DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0087
Explosion of iron mines. Cp
the mouth of the great mine., which is nearly half an
English mile in circumference, in time'to be present at
it. Soon after twelve, the first explosion began ; I can-
not compare it to any thing so aptly as subterraneous
thunder; or rather volleys of artillery discharged under
ground, and the /concussion is so great as to shake the
Surrounding earth, or rock on every side,
As soon as the explosions were finished, I determined
to descend into the mine. There is no way to do this
but in a large deep bucket, capable of containing three
persons, and fastened by chains to a rope. The inspec-
tor, at whose house I had slept the preceding night, took
no little pains to dissuade ine from the resolution, and
pointed out the frequent and melancholy accidents that
happened on such occasions, from which no case could
absolutely deter me. Finding however, hat I was deaf to
all his remonstrances, he provided a clean bucket and put
two men in it to accompany me—I am not ashamed to
own, that when I found myself suspended between heaven
and earth by a rope, and looked down into the deep and
dark abyss before me, to which I could see no termina-
tion, I shuddered with apprehension, and half repented
my curiosity. This was however, bnly a momentary sen-
sation, and before I had descended one hundred feet, I
looked ro’und on the scene with very tolerable composure,
I was near nine minutes before I reached the bottom, it
being eighty fathoms, or four hundred and eighty feet
deep. The view of the mine, when I set my foot to
the earth, was awful and sublime in the highest degree:
whether terror or pleasure formed the predominant feel-
ing, as I looked at it, is hard to say.—-The light of the
day was very faintly admitted into these ’subterraneous
caverns, in many places it was absolutely lost, and
flambeaux supplied its place ; I saw beams of wood across
from one side of the rock to another, where the miners
No. II. Ncyc1 Sinks.] l ' sat
the mouth of the great mine., which is nearly half an
English mile in circumference, in time'to be present at
it. Soon after twelve, the first explosion began ; I can-
not compare it to any thing so aptly as subterraneous
thunder; or rather volleys of artillery discharged under
ground, and the /concussion is so great as to shake the
Surrounding earth, or rock on every side,
As soon as the explosions were finished, I determined
to descend into the mine. There is no way to do this
but in a large deep bucket, capable of containing three
persons, and fastened by chains to a rope. The inspec-
tor, at whose house I had slept the preceding night, took
no little pains to dissuade ine from the resolution, and
pointed out the frequent and melancholy accidents that
happened on such occasions, from which no case could
absolutely deter me. Finding however, hat I was deaf to
all his remonstrances, he provided a clean bucket and put
two men in it to accompany me—I am not ashamed to
own, that when I found myself suspended between heaven
and earth by a rope, and looked down into the deep and
dark abyss before me, to which I could see no termina-
tion, I shuddered with apprehension, and half repented
my curiosity. This was however, bnly a momentary sen-
sation, and before I had descended one hundred feet, I
looked ro’und on the scene with very tolerable composure,
I was near nine minutes before I reached the bottom, it
being eighty fathoms, or four hundred and eighty feet
deep. The view of the mine, when I set my foot to
the earth, was awful and sublime in the highest degree:
whether terror or pleasure formed the predominant feel-
ing, as I looked at it, is hard to say.—-The light of the
day was very faintly admitted into these ’subterraneous
caverns, in many places it was absolutely lost, and
flambeaux supplied its place ; I saw beams of wood across
from one side of the rock to another, where the miners
No. II. Ncyc1 Sinks.] l ' sat