320 Mr. Taylor on the Economy 



The Tut work men divide their pairs into lesser gangs, called 

 corps or cores * each corps consisting of two or three men ; they 

 work alternately, relieving each other throughout the twenty-four 

 hours. Thus a pair of six men will divide into three corps, each 

 working eight hours a day. 



An account is opened at the counting-house with the taker or 

 principal man of the pair, wherein he is debited with the value of all 

 tools delivered to him by the smith, and the expences of sharpening 

 and repairing them during the takings or term of the contract, also, 

 with the candles, gunpowder, and other articles used by him and his 

 partners, with the charges on hauling up the waste to the surface, and 

 likewise with cash advanced, called subsist. After the taking is out, 

 the account is credited with the amount arising from the measure- 

 ment of the ground at the agreed price, and with the tools and other 

 articles returned unemployed. The pay-day is generally about a- 

 fortnight after the taking ends, when the balances are paid. 



Tribute pitches require much more calculation in estimating 

 the price at which they can be worked, and a more complicated set 

 of accounts during their progress. 



The proportion of the value of the ore to be allowed the work- 

 men, must depend on the amount they can procure in a given time 

 and at a given expense. Therefore the size and productiveness of 

 the lode, the hardness of the ground, the quality of the ore, and the 

 cost of hauling to the surface, as well as dressing it for sale, 

 and the market price of the metal, are important elements in the 

 calculation. 



To the habit of invefitigation induced by this plan of payment 

 may probably be attributed a great deal of the intelligence obser- 

 vable among the Cornish tributers, and to the desire of making 



* Sec Prycc. 



