IN A SALT MINE. 155 



banale, but it exactly conveys the effect of crude nature 

 assisted by pyrotechnic art. Afterwards, fire balloons and 

 rockets with magnesium stars were sent up, and cast a 

 dim misty light over the depths, which at all events gave 

 an impression of magnitude and grandeur. One tiny lake- 

 let is shown through a kind of window. It has a roof 

 only about twenty feet high, and is shut in all round. 

 The walls sparkle with white crystals, and the low vaulted 

 roof is hung with stalactites. Lit bv the bright mag- 

 nesium light, mirrored back again from the clear still 

 water below, it conveyed the idea of a huge globe 

 studded with diamonds. 



As we walked through these dark caverns, lighted only 

 by a single torch carried before us, here, and there little 

 sparks like glow-worms showed the miners at work. Each 

 man carries a sort of oil night-light, which just serves to 

 make the darkness visible. If it goes out, he sits down 

 until he is found ; unless, indeed, he cares to risk a fall 

 of a hundred feet or so in the dark. His wife is always 

 with him, which may be a consolation. Poor thing ! she 

 has the harder part, carrying on her head a heavy load 

 of salt to the trucks, which he leisurely chips out. They 

 tell a tale of a blind man who could find his way unassisted 

 over all the workings ; perhaps this may have originated 

 I lie idea for Rudyard Kipling's charming little story. 



They say these caves are compai'atively cool even in 



