On fhe Tanperatnre of Mines. 437 



in the interval between two shafts. When there are more 

 than one lode worked in the same mine, as fi'equently happens, 

 galleries often run parallel to each other at the same depth. 

 In this case they often communicate by intermediate galleries, 

 driven through the rock (or country, as it is called in Corn- 

 wall) whicii are termed cross-cut's. A mine thus consists of a 

 series of horizontal galleries, generally one above the other, 

 but sometimes running parallel, traversed at irregular inter- 

 vals by vertical shafts, and all communicating together, either 

 directly or indirectly." 



" 2. A person unacquainted with the details of mining, on 

 bemg informed of many hundreds of men being employed 

 in a single mine, might naturally imagine that a visit to their 

 recesses would afFox'd a picturesque and imposing spectacle of 

 gregarious labour and bustle, tremendous noise, and much 

 artificial brilliancy to cheer the gloom. Nothing however is 

 further from the truth as far as regards the mines of Corn- 

 wall; for, like their fellow labourers the moles, the miners are 

 solitary in their operations. Seldom do we find more than 

 three or four men in one gallery at a time, where they are 

 seen pursuing the common operations of digging or boring the 

 rock, in the inner extremity of the gallery, by the feeble glim- 

 mering of a small candle, with very little noise, or nmch lati- 

 tude for bodily movement. Very seldom are they within the 

 sound of each other's operations, except occasionally when 

 they hear the dull report of the explosions. In the vicinity of 

 the main shaft of the mine, indeed, the incessant action of the 

 liuge chain of pumps produces a constant but not very loud 

 noise, while tlie occasional rattling of the metallic buckets 

 (for conveying the ore) against the walls of the shaft, as tliey 

 ascend and descend, relieves the monotony both of the silence 

 and the sound. Still every thing is dreary, dull, and cheer- 

 less; and you can be with difficulty persuaded, even wlien in 

 the lichest and most populous mines, that you are in the centre 

 of such extensive and important operations. What adds 

 greatly to the impression of tameness, is the extreme darkness 

 and dirtiness of the galleries. There is no light whatever, but 

 that afforded by the candles of the workmen, and by those 

 carried by 3'ourself and guide; while the universal presence 

 of water soaking througli the crevices of the galleries, and in- 

 termixing with the dust and rubbish, keeps u}) a constant suc- 

 cession of dirty puddles through which you must pass, besides 

 being ft-equently obliged to crawl on all-tours through passages 

 too low to achnit you in any other manner. Tlie galleries arc 



extended 



