542 
LEAD. 
who, to effect his purpose, pushes against wooden 
pegs driven into the sides of the rock at six feet 
distance from each other. The depth of the water 
is about three feet, and the channel through which 
it proceeds was blasted through the heart of the 
rock, which was found of such solidity and hard- 
ness, that implements of sufficient temper could 
hardly be procured to penetrate it. As the boat 
proceeds, several veins of lead-ore may be observed 
in the rock, but of insufficient value to defray the 
expense of working them. At the distance of six 
hundred and fifty yards from the entrance, the level 
bursts into a tremendous gulf, whose roof and bot- 
tom are completely invisible ; but across which the 
navigation has been carried, by flinging a strong 
arch over a part of a fissure where the rocks are 
least separated. Here, leaving the boat, and as- 
cending a stage erected above the level, the at- 
tention of the visitor is directed to the dark recesses 
of the abyss beneath his feet; and firm indeed must 
be his resolution, if he can contemplate its depths 
unmoved, or hear them described without an in- 
voluntary shudder. To the depth of ninety feet, 
all is vacuity and gloom ; but beyond that com- 
mences a pool of Stygian waters, not unaptly named 
the Bottomless pit, whose prodigious range may in 
some measure be conceived, from the circumstance 
of its having swallowed up more than forty thou- 
sand tons of the rubbish made in blasting the rock, 
without any apparent diminution either in its depth 
or extent. The guide, indeed, informs you, that 
