28 MAEETT — ON THE COPPER MINES AT TILT COVE. 



or surrounding country. The Mine has been opened within the 

 last five or six years, and operations pushed forward with a vigour 

 and energy almost incredible. Before the opening of this mine, 

 * * Tilt Cove " was inhabited by only a few fishermen and their 

 families ; now, it contains a population of some twelve hundred 

 people, all connected with, or dependent On the works. Koads had 

 to be made in all directions, tramways laid down, wharves and 

 bridges built, dwellings, stores and workshops erected — everything, 

 in fact, had to be done to redeem from the wilderness a place 

 suitable for habitation and adapted to the exigencies of trade and 

 commerce. The settlement is now one of the most, if not the most 

 thriving of any in the colony. There is a resident doctor, a clergy^ 

 man (the Rev. J. Lockward) and a school master ; a new church — 

 one of the handsomest and most substantial wooden buildings I 

 have ever seen in the colonies, has been erected for the benefit of 

 the inhabitants, by the liberality of the proprietors. The police is 

 admirable and order and quiet reign throughout. 



The mine was opened in 1864, and the progress has been so 

 rapid, that, in 1868 not less than eight thousand tons of copper ore 

 were shipped to the mother country ; last year (1869) about six 

 thousand tons were despatched ; the decrease in the quantity export- 

 ed does not imply any diminution in the amount of mineral brought 

 to the surface, but rather was occasioned by the state of the home 

 markets. At all events, the deficiency was amply made up by the 

 discovery of a rich vein of Nickel, greatly exceeding the value of 

 the copper, and of which thirty-three (33) tons were shipped last 

 year. In the present year, eighty (80) tons of Nickel have been 

 exported, and during my visit, from seven to eight hundred tons of 

 copper ore were despatched to England ; while at the time of my 

 departure, one vessel was loading at the wharf and two others were 

 awaiting their turn. In order to avoid error, I ought, perhaps, to 

 mention that the " copper" does not exist in veins but in deposits, 

 technically called by the Cornish miners '* pockets " or *' bunches." 

 The copper is shipped either crushed, washed and culled, or only 

 broken and culled, then transported to the ship's side in waggons 

 containing nearly two tons each, by means of a tramway on a 

 slight incline, in a rapid and expeditious manner. The crushing is 



