42 THE SWAN AND HER CREW. 



earth filled with salt water, for as it is pumped away the surface 

 of the earth caves in, and the houses lean against each other 

 in a very tumble-down sort of fashion. The brown or rock- 

 salt is dug out of mines, and we went down one of these. My 

 cousin and I went down in a tub hardly large enough to hold us, 

 and a workman clung to the rope above our heads. The shaft 

 was dirty, narrow, and crooked, and we bumped finely against 

 the sides. I didn't like it at all, I assure you ; and when we 

 cleared the shaft and hung suspended over a vast cavern, at 

 the bottom of which were some dim lights, I felt rather in a 

 funk. The man below reached up to us with a long pole, and 

 pulled us away from the end of the shaft for fear of falling 

 stones, and then we were lowered to the ground, and stepped 

 out of the bucket and looked about us. We were in a very 

 large cave, the roof of which was supported by immense square 

 pillars of the salt rock. It was brown, of course, but it was 

 quite translucent, and the light gleamed from it very prettily. 

 Our guide lit a piece of magnesium-wire, and 1 never saw any- 

 thing so magnificent in my life. The whole place seemed set 

 with precious stones, and the dirty, half-naked men, leaning on 

 their tools, looked as picturesque as you could well imagine. 

 Then one of the men had finished boring a blast hole, and we 

 waited while he filled it with powder and fired a shot. We 

 all huddled in one corner of the cave, and then there was such 

 a roar and smoke ! The rock under our feet heaved and shook, 

 and pieces of rock and stone flew about far too near for my 

 liking." 



" 1 never knew how salt was got before," said Dick. 



" Nor I," said Jimmy; "and as Frank has told us so well 

 we will forgive him for forgetting the salt." 



