﻿206 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



is on high ground, the workmen pierce a passage from the bottom 

 sloping downwards to the level country, to let the water run oil". 

 These passages are called adits, and they are sometimes dug at the 

 expense of several years' labor. 



When the ore is brought to the surface of the earth, it is thrown 

 into heaps, and broken with large hammers. In this broken state 

 it is carried to the stamping-mill, where it is turned into a sloping 

 trough, and a small stream of water assists it in sliding down into 

 the case where the lifters work. These are pieces of timber, shod 

 with large masses of iron ; they are raised and let fall again by a 

 water-wheel. The ore is repeatedly washed before it is brought to 

 be melted. When melted, it runs into large oblong moulds, each 

 of which contains about three hundred weight of pure tin. It must 

 now be conveyed to some one of the stannary towns, to be marked 

 and assayed, or, as they call it there, coined. This is done by 

 officers appointed by the Duke of Cornwall. They cut off one 

 corner, and then stamp it with the proper seal and the name of the 

 melter. This gives assurance to the purchaser that it is pure tin, 

 and tells all whom it may concern that the duty, which is four shil- 

 lings on a hundred weight, has been paid. There are laws, called 

 stannary laws, by which all these mines are regulated. Every case 

 relating to them must be tried before their own courts, and cannot 

 be removed elsewhere. 



The whole conduct of the mine and miners is under one person, 

 called the captain of the mine. Beside knowing the proper methods 

 of getting the ore out of the rock, he must have some knowledge 

 of mechanics, algebra, and geometry. He would be unfit for the 

 office, if he could not at any time point out, upon the surface of 

 the earth, the spot exactly over that where the miners were operat- 

 ing; so that, if it should be necessary to sink another shaft, he could 

 conduct it perpendicularly down to the very spot where it is wished 

 for though at a great depth in the earth, and notwithstanding all 

 the windings of the mine. 



Tin has been found in the mountains of Saxony, in Germany; in 

 Spain, near Portugal ; in some parts of Asia ; and in South Amer- 

 ica. A mine is also in existence in the island ot Banca, near 

 Sumatra. 



