812 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



The left to that unhappy region tends, 

 Which to the depth of Tartarus de- 

 scends ; 

 The seat of nip;ht profound, and pu- 

 nisli'd fiends. 



To look from hence, and observe 

 the people on the stages, a hundred 

 and fifty feet abore one's head ; to 

 see the immense number of ropes 

 and buckets, most of them in mo- 

 tion ; and to reflect, that a single 

 stone casually thrown from above, 

 or falling from a bucket, might in u 

 moment dcstroj' a fellow-creature, a 

 man must have a strong mind, not 

 to feel impressed with many unplea- 

 sant sensations. A few days before 

 I was last here, a bucket caught 

 against the point of a rock, cmp, 

 tied its contents on the head of a 

 poor fellow, and killed him on the 

 spot. The sides of this dreadful 

 hollow are mostly perpendicular. 

 Along the edges, and in general 

 slung by ropes over the precipices, 

 are the stages with windlasses, or 

 ■whimsies, as they are here termed, 

 from -wliich the buckets are lower- 

 ed; and from which those men de- 

 scend who work ujjon the sides. 

 Here. suKpended in mid air, the fel- 

 lows pick, with their iron instru- 

 ment, a small place for a footing, cut 

 out the ore in vast masses, and tum- 

 ble it with a thundering crash to the 

 bottom. In these seemingly preca- 

 rious situations they make caverns, 

 in which they work for a certain 

 time, till the rope is again lowered 

 to take them up. 



Much of the ore is blasted by 

 gunpowder, eight tons of which, we 

 are told, was some time ago annually 

 used for this purpose* The man- 

 ner of preparing for the blasting 

 was entirely new to mo, and may be 



so to some of my readers. A hole 

 is bored in the rock in about the di- 

 ameter of a very wide gun barrel, 

 and of depth in proportion to the 

 quantity of matter to be thrown up. 

 At the bottom is lodged the gun- 

 powder, and the man then taking a 

 thin iron rod, tapering to a point, 

 and about two feet in length, he 

 places it perpendicularly in the mid- 

 dle of the hole, and fills it up on all 

 sides with stones, clay, &c, ram- 

 ming these hard down by means of 

 an iron proje6ting at the bottom, 

 with a nick in it, that it may pass, 

 freely round the rod. When this is 

 prepared, the rod is taken out, and 

 a straw filled with gunpowder is 

 substituted. A match is then put to 

 it, that will burn so long, before it 

 communicates the fire to the pow- 

 der, as to allow the workmen within 

 reach, to escape into different re- 

 treats from the danger attendant on 

 the explosion. Several blasts are 

 generally ready at the same time, 

 and notice is given to the workmen 

 to run into shelter, by a cry in 

 Welsh, of fire. Whilst I was in 

 the mine, the cry was several times 

 given, and J, with the rest, crept 

 into shelter. In one instance six or 

 seven blasts went oft" in different 

 parts successively, one of which was 

 within thirty yards of my station^, 

 and the splinters of the rock dashed 

 furiously past me. I am scarcely a' 

 judge of the noise they made, for I 

 took the liberty of stopping my 

 ears, which the men seemed to think 

 a pleasant joke, for they laughed 

 very heartily at what they conjec- 

 tured a mark of my timidity: WheT\ 

 the whole is exploded, information is 

 given to the workmen, and they re- 

 turn to their work. Tlie process of 



* PepnaRt, 



Wasting 



