M I N E. 
Upon this and the preceding Table we may obferve, 
that in the beginning of the 18th century the annual pro¬ 
duce of the mines confifted of about 6500 tons of ore, and 
700 tons of fine copper, yielding to the miners, who, from 
their ignorance of the fubjefr, did not then receive from 
the finelters a price for their ores adequate to the value of 
the metal they contained, no more than 45,000!. a-year. 
And we have found this produce increafed, at the early 
part of the prefent century, to the annual quantity of 
near 80,000 tons of ore, yielding more than 7000 tons of 
fine copper, worth to the miners an annual fum little 
fhort of i,ooo,oool. 
The copper-mines now working in Cornwall and Devon 
are about 70, of which fixty-one are in Cornwall only. 
But we are informed, the copper-mines have of late been 
declining in their produce, which is to be referred to the 
general (late of trade rendering the price of the metal un¬ 
equal to the charge of producing it. The prefent value 
of copper, as was obferved in a former part of this article, 
is as low as it was a hundred years ago; and we can 
only account for the poffibility of this happening without 
abfolute ruin to the mines, by the facilities which the great 
improvements in all the various operations of mining 
have given for lefl'ening manual labour and confequent 
expenfe. This very improvement has, however, contri¬ 
buted to a more rapid exhauftion of the ores, and, though 
difcovery has hitherto in this dirtriCt kept pace with the 
gradual walle, yet it is impofiible not to forefee that, as 
the country is even now very fully explored, a time mull 
arrive when the quantity of metal produced will grow 
lels, and the price in conlequence mull advance. 
That certain diftri&s may become exhaufted is more 
than probable, but others now unexplored by the hand of 
man may be found. New powers, as far furpafiing thofe 
of the fteam-engine as they did all former ones, may 
give the means of penetrating the earth to depths now 
unattainable, and veins may hereafter be followed to 
fituations which are forbidden at prefent by the value of 
their produce or the want of fufficient exertion. The re- 
fult of a gradual exhauftion of mines now exifting feems 
likely to be this •. At firft the price of metals will increafe 
in proportion to their fcarcity; this advance in value will 
lead to a greater produce by new efforts even in the dif- 
triCts which are exhaufting; and, after thefe begin again to 
fail, which they will do more rapidly from the increaled 
exhauftion, new diftriCts will be fought after, and perhaps 
uncultivated countries even become peopled by the want 
of what is now become fo neceftary to human life. 
The mines in Cornwall and Devon are generally worked 
by a company of proprietors, called adventurers, who agree 
with the owner of the land, or lord of the foil, as he is 
ui'ually denominated, to work the mine for a certain 
term of years, paying him, by way of rent, a proportion 
of the ores railed, or an equivalent in money. The grant 
thus made to the adventurers is called a Jet; and the 
lord’s rent, if paid in ore, is called the djh, (probably 
from the ancient practice of meafuring it by a veffel of 
that fort;) and, when fettled for in money, has the term 
dues applied to it. 
The adventurers divide their undertaking into fhares 
of different magnitude, but ufually forming in the whole 
fomeeven and eafily-divifible number. The fmalleft fhare 
ufually held by one adventurer is a fixty-fourth part; 
though in fome large mines this fhare is divided, and a 
perlon may then have only a hundred and twenty-eighth 
part of the whole, while others may hold eighths, others 
fixteenths or thirty-feconds, and fome larger proportions ; 
but the whole added together make up lixty-four fhares. 
Any part of the concern held by one perfon is generally 
called a dole, and diftinguifhed as to its relation to the 
whole by adjoining to this word the denomination of its 
value, as an eighth dole, a fixteenth dole, &c. 
Mines in Devon and Cornwall are ufually named as 
foon as they are undertaken; and this practice feems to 
have been of confiderable antiquity, as the word wheal , 
431 
or huel, ufually even now prefixed to thefe appellations, 
is derived from the ancient Cornifh language, and figni- 
fies “ a work, or mine.” The other parts of the names 
of mines often relate to their fituation, or have been given 
in compliment to fome perfon conne&ed with them, or 
adopted according to the fancy of the adventurers. Thus 
Wheal Rofe is probably derived from the Cornifh word 
ros, a valley, and means therefore the Mine in the Valley; 
Wheal Godolphin has the name of a family; and among 
the arbitrary appellations, which are the moft numerous, 
may be inftanced Wheal Unity, Wheal Virgin, Wheal 
Jewel, &c. 
The hounds, or limits of the fet of a mine, are ufually 
marked out upon the furface, and include the fpace of 
ground in which any company of adventurers has con¬ 
tracted for the right of working. Bounds for working 
tin are recognized by the ftannary-laws of Devon and 
Cornwall, as a property in themfelves, dillinfit from the 
pofl'eflion of the foil; and were probably originally granted 
to encourage the learcfi for this metal by the laws of the 
duchy, that the revenue of the chief lord might not fuft’er 
by the unwillingnefs of the polfeffor of the foil to have 
its furface difturbed. Tin-bounds that have been legally 
renewed, or pofl'effion retained, are even now in their 
original ftate in this refpeCt; but copper-mines, and alfo 
many tin-mines, are at prefent generally held of the pof- 
fefl'or of the fee. 
Mines are generally conducted in Cornwall and Devon 
by a manager appointed by the adventurers, who hold 
meetings at the counting-houfe to revife and pafs the 
accounts, and to debate and determine on all fubjefts re¬ 
lative to the profecution of the w'orks fubmitted to them. 
Under the principal agent others are appointed, who are 
practical miners, and who fuperintend the various opera¬ 
tions, and fettle the terms of the contrails with the work¬ 
men, which are made by a kind of public auCtion. Thefe 
agents are called captains, and the number employed in 
a mine is in proportion to its extent and importance. 
Some attend principally to the works below, and are 
therefore called under-ground-captains; others take charge 
of the operations on the furface, and are therefore diftin- 
guilhed by the appellation of graj's-captains. 
The eftablifhment of a mine further includes occafion- 
ally an engineer, a head carpenter, and a fmith, who have 
each their workmen under their care; a pitman, who di¬ 
rects the fixing and repair of the pump-work ; a timber- 
man or binder, who luperintends the conftruCtion of the 
wood-work under ground, for lecuring the fliafts, ladders, 
levels, and fo on: and, belides thefe operative men, there 
are ufually clerks to keep the accounts, and perfons to 
receive and deliver to the workmen the materials ufed 
in their operations. 
The miners working under ground are divided into 
two claffes, according to the mode by which they are paid. 
Thole of the firft clafs are called tributevs, who work on 
the productive parts of the mine, and receive a propor¬ 
tion of the ore, which they procure and make merchant¬ 
able, for their labour. This mode of payment, by its oc¬ 
casionally leading to unufual profit, ftimulates fo great 
exertion in the difcovery of frelh depofits of ore ; and is 
therefore conducive to the interefts of the employer as 
well as the workman. To the reward thus held out to 
lkill and intelligence, may probably be attributed the 
prevalence of thefe qualities, w'hich may be obferved more 
particularly in this clafs of Cornifti miners. - The other 
workmen employed under ground are denominated tut- 
work-men, who agree for linking lhafts, driving levels, 
and fo on, at a certain price per fathom. Theie prices 
are exceedingly various, as the rock to be penetrated dif¬ 
fers in degrees of hardnefs, or the nature of the work ex- 
pofes the men to more or lels danger or inconvenience 
from water or bad air. 
The people employed on the furface in drefling the 
ores, generally perform their labour by talk-work, the 
amounts being charged to the account of the tributers 
whofe 
