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the " Cheshire Midland,") are the famous Cheshire salt- 

 crystal mines, occasionally opened to the inspection 

 of visitors, and then illuminated. The opportunity so 

 afforded should not be missed by any one fond of great 

 natural curiosities. For although the excavations are 

 the result of man's labour, the material of the mine is 

 such as cannot be seen anywhere else in the country. 

 The principal mine, the oldest and most extensive, is 

 that called the " Old Marston," on account of its con- 

 nexion with the village of that name, distant about two 

 miles. For more than a hundred years has the crystal 

 been extracted from it, and the area now covered by the 

 works is calculated to be thirty statute acres, or about 

 the same as that of Peel Park ! The depth of the shaft 

 for descending is about 114 yards, and narrow enough 

 it seems, at the entrance, when scores of visitors are all 

 anxious to be first into the " tub." Once at the bottom, 

 it is a very different thing, for then there is room for the 

 entire population of Manchester. The roof of the mine, 

 near the shaft, is fifteen feet above the floor, and sup- 

 ported by eight colossal pillars of the crystal, every pillar 

 thirty yards long by ten in breadth. Elsewhere the sup- 

 porting pillars are about ten yards square, and twenty- 

 five yards apart, and by means of them, the mine, which 

 is one vast subterranean hall, is divided into a number 

 of chambers, called " drifts" or "runs," not exactly like 

 streets, though apparently so, seeing that the separation 

 is effected solely by the pillars, and that there is no con- 



