a Coalwvrk ut Beuujonc, near Liege. 241 



failed us, we had proposed to throw great stones down, to pro- 

 duce the same effect. Goffin afterwards told us, that this con- 

 cussion of the water did them great service. A detachment of 

 the military of the department came to keep back the multitude, 

 lest they should prevent the working of the engines ; and Mrs 

 Hardy, with the most praiseworthy sensibility, put the pit of 

 Mamonster, its workmen and horses, at the disposal of the en- 

 gineers. 



The headway of this colliery, at the extremity of which they 

 were to open a drift, being fallen in, the air had to be carried 

 131 yards along a narrow and dangerous passage, covered with 

 large blocks of stone. M. Migneron boldly ventured through 

 it, though his clothes were much torn in the enterprize. Ma- 

 laise, the conductor, followed him with several courageous work- 

 men, whose size permitted them to follow the same example. 

 M. Lambert Colson stuck at the mouth of the passage, and had 

 to be drawn out backwards. Migneron, at the head of the 

 workmen, went towards the east, and began to open out a drift 

 in a seam less than 39.37 inches thick, bearing on the 28th point 

 of the compass. 



Only two men at a time, lying on their sides, could work in 

 this narrow space ; but, on the least exhaustion of their strength, 

 each shift or company of twenty men, was relieved every four 

 hours. On account of the hardness of the seam they only pe- 

 netrated about eighty inches in three hours. Every attempt 

 was made to draw the attention of the unfortunate men to the 

 inner board of the Beaujonc mine. They blasted the rock, and 

 fired in small cannon ; but the night of Friday and the morn- 

 ing of Saturday the 25th of February passed without a hope. 



At this moment the level of the water was three yards higher 

 than on the preceding evening, in spite of every effort ; but the 

 public were not acquainted with this circumstance. At eight 

 o'clock in the morning of Saturday a distant noise was heard, 

 which gave us the satisfaction of knowing that our plans were 

 understood, and that the men themselves were at work in the 

 interior. 



It, however, became necessary to hasten the progress of the 

 drift, for the water in the course of the day rose above seven, 

 yards higher ; and it was also indispensable to stop the force o£ 



