(or _Country_ as it is called) which are denominated _Cross-cuts_. 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, either directly or indirectly, communicating with each other.[100] The subterranean excavations are effected by breaking down the looser parts by the pickaxe, and by _blasting_ the more solid rock by gunpowder.[101] In accomplishing this latter operation the most melancholy accidents have occurred, in consequence of the iron rammer coming in contact with some siliceous substance, and thus striking fire. The recurrence of this evil it is hoped has been prevented by the laudable efforts of the Geological Society as above related (see page 30), and that the "_Iron Age_" has taken its final departure. If the traveller is inclined to descend into a mine he is to be first accoutred in a flannel jacket and trowsers, a close cap, an old broad-brimmed hat, and a thick pair of shoes; a lighted candle is put into one hand, and a spare one suspended to a button of his jacket. The flannel dress is worn close to the skin, in order to absorb the perspiration, and every part of the ordinary dress is laid aside; thus equipped, if he possess sufficient strength of nerve, he may descend the vertical ladders with the most perfect ease and security;--but will a view of the mine repay all this trouble and fatigue?--let us hear what Dr. Forbes has said upon this occasion.[102] "A person unacquainted with the details of mining, on being informed of many hundreds of men being employed in a single mine, might naturally imagine that a visit to their deep recesses would afford a picturesque and imposing spectacle of gregarious labour and bustle, tremendous noise, and much artificial brilliancy to cheer the gloom. Nothing, however, is further from the truth, as far as regards the mines of Cornwall; for, like their fellow labourers the moles, the miners are solitary in their operations. Seldom do we find more than three or four men in one _level_, or gallery, at a time, where they are seen pursuing the common operations of digging or boring the rock, by the feeble glimmering of a small candle, stuck close by them, with very little noise or much latitude for bodily movement; besides whom there are generally one or two boys employed in wheeling the broken ore, &c. to the shaft. Each of these boys has also a candle affixed to his wheelbarrow, by the universal subterranean candlestick, a piece of clay. A certain band of men, who, however numerous, are always called "_a Pair_," generally undertake the working of a particular _Level_. These subdivide themselves into smaller bodies, which, by relieving each other at the end of every six or eight hours, keep up the work uninterruptedly, except on Sunday. By means of this subdivision of _the Pairs_, there is in general not more than one-third of the underground