nned mountaineers,
who breathe the free air on the summits of their hills!

We are near the entrance of the mine; and, entering the neat, wooden
office of the Schachtmeister, or mine-controller, we produce our
credentials. Having signed our names in a huge book (in which we
decipher more than one English name), we are passed to the care of an
intelligent-looking guide; who, although still in early manhood, is of
the same small and delicate growth observable in the miners generally.

Our guide, providing himself with small lanterns and an ominous-looking
bundle, leads the way out of the Schachtmeister's office to another
portion of the same building. Here are heaps of dark grey "macadamised"
stones;--silver and lead ores just raised from the pit; over whose very
mouth we are unknowingly standing. A windlass is in the centre of the
chasm; and it is by means of this windlass that the metalliferous
substance is raised to the surface in square wooden boxes. Here the
dressing of the ores commences; boys cluster in all directions, under the
wooden shed, and in oilier sheds beyond that. Here the ores are picked
and sorted, washed and sieved, and, we believe, crushed or pulverised,
according to the amount of metal contained in them, till they are in a
fit state for the smelting furnace. We are not admitted to a minute
inspection of these processes; but, under the direction of our guide,
turn towards the mouth of the pit which we are to descend. Ere we leave
the shed, we pick out a small block of ore as a memorial of the visit,
and are astonished at its weight; bright yellow, and dull lead-coloured
crystals gleam over its surface; and a portion of the gneiss, from which
it has been broken, still adheres to it.

We follow our guide across a dusty space towards a wooden building with a
conical roof; and, as we approach it, we become conscious of, rather than
hear, the sweet, melancholy sound of a bell, which, at minute intervals,
tones dreamily through the air. Whence comes that sad sound? In the
centre of the shed is a square box, open at the top; and immediately
above hangs the small bell; thence comes the silvery voice.

"For what purpose is this bell?" we inquire of our guide.

"It is the bell of safety."

"Does it sound a warning?"

"No, the reverse; its silence gives the warning. The bell is tolled by a
large water-wheel, immediately below the surface. By means of this
wheel, and others at greater depths, th