There can be no doubt that this was the oldest method of tin-getting, and the abundant traces of ancient stream-works which are to be seen from Dartmoor to the Land’s End give proof of the great accumulation which must have been formerly worked out by this method. In the course of ages most of these alluvial deposits have been exhausted, and where, thirty or forty centuries ago, large quantities of tin ore were superficially gathered with little ingenuity and labour, the miner is now obliged to descend many a fathom deep into the bowels of the earth and work his slow way through the hard rock. Yet, after so many centuries of research and extraction, tin-streaming is still carried on in several places, as, for instance, at Carnon, north of Falmouth, where a long line of stream-works extends down the valley. The ore, mixed with rounded pieces of slate, granite, and quartz, lies buried about fifty feet from the surface, beneath the bottom of an estuary, where trees are discovered in their place of growth, together with human skulls and the remains of deer, amidst the vegetable accumulation which immediately covers the stanniferous beds. Thus ruins are here piled up above ruins. In 1866 the number of tin mines in activity amounted to 139 in Cornwall and to 26 in Devonshire. In 1852 the most important works were Balleswidden, Great Polgarth, Pollberro, and Drake Wall; but, as nothing is more fluctuating than the fortunes of mines, others have probably taken the lead since that period. Wheal Vor, in the parish of Breage, three miles from Helston, may be cited as a conspicuous example of the changes of fortune so frequent in the annals of Cornish mining. Twenty-five years ago it was considered the richest tin mine in Cornwall. More than 200,000_l._ profit had been divided among the shareholders. In 1843 there were fifteen engines at work on this extensive sett, which had the appearance of a town, and the machinery was valued at 100,000_l._ Here was put up the first steam- engine ever erected in Cornwall, between the years 1710 and 1714. The lode from which the chief part of the ore was raised was still productive in 1843, when the mine employed 1,200 persons, and the monthly cost of working had been, some years before 1843, about 12,000_l._ per month. The mine, however, became less profitable, and, wearing out by degrees, finally stopped. There was formerly a blacksmith’s forge at the bottom of this mine, in full operation at 1,470 feet below the surface of the earth. All the miners’ tools were steeled, sharpened, and repaired, and bucket-rods cut and welded in this subterranean smithy, which was clear and free from dust, smoke, and sulphur, and did not in the least annoy the miners. Within the last few years the mine has been resuscitated with a capital of 200,000_l._; but, as the shares have fallen from 40_l._ to 8_l._, the attempt seems to have been far from profitable.