boys — going down, sixteen at a time, and I noticed that they laughed and talked and did not seem to be at all nervous. Some years ago it was different. Then miners had to be brought to Singareni from the north of India. But now a miner's life is popular at Yellandu, good wages, good houses and good compensation in case of death, or accident, having convinced the people in the neighbourhood that a miner's work is worth the risks that must attend on mining. Stalwart men from the neighbourhood of Lucknow still help to hew the coal, but the ordinary work is done by the people of Yellandu.
The coal is won by contract, the head-man of each gang being paid monthly according to the number of yards cut. And the work, which is in eight hours' shifts, goes on both night and day, except during the many Hindu holidays, Christmas Day, and the Mohurrum. Englishmen superintend the work underground, and they possess the confidence of the Indian miners, who say : "If there is an accident, the English Sahibs never leave us." The neat houses of the miners and their well- stocked gardens were pleasant to visit, the bazaar was clean, and the Company's hospital looked well-cared-for and up-to-date.
