488 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
These may appear to be large figures, but the possibility of the 
correctness of them may be judged of, from the fact that I have 
been shown a piece of very poor ground, of little over two acres in 
extent, from beneath which sufficient ore had been raised to 
produce metallic tin, in blocks of the usual size — about 4 cwt. — so 
numerous that they would cover the whole of the surface, three 
in depth. 
In copper, the production of Devon and Cornwall in 129 years, 
from 1726 to 1855, amounted to 7,884,305 tons of ore, equal to 
630,744 tons of metal, value £50,964,388. 
Up to the present date the totals are about 12,000,000 tons of 
ore, worth £64,000,000, making altogether, for tin and copper 
ores alone, about £114,000,000; a respectable sum for the two 
western counties. 
These figures may appear to be large, but any doubt as to the 
probability of their correctness may be removed by the fact that 
one mine alone — Devon Great Consols — has produced more than 
3£ millions sterling in less than thirty years from an area of 140 
acres. 
How these results have been obtained, and what is done with 
the money produced, may be illustrated by a sketch of the history 
of Devon Great Consols Mine, near Tavistock. 
The land belongs to the Duke of Bedford. The workings are 
extended over and under about 140 acres, but they do not exclu- 
sively occupy the surface, about one-half of which is still covered 
with plantations and cultivated soil. At the time of commencing 
mining operations, the whole of this area was of but very little value. 
Up to 1872 more than 600,000 tons of ore had been raised, and 
sold for £3,250,000, of which sum nearly £250,000 was paid for 
lord's dues. For labour, £1,370,437 ; for timber, taxes, water, 
iron, steam and water engines, and cost of management, £368,115 ; 
and dividends to shareholders, £1,192,960. 
These results were obtained by the organization of a company 
of adventurers, who held the mine in 1,024 shares. A call of 
twenty shillings per share was made, but there is now much 
doubt whether this sum was ever paid up. Work was commenced 
at an old shaft about fourteen fathoms in depth, which had been 
worked and abandoned many years before. The inducement to 
recommence operations was the observation of the remarkably 
characteristic gozzans that had been thrown out from the old 
