ng it
with both hands, they continued their descent, though huge lumps of coal
were falling out of the tubs above them. Wonderful to relate, they
reached the bottom in safety. On another occasion, while the same
engineer was ascending in a tub, it was upset in consequence of the
engineman raising the rope too suddenly. The engineer hanging on by one
leg, with his head downwards was hoisted a height of forty yards, before
the alarm was given and he was lowered to the bottom.

In the same mine, another engineer, while descending in a tub, had his
clothes caught by a strut which projected from the side of the pit; he
here hung suspended while his companions continued to descend, terrified
for his safety and alarmed for their own, as should he fall, they
expected to be crushed by his weight. In vain they shouted for
assistance, the men at the top of the pit having gone out of hearing.
Not until they reached the bottom could they send any aid to their
companion. He in the meantime had been vainly endeavouring to find some
support so as to relieve the strain on his torn garments, which
threatened every instant to give way. After hanging thus for twenty
minutes, he was at length set free, but no sooner was he received in the
tub than he became insensible. A severe illness of long duration
followed, but he ultimately recovered, though he ever afterwards
preferred going down the ladders to descending in a tub. Anecdotes of
the same description could be given without end. Most accidents of this
character have ended fatally. To avoid them various inventions have
been devised, one of which is known as the mounting machine, or
man-engine. It consists of two parallel rods, furnished at equal
distances with steps, while one is raised to a certain height the other
is lowered to the same distance. While the movement of the crank is on
its turning point, the miner passes from the step on which he is
standing to the opposite step of the other. As they are constantly
moving up and down, his next step is back again to the rod he had before
left, which rising a few feet, he is able to step back to the other,
just as it, having gone down, is once more ascending; and thus he
reaches the top with little fatigue.

Far superior to this mode of ascending or descending are the
safety-cages introduced of late years, which have guides the whole
length of the shaft, and bonnets or roofs to protect the heads of the
men within. They are