John Forbes

“ There is no light whatever but that afforded by the candles of the workmen, and by those carried by yourself and guide: while the universal presence of water soaking through the crevices of the galleries and intermixing with the dust and rubbish, keeps up a constant succession of dirty puddles; through these the visitor must pass, besides being frequently obliged to crawl on all fours through passages too low to admit him in any other manner. The galleries are extended by breaking down the looser parts by the pickaxe, and by rending the more solid by gunpowder. ”

“ A mine thus consists of a series of horizontal galleries generally one above the other, but sometimes running parallel, traversed at irregular intervals by vertical shafts, and all communicating together, either directly or indirectly.
A person unacquainted with the details of mining, on hearing of many hundreds of men employed in a single mine, might naturally imagine that a visit to its recesses would afford a picturesque and imposing spectacle of gregarious labour and bustle, tremendous noise, and much artificial brilliancy to cheer the gloom. ”

“ Generally speaking the common peasantry or agricultural labourers, are as heavy, dull, and unintellectual, as in any part of England, while the miners, the common labouring miners, are singularly acute and intelligent. The causes of this difference are sufficiently obvious, and lie in the nature of the avocations of the respective parties. The peasant, from youth to age, plods round the same dull circumscribed circle of occupation; and his business being fully learnt in early life, makes no great demand on the maturer powers of succeeding years ”

“ This character of the coast is particularly favourable to the pursuits of the geologist, laying open to him, in every direction, by the most splendid natural sections, the structure and relations of the rocks of which the country is composed. Nor is the physiognomy of the rocks in the interior less remarkable. On every hill the granite is seen protruding in the most fantastic forms from the scanty and imperfect covering of soil. ”

“ There is every reason to believe that the central or main rock of Cornwall consists of granite, and that the interrupted chain of hills composed of this rock, which extends from Dartmoor, in Devonshire, to the Landsend, is merely the protuberant shoulders of one continuous mass.
Reposing upon this central ridge, and in general dipping from it on all sides, there is, in the language of geologists, a formation, consisting principally of varieties of clay slate, but containing subordinate strata of very different rocks. ”

“ They make up in number, however, for what they want in size. Originating in the central ridges, they flow towards the sea on all sides, but chiefly to the north and south, and exhibit, in the rapidity of their course and purity of their waters, the life and beauty peculiar to the streams of a mountainous country. This profusion of running water is of the utmost benefit to a district wherein the operations of mining require the employment of so much machinery; and the great utility of the Cornish stream lets becomes the cause of the destruction of all their beauty and purity. ”

“ Every one is aware of the superior longevity of the female sex, in all countries, and under almost all circumstances. In countries where the male population are peculiarly exposed to causes destructive of health, it is to be expected that the proportional longevity of the females should be increased beyond the usual ratio; and this ought to hold good in the mining districts of Cornwall, where the deleterious effects of mining are almost exclusively confined to the male sex. ”

“ The geographical and topographical relations of the Landsend district, already commemorated, sufficiently account for the singular equability of its temperature. In this respect there is certainly no place in the British Dominions that equals it, except it be the neighbouring islands of Scilly. These, indeed, from possessing in greater perfection the qualities that promote equability of temperature, exhibit this peculiarity of climate in a still more eminent degree than the Landsend district. ”

“ Sometimes the galleries wherein the men are working are quite dry and dusty; much more frequently the bottom is covered with a greater or less portion of water, produced by the imperceptible transpiration of the vein or condensation of the humid air; and, occasionally, in lodes of a very loose texture and in a watery country, the whole roof of the gallery is perceptibly dripping. In all the lower galleries of Huel Vor tin mine, which is situated in killas, I found the water pouring from the roofs like rain, and in some places rushing in streams through the loose and druzy lode. ”

“ If we may judge from the great number of men of talent, natives of this district, who have distinguished themselves in literature, science, and the arts, we ought to rate the intellectual capacity of the inhabitants of the Landsend very high. The two last Presidents of the Royal Society, Sir Humphry Davy and Davies Gilbert, Esq. were born within five miles of each other, in this district; and many other individuals might be named, both of the past and present times, sprung from different classes of the community, whose talents have illustrated their native Penwith. ”

“ The whole district possesses, as far as regards climate, all the advantages and disadvantages of a small Island; and, accordingly, any one acquainted with the principles that regulate the phenomena of climate, will have no difficulty in estimating, a priori, the character of that of the Landsend, if he only regards it as a small Island moderately elevated above the level of the sea, and placed at a distance of forty or fifty miles to the westward of the most southerly point of the main land. ”

“ The singularly small range of the thermometer in this district, gives rise to a remarkable difference in the relation of the temperature of the day and night, here and in some inland places; in summer the nights being as much warmer as the days are cooler, and in the winter both the nights and days being warmer. This will appear in a striking manner by comparing together the mean of the extremes, i.e. of the highest and lowest degrees of temperature, as shown by the register thermometer during the two seasons, at London and Penzance. ”

“ To a person, however, who is acquainted with the nature of the trade carried on in any particular district, these tables will furnish materials from which he may form a more precise classification of the inhabitants. In the district of the Landsend there is carried on hardly any species of manufacture, and only such handicraft business as is requisite for the demands of the resident inhabitants. Yet we find, from the official returns, that very little more than one-fourth part of the population is employed in agriculture. ”

“ In most mines we meet with currents of water flowing towards the pumps from the upper galleries, or from parts of the mine that have been abandoned.
The quantity of water in mines is most abundant during the winter, of rather in the spring, some time after the termination of the rainy season. This fact is easily accounted for, especially in deep mines, by the length of time that the superficial water requires to percolate to a considerable depth. Inattention to this circumstance has given rise to an idea, still prevalent among miners, that a dry easterly wind raises the springs. ”

“ Owing to the absence of the generating materials in the mines of Cornwall, the hydrogenous gases of coal mines are entirely unknown. Accidents, however, occasionally, though very rarely, occur, from the accumulation of other of the irrespirable gases in long abandoned galleries; and it is very common in sinking deep shafts, or driving long galleries, to find the air so vitiated by respiration and combustion, and by the gases from exploded gunpowder, as to oblige the miner to fix his candle in almost a horizontal direction, to keep it from being extinguished. ”

“ Ventilation.─The existence of this temperature at the bottom of mines, (however produced) will, of itself, necessarily occasion a constant circulation of air upwards, through the shafts; and as what ascends must be replaced by the air above, there will, of course, be a constant current downwards through the same or other shafts. The extent of ventilation in mines will depend on many circumstances, more especially on their depth, the number of shafts, the degree of communication between the different galleries, and also on the state of the wind at the surface. ”

“ Owing to the great mildness of the climate in the winter season, the Cornish fisherman is exposed to comparatively few hardships, and being well clothed and well fed, and exposing himself to no unnecessary risks, his health or his life but rarely suffers from the ordinary course of his employments. ”

“ The degree of temperature varies considerably in different mines at the same depth; but this variation seems fairly attributable to the state of ventilation and other extraneous causes, and not to any difference of the natural heat. The increase of temperature does not begin immediately below the surface; a fact which is sufficiently proved by the copious permanent springs in every country, which remain invariably of the mean temperature of the climate. This fact holds equally true in Cornwall, not only in the vicinity of mines, but in the shallower levels of mines themselves. ”

“ In this employment they enjoy a much purer air, and a much less constrained posture than will be their portion when they are a few years older. The occupation of the common miner, as formerly mentioned, consists essentially in breaking down the metalliferous vein or lode, and the surface of the bounding rock on either side, by means of the pickaxe and lever, and the more powerful arm of gunpowder. Where the lode and rock are not very hard, and can be excavated by the former, these only are used. This, however, is rare even in the killas districts, for any considerable extent ”

“ Wealth can transport from a distance the materials of the castle or mansion, but poverty must be content to rear the cottage from the adjoining pit or quarry. The excellent granite and porphyry of this district afford the finest materials for building, and give to the churches and gentlemen's houses a most substantial and beautiful character. Many of the cottages are built of the same materials, but the greater proportion are constructed of clay and straw closely intermixed. ”

“ It results, from the foregoing series of Tables, that the claim to longevity set up by the Cornish Topographers for their native county, is by no means well founded in as far as regards the Landsend District, the whole population being comprehended in the estimate.
On the contrary, it appears to be established by these, more particularly by Tables VIII. X. and XII. that a considerably greater proportion of persons die in the early periods of life, that is under the 40th year, in the Hundred of Pen with, than in either the whole county of Cornwall, or at Carlisle ”

“ Another means for forming an approximative estimate of the number of individuals employed in mining, &c. is afforded by the militia returns. In Cornwall there are two classes of militia; the one continued to the persons employed in mining, the other to all the remaining male population liable to serve, the former being called the Miners' Militia, the latter the Cornwall militia. These two corps include all the male population between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except fishermen, and a few other individuals who are exempt by law. ”

“ Foxes are found in considerable plenty, but hares are comparatively rare. Owing to the peculiar mildness of its climate, this district, as in compensation for the paucity of its fixed inhabitants of the feathered kind, can boast of more than its proportional share of those of the migratory kind. In the winter months, snipes, and more especially woodcocks, are found in immense numbers. When the season is at all severe, the quantity of the latter brought to Penzance market in one day, is often very great. ”

“ There is, perhaps, no country in the world, even including the most unhealthy, whose annals do not contain examples of individuals living to an age much beyond the general mean of the duration of human life. ”

“ The following list of some of the tenderer exotics growing in the open air, in the neighbourhood of Penzance, in the year 1820, sufficiently indicates the mildness of the winters. Many others equally delicate, or more so, would, I doubt not, thrive very well there; and it is probable the list of such is greatly increased since I left Cornwall.
2. The progress of vegetation is so little checked during the winter months, that the meadows always retain their verdure, and, in milder seasons, afford even a considerable supply of grass to cattle. ”

“ The effect of the respiration of the miners may be judged of, from considering the number of men employed.
The effect of combustion in contaminating the air, is equally well understood. The extent of this cause of deterioration of the air of the mines of the Landsend district, may be estimated by the quantities of candles consumed, the only species of combustion, besides gunpowder, used in mining. ”

“ If it should appear, on inquiry, that the abbreviation of life, from this cause, is very considerable, it may alone account for the results obtained by the last series of tables, and still leave the longevity of the inhabitants, when undisturbed by artificial influences, such as is claimed for them by their native topographers. ”

“ In the poorest cottages there are always two apartments; but it is customary for all the members of the same family to sleep in the same room. Bedsteads and bed-clothes are possessed by all. In Penzance, and the other small towns of the district, where space is precious, many individuals are often crowded into one house, and want, in all its forms, want of furniture, clothing, cleanliness and air, consequently becomes very conspicuous. This observation especially applies to Penzance and Newlyn. The cottages have always inclosed chimneys, and are not particularly smoky. ”