with an Account of the recently discovered Bulir stone. S51 
by Earl Grosvenor, the lord of the soil, or by small parties of 
operative miners, who unite in taking short leases from his 
Lordship; that the right of extracting the buhrstone and 
porcelain-clay is leased by a company of gentlemen, who were 
the discoverers of their value, and that the operations for obtain- 
ing the two last, are directed by one of the partners Mr Bishop, 
to whose politeness the curious visitor will find himself much in- 
debted. 
The ascent of Halkin from Pistiil, the hospitable residence of 
Mr Bishop, is steep. After passing through some inclosures, 
we enter on a mineral tract, which has been excavated by in- 
numerable shafts in all directions. These all seem to have been 
of inconsiderable extent ; and having been carried on by un- 
connected parties of a few poor adventurers, had been inju- 
diciously wrought at a vast expence of ill directed labour. 
Some idea of the attempts which have been here made, may be 
collected from tlie fact, that on an angle of the common, just 
above the Milcor-mine^ in an area of about three acres, I count- 
ed the vestiges of between two and three hundred diminutive 
shafts, or other mining excavations. The average depth of 
these, according to an intelligent miner whom we met on the 
spot, seldom exceeds from ten to seventeen yards, though a few 
penetrate to the depth of thirty or forty. Some of these pits 
are wrought by parties of three or four miners. Their appara- 
tus, beside the pick-axe and shovel, assisted by blasting, con- 
sists of a rude wince, turned by the hand placed over the shaft, 
for raising the ore and rubbish. The poverty of the adventu- 
rers generally renders other apparatus unattainable, and a small 
quantity of water usually puts an end to the work. Though 
numbers fail in obtaining more than a scanty subsistence in this 
lottery, the occasional instances of successful adventure encou- 
rage many labourers to speculate in the mines, 'i’he Milcor-mine 
was carried on in a different manner. It is almost half way up 
Halkin, near the road to Northop. The shaft had a large 
steam-engine on it, which drew water from the depth of 
144 yards. According to the miners, the first fifteen yards 
penetrate through soil, alluvial matter, and crumbling shale ; 
then succeed forty yards of a slaty rock resembling shale, but, 
gradually hardening as we descc-:id, it becomes siliceous-slate, 
