( 4SI ) 
fcorched by the fulmtmtingdmp (the marks of which they ytt 
carried in their hands and faces ;) and from them I received the 
greateft pare of my information. 
Thelhafcof the Coal-pic is about fifteen yards deep , the So) 1 
a ftifif mire, flialy about the middle of the fliafr, dry at the bot^ 
torn (as they fay, thojugh I obferved fome moifture about the mid« 
die) and without any quarry of ftone 5 the ftones in the field about 
it are grit- ftone : It lies almoft at the bottom of a rifing ground,be- 
ing incompaflTed with Hills on all fides, except towards the Eaft^, 
or rather Southeaft. 
There are three Pits which lye almoft in a direft line , the mid* 
dlemoft of which is that we fpeak of. There is alfoa o 
fourth, which ftands a little higher than the reft i They o" 0, 
lye in this figure; o 
From the bottom run four Binks, as they call them 5 four yards 
wide, and fony yards long, except that in which they met the fie- 
ry damp, which wants four or five yards of its due length. 
The Bink in which the damp is, is the fartheft from the Air,which 
is communicated from the other Pits. 
TheSoylof this Bink fas they tell mej is a ftifF clay; nei- 
ther can they find in it the fign of any Mineral, except Coal and 
Shale. The Coal, they fay, is abfolutely free from ih^ Pyrites^ 
with which moft of our Coals are infedled. 
The Bink in which the datpp is, was wrought forward tw^eoty 
yards on Ili&/>yS;^-moaday laft, when George Mkhell ( one of my 
informers) going in to fetrh fome of his tools with a Candle in his 
hand, and coming within four or five yards of the further end , 
found himfelf (on a fudd^in he knew nor how ) iovircned wiih 
flames. His face, his hands, his hair ^ and a great part of his 
cloathswere very much burnt : He heard very little noife,alf hough 
one Edward Michelle who was workingat the fame time in another 
Bink, told me. That both he and thofethat ftood above ground, 
heard a very great one, like a clap of thunder, and that the Earth 
jfhaked ; fo that he was afiraid the roof would have fain in , and 
buried him. 
This being the firft accident of this nature, thofe without ran, 
in a great amazement, with their candles in their hands, to fee 
what the matter was V which were twice extinguiOied , but he!d- 
in upon the third lighting: They faw nothing, but met with an 
intolerable ftench of brimftone, and an heat as fcalding as an Oven 
N n n half 
