express the pleasure I felt at this cordial reception given me in the high north by men unknown to me a few days since. It confirmed the experience I had already so often made before, that probably no profession so soon produces a friendly and intimate connexion between strangers as that of the miner.’ Footnote 51: ‘Good luck upwards!’ or ‘A happy return to daylight.’ The copper production of Germany is about equal in amount to that of the Scandinavian kingdoms. The Rammelsberg,[B] near Goslar in the Hartz, which has been worked ever since the year 968, is probably the oldest mine in Europe. The famous copper mines of the county of Mansfeldt in Prussia afford a striking example of the success obtainable in mining operations by perseverance and a wise economy. The whole thickness of the cupriferous bed of bituminous shale is no more than from eight to sixteen inches; but as the ore, though poor, contains a small quantity of silver, this circumstance, assisted by good management and the application of science, has not only rendered it possible to work the mines for many centuries, but to render them so flourishing that in 1852 they produced 1,350 tons of copper and 31,800 marks of silver, leaving a net profit of more than 20,000_l._ The hewers are obliged to perform their labour in galleries not more than twenty-two or twenty-eight inches high, the narrowest limits within which a man can possibly move and work. The boys who transport the ore slide or creep with a truly wonderful rapidity along the floor, dragging after them, by means of a sling attached to their foot, a waggon loaded with as much as five hundredweight of ore. The hewer’s wages for seven hours of this hard work are no more than two shillings; yet the miners look very healthy and cheerful, a remarkable proof of the wonderful effects of habit. The vast empire of Russia produces about 5,000 tons of copper annually, chiefly from the mines of the Ural, belonging to Prince Demidoff; but a large proportion is furnished by the Asiatic mines of the Altaï and of Nertschinsk in Transbaikalia. New deposits have lately been discovered in the land of the Kirghise, near the Irtysch; and, as the ores are exceedingly rich, and coal is found near them, they will, no doubt, become valuable in time. During the last twenty years America has far exceeded Europe in the production of copper. The inexhaustible mines of Chili extend along the whole coast of the republic, and are generally situated within a convenient distance from the sea and near the best ports of the Pacific, such as Caldera, Coquimbo, and Valparaiso. Originally the ores were all sent to Europe to be smelted; but since 1865 the discovery of coal near various parts of the coast has encouraged the establishment of numerous smelting furnaces, so that Chili now exports no less than from 40,000 to 45,000 tons of metallic copper, besides furnishing large quantities of ore to the smelting works of Swansea.