RAMBLES IN CORNWALL. 45 



under the guidance of Captain Josiah Thomas, 

 who gave us most valuable and lucid information 

 in regard to every point that called for remark. 

 Speaking of Dolcoath mine, he said that the present 

 workings were started in 1799. The mine was 

 three-quarters of a mile long, a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and over 400 fathoms deep from the surface. 

 Out of that piece of ground there had already been 

 obtained three and a half millions of pounds' worth 

 of copper, and nearly the same of tin. The total 

 outlay had been 40,000, and they were making 

 about 50,000 a year profit. The mine shows no 

 tendency to exhaustion, but, on the contrary, gets 

 richer as the depth increases. I must not stay to 

 describe all the various kinds of machinery by 

 which the men go up and down the mines, and by 

 which the ore is crushed and dressed, and prepared 

 for the smelter ; nor must I attempt to tell how 

 royally we feasted at the Tehidy mansion of the 

 Bassetts, or how instructive were the speeches that 

 were delivered after the luncheon. On subsequent 

 days, Land's End and Cape Cornwall were visited, 

 and other mines were examined, one of the most 

 notable of which, Botallack mine, runs out under 

 the sea ; but no special reference need be made to 

 these. 



Tin is obtained mainly from cassiterite, or tin- 

 stone, so far as Cornwall is concerned ; but lodes 

 rich enough to require little preparation for the 

 smelter are very rare. After the tin-stone has 

 been broken into lumps, it passes through the 

 " stampers," which may be called huge hammers. 



