﻿Vol. 64.] HIGH-LEVEL PLATFOEMS OF BODMIN MOOK. 391 



height is smaller, and conversely. Below the fall is a wooden 

 trough, through which the mud flows away and on the floor of 

 which the finer ore settles ; the finer the ore is, the longer is 

 this trough and the lower is its slope. The whole arrangement 

 about the waterfall is called the tie or tye, and here the tieman 

 or tye man stands, who treats the deposit as it is brought in wheel- 

 barrows by the diggers and thrown under the waterfall. Armed 

 with a pronged fork, or (in common parlance) a potato-digger, the 

 tyeman forks over the earth and its contents, thus assisting in 

 washing away the finer mud and sand and picking out the larger 

 fragments that will not pass the prongs. These fragments are 

 picked over by another man, who separates big pieces of wolfram, 

 or vein-quartz and wolfram, the rest being thrown aside. (See 

 fig. 2, p. 392.) 



After a number of barrow-loads have been turned over under the 

 fall, a" heap accumulates, composed of coarse fragments and sand 

 associated with all but the most finely-divided wolfram. This is 

 taken out, and later handed to the vanner, who vans it in small 

 quantities at a time with a broad, slightly-concave shovel, which he 

 dips repeatedly in a large tub of water. The cleanness and rapidity 

 with which an expert does this is perhaps the most fascinating part 

 of the whole process. As a certain amount of vein-quartz adheres 

 to some of the larger pieces of wolfram, the ore from beneath the 

 tye is crushed in a hand-mill and re-vanned, when it is ready for 

 market. The finer ore that settles in the long wooden trough 

 below the fall is also vanned, but needs no later treatment. 



Except for the original cost of making the leat, the working 

 expenses here are reduced to a minimum ; the conditions are ideal, 

 and the work has been steadily remunerative. 



The success of this first venture encouraged a second start on the 

 edge of the Marsh, at the point of emergence of the stream that 

 feeds the leat already described. It was known that the ground 

 had already been turned over for tin ; but much wolfram had been 

 left, and it was hoped that this would compensate for the small 

 amount of tin left. As a result much more tin has been found 

 than had been anticipated, together with mucli wolfram. But, 

 while the conditions in the first case were almost ideal, the 

 conditions in the second were the reverse. As much the same 

 conditions must be met with in all the tin-bearing marshes on 

 Bodmin High Moor, it seems advisable to give a brief description 

 of their common features and of the work formerly carried on in 

 them, and later to see what light the new work at Kenton Marsh 

 throws on the question of re-starting stream-work on some of the 

 other marshes. 



Kenton Marsh is only one of a great number of nearly flat-based 

 hollows, having a singularly small fall, that form a marked feature 

 in the scenery of the Bodmin High-Moor granite. Before the 

 advent of the stream-tinners, these hollows were entirely covered 



