labourers below at any one time. Very seldom are the miners within the sound of each other’s operations, except occasionally they hear the dull report of the explosions. In the vicinity of the main shaft, indeed, the incessant action of the huge chain of pumps, produces a constant, but not very loud noise; while the occasional rattling of the metallic buckets against the walls of the shaft, as they ascend and descend, relieves the monotony both of the silence and the sound; still every thing is dreary, dull, and cheerless; and you can be with difficulty persuaded, even when in the richest and most populous mines, that you are in the centre of such extensive and important operations. The _Herland Mines_ are situated about a mile east of Huel Alfred, and are chiefly remarkable for the beautiful specimens of _native silver_, _vitreous silver ore_, and _black oxide of silver_, which they have produced, and which has been noticed in a former part of this work. After an interval of nearly 20 years, the workings of these mines have lately been resumed, under the management of a London Company; who have had two steam engines erected, with cylinders 80 inches in diameter. The copper ore found in the Herland Mines is extremely rich; but although the lodes are more numerous than in Huel Alfred, they are not so large. All mines are placed under the superintendance of a foreman, called the _Captain_, who keeps the accounts, and pays, and regulates the workmen; they are in general men of respectability, and get liberally paid. The designation of _Captain_, however, is very absurd; for in many instances, even strangers are frequently accosted as such by the Cornish people. There are also inferior superintendants, who are employed to superintend the internal operations of the miners. The miners, in general, are a civil, honest, and active class of beings, and since the extension of the Wesleyan system, have become very religious. The hardships many of them endure is beyond belief, particularly such as have large families; and who, in most cases, live in little huts in the immediate vicinity of the mines. Their mode of living is very hard, as they seldom taste animal food; indeed, the reduced scale of their wages is such as scarcely to allow bread, and that in many instances composed of ground barley only. In some cases, many of the miners work like slaves, and are obliged to wheel barrows a considerable distance, filled with ore to the extent of four cwt.; while on the other hand, those who are employed under ground, have a wretched emaciated appearance, and mostly die at an early age, in pulmonary consumptions.