though like the shabby mien of the miser, its "aspect does not correspond with the hoards. "There are no less than fifty shafts in Polgooth; "margin of the bay where they empty themselves. These “have washed down pieces of ore from its beds, and perhaps remnants of old workings, and the sea has afterwards "covered them with mud and sand, which are now carried "off by brisk streams of water conducted over the ground, "in little channels, so as to leave the pebbles at the bottom; "hence the name of stream-works, which most probably were "the earliest method discovered by our ancestors for procuring the ore of tin. After being pounded by a machine "made for the purpose, (and turned by water,) and again "washed in order to be cleansed as much as possible from 66 earthly particles, the ore is sent to the smelting-house to "be made into malleable metal. So valuable is the supply "of water used in some of the stream-works, that when "turned from grist-mill tenants, it has been let for 50l. per "month, for several years following.-At Poth the famous "wood-tin, as it is called, (from the appearance of wood which "some of the pebbles exhibit) has been found abundantly, "but it is now scarce. It has nearly the colour of hæma"tites, (and indeed contains some iron,) with fine streaks or "strie converging to the different centres, like the radiated "zeolite. It is hard enough to give sparks with steel, and "when broken still shews a fibrous appearance. Professor "Brunnich, of Copenhagen, says that it gives thirty-four "parts of tin in an hundred. Klaproth found that it yielded "more than sixty-three."-Maton's Obs. vol. i. p. 153, 15 The "twenty-six are still in use, with as many horizontal "wheels, or whims. The main vein of ore, which " is about six feet thick, runs from east to west, "and dips to the north at the rate of about six feet "in a fathom. Towards the east it divides into "two branches, and there is another that cuts the "former nearly at a right angle, and consequently "runs north and south, dipping to the east. "exact extent of this mine has not been ascertained, "but we are informed that it has afforded tin the "full length of a mile. The depth of the engine"shaft is about one hundred and ten fathoms, and "this machine draws up, at each stroke, a column "of water thirty feet in height and fifteen inches in "diameter. There is also an excellent overshot "water-engine with a wheel 36 feet in diameter. "The ore is disseminated in general through a "matrix of caple, accompanied with yellow cupre"ous pyrites, and sometimes ferrugineous ochre. "It is of the vitreous kind, but rarely found in crystals; the colour for the most part greyish "brown. The country of the ore is chiefly a greyish "killas, but we observed large heaps of what the "miners call elvan-stone about the shafts. This "substance, they told us, formed a cross course, "and drove the vein of tin several feet out of the "direct line. Polgooth is said to have yielded a clear profit of 1500l. per month, and Borlase "mentions that in his time the proprietors gained “20,000l. annually, several years following. Up"wards of 17,000l. were expended, however, before "the mine yielded one shilling." The tower of St. Mewan's church, peeping from a clump of trees, was a pleasing object to the eye that had not rested on any of Nature's loveliness for many miles; and we were reminded, as we proceeded, that new habits of rural life were opening upon us, by the little flocks of goats and kids which skipped about in the neighbourhood of the road, affording milk for the dairy, and food for the peasant. The tower of Probus church too could not be passed without attention: it called forth the reflection, that if its magnificence do not prove the genuine piety of our ancestors, it at least evinces they spared no cost or labour in the construction and decoration of edifices set apart for the worship of their Maker. At TRESILIAN, about eleven miles from St. Austle, we again encountered an element from which we had reluctantly been separated. St. Clement's creek, a branch of Falmouth harbour, flows up to the village, and forms, with its accompaniments, a striking contrast to the general character of Cornwall, as far as we had yet seen of it. A short dis tance from hence, the more approved appearance of the country, a more careful cultivation, and a few gentlemen's mansions, rari nantes in gurgite vasto, intimated that we approached the town of Truro, which soon appeared, and afforded us the repose of which we stood so much in need. I am, my dear Sir, Your's sincerely, R. W. MY DEAR SIR, NOTHI St. Ives, August 12. [OTHING surely can be more hostile to the beauties of Nature than the processes of mining. Its first step is to level the little wood (if indeed there be any) with which she may have garnished the spots where she has concealed her ores. It then penetrates into the earth, and covers the Carn-bre Castle Redruth Tolmen or Cornish Pebble Falmouth Pendennis Castle |