XIX 



Mr, Smyth,* however, refers it to a time when Dr. Borlase— 

 himself a native of Saint Just, and his whole life a resident in 

 the immediate neighbourhood t — must unquestionably have been 

 on or near the spot. 



The hind of ore wasted is said by Dr. Borlase to have been 

 yellow ; * by Dr. Pryce to have been black ; * and by Mr. Smyth 

 to have been vitreous (redruthite).* 



By references to the periods of their birth, t it has been shown 

 to have been impossible that Dr. Borlase, Dr. Pryce, Mr. Smyth, 

 and Mr. Phillips coidd have heen eye-toitnesses to the waste they 

 respectively describe. 



Nor can it be without significance in this enquiry that Mr. 

 Carew,:|: a freeholder in one of the first-wrought and richest of 

 our copper districts, || as well as Mr. Hals:|: and Mr. Tonkin,:}: him- 

 self a mine owner, describing the nature and disposal of the ores, 

 and the profits realized by copper miners i7i their own time, are all 

 alike silent on the subject. 



It is not maintained that these conflicting statements of 

 writers who could not have witnessed the matters they mention, 

 and the silence of contemporary authorities, actually disprove the 

 alleged waste ; but they certainly throw such doubt on the allega- 

 tion as to render further evidence necessary to establish it. 



The ancient method of mining is described by no one better 

 than by Dr. Pryce ; § who says :— 



" The mine being supplied with power for the discharge of the 

 water, and the adventurers resolving to prove it at a good depth, 

 they sink the engine Shaft continually, or keep it lower than their 

 workings on the Lode . . . that the \^ter may readily flow to 

 the pumps, and be drawn to the Adit. The bottom of the engine 

 Shaft ... is properly the Sumph or Sink of the mine. . . . Now 

 if the Sumph proves good for Ore, they not only . . . lengthen the 

 bottom of the Mine, but they likewise stope or break away the 

 Lode in the following manner : the Sumph being in the Lode, one 

 man breaks away about two feet of the upper part of the pit. 

 Still driving on, on the course of the Lode ; and when he makes 

 room, another follows him in like manner, and then others ; so 



* Ante, p. XV. 



f Ihid., p. xvi. 



+ Ihid., p. xviii. ^ 



|] " Gwynop. Pensignanee. — A howse and Manner of Richard Carcvj of 

 Antony, esquire." — Norden, Speculi Britannice Pars, pp. 45 — 9. 



§ Mineralogia CornuMensis, pp. 160 — 1. 



