Geology, &§c. of the ain ae. 
duineral cabinets of our SOMBER and to vie in beauty sigh 
the lead ores of Europe. 
e mouth of this drift is four or five feet wide, and about 
three fet above the surface of the water. The water is 
deep enough, the whole length of it, to admit the passage of 
a loaded boat. € person wishing to explore this internal 
pe must fire a gun at the entrance, or beat heavily with 
a sledge on the timbers that support the soil; in ten or fif- 
teen minutes he will perceive a gentle undulation of the wa- 
ter, and soon after a boat advancing with lighted lamps and 
a rower; having seated himself on the bottom of this boat, 
and provided himself with an additional garment, he is pre- 
pared for his subterranean expedition. As he enters the 
passage, he will, for a moment, experience, or imagine he 
experiences, a little difficulty of breathing. But he will 
soon become reconciled to his condition; and after passing 
about one hundred feet in the excavation, for which distance 
on soil is supported by timbers, he will find occasional 
ore that he can stand erect. If he looks back, 
Ps having advanced several hundred feet, the light at the 
entrance will appear diminished to the size of a candle; and 
before he reaches the extremity, it becomes invisible. About 
half way from the entrance to the end of the drift, he will 
pass a shaft; down which a small brook is turned, for the 
purpose of aiding the ventilator. When he reaches the 
end of the drift, he finds himself to have penetrated nearly 
sixty rods chiefly into solid rock; a voyage which although 
inferior to that performed in the celebrated navigation anine, 
inthe Peak of Derbyshigag is still extremely interesti 
The miners do not quit the drift when they blast ; but re- 
tire behind a breast work thrown up for the purpose. En- 
tering immediately after an explosion, I did not perceive the 
air to be in any degree more oppressive than when powder 
is fired above ground. One man told me that he had been 
an inmate of that dark recess, eight or ten years, without 
suffering in his health, and when he returned alone into his 
dreary prison after conducting me to the day light, he struck 
p a cheerful song, indicating buoyant spirits and a content- 
ed min 
ve ry. mineralogist passing that way, will of course visit 
this drift. Intelligent gentlemen without professional views, 
