‘The history of Cornish copper,’ says Mr. Warner, ‘is as a mushroom of last night compared with that of tin. Lying deep below the surface of the earth, it would be concealed from the inquiries of human industry till such time as natural philosophy had made considerable progress, and the mechanical arts had reached their present state of perfection; for notwithstanding tin in Cornwall seldom runs deeper than fifty fathoms below the surface, good copper is seldom found at a less depth than that. Accordingly we do not find that any regular researches were made for copper ores in Cornwall till the latter end of the fifteenth century, when a few adventurers worked in an imperfect manner some insignificant mines. Half a century afterwards, in the reign of Elizabeth, though the product of the mines would naturally be greater than before, yet little advantage seems to have been derived to the country at large from the working of its copper. Writers hint at the mystery made of its uses by the merchants. In the next reign, however, all mystery was dispersed, the mines were inspected, their value determined, and a system was introduced of working them to greater advantage.’ Yet so wretched was the knowledge of mineralogy before 1712 that the yellow copper ore, at present so highly valued, was considered of no importance and cast aside as worthless rubbish. Since the reign of George I. there has been so much improvement that, next to iron and coal, copper is now the most important of our mineral products. The chief Cornish copper mines are situated in the districts of Camborne, Redruth, and Gwennap, which are about the dreariest of all British wildernesses. Few trees are to be seen, few fields; furze and wild berries form the chief vegetation of the niggard soil. Blocks upon blocks of stone are scattered over these desolate moorlands, that have been excavated, dug into hillocks, disturbed and turned over and over again, sometimes by the primeval stream-works of the _old men_ or ancient miners, sometimes by more modern labour in search of metallic wealth. Off the roads these districts are utterly impervious on wheels or on horseback, and the traveller can only walk, or rather flounder, over them by jumping from patch to patch of firmer land. Yet this scene of apparent poverty is in reality one of the very richest portions of the kingdom, and conceals more wealth beneath its sterile surface than has ever been produced by a similar extent of the fairest fields and pastures. [Illustration: THE BOTALLACK MINE, CORNWALL.]