NATURAL HISTORY. 



8]3 



blasting is frequerltly attended -with 

 danger, from the carelessness -with 

 which the men retire to their hiding- 

 places: and it sometimes happens, 

 that in ramming down the wadding, 

 the iron strikes against the stone, 

 and fires the gunpowder, which is 

 often fatal to the man employed. 

 During the short time I remained 

 here, I observed iijiwards of forty 

 men in different places, occupied in 

 preparing for blasting ; and I felt 

 somewhat uncomfortable under the 

 idea that in such a number, some 

 one might be careless enough to hare 

 his gunpowder take tire before he 

 ■was aware of it.- 



There are in the Paris mountain 

 two mines; of these, the one on the 

 east side is the JNIoiia mine, the en- 

 tire property of the earl of [Ix- 

 bridge and the rev. Edward Hughes, 

 of Kinmall, near St. Asaph. Tho- 

 mas \\'illiams, esq. of J^ianidan, 

 the member for Marlow, has a lease 

 of half the carl's share in these 

 mines; and tliey work conjointly.* 

 Mr. Hughes works his share of the 

 Paris mine alone. 



It is generally believed that tlie 

 Romans got copper ore from this 

 mountain; for vestiges are yet left 

 of what have been taken for (heir 

 operations: and some verj' ancient 

 stone utensils have, at diilerent 

 times, been found here. From the 

 time of the Romans, till the year 

 17G4, these mines seem to have 

 been entirely neglected. Copper 

 had, about two years before this pe- 

 riod, been fouml iiere, and Messrs. 

 Roe and co. of Maccleslield, had, 

 with a mine in Caernarvonshire, a 

 iease of |)art of tiie Paris moun- 

 tain from sir Nicholas liailey, the 



father of the earl of Uxbridge, 

 which expired about nine yeai"s 

 ago. They spent considerable sums 

 of money in making levels to drain 

 otf the water, without any great 

 success, and Avcre about to give up 

 any further attempts, when their 

 agent requested that a final experi- 

 ment might be tried in another part 

 of the mountain. This succeeded, 

 for in less than two days, ore of al- 

 most pure copper was discovered 

 not two yards from the surface, 

 Mhich proved to be that vast bed 

 which has since been worked to 

 such advantage. The day of this 

 discovery was the second of March, 

 17G8, and it has ever since been ob- 

 served as a festival by the miners. 

 The rev. Edward Hughes, who was 

 the owner of the remainder of the 

 mountain, was roused by this success 

 to attempt a similar adventure, 

 Avhich has also succeeded beyond 

 the most sanguine cxpeftatious of 

 the time. 



The bed of ore is in some places 

 more than sixty feet in thickness ; 

 and tho j)roprietors are said to ship 

 annually about 20,000 tons. The 

 ntunber of hands employed is up- 

 M'ards of a thousand. The ore has 

 lately been supposed to be fast de- 

 creasing, but the discovery of a new 

 vein in the Mona mine, will keep 

 that property still in a flourishing 

 state for many years. 



The ore, as I have already re- 

 marked, is got from the mine partly 

 by picking, and partly by blasting. 

 It is then broken with hannners into 

 small j)ieces by w omen and children, 

 armed with iron gloves. After this 

 operation, it is piled in kilns of great 

 length, and about six feet high, 



* Since this tour was ready for the press, I have received information of the 

 /doutb ni' Mr. Willianrii. 



where 



