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CORNISH TIN-MINES.

To the Editor of the Literary Panorama. Sir, Having read in your number for March a description of the tin-miners in Cornwall, I beg leave to send as an accompaniment, the following account of the principal mine at Polgocth near St. Austle, extracted from Lipscomb's journey into Cornwall: the insertion of which will oblige

A CONSTANT READER. Account of some of the Cornish Tin-Mines, from Lipscomb's Journey into Cornwall.

THE tin-mines with which this country abounds, vary in extent, and still more in the quality of their productions. The tin ore is sometimes found almost pure and unalloyed, but more generally incorporated with foreign bödies,-gold and silver, mundic, spar, copper, &c. are often blended together with the clay which contains the tin.

The ancient mines are all subterraneous; but there are now some few large pits totally uncovered, and called stream mines, from the ore being separated from the soil in which it is found, by a current of water, conducted through the pit. The first we visited was of this kind. It is a square pit, fifty feet deep, and about thirty fathoms over; situated in the parishes of St. Austle, Mevagissey, and St. Ewe, and known by the appellation of, The happy Union.

The different strata cut through, before the miners reach the ore, are-1st, light sand intermixed with clay, about 15 feet; 2, dark stiff clay, 4 feet; 3, light grey clay, 5 feet; 4, peat of various colours, intermixed with sand, 8 feet; 5, light greyish clay and pebbles, 3 feet; 6, tin ground, strong, yellowish, and mixed with gravel, and pure tin in grains.

as the extent of this stratum is probably very considerable, whenever that part of it which is at present open, shall have been entirely worked up, the managers intend to pursue its course, and not to dig deeper until they have more completely exhausted it. Below the stratum of tin ground is a bed of stiff clay called shilf or shale.

The peat is found lying upon a bed of shells and gravel: it is called by the miners, fenny turf; and is used for fuel. It differs very little from the peat dug out of pits, near the course of the river Kennet in Berkshire.

The branches of very large oak and other trees, are found in many places, entire, and of a firm consistence: the smaller twigs, acorns, hazle nuts and bark, also maintain their forins, but are friable; but the leaves are all completely decayed, so that the more solid parts lie imbedded in them. We saw one free lying almost horizontally in the stratum, which measured nine or ten feet long, and was at least a foot in diameter. A pretty severe blow with a sharp spade penetrated about three inches, within which the texture of the wood seemed not to have lost its usual firmness. This curious production is of a light reddish colour, when first dug up; but immediately acquires a darker hue, upon being exposed to the air. This change is so striking, that the bright colour vanishes with as much celerity as breath evaporates from a polished surface.

The peat vegetates; but none of the other strata, above or below, appear to have any intermixture of vegetable matter. The horns of deer and other quadrupeds are found among the peat.-The idea of the tinners is--that the shells, trees, &c. were brought hither by the flood.

The native ore or tin, having been washed from the impurities of the soil, is carried in litSeveral small streams are collected, from vatle carts, which the miners call tuns, to the rious sources, and brought to the verge of the stamping mills. It is there conducted, pit; in trickling down the sides of which, the through a trough, under the cast iron heads of strata numbered two and three are turned red. large hammers, which rise and fall alternateThis water is turbid, and has a nauseously; and, by this process, reduce the pebbles taste. It falls into little basons or troughs; containing the ore, to an impalpable powder, into which the miners throw with their sho- the particles of which are mashed through a vels, the tin ground dug out of the bottom of grating, in which the apertures are no larger the mine. The water separates the stones than those of a nutmeg grater. The grosser which contain ore, from the sand and clay parts are again exposed to the force of the with which they are mixed: the refuse is stamping hammers, and diluted with a great thrown out; the pure tin and ore put into er quantity of water, until the whole is suffibaskets or boxes slung on ropes; and convey- ciently reduced to pass through the grating ed out of the mine by the assistance of an en- It is then conveyed to the smelting-houses, gine, which raises, alternately, the superflu- passes through the furnace, is cast into large pieces, and sent to the towns called “ Coinage Towns," or Stannary Courts," to be stamped, weighed, &c. and afterwards exported. More business is now transacted at St. Austle, than at either of the other towns.

ous water and these boxes.

This mine was discovered about the year 1781; and the profits of it are immense; the labour of getting out the ore being so inconsiderable.

The tin ground, or bed of ore, varies in thickness from five to eight or ten feet; but

From hence we proceeded to the great mine at Polgooth, which is not far distant.

This vast subterranean cavern is said to be an hundred and twenty fathoms deep. The shafts where the miners descend, and by which the ore is raised to the surface, are scattered over an extent of sterile country; whose dreary appearance, and the sallow faces of the miners, concur to awaken the most dismal and gloomy ideas. But, though rugged the surface, the interior is fraught with the richest treasures, "hid fast in the quarries, or sunk deep in the mines." Though withered the countenance and faded the complexion of the human race, by their labours the finest works of art are brought to perfection; and their industry is a strong pillar of the state.

The descent into the mine is performed by means of ladders placed almost perpendicular ly, so that it is a very dangerous passage. You are furnished with a suit of cloaths, adapted to the service you are about to engage in, upon signifying your intention to visit the interior of the mine; and are accompanied by a guide who carries a light before you.

The damps of these subterraneous caverns are sometimes so baneful and offensive, that the stranger, unaccustomed to expeditions of this nature, is not unfrequently tempted to recede, rather than expose himself to their noxious effects.

We descended more than forty ladders, slippery with humidity, and some of them almost worn out by the feet of the labourers, before we reached the deepest part of the

mine.

At the foot of each ladder is a narrow pause, or landing place, and at certain intervals, are openings into different beds of ore. I could not discover that there was any material difference between the quality of the tin dug in the lowest stratum, and that which is found nearer the surface; but the quantity of clay, spar, dross, mundic, &c. mixed with the ore, varies in different parts. Some specimens were shewn us, of a beautiful intermixture of copper, silver, and tin ore, with very brilliant and transparent spar.

Those who dig in these wretched and dismal excavations are under the necessity of breathing so much impure air, that their health is speedily injured; and they die, at an early period, hectic and paralytic: but the wages paid for labour are so considerable, that workmen are always to be met with, ready to sacrifice their strength in these dark and gloomy mansions, in which for weeks and months together they are excluded from a gleam of day light.

At about the depth of fifty or sixty feet, below the surface, water begins to collect; percolating through the different strata. The lower parts of the mine would, of course, be overflowed by it, and the working of the ore completely obstructed, if it were not con

stantly carried off:-this process is now performed by an immense steam engine. This extraordinary piece of mechanism raises sixty-three gallons of water at every stroke, and performs fourteen of these motions every minute. The water thrown out upon the surface, by means of this wonderful máchine, runs off like a river; and, being conducted to the mine before described, under the name of the happy union or stream-mine, is there made use of, to separate the ore from the soil, in the manner already mentioned.

After having contemplated the wonders around us, both of nature and art, until our surprise and admiration had given place to the less pleasing sensations of hunger and fatigue, we left the mine, and ascended once more into the cheerful light of day, feeling all the fulness of that beautiful but figurative descrip tion of Morell, when he brings the merchant Abdallah, out of the belly of the mountains of Tasginor, could the astonished Tasgites, (according to the same fable) have felt more wonder and amazement at the presence of their new sultan, when he came forth out of the bowels of the earth, than was impressed upon the countenances of some genteel travellers, who had just arrived at the shaft of the mine at Polgooth, when we emerged into day-light, in the grotesque habits with which the tinners had furnished us, covered with filth, dripping with moisture, and besmeared with all the various productions of the soil.

The miners are a race of men distinct from the common class of British subjects: they are governed by laws and customs almost ex clusively their own; and wild as the hordes of Africa, they are separated from the manners of modern improvement, and resemble the primitive possessors of an uncultivated, soil, rather than kindred brethren of a great and enlightened nation.

What an instructive lesson does the conduct of these men teach to the restless and turbu leut spirit of factious inquietude! Remote from the advantageous influence of a court, unbiassed by ministerial intrigues, subject to every hardship, and exempt from none of those evils, injuries and oppressions, on which the democracy of England lay so much stress, -the miners of Cornwall are loyal to their king. Have they not heard,have they not seen-factious men endeavouring to excite prejudices against the government of their country? Is their loyalty founded in ignorance? or will it be confessed that it grows Sout of their security, and the impartial blessings in which even these men exult? Yes! they are loyal loyal, in spite of the most active exertions of the disaffected, for even into the tin mines of these remote regions, the emissaries of jacobinism were sent. The system of anarchy has been published here! the thunders of revolutionizing uproar re-,

sounded in these caverns, and the empoisoned darts of anti-monarchists, shot from the quiver of sedition by the bow of deceit, have penetrated even into the bowels of the earth.

The tree of French liberty will not take root. In more propitious climes, it withers; though nurtured by the blood of kings, and sheltered -by the banners of republicanism. How then shall this tender plant be raised in a foreign soil? where the deadly influence of its destructive poison is known to the rudest of the inhabitants, and where even the labourer of the mine reveres that sacred establishment, which makes him feel it an honour to be a Briton.

IN THE
FAMINE AMONG THE BUFFALOES
EAST-INDIES-MEANS OF PREVENTING IT.

The following article is addressed to the Editor of the Government Gazette at Madras, by Dr. Anderson; the same gentleman who contributed to relieve our gallant tars from the horrors of the scurvy in long voyages, by recommending the use of pickled mangoes; the account of which will be found in Panorama, Vol. III. p. 804-where Calcutta is erroneously inserted instead of Madras.

Sir;-Being credibly informed that not less than 20,000 cattle, chiefly buffaloes, have lately died within 30 miles of this place for want of forage, I beg leave to call the attention of the readers of your paper to the cultivation of a plant sent here by the Honourable Court of Directors, and still known by the name of the Kew Nopal-of which that animal is so fond, that I have had some difficulty to preserve even the best rooted plants from their depredations.

The plantations made in the NorthernCircar, were eaten up by the people in the year 1792, when that country was afflicted by the famine, but in Tinnevelly last year I had plants of it brought me to Tutacorin by the fishermen from different parts of the coast, and at Couttallum, the collector was so obliging, as to have Kew Nopal plants forwarded from Alvatinnevelly, and other parts of the country, which I took every care in my power to see planted in favorable situations, indeed some of the polygars thankfully received at my hands, seeds of the bastard cedar tree, and guinea grass; and before I left Couttallum, had plantations of guinea grass made in the ravines of the mountains at 17 different places, that there should remain no chance of its ever being lost in a country where the months of February, March, April and May are so hot and dry, that when the rains fall in June, many of the cattle carried out to the plough, unable to return home, are left all night on the open ground. More attention ought to be paid to the bastard cedar, as it is more delectable food for horses, cows, sheep and goats, than any kind of grass.-Garden, May 27,

607.

PRAYERS IN LONDON FOR THE KING OF
SWEDEN'S SUCCESS; AND STATE OF RE-
LIGION IN SWEDEN.

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To the Editor of the Literary Panorama.

SIR; Happening to be at a dissenting place of worship, where the following letter was read from the pulpit, I desired a copy of it, for the purpose of its appearing in your miscellany. If it should please God, to crown with success the efforts of the King of Sweden to defend himself: it will give weight to the observation, that the countries hitherto subjected to the degrading yoke of Buonaparté, have been such as had most eagerly received the polluting and unchristianizing sentiments of Voltaire and his impious associates.

I am, Sir, &c.-T. C.

My dear Sir; -As the prayer meeting on account of the state of the nation will be this evening at your place of worship, I take the liberty of suggesting to you the propriety and importance of making the present situation of our only remaining ally on the continent, the King of Sweden, the subject of especial remembrance in the prayers of the congregation. I am led to this observation not merely by political considerations, but by those of a religious kind. The King himself is represented by respectable persons as an object of Christian affection as well as of political regard. He is said to be a man who really fears God; and it has been observed of him by a diplomatic character in this country, "he is an excellent man; but he reads his Bible too much." Such a disqualifying circumstance in the eyes of a courtier will appear to you more than a thousand eulogies. It appears also by letters received by gentlemen belonging to the society which I usually attend, that the religious state of the country is encouraging.

I shall give you two extracts from letters, relative to Denmark and Sweden, in that The one is dated Gottemburgh, respect. March 1.

"You will have observed with much interest the doings of the Lord on the northern part of the continent. It has pleased him to command the sword to enter the land where I was labouring, that the inhabitants might feel that there is a God, who ruleth on high, and observeth the goings of the children of men. I need not inform you of the deplorable state of Denmark in regard to religion. Contempt for the laws of Heaven had arisen to the most awful height, and every thing that seemed to have any connection with the Gospel of Christ was ridiculed and cried down with public applause. Who that was eyewitness to these things, and was any ways acquainted with the method of the Divine proceedings as to nations, could from the Le

ginning keep himself from predicting their | ed well. The writer of this article, M.

fall, although he could not say by what means it should happen ?-"

The other is from Stockholm, dated March 3.

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Ventenat, says, that if we are permitted to doubt of the virtues of the Aya-Pana, its botanical characters are so simple that there can be no incertitude with regard to the species to which it belongs. He places it among the corymbiferæ, and distinguishes it as follows: Eupatorium-Aya-Pana, foliis lanceolatis, integerrimis, inferioribus oppositis, superioribus alternis; calicibus subsimplicibus, multifloris.

The stem is strait, full of branches, of a deep brown colour, about the thickness of a quill, and a metre in height. Those persons who have the work on the “plants of Malmaison," will find in it a plate and a more de

I could easily give you other pleasing extracts; but my time, as well as yours, for-tailed description of the Aya-Pana. It apbids.

April 6, 1803.

I am, &c.

W. A.

pears to have escaped Mr. Barrow's researches, as he takes no notice of it.

ON THE AYA-PANA PLANT.

of

REMAINS OF LOUIS XVI.

To the Editor of the Literary Panorama. To the Editor of the Literary Panorama. Sir, in the account of the Brazils by a Sir,-As many pages of the early numbers Portuguese gentleman, inserted in Vol. III. your valuab e repertory have been devoted p. 892, I do not find any mention of the to record the sufferings of that ill fated moabove plant. Thinking it might be interest-narch Louis XVI.* and family, perhaps you ing, I have taken the liberty of transinitting will not refuse a corner to the following little it. Yours, SCRUTOR. incident which Kotzebue relates of himself, while at Paris.

The Aya-Pana grows in South America, on the right bank of the Amazon river. It is also indigenous to the Brazils. It was carried from thence, a few years ago, by a French captain to the Isle of France; and has increased so rapidly, by means of cuttings, that there is scarcely a habitation on the island where it is not cultivated. The public garden there is constantly filled with sick persons, who come to solicit some leaves of the plant as a medicine. It is applied with great success in cases of dropsy, the bite of scorpions, and for all kinds of wounds.

We shall select a few instances.

"Louis XVI. and Marat, in short, all the venerable as well as the worthless victims of the revolution, are so completely sunk in oblivion, that all my pains to discover the church-yard of La Madelaine, where they are buried, were fruitless; my lacquais de place pretended to know nothing at all about it. At last I was informed, that this church-yard had been sold to a smith, who had converted it into a garden. I instantly repaired to the spot, But the smith was not at home; the people of the bouse would not vouch for the correctness of any information, but were of opinion that not a single trace of graves re mained in their garden, for the quick-lime thrown into the holes in which the corpses had been buried had consumed them all. To be brief, I was obliged to withdraw, howA negro was bitten by a fish in those seas ever much I had wished to stand on the spot called a last. Its bite is so venomous, that, where the bones of unfortunate men and prior to the discovery of the Aya-Pana, am- ruffians remain mixed together.-A lady putation of the part affected was always ue- afterwards assured me that the spot was not cessary. Some leaves were pounded, and ap-only still to be found; but that it was even plied to the negro's hand, and the next day it was cured. Another negro had every appearance of a dropsy, and was cured by an infusion of the plant.

M. Cotte was bitten in the right hand by a scorpion. A violent inflammation with great pain succeeded. Some leaves of the Aya-Pana were pounded, and applied to the wound, which was cured in a few hours.

The French captain, above mentioned, had bruised his left leg very severely. He first washed it with a warm decoction, and then applied the leaves which were kept on by a bandage, and continually wetted. He recovered in a fortnight.

planted with three lilies: the owner, how-
ever, owing to the too great crowd of visi
tors, had shut his garden to every body."
Yours, &c.

HONOUR THE KING. Compare Panorama, Vol. I. pp. 69, 1005, 1225.

More particulars relative to that unfortu nate family, which the opportunity we enM. Michaux sent some seeds to the nation-joyed by living at Versailles, enables us to al garden in Paris, but they have not succeed- make known, shall appear hereafter.

TRAVELS IN NORTH AMERICA.

The following interesting narrative is extracted from the journal of two gentlemen, who recently undertook a journey through North America, from the Gulf of Florida to Quebec.

"We left this place (New York) on the 25th July, 1806, taking with us only a change of linen, and we arrived there again on the 18th of July, 1807. We travelled mostly on foot, excepting where a water passage offered. My brother William employed himself in taking sketches of most of the fine views and natural curiosities that have come in our way. Our route was first to Albany, the falls of the Mohawk and Niagara rivers, thence across Lake Erie, down the Alighanny river to Pittsburg. Here we stayed for three or four weeks, having fitted up a boat peculiar to these rivers, called an ark, with a fire-place and sleeping-birth. We laid in our stores of provisions, cooking utensils, &c. and commenced our voyage down the mighty rivers Ohio and Mississippi on the 1st December, and arrived at Orleans in April, in our boat, in which we had lived fourteen weeks. These arks are literally floating wooden houses; the one we had was 24 feet long and 12 feet broad, and square at both ends. Rowing or sailing was out of the question: we trusted to the current for head-way; we rad a pair of large oars for guiding the bout clear of rocks, old trees, &c. The Ohio is gentle and placid, unless agitated by storms, which are very common; in such cases, we made our boat fast to a tree on shore. In still, serene weather, we suffered our vessel to float night and day, sleeping soundly till the morning. The aver age run of the current was about three miles an hour. On its banks are many handsome towns, and the country abounds, in game. At Marietta were three ships of 300 tons, nearly finished. It is a curious fact, that ships built above 2,000 miles inland, should have a natural navigation to the ocean. character of the Mississippi is entirely different from that of the Ohio: its waters very muddy and boisterous; its banks flat and uninhabited for a hundred miles together, and no chance of getting provisions, but occasionally from the wild men of the woods. These harmless creatures often boarded us from their canoes; and their visits were welcomed, as they brought us venison, turkies, wild honey, bear-meat, &c. for which we gave them apples, biscuits, &c. These things were very grateful to us, after living four or five weeks upon bacon. On the Mississippi, boats seldom attempt to float in the night, this powerful river running in many places at the rate of eight miles an hour, and being

The

very full of large timber, whose limbs often appear above the water, and against which the current roars with the noise of a cataract. New York, a journey very little short of From New Orleans we returned by land to three thousand miles the route we took, as we went considerably out of our way to see some natural curiosities. We travelled about fourteen days in Lower Louisiana. From the

city of Natches, on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, to Nashville, is a wilderness of about five hundred miles, inhabited by two powerful nations of Indians, the Chaitaws, and the Chihawaws. At Natches we purchased a mule, and packed our provisions for 20 days, for the performance of this journey. We now entered quite a new kind of life. We slept regularly in the woods; our bedding consisted of a blanket and bear-skin, with a thin tent, which answered the double purpose of a mosqueta-bar and a shelter from the night dews. We had a tomahawk, a flint, a steel, and tinder, and thus equipped we commenced our journey, making a fire two or three times a day, for the purpose of boiling. our chocolate, toasting our bacon, &c. At night, we made a good fire, as near as we could bear it, and with a good length of rope we tied our mule to a tree to graze. We had fine weather, and all went on very pleasantly for some time, when I was seized with a second-day ague. This shook and tormented me very much, and at last I was obliged to lay up in an Indian wigwam for about a week. These good creatures did all they could for my comfort, which, however, was not much, the best bed they could give me was a bear-skin on the ground. This happened about 200 miles from the abode of white men. I got something better, but the ague left me very weak for some time. In our route to this place, we came through the state of Tenessee, by the way of Nashville, and Pennsylvania. We likewise passed through Knoxville, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, the federal city, Baltimore, and Philadelphia; at the former place we were gratified with a sight of Mr. Jefferson. He was returning from his morning ride, unattended even by a single servant: this, we were told, was his usual custom. We have planned a journey to Boston, and one to Lower Canada, Montreal, and Quebec, which will finish our travels in this land, when we shall return to visit and consult with our friends, as to our future proceedings."

Our readers will find in referring to Panorama, Vol. II. pp. 131, 373, an interesting letter of Capt. Clark cursorily describing his travels from the Mouth of the Missouri

through the interior parts of North America to the Pacific Ocean, during the years 1804, 5, and 6,-An edition of the original work is now in the press, and will soon appear.

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