into a Lead and Silver Mine. 63 
a portion of the ore of zinc, and is smelted for its valuable pro- 
dace in great demand throughout this realm for potteries, me- 
dical purposes, brass, &c. ‘In this beautiful little room, there 
are two openings, in form, nearly square, from the floor upwards, 
about 17 foot each side, lined with the same substance, and em- 
bellished with gtittering spar, of exquisite brillianey. These 
transparent particles are very regularly distributed over the walls, 
neither too thick nor too thin, to give the effect of genuine taste 
and finish; but the process of nature is going on, and that bril- 
liant spar will most probably become a thick crust, if not im- 
peded by the hand of the workman, and will in time attain to a 
solid mass of quartz, of which numerous large pieces are found 
in these mines. 
While we rested here, men were sent further in advance, to ex- 
plore the extent and nature of the several low and narrow pas- 
sages and openings in the reck, which communicated with this 
open space; and having taken hold of the end of the clew of 
pack-thread to direct their retrograde steps by the same way, they 
tried to advance :—they proceeded on hands and knees, or feet, 
as necessity dictated, a considerable way forward in the largest 
openings they could find, until they were called back by the voice 
and a tug of the line. They found no end to these numerous in- 
tersecting openings in the rock, the passages of which are ex- 
tremely intricate and dangerous) without proper precautions 
taken ; for, to retrace exploring steps in such a labyrinth, if lights 
should fail, without a clew, or their companions stationed as we 
were in the main track, would be to hazard their lives. 
Ovr curiosity on that occasion being gratified, we commenced 
on our return, by the same passage before described, but disco- 
vered some other passages that communicated with it, and in 
which some of our fellow travellers ventured to wander, and were 
able to join us again, without being obliged to return to the part 
where they entered the by-way. 
The length of the main chasm is 320 yards. Evident signs 
would seem to prove that this cavern and all its communicating 
fissures have been filled at no very distant period, with water, and 
the probability is, it has been drained off by the adits in the mine, 
in which there runs, as I said before, a constant stream from 
some contiguous part of the works. The rocks of the cavern are 
covered by a sooty mucus in nearly a dried state, which it may be 
presumed, was generated by the stagnant water and impure air, 
previous to its draining. There is a little mud left on the bot- 
tom of the cavern in a moist state, and the smell tends to con- 
firm the conjecture of these concavities having been a reservoir 
for thousands of years, and drained off by the level of the mine. 
It appeared to me that some little ventilation passes through the 
whole, 
