^66 DISCOVERIES OF THE FRENCH. 
ing. As the pit becomes deeper, two ladders of 
bamboo are employed, one for ascending, and the 
other for descending. As the miners dig down 
in this manner, it happens very frequently that 
they are overwhelmed by sides of the pit falling 
in. This is an event submitted to by the surviv- 
ing friends with the most tranquil resignation. 
They entertain the conviction, tliat the devil, who 
supplies the gold found on the surface of their 
soil, carries on also extensive mining operations 
of his own under ground, for which he requires a 
regular supply of workmen from above. As he 
is understood to treat well the persons thus em- 
ployed, the transference is not deemed a ground 
of regret ; and the relations merely sacrifice a cow 
or other victim, to recommend them to favour 
with their new master. This faith is not in the 
slightest degree shaken, when, as often happens 
in the course of digging, the skeletons are disco- 
vered of the individuals who have been thus bu- 
ried. The devil, it is supposed, sometimes errs in 
his choice of his servants ; on finding, thereforcj 
the person fixed upon unfit for his employment, 
he disdainfully throws him back to the spot where 
he had been originally found. It never occurs to 
them, that the event could have arisen from a na- 
tural cause, or that the sides of the pit could have 
fallen in, merely because no expedient was em^ 
ployed to prop them up. 
