THE STEAIT OF MAGELLAN. 373 



rain unfortunately came on, and lasted so long as to prevent 

 our carrying out the project. At the house of a gentleman 

 who acts as consular agent, etc., I was shown a small col- 

 lection of cryptogamic plants from Valdivia, and I found 

 that by far the greater number were identical with species 

 which I had collected in the Strait and Channels. Later in 

 the day the engineer of one of the coal-mines (that nearest 

 the town) having kindly offered to take any of us who felt 

 disposed to visit the pit, two of the officers, with myself, 

 availed ourselves of the chance presented, and, arrived at 

 the mouth of the shaft, descended it in two relays, in a cage. 

 The depth of the shaft is fifty-five fathoms, but I was in- 

 formed that the mine in some parts sinks to a hundred. 

 There are three workable seams of Lota coal, the lowermost 

 five feet in thickness, the middle four, and the upper three ; 

 but of these, only the two lower were displayed in this mine. 

 Above the lowermost seam occurs a very thin stratum (about 

 an inch and a half in thickness) of very finely laminated 

 sandstone, abounding in the leaves of dicotyledonous plants ; 

 and between this and the next seam of coal a band of 

 compact grayish-green sandstone about ten feet thick inter- 

 venes. Provided with miners' lamps, we explored the mine 

 for a considerable distance, under the guidance of the over- 

 seer, passing through a passage little more than three feet 

 high for part of its extent, and seeing the coal worked, each 

 of us going through the orthodox process of hewing out a 

 sample with a pick for ourselves. The miners were naked 

 to the waist, on account of the heat ; and we were told that 

 most of those employed were half-breed Araucanians. From 

 what I could learn, these Chilian miners appear to be quite 

 as improvident in their habits as colliers frequently are in 

 England ; for they are paid once a fortnight, and then no more 



