BEVAN EBBW VALE COAL-FIELD. 
125 
together, a shaft sunk to the hottom will, of course, traverse them 
all. Steam-engines of great power are for the most part used, both for 
bringing up the coal and iron, as well as for pumping. "When, 
however, the pit is situated so as to command a large quantity of water- 
power, this is used instead of steam, and thus : a large moveable 
cistern, having an iron plate across it so as to hold an empty tram, is 
filled with water at the top of one shaft, a corresponding empty 
cistern is at the bottom of the other shaft, with a loaded tram upon it, 
which is brought up to the surface as the full cistern descends. This 
is termed a balance pit, and, of course, saves a large outlay in buildings, 
engines, and machinery. Besides pit working, there is, in South Wales, 
a very common way of getting at the coal, which can only be practiced 
in a hilly country, and this is by working a level. "When a vein of 
coal is known to occupy a certain position in a hill, it is easier, 
instead of sinking a pit down upon it, to pierce through the hill until the 
vein is reached, just as one may see a long culvert under a railway 
embankment. This, of course, is a comparatively inexpensive way of 
working, because the only material requisite for the level are supports 
for the roof, and a tramway underneath, and it has the advantage of 
allowing men and horses to walk in and out to their work. The 
number of miles laid down underground is surprising, and the 
excavations ramify so extensively that the ground is perfectly honey- 
combed, and it often requires care, even for a collier, to avoid losing 
his way in these labyrinths. The third way of working is 
the simplest of all, and is called patch- working. It is nothing more 
nor less than digging down from the surface upon the seam of coal or 
iron, which of course is not practicable when the vein crops out. It is, 
in fact, a quarry — but such a quarry — where you stand upon a floor of 
coal, and can see by Heaven's light the manner in which the veins lie 
upon each other. I have endeavoured to delineate a fine example of 
patch-working at a place called the Elled Patch, which is situated on 
the shoulder of the hill between Nantyglo and Beaufort. From the 
turnpike-road it presents the appearance of a large escarpment, ever 
altering in appearance and proportions. The topmost thin layer is one 
of surface soil and stones, beneath which is a considerable thickness of 
hard sandstone. The shaded part next J)elow consists of dark ironstone, 
but not of very good quality ; while the rest of the thickness, down 
to where the trams arc seen, is ferruginous hard shale, that is a per- 
