SWABEY DIARY. 4] 
quarters of beef. The besiegers had supposed them to be nearly 
starved, as in fact they were, for this was all the provision they had ; 
but now, believing their supplies were good, immediately raised the 
siege. This story I take to be traditional. As to the present import- 
ance of the Castle, it is a good defence against the entrance of hostile 
shipping, for it has on its works, as nearly as I can remember, having 
no memorandum book, 20 long, heavy 24-prs., four ditto carronades, 
and three 42-pr. carronades. There is below, a fort mounting nine 
24-prs., which faces the fort of St. Mawes on the opposite side. In 
the present improved state of military knowledge, the Castle would be 
an easy conquest from the land, as the ditch from its narrowness, and 
the fact of its being dry, might be easily passed by escalade, and could 
from the nature and rapid fall of the ground be approached nearly 
under cover. To batter it en bréche would never be attempted, as its 
great height would render such an attack useless. It might, therefore, 
be tenable with a good garrison well provisioned: its intention at this 
present time is, of course, to keep off invading ships . . . . 
5th August.—Still a foul wind. Went on shore, hired a horse and 
rode to see one of the copper mines not more than eight miles distant 
from Falmouth. The way was hilly and the roads rocky and bad, the 
country, however, extremely wild and beautiful; and as we rode along 
we several times had occasion to say “ Well, the views at least recom- 
pense us for our trouble if the mines will not.” We passed no 
gentlemen’s seats worth remembering, and there appeared to be few 
large farms—at least, few houses I should think suitable for a dignified 
gentleman of that classif nearer London. The face of the country was 
fertile, and though covered with rocks and large pieces of stone, was not 
stony, and the soil was rich. There is much slate and many quarries. 
The names of the places are all Welsh. The people here, as at Fal- 
mouth, are uncommonly ugly, and the cottages mean and wretched. 
They carry their geese, etc. to market on a pack-horse. On our 
arrival at the mines, through a village called “ Comfort,” I suppose to 
express the delightful insides of the houses, we found a captain of 
the mine, an intelligent man, who was to be our bear leader. 
The first operation was to strip entirely, and put on a flannel dress 
and pair of shoes for the expedition. We then descended, carrying 
candles in our hands, by a perpendicular ladder through a hole just big 
enough to admit our bodies upright. 
This was the shaft of the steam-engine, which is the largest but one 
in England, its force being 500 horses, with a 63-inch cylinder; it 
raises the water from a depth of 70 fathoms, and has several stages to 
facilitate repairs in this length. When we arrived at this level we 
descended by a rope, about 30 feet lower, into an excavation little 
bigger than our bodies, from which some of the copper ore was being 
dug. We then branched off into some of the road drifts or passages 
driven to cross the veins of ore above the water-level. They are 
scarcely high enough to stand upright in, and in several places we 
fo} 
1 Pendennis Castle, which was built by Henry VIII., was besieged by the Parliamentary troops 
under General Fairfax, in 1646, and taken after a siege of several months —F.4.W. 
6 
