The Human Salamanders 119 



something after the fashion of coal ; indeed, 

 it is usually found in alternate seams with 

 coal. It is not so comfortable down the 

 clay mine, though the coal miner's job is 

 never a pleasant one. But the clay has to 

 be blasted out, and the water is more of 

 a nuisance down a mine in which clay is 

 present. 



When the fire-brick clay is brought to 

 the surface it is run off in the small tubs 

 to a shed where the pot-maker, with end- 

 less labour, proceeds to fashion it into a 

 pot. There is the mixing stage. An assistant 

 uses his bare feet to render the mass of 

 burnt and unburnt clay into a workable 

 condition. 



The work of building up a pot is laborious 

 in the extreme and unless the greatest care 

 were taken there would be a tiny hole 

 which would allow of the molten glass to 

 escape and so ruin the work of the equally 

 patient glass-maker. The pot can be added 

 to only little by little day after day, and 

 no chickens in an incubator have greater 

 care than does the pot as it dries very slowly. 



