52 



performs the necessary mechanical labor of the establishment. The smob« of ail 

 the furnaces is conducteJ by flues to a large bricii arched trunk, or common re- 

 cipient, which leads to a chimney about 70 feet high ; this discharges the i-moke 

 and noxious vapours, and relieves the workmen from much of their baleful in- 

 fluence. 



In the vicinity of the works, and, indeed, for miles round, there is scarcely 

 the appearance of vegetation, and, in many places, not a trace of it can be seen. 

 Every thing seems to droop and to die under the deleterious influence of the nox- 

 ious gases emitted from the numerous furnaces: and where the surface of the 

 ground was formerly covered with a rich sward, it is now furrowed by the action of 

 the rains, and nothing can be made to grow on it. It is alike inimical to animal 

 life. Horses and cattle are poisoned by it ; their limbs become swollen ; their eye- 

 sight defective ; their testh drop out ; and they would soon die if they were not re- 

 moved at the end of two years, when their places are supplied by other victims. 

 It is not so fatal to human beings, as they only breathe the arsenic and sulphur, 

 while the poor beasts tat those substances from the herbage, on which they are 

 deposited ; but that it is extremely prejudical to man there can be no doubt, al- 

 though he is certainly less affected by it than one might suppose. I always felt 

 extremely uncomfortable after my visit to the works, and imagined myself pretty 

 well poisoned ; and, indeed, how could it well be otherwise, when the presence of 

 arsenic, to say nothing of sulphur, was so perfectly obvious from its alliaceous 

 smell ? All suffer from it perceptibly, e.xccpt the operatives, who are so laboriously 

 employed as to excite profuse perspiration, which relieves them, in a great meas- 

 ure, from its injurious action. 



Swansea is the greatest manufactory of copper in the world; and here nineteen- 

 twentieths of the copper of the kingdoms is made. All the ores here reduced are 

 brought from a distance — some from Valparaiso, some from Cuba, a small quanti- 

 ty from New Orleans, and a large proportion from Cornwall and Devon, and some, 

 but not a great deal, from Hollyhead, Anglesea, and from Ireland. It is now 2.')0 

 years since the first ores were shipped from Cornwall to Wales. The Cuba and 

 South American ores yield about 20 per cent., sometimes, but rarely, 25. The 

 Irish 10 to 12, and the Cornish 7^ to 8A. I could learn but little about the ores 

 from the United States, except that they were pretty good. Ores yielding' 20 per 

 cent, of copper are worth at the furnaces, when prepared for f melting, from £18 

 to £20 per ton, or betwen $90 and $100 per ton of 2Icwt. The best metal is 

 worth from £100 to £120 per ton, and the profiu are said to be largf". 



The following table (extracted from the official report of Mr. De la Beche, direc- 

 tor of the Ordnance Geological Survey) of the foreign and British ores, sold at 

 Swansea, by ticket, in the manner practised in Cornwall, may he useful in show- 

 ing the amount of foreign copper ore imported into South Wales during the year, 

 (ending 30lh June, 1838 ;) »s also the produce of some of the copper mines In Ire- 

 land and Walea, for the same time : 



