Pt. II. Chap. II.] collieries — mode of working. 1G9 



In the open quarries, where coal can be cut out from above, there 



is naturally much less small coal produced, as all 

 Open quarries. 



can be split off in large blocks from above by means 



of wedges, instead of its being necessary to cut under at first. A 

 very common form of mine, however, is a combination of a quarry 

 with under-ground workings. These mines have sometimes been com- 

 menced as large open quarries, and when, from the increasing depth of 

 the coal seam, the superincumbent mass of rock and earth becomes 

 troublesome and expensive to remove, galleries were driven in upon 

 the coal, and the ordinary method of under-ground working resorted 

 to for its extraction. In other cases, these quarries have been con- 

 nected with under-ground workings from the first, and the only essen- 

 tial difference from the method of working by pits is in the raising 

 of the coal, which, from all quarries, is carried out on the heads of 

 coolies, generally women and boys. These combinations of quarries 

 and under-ground workings are termed " undercut quarries" in the 

 following list of mines. 



All quarries are under the disadvantage of being idle for at least 



m a a ■ • five months in the year, from June to October 



Closed during rainy J ' v-^i^uv,* 



season - inclusive, as during the rains water accumulates in 



them more rapidly than it can be removed. A very large proportion 

 of the quarries worked are on the banks of streams, the out-crop of 

 the coal having been exposed in the sections seen in such places, and 

 when, in the rainy season, the streams are flooded, the quarries are 

 frequently filled. In fact, the greater number of the quarries are 

 only worked from the end of December till April or May, that 

 is four to five months in every twelve, the laborers employed in 

 them being occupied, during the remainder of the year, in agricul- 

 ture, and not commencing to work at coal until after the rice 

 crop is cut. 



In many instances, the quarry previously worked is not emptied of 



x 



