i6o "JESTalkg at ®r0nt3t0n. 



not at his post ; and, on examining the wheel, it was found 

 he had fallen into its hollow interior, and was literally torn 

 to shreds by its rapid revolution. It is to be hoped that the 

 wheel is now so well fenced as to render a similar horror 

 impossible. 



' Having arrived at the works, if you wish to explore the 

 subterranean operations of the mines, I * believe you may ob- 

 tain permission, and a suit of proper clothing, by making 

 application at the office. Like a presentation at court, a 

 descent into a mine requires a special dress for the occasion. 



* The most frequented entrance to the most extensive part 

 of the mines is by the horse-level already named, where, 

 with candles and a guide, you make your way beneath an 

 arch of living rock, so low as to compel you to move along 

 with lowered crest until you arrive at the * Cobbler's Hole,' 

 a tremendous chasm, from which a vein of copper has been 

 wrought, extending to a point above the high water-wheel 

 you saw on the hill-side. When you have advanced about 

 a quarter of a mile into the level, you find the shaft, which 

 reaches from the said water-wheel through all the workings 

 down even to the lowest part of the mine, and by which the 

 kibbles containing the ore are hoisted to a few fathoms over 

 your head, and emptied into a large hopper, under which the 

 waggons are run to be loaded. 



* The shaft is descended by a series of ladders, with wooden 

 sides and iron steps, and a platform, or landing, is reached 

 at every few fathoms. Diverging occasionally from, but 

 generally following the line of the shaft, you continue, some- 

 times crawling down ladders, sometimes stepping cautiously 

 across the landings, and passing several levels in your des- 

 cent — as, for example, one at a depth of twenty fathoms, one 

 at thirty-five, one at fifty, one at seventy, and, if you choose 

 * A. Craig Gibson, author of 'Ravings and Ramblings round Coniston.' 



