| 
Sa eat St Sh am 
a rs 
Graceand Kingfteniton. It isdug in pieces 
of about twelve inches {quare, fornetimes 
meeting with a vein containing many tons, 
and in general very near the furface of the 
earth, fo that not much:land is deftroyed 
to come at it, as the chafms are foon filled 
up and fown with grafs. It is and has'long 
been a fubje&t of wonder, why a pottery 
for white earthen-ware cannot be efta- 
blithed immediately on the {pot where the 
clay is dug? But the fact is, that fuel is 
in Devonfhire {o expenfive, as not to ad- 
mit the carrying on a trade of this fort ; 
and the inhabitants are content to fend 
of the raw materials to the diftanee of two 
or three hundred miles, to be manufac- 
tured, and returaed to them for their own 
ufe, There is, indeed, a pottery, on a 
very fmall feale, at Bovey, juft by the 
‘pits, where is found a coal, but of a pe- 
culiar quality, and not affording a fuffi- 
ciency for the purpofe, without an amaz- 
ing expence, which deftroys the profit.— 
This coal is defined to be of a brown, 
or brownifh blaek colour, and of a lami- 
nar texture; the lamine are frequently 
flexible when frefh dug ; though they ge- 
neraliy harden on expofure to air. Its 
organic ftru€ture is difcovered by boiling 
it in dilute nitrous acid, by which its 
fibres are laid bare. It feems to confift of 
wood penetrated by petroleum or bitumen, 
and frequently contains pyrites, alum and 
vitriol. 
As the Teing abounds with fine falmon 
in particular, the poorer people of Shal- 
down and Ringmore chiefly (ubfift by their 
feans ; their rigbt of fithing.is granted by 
Lord Clifford at an annual rent. They 
dre drawn by women, who appear to be 
of a hardy race, though now (I am told) 
fomewhat degenerated, fince they have 
been known to undertake the pilotage of 
fhips in and out of the harbour equally 
withthe men. The lower order at Teign- 
mouth get their livelihood by fifhing in 
the fummer feafon ; in the winter they 
are partly maintained bythe parifh, as the 
profits of their hard labour will not en- 
able them to Jay up fcarcely ever any 
thing for the winter fubfiftence. It is 
amufing to the vifitor to fee the various 
emotions of thefe people while they are 
hauling the fean; the attention paid by 
each of them to draw it regularly ; the 
expreffions of the hope of fuccefs, and of 
the difappointment of failure, with the 
peculiar drefs of the women, always at- 
track more or lefs the attention of the 
firanger. “There are trawl-boats belong- 
ing to the harbour, who put fome diftance 
434 Account of Teignmouth and its Vicinity. 
4 
\ 
[June T, 
to fea; they are generally about twenty 
tons burthen, with three bands on board ; 
thefe bring in the fuperior forts of fifa, 
fuch as the turbot, kite, foal, plaice, &c. 
and on their difpofing of their ‘* luck,’? ** 
as much art is ufed between them and 
-their cuftomers who carry it to market, as: 
is afterwards. ufed by them and the houfe- 
keeper. It is not to be wondered at, that 
the Jate uatortunate Morland could fur-. 
nifh his beft fketches from fuch fcenes as 
thefe: they are conitantly producing new 
characters for the pencil of the Genius of 
Nature. | 
I could not forbear noticing one morn 
ing, when by the fide of the fifherwomen, 
the remnant of fuperftitious velief in a 
charm; a girl who affifted them, was 
holding very quietly her hand toa man, 
who muttered fomething to himfelf while: 
he gently rubbed the top ofa finger. On 
inquiry what this meant, I was told that 
fhe had been ftung by a fifh; that this 
man and two or three more only in the 
town poffefled the divire art of curing it 
in the manner he was practifing, and that 
he never failed of performing it. At the 
clofe of the fame day, I met the patient at 
her employment, and inquired whether 
fle was healed or not ? She replied, yes, 
or elfe fhe fhould not have been: able to - 
attend her work. As it was fo fingular a 
things, I often talked of it to fome or other 
of thefe people, and found that frequently 
this little fifh infufed its poifon fo deeply, 
as not only to occafion the part wounded 
to fwell, but alfo to inflame the whole 
body to a dangerous degree, oceafioning, | 
for many hours, a deprivation of the fenfes 
almef to delirium, and requiring medical 
and furgical affifance. Another time E 
“met a mother with her child, about fix 
years old, who had been playing with one 
of the fifh, which flung her inthe hands 
fhe was alarmed left it might occafion its 
death: a few days afterwards I faw this 
wornan on the beach, repairing her net, 
and inquired for the child : fhe fhowed it ~ 
to me, faying, that the gave it fome drops 
of Daffy’s Elixir, which prevented its 
being very ill, but that for many hours 
the pain had been fo great, that the child, 
was in fits: its hand was then much ~ 
fwollen and inflamed. | i 
i, 
Mi 
aS 
The excurfions by water in the vicinity” r 
of Teignmouth are numerous, eitherup- 
the river Teing,or in the channel. If to = 
the eaftward, it is a pleafant fail down to: 
Torbay. Along the coait the voyager — 
pafles in view the pretty parifh of Mary 
Church, fituated ju behind a high ee 
