242 An Account nf ihc Inundation of 



the water at the dam of the Triquenote pit, which the carpen- 

 ters at length effected on the morning of Sunday the 1st of 

 March, bv fastening pieces of wood in the havage, which is a 

 technical term for the earth, sand, clay or rock which separates 

 two seams. From this moment the water began to diminish. 



Our workmen, deceived by the effect of sound, now wished 

 to take another direction. In the night of Saturday and Sun- 

 day, through excessive zeal, they opposed M. Migneion. In 

 vain he told them that, if they persisted in their plan, they were 

 in danger of holing into water. In despair, he also learnt that 

 the women and children, at the bank of the pit, were murmur- 

 ing; considering, therefore, the responsibility that lay upon him, 

 he yielded, for a few hours, to the will of the workmen. At 

 this moment we came to the pit, determined to descend and re- 

 establish order ; when the engineer himself came up, and assured 

 us that the men had acknowledged their error, and come back 

 to the first drift, and that the sound from the interior was much 

 more distinct. 



On the 2d of March we were still unable to judge of the dis- 

 tance to be excavated, as the sound was not loud enough to 

 make us quite certain of its direction, for it sometimes appeared 

 to come from a place higher than our drift. M. Mathieu went 

 down and joined his colleague ; and they held a consultation 

 with M. Colson, Stephen Bernard, the night oversman, in the 

 Beaujonc colliery (whose son was one of those in the interior of 

 the mine), and Ernest le Clerc, the foreman of Mrs Hardy's 

 colhery, and it was determined that the work should proceed in 

 the direction first commenced, which, on the 28th point of the 

 compass, would lead to the fifth rise-board of the Beau- 

 jonc pit *. When M. Migneron came to the surface, he traced 

 on the ground a plan of the subterraneous operations, more 

 to tranquillize the impatience of the public, and to con- 

 vince the miners, than to verify his own calculations. The 

 whole of Sunday, Monday, and part of Tuesday, passed 

 in the torment of hope constantly deceived. The workmen 

 kept up their spirit, but some of them made no progress. On 



* This circumslance shews ihe absolute necessity and great importance of 

 having accurate plans of all mining operations. This cannot be too strongly 

 enforced — Ed. 



