extensively carried on in the catacombs or caverns, seventy or eighty
feet below the surface, where the temperature is uniform all the year
round. In one of the caves of Mount Rouge there are no less than six or
seven miles of mushroom bedding. Among the wonders of the subterranean
world must be classed the bone caves of Europe and other parts of the
world. In some caves in England, the bones of a prodigious bear have
been found, and many hundreds of those of a hyena, considerably larger
and more formidable than those existing in Africa. Besides the bear and
hyena, upwards of a hundred species of extinct animals have been found
in the ossiferous caves of Great Britain, among them being those of the
elephant and a rhinoceros. Though in Europe bone caves contain the
remains of animals very different from those now existing in the same
regions, yet in the caves of Brazil extinct species of nearly all the
territorial quadrupeds now inhabiting this region occur. The Australian
caverns contain fossil bones of a large extinct kangaroo. In New
Zealand the wingless apteryx is still found in the wilds, and the caves
of that country show us that it was preceded by other wingless birds of
gigantic stature; among them the moa, which, when alive, must have stood
about thirteen or fourteen feet high. A complete leg of the bird has
been discovered six feet in length, and portions of the eggs show that
they had been about 6 or 7 inches diameter.
CHAPTER TEN.
ARRANGEMENTS OF THE MINES.
In Germany mining operations are carried on in the most systematic
manner. Miners are dressed as their ancestors were hundreds of years
ago, and they cling pertinaciously to their ancient usages. In some
workings prayers are offered up, led by the engineer, before the miners
descend to their work, while they stand grouped round him at the opening
of the mine, a custom which might well be adopted in our own country.
The German miner retains also the superstitions of his forefathers, and
still believes in the genii of the mines, named Nickel and Kobald, after
whom he has called two metals, nickel and cobalt, originally discovered
in the mines of Saxony.
The Germans have introduced into their mines a regular military system,
and the engineers, who are denominated captains, wear when in full dress
a uniform of a very military appearance, set off by epaulets and gold
embroidery. Not inferior to them, however, are the Cornish miners,
their captains being those who have risen by their industry and
intelligence from the lowest to the highest grades, although men of less
education than their German brethren.
The Spanish miners are a sober and frugal race, enjoying their
cigarettes even while at work. On leaving the mine they put on their
snuff-coloured cloaks and broad-brimmed sombreros. In the southern part
of the Peninsula they wear grass sandals, cloaks of bright colours, and
handkerchiefs bound round their heads. Leading lives of toil and
hardship, their huts are wretched abodes built of stones and mud, their
beds the ground, an iron or copper kettle hung from the roof above the
fire in the centre of the cabin, a few wicker baskets, and a waterbottle
of porous clay constitute their furniture. Still, the lot of the miner
of the Sierra Morena is far superior to that of the miner of Almaden,
who, poisoned by the noxious vapours of mercury, quickly succumbs, ere
he has gained the prime of manhood.
In South America the mining operations of the inhabitants somewhat
resemble those of their Spanish ancestors, their habits and customs
being imitated by the Indians, who have, however, to perform the harder
part of the work. While Mexico and Peru were under the mother country,
the Mita or law of compulsion existed, the Indians being forced to toil
against their will in the mines, but since the emancipation of the
colonies and the abolition of that nefarious law, they have returned to
their agricultural pursuits, and are only occasionally found of their
own free will labouring in the mines.
Various modes are adopted for descending the mines. In some merely a
single rope or chain with a loop at the end in which the miner places
his foot is used, even when the depth is several hundred feet; in other
mines baskets or tubs in which three or four men can stand are employed.
While one of these is hauled up, another descends, and often fearful
accidents have occurred by the tubs striking against each other, when
their occupants have been thrown out. Occasionally the ropes and chains
have given way, and the hapless miners have been dashed to pieces.
Some few years ago, as the engineer and several men of the mine of Meons
were descending standing in a tub, each with a lamp in one hand, and
holding on to the chain above him with the other, a couple of tubs
loaded with coal unhooked theirs, which fell to the bottom.
Providentially they had not relaxed their grasp of the chain above their
heads, and at once letting go their lamps and desperately seizing it
with both hands, they continued their descent, though huge lumps of coal
were falling out of the tubs above them. Wonderful to relate, they
reached the bottom in safety. On another occasion, while the same
engineer was ascending in a tub, it was upset in consequence of the
engineman raising the rope too suddenly. The engineer hanging on by one
leg, with his head downwards was hoisted a height of forty yards, before
the alarm was given and he was lowered to the bottom.
In the same mine, another engineer, while descending in a tub, had his
clothes caught by a strut which projected from the side of the pit; he
here hung suspended while his companions continued to descend, terrified
for his safety and alarmed for their own, as should he fall, they
expected to be crushed by his weight. In vain they shouted for
assistance, the men at the top of the pit having gone out of hearing.
Not until they reached the bottom could they send any aid to their
companion. He in the meantime had been vainly endeavouring to find some
support so as to relieve the strain on his torn garments, which
threatened every instant to give way. After hanging thus for twenty
minutes, he was at length set free, but no sooner was he received in the
tub than he became insensible. A severe illness of long duration
followed, but he ultimately recovered, though he ever afterwards
preferred going down the ladders to descending in a tub. Anecdotes of
the same description could be given without end. Most accidents of this
character have ended fatally. To avoid them various inventions have
been devised, one of which is known as the mounting machine, or
man-engine. It consists of two parallel rods, furnished at equal
distances with steps, while one is raised to a certain height the other
is lowered to the same distance. While the movement of the crank is on
its turning point, the miner passes from the step on which he is
standing to the opposite step of the other. As they are constantly
moving up and down, his next step is back again to the rod he had before
left, which rising a few feet, he is able to step back to the other,
just as it, having gone down, is once more ascending; and thus he
reaches the top with little fatigue.
Far superior to this mode of ascending or descending are the
safety-cages introduced of late years, which have guides the whole
length of the shaft, and bonnets or roofs to protect the heads of the
men within. They are made with several stages, in which either the tubs
or waggons can be placed, or where the miners can stand or sit. If a
rope breaks, a spring placed above the cage and kept taut by the tension
of the rope, is set free, and acts upon a double clutch made of the best
tempered steel. This catch or wedge falls between the wooden guide and
a part of the cage, and brings the latter immediately to a stand-still.
By this means numberless accidents have been prevented. The man-engines
which have been described are dangerous for novices, for should a person
stop at the wrong time, he may be hurled to the bottom, or crushed at
the return stroke.
One of the most frequent accidents to which miners are exposed arises
from an outbreak of fire-damp. To avoid this, various safety-lamps have
been invented. The most celebrated is that known as Sir Humphrey Davy's
lamp. The flame is enclosed in a fine wire gauze, through which, under
ordinary circumstances, the gas cannot penetrate. There are other lamps
in use constructed on the same principle, but superior in some respects.
Too often, however, the miners open them at some fatal moment, or enter
the mine, against orders, with naked candles. Still, by means of these
lamps, when properly employed, many accidents have been prevented.
Another invention exists by which a person can enter in the midst of
impure air. The apparatus was devised by Monsieur Kouquayrol, a French
engineer. It consists of a reservoir made of sheet iron, into which the
air is forced, and, by an ingeniously contrived pump, is secured like a
knapsack to a man's back, and the air is conveyed by means of a tube to
the mouth of a nose, and thus into the lungs at the ordinary pressure,
while a small external valve allows of the escape of the air after it
has been respired.
A still more simple apparatus has been invented by Monsieur Galibert.
The system for condensing the pure air is more perfect, while the
reservoir consists of a well-prepared goat-skin, which, when inflated, a
man can with ease carry on his back. It is furnished with a similar
contrivance to the former, a tube passing from the reservoir to the
mouth, while the nostrils are compressed, the eyes and head are
protected, so that provided with it, a person may exist for a quarter of
an hour in the foulest atmosphere, or in the midst of dense smoke.
Although the metal miner is subjected to fewer accidents than are his
brethren working in coal mines, the atmosphere in the former is far more
destructive to human life. In lead mines, the duration of life averages
scarcely more than thirty-two years, and in those containing arsenical
pyrites or quicksilver ores, the average is still lower. Before the use
of gunpowder in underground operations, the rocks containing the ore
were attacked with fire, indeed the practice is still retained in some
countries. Huge wood fires are made up against the face of the rock,
which becomes shattered and traversed by cracks, and when cooled, it is
easily detached with a pick or fork. Of late years, however, machines
have been devised for boring or breaking the rock. Some form a hole by
the continuous motion of a rotating drill, others by means of
intermittent blows. One of these rock-boring machines, manufactured by
Messrs. Turner, of Ipswich, performs its work by a combination of both
these operations. By the employment of these machines, the formation of
the tunnel under Mount Cenis was greatly facilitated. An example has
already been given of the way in which people have been saved from the
effects of inundations in mines, others have been dug out when buried by
the fall of roofs, but almost countless are the numbers who have
perished from other causes, for if the first have destroyed their
hundreds, the fire-damp in coal mines has proved the destruction of
thousands. It was at one time considered right every night to provoke
an explosion by lighting the fire-damp in order that the working stalls
should be accessible next morning. The man who performed this dangerous
operation wore a thick covering of wool or leather, his face was
protected, and his head was covered by a hood like a monk's cowl. He
crept along the ground, carrying in his hand a long pole with a light at
the end of it. He was known in the English mines as the fireman, but in
the French he was called either the cannonier, the monk, or the
penitent, the latter name being given him from his dress resembling that
of certain so-called religious orders in the Romish Church. Too
frequently the hapless penitent was destroyed by the explosion he had
provoked.
Our two friends, however, might have written several large volumes had
they given accounts of even a portion of the interesting matters
concerning mines which they gathered up during their long and varied
tour.
Mark did not fail to benefit largely by the information he obtained, and
he ultimately, with the numerous improvements he introduced, became the
proprietor of two of the coal mines in which he had worked in his
boyhood, while his young sister, on whom he had had the satisfaction of
bestowing a high-class education, refined in mind and manners, became
the wife of his friend and fellow-traveller.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Mines and its Wonders, by W.H.G. Kingston