrusion of strangers by showing 

 the whites of his eyes and lashing out his hind legs. The hard 

 bed of shale, through which the first part of the road was cut, 

 began to give way to a softer material, and the side walls and 

 roof were propped with balks of timber ; various branches or side 

 roads were seen on either hand, and soon the way began to get 

 narrower, and the roof in closer proximity to the floor. Hitherto 

 the " Bull" vein had been followed ; owing to the descending dip of 

 the strata, however, the next vein above (the "bottom little 

 vein") was struck, and followed to the "fault," respecting which 

 the curious fact was stated that whereas in the " great" or topmost 

 vein of this upper series it is an upthrow of 51 feet ; in the lowest 

 or "Bull" vein of the same series it is a downthrow of 21 feet, 

 contrary to what might have been expected. Proceeding onwards, 

 the "headings" were at length reached, where the process of 

 working out the coal was going on. This consists in picking out 

 the soft band of shale immediately over the coal for several yards. 

 After the lapse of a few hours the superincumbent weight of the 

 strata causes the vein of coal to break up from below into cuboidal 

 masses, which are then easily removed, so that nature and art 

 combine in this operation. After sufficient time had been spent, 

 and the members' backs and knees began to weary of the crouching 

 and kneeling attitude in which they were obliged to pursue their 

 scientific researches, a retreat was made to the more open roads, 

 and on the way picks and hammers were busily at work in 

 collecting specimens of the ferns and calamites with which the 

 shaly roof abounds. Large calamites were seen in situ most 

 probably in the very position in which they formerly grew, and 

 the huge trunks of tree ferns (Lepidodendra) quite erect, with the 

 commencement of their roots plainly traceable in the shales below. 



