a Coalwork at Beaujonc, near Liege. 239 



depth as the principal shaft, having a chimney raised from it 

 thirty-three yards high. 



M. Laybeye was directed to secure all the candles, and to 

 place the lighted ones against the props of the mothergate or main 

 gallery of the mine, that the miners might see from a distance 

 that they could no longer get to the shaft. Every excavation 

 ought to be propped ; that is, when the coal has been taken away, 

 the roof should be supported by pieces of straight wood, to pre- 

 vent falls. M. Clavir remained with Goffin, and assisted him in 

 assembling the workmen, and in forcing them to the side of the 

 rise-boards. 



In the first place, Bertrand executed the order to unstop the 

 bore-hole, which, from the reservoir of the steam-engine, leads 

 to tlie workings that dip or incline downwards from the shaft. 

 By this measure the workmen in the more distant boards were 

 enabled to save themselves while the lower parts were filling 

 mth water. This disposition, in fact, saved the lives of many 

 men who had time to join their brave leader. Unfortunately, 

 some of them, deaf to his entreaty, remained in the filling place, 

 near the shaft, in hopes of reaching the corf ; these perished, 

 victims of their imprudence. The corf descended several times 

 in vain. The ladders placed for the use of the fire-engine 

 seemed to offer another way of safety, but the unfortunate men 

 who attempted to profit by it were thrown down by the vio- 

 lence of the waterfall. 



The men and boys being drawn together, Goffin repeatedly 

 .said to them, " Lambert Colson will not abandon us; let us 

 turn towards the Roisse ; we shall go up the boards, he will 

 understand where we shall be ; and if we cannot escape hence 

 by Beaujonc, we shall by Mamonster." The Roisse is a gallery 

 which cuts the boards obliquely. 



Only imagine the situation of these unfortunate creatures, 

 buried in the bowels of the earth, at 185 yards deep — grouped 

 together in a narrow space — deprived of food, and almost of 

 vital air — with only a vague hope, and fearing to be drowned 

 in the water which they saw increasing. It is only after having 

 visited several coal-mines that we can form a just idea of the 

 danger of the miners, who all their days traverse these laby- 

 rinths, where, often, they can only creep, are deprived of air, 



R 2 



