25 
of long wooden beams, bound together with iron straps, and hangs 
by tripods placed at determinate distances. 
The ore raised from the mine, is pounded, washed, and roast¬ 
ed in the usual manner. In order to separate the silver from the 
ore, the following mixture is added to an ounce of the powder; 
red lead, two ounces; red tartar, five pennyweights; nitre, nine 
pennyweights; borax, four pennyweights; lime, one-quarter of an 
ounce; common salt, two ounces; pounded fluorspar, one-quarter 
of an ounce. The whole is thrown into a red hot iron crucible, 
which is placed on a glowing coke fire for five minutes. The 
crucible is then taken off and the melted mass poured into a 
ladle, allowed to cool and the dross removed. Some copper still 
remains in the mass, so that the silver is again smelted with some 
lead, and poured into a small vessel made of bone ashes: the lead 
is oxydated and the silver remains pure. An ounce of ore pro¬ 
duces one-fourth of an ounce of silver. 
The mine is extremely damp, and as I had not felt entirely 
well for some days, I did not descend, neither did any of the 
company. We returned to Trematon, and in order to examine 
the noble spot to which we were going more thoroughly, I 
mounted the box, and enjoyed a great treat. To the left I look¬ 
ed down a deep valley upon the Tamer; farther off, upon the Ha- 
mo aze, and to the right, far over Cornwall. Falmouth is said 
also to be in sight. In his tastefully arranged house, Mr. Tucker 
has a very interesting collection of minerals and metals of the 
vicinity. He possesses a valuable library, and his wife has a 
remarkable collection of shells. In the quadrangular tower of 
the castle, he has fitted up a billiard room, and arranged on the 
walls numerous curiosities: ancient weapons, and implements from 
the South Sea Islands, the tatoed and dried head of a New Zealand 
chief, with his dress; pieces of worm-eaten ship-timber from the 
Indian Ocean, with one of the worms in spirits; Indian weapons; 
an American tomahawk; a human skull, found thirty feet under 
ground in Cornwall; a marble bullet, with which an English ship 
was struck in the Dardanelles, in 1807; articles from the field of 
Waterloo; and a weeping willow leaf from over Napoleon’s tomb! 
Above the clock in this tower, is placed the bell of the Spanish 
ship Salvador del Mundo , taken and burnt by Lord St. Vin¬ 
cent. The round tower, of which only the outward wall is stand¬ 
ing, formerly served for a prison. The walls of this tower, as 
well as all the rest of the castle, are overgrown with ivy. A 
wooden staircase within, leads to a circular gallery, which af¬ 
fords a beautiful prospect. A narrow passage cut through the 
walls, leads to the garden, which contains numerous hot houses 
and a very fine orangery. From this spot Mr. Tucker accom¬ 
panied us, by a very shady foot-path, back to our boat. I remark- 
Vql. L 4 
