94 IIAKDY EEENS. 
and a nocl, and we are sworn friends. By-and-by 
we find a cave literally covered with A. marinum, 
hanging in rich clusters from the roof and sides, 
wherever the waves do not reach — not common 
marinum, but the true Cornish variety, with fronds 
measuring three-quarters of a yard in length, and 
the pinnse very narrow and very far apart. My 
young friend and I soon secured a basketful of 
beautiful specimens, conversing all the while on 
the people and things in the , mining district. 
Wages were pretty good ; but there was the old 
grievance of "tommy" shops and delayed pay- 
ment, necessitating the running-up of scores at the 
small shops, and the payment of larger prices for 
inferior goods. In rehgion, the miners were for 
the greater part Methodists, Bible Christians, &c., 
with a slight reaction in favour of instantaneous 
conversion, as produced by Mr. Aitken and his 
followers. I asked ''Was Mr. Aitken loved?" 
'' Yes, indeed he was. There was no hour by day 
or night he was not ready to be at the service of 
the poor. He was good, and the Methodist 
