PROGRESS TO THE MINES. 
127 
zled my guide, who I suspect led me out of the way. At length we came 
into a great road, where he took leave, after giving me some very confused 
directions, and so left me to blunder out the rest of the journey by myself. 
I lost myself more than once, but soon recovered the right way again. About 
three miles after quitting my guide, I passed the south branch of Pamunky 
river, near fifty yards over, and full of stones. After this, I had eight miles 
to Mr. Chiswell’s, where I arrived about two o’clock, and saved my dinner. 
I was very handsomely entertained, fjnding every thing very clean, and very 
good. I had not seen Mrs. Chiswell in twenty-four years, which, alas ! had 
made great havoc with her pretty face, and ploughed very deep furrows in 
her fair skin. It was impossible to know her again, so much the flower was 
faded. However, though she was grown an old vroman, yet she was one 
of those absolute rarities, a very good old woman. I found Mr. Chiswell a 
sensible, well-bred man, and very frank in communicating his knowledge in 
the mystery of making iron, wherein he has had long experience. I told 
him I was come to spy the land, and inform myself of the expense of 
carrying on an iron work with effect. That I sought my instruction from 
him, who understood the whole mystery, having gained full experience in 
every part of it ; only I was very sorry he had bought that experience so 
dear. He answered that he would, vritli great sincerity, let me into the little 
knowledge he had, and so we immediately entered upon the business. He 
assured me the first step I was to take was to acquaint myself fully with 
the quantity and quality of my ore. For that reason I ought to keep a good 
pick-axe man at work a whole year to search if there be a sufficient quantity, 
without which it would be a very rash undertaking. That I should also 
have a skilful person to try the richness of the ore. Nor is it great advan- 
tage to have it exceeding rich, because then it will yield brittle iron, which 
is not valuable. But the way to have it tough is to mix poor ore and rich 
together, which makes the poorer sort extremely necessary for the produc- 
tion of the best iron. Then he shov/ed me a sample of the richest ore they 
have in England, which yields a full moiety of iron. It was of a pale red 
colour, smooth and greasy, and not exceedingly heavy ; but it produced so 
brittle a metal, that they were obliged to melt a poorer ore along with it. 
He told me, after I was certain my ore was good and plentiful enough, my 
next inquiry ought to be, how far it lies from a stream proper to build a 
furnace upon, and again what distance that furnace will be from water car- 
riage; because the charge of carting a great way is very heavy, and eats 
out a great part of the profit. That this was the misfortune of the mines of 
Fredericksville, where they were obliged to cart the ore a mile to the furnace, 
and after it was run into iron, to carry that twenty-four miles, over an uneven 
road to Rappahannock river, about a mile below Fredericksburg, to a planta- 
tion the company rented of Col. Page. If I were satisfied with the situation, 
I was in the next place to consider whether I had woodland enough near 
the furnace to supply it with charcoal, whereof it woul(|||'equire a prodigious 
quantity. That the properest wood for that purpose ^s that of oily kind, 
such as pine, walnut, hickory, oak, and in short all that yields cones, nuts, 
or acorns. That two miles square of wood, would supply a moderate fur- 
nace ; so that what you fell first may have time to grow up again to a pro- 
per bigness (which must be four inches over) by that time the rest is cut 
down. He told me farther, that one hundred and twenty slaves, including wo- 
men, were necessary to carry on all the business of an iron work, and the 
more Virginians amongst them the better; though in that number he com- 
prehended carters, colliers, and those that planted the corn. That if there 
should be much carting, it would require one thousand six hundred barrels 
of corn yearly to support the people, and the cattle employed; nor does even 
