The atmospheric or steam-engine of Newcomen was costly, as it consumed an enormous amount of coal; but in 1778 it began to give place to Watt’s engine. Since then the machinery employed advanced with strides till reaching perfection, when the need for any ceased in Cornwall and Devon, where nearly all mines have been abandoned. Barca tin can be raised so much more cheaply, being surface tin, that lode tin cannot compete with it in the market. Now the mining districts of Cornwall are desolate. Heaps of refuse, gaunt engine-houses, with their chimneys, stand against the sky, hideous objects, and as useless as they are ugly. The Cornish miner has gone abroad. There he remains till he has made his little pile, when he returns home, builds a house for his wife and children, remains idle till money gets low, when away he goes again. A good deal of discussion has taken place relative to the causes of the decline and extinction of the mining industry in Cornwall. The primary cause is that already referred to, but there is another. Into that industry too much dishonesty was allowed to intrude. Speculators became shy of embarking capital in companies to work bogus mines. The promotion of such schemes was too frequent not in the end to discredit Cornish mining altogether. The surface tin in the “Straits” mines must come to an end shortly, and then let us trust captains in Cornwall will have learned by experience that in the end honesty is the best policy. Formerly the metals were taken out of Cornwall for distribution over Europe. Now the coined metal is being brought into Cornwall by trainloads of tourists, by coveys of bicyclists, come to visit one of the most interesting of English counties and inhale the most invigorating air, and everywhere they drop their coin. So life is full of compensations. [Illustration: LAUNCESTON CHURCH PORCH] CHAPTER VI. LAUNCESTON Launceston a borrowed name--Celtic system of separation between town of the castle and town of the church--A saint’s curse--Old name Dunheved--Castle--Church--Sir Henry Trecarrel--The river Tamar--Old houses--S. Clether’s Chapel--Altarnon--The corn man--Cutting a neck--The Petherwins--Story of S. Padarn--Is visited by his cousin, Samson--Trewortha Marsh--Kilmar--An ancient village--Redmire--Cornish bogs--Dozmare Pool--Lewanick--Cresset-stone--Trecarrel--Old mansions--The Botathen ghost. The most singular thing about the former capital of Cornwall is that it does not bear its true name. Launceston is Llan Stephan, the church of S. Stephen. Now the church of S. Stephen is on the summit of a hill on the further side of the river, divided from the town by the ancient borough of Newport.