INDUSTRIES 



was first made a coinage town in I663, 1 and in 

 1778, according to Pryce, coined more tin each 

 quarter than all the towns of Liskeard, Lost- 

 withiel, and Helston for a whole year, 2 and the 

 shifting of tinning toward the west even more 

 recently is shown by the fact that in 1892, while 

 the output for West Cornwall was 7,751 tons, 

 that of East Cornwall was but 628 tons, while 

 Devon produced only ninety-six. 3 



For detailed accounts of former methods of 

 prospecting we cannot go behind the seventeenth 

 century. But it must be constantly borne in 

 mind that the mining customs and practices of 

 Cornwall, even to-day, antedate, in many cases, 

 all printed records, and that we shall therefore 

 not be far wrong in ascribing the primitive 

 methods in use in the seventeenth century to the 

 Middle Ages, or even earlier. 



If we omit from consideration the use of the 

 divining-rod, 4 dreams, 6 and other popular super- 

 stitions, as guides to the deposits of tin, we shall 

 find that the tinner's first aim was to discover 

 'shodes,' or tin-stones. 6 An anonymous Cor- 

 nishman writing in 1671 states : 



' Where we suspect any mines to be, we diligently 

 search that hill and countrey, its situation, the 

 earth or grewt, its colour, and nature, and what 

 sort of stones it yields ; the reason thereof being 

 only this, that we may the better know the 

 grewt and stones when we meet with them at a 

 distance, in the neighbouring valley ; for mineral 

 stones may be found 2, 3, 4, 5 miles distant 

 from the hills or loads they belong unto. 



'After any great land flood (in which it is 

 supposed there are some new frets made in 

 the sides of the banks), we go and diligently 

 observe such frets ... to see if, happily, we 

 can discover any metallic stones in the sides 

 or bottoms thereof . . . which is a great 

 help to direct us which side or hill to 

 search into. Neither will it be much amiss in 

 this place to subjoyn the few but sure characters 

 of mineral stones, by which we know the kind 

 of metal, and how much it yields. The first is, 

 by its ponderousness, which easily informs us 

 whether it be metal or no. The second is its 

 porosity, for most tin-stones are porous, not 

 unlike great bones, almost thoroughly calcined ; 

 yet tin sometimes lies in the firmest stones. The 

 third is by water, which we term vanning, and 

 that is performed by pulverizing the stone, or 

 clay, or what else may be suspected to con- 

 tain any mineral body, and placing it on a 

 vanning shovel ; the gravel remains in the hinder 



1 Pearce, Laws and Customs of the Stannaries, 103. 

 * Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis, 293. 



3 'The Tin Trade of Cornwall in the Reigns of 

 Elizabeth and James,' by Sir John Maclean, Journ. 

 Roy. Inst. Cornw. iv, 189 ; xiii, pt. iv, p. 432. 



4 ' Mineral Observations on the Mines of Cornwall 

 and Devon,' Philosoph. Trans, vi, 2101. 



5 Childrey, Britannia, p. 6. 



6 Carew, Survey of Cornwall (ed. 18 1 1), pp. 8, 9 ; 

 ' Mineral Observations on the Mines of Cornwall 

 and Devon,' Philosoph. Trans, vi, 2097-2098. 



part and the metal at the point of the shovel, 

 whereby the kind, nature, and quantity of the 

 ore is guessed at ; and indeed, most commonly 

 without any great deception, especially if the 

 vanner have any judgement at all. 



' But if no shoad may be found in such frets, 

 . . . then we go to the sides of those hills most 

 suspected to have any loads in them, where 

 there may be a conveniency of bringing a little 

 stream of water . . . and cut a leat or trench, 

 about 2 foot over, and as deep as the shelf, in 

 which we turn the water to run two or three 

 dayes ; by which time the water, by washing 

 away the filth from the stones and the loose parts 

 of the earth, will easily discover what shoad is 

 there. If we find any, we have a certainty of a 

 load. . . . Sometimes shoad may be found upon 

 the open surface of the ground, as being thrust 

 up by moles in their hillock, or turned up by 

 the plow, or by some other accident ; for it is 

 seldom found on the open surface of the ground 

 unless brought there by an accident. . . . 



' When all these ways have been attempted for 

 finding shoad, if we find any, it makes us pro- 

 ceed with the greater confidence, having an 

 assurance of load ; but in case we find not any, 

 then we must go by guess. ... In the next 

 place we sink down about the foot or bottom of 

 the hill an Essay hatch (an orifice made for the 

 search of a vein, about 6 foot long and 4 foot 

 broad) as deep as the shelf. And it is observable 

 they are always to be as deep as the shelf, for 

 this reason, that otherwise you may come short 

 of the shoad. But if we meet with none before, 

 or when we come to the shelf or fast countrey 

 there is none to be expected ; yet sometimes 

 the shoad is washed away clean, when you come 

 within 2 or 3 foot from the load, and then 

 the load is a foot or two farther up the hill. If 

 we find any shoad in this first Essay hatch, our 

 certainty is either increased, if any shoad were 

 found before, or begun. Neither doth it add a 

 little to make a right conjecture, how high up 

 the hill or how far off the load ... is, care- 

 fully to mark how deep from the surface of the 

 earth our shoad lies ; for this is held an infallible 

 rule, that the nigher the shoad lies to the shelf, 

 the nigher the load is at hand, and vice versa. 



' Albeit we finde no shoad in this first hatch, 

 having found some before by the ways afore- 

 mentioned, or having found none, we are not 

 . . . altogether discouraged ; but ascend com- 

 monly about 1 2 fathom and sink a second hatch, 

 as the former. And in case none appear in 

 this, we go then as many fathom on each hand, 

 at the same height, and sink there as before, and 

 so ascend proportionally with three or more 

 hatches (if the space of ground requires) as it 

 were on brest, till we come to the top of 

 the hill, and if we find none in any of these 

 hatches then farewell to that hill. 



' But if we find any shoad . . . we keep our 

 ascending hatches in a direct line ; and as we 

 draw nearer the load the deeper the shoad is 

 from the surface, but the nigher the shelf. . . . 



' Sometimes it falls out that we may overshoot 

 a load, that is, get the upper side of it, and so 

 we loose it ; for which we have another . . . 

 rule, viz., that finding shoad lying near the shelf 



543 



