GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 379 



Each miner has a candle, which is stuck close by him 

 against the wall of his gallery, by means of a piece of 

 clay; and besides those employed in extending the gal- 

 lery, there are generally one or two boys occupied in 

 wheeling the broken ore, &c. to the shaft. Each of 

 these boys has also a candle affixed to his wheelbarrow, 

 by the universal subterranean candlestick, a piece of 

 clay. A certain band of men undertake the work of a 

 particular gallery.* These subdivide themselves into 

 smaller bodies, which by relieving each other at the end 

 of every six or eight hours, keep up the work uninter- 

 ruptedly, except on Sunday. By means of this subdivi- 

 sion of the pairs, there is in general not more than one- 

 third of the underground labourers below at any one 

 time. 



Notwithstanding this incessant labour, the progress of 

 the miner in excavating his gallery is, in general, very 

 small; one, two or three feet in a week, or a few inches 

 daily is often the whole amount of the united operations 

 of 20 or 30 men. 



In loose lodes, and in clay slate country, they often 

 cut more than this, but often they do not cut so much. 

 It is to be recollected that the lode is very rarely so wide 

 as the gallery, so that it becomes necessary, to continue 

 this of the proper size, to hew through the solid rock on 

 each side, which is often very hard even when the lode 

 is soft. It is not customary for a miner to sleep or eat 

 below ground, but he returns to grass (the technical 

 name for the surface), at whatever depth he may be, 

 when relieved. The mode of ascent and descent, in 

 mines, is by means of vertical ladders fixed in the shafts. 



Whoever calls to mind the manner, object and results 

 of the common process of sinking wells, will be prepared 



* It should be observed that only one pair can work in the extremity of a 

 gallery, but there are several pairs in general stoping, or working horizon- 

 tally, both overhead and under foot in each gallery. 



