86 WOLF-HUNTING. 



the ear, rushed and roared 'neath the colossal boulders that 

 barred its course in vain. 



The ponderous machinery, which it was our object to see, has 

 been at work in the bowels of the earth for a great number of 

 years night and day, raising, without noise or irregularity, a vast 

 body of water, four cubic metres per minute, to a height of 750 

 feet. A column of water, brought in by an aqueduct, and falling 

 from a height of 200 feet, gives the machine the power of 280 

 horses ; and thus, by its incessant labour, the mine is kept dry. 

 We descended by a bucket and rope to a great depth below the 

 surface of the earth, our host, a man of 16 stone, leading the way,, 

 and testing, as he affirmed, the safety of the gear for our especial 

 benefit. The test proved ample, and on alighting in the mine we 

 were courteously received by the resident Director ; and all the 

 operations of the men at work, all the movements of the mighty- 

 machine a masterpiece of mechanical invention and the whole 

 process of separating, by mercury, the silver from the lead (for the 

 mines include both these ores amalgamated together), were duly 

 explained to us by that intelligent man. Without pretending to- 

 enter more fully into the subject, I can only say our subterranean 

 visit proved to be a most instructive one, and that even St. Prix, 

 on our return to Carhaix, confessed to having passed a most 

 agreeable day, and seen with wonder the power and efficiency 

 of M. Juncker's machine. 



The next day being Sunday, the whole town was agog and 

 stirring long before daylight; heavy, iron-shod sabots clattered 

 through the streets, and men were hastening from all quarters to 

 mass, so that, the short service over, they might sally forth to the 

 chasse with a sense of having done their duty, and without a 

 scruple of doubt to mar the pleasure of the sport for the rest of 

 the day. The desecration of the Sabbath was certainly far from 

 the minds of those ouvriers who, after six days of toil, rested from 

 their labour, and devoted the seventh their morning sacrifice 



