97
Sado, and travelling therefore very inexpensive,—the charge for one coolie per day being 212 sen.[1]
The mines are within a short walk of the Mining Office and are prettily situated in high hills. The height of the highest of these hills is 1,100 feet, but the principal entrance to the mines is only 700 feet above the sea-level. The gallery which one enters here—the only one which can be explored comfortably—is fitted with a tramway, and extends for a distance of 300 yards with a slight ascent into the hill, when three dark and uninviting shafts are reached—one descending to the left—another to the right—and the third leading straight into the heart of the hill. This latter has been disused for some time, and has only lately been re-opened. We had sufficient respect for our clothes, in the absence even of other deterrent reasons, not to yield to any inducements which might be held out to us to prosecute our researches underground any farther, and indeed there were risks to be run which we little dreamt of when we committed ourselves to the care of our guides. Every now and then a huge truck full of ore would come rolling down the tramway on its way with its load to the mouth of the gallery, which forced our party to have recourse to a general ‘sauve qui peut’ in the nooks and crannies within reach, and inexperienced as we were, it was as much as we could do to save ourselves from annihilation by clinging closely to the sides of the subterraneous passage.
Since the time the mines were first opened they have been subject, at certain intervals, to inroads from water, and on the way from the mining office we passed several old shafts long since abandoned owing to this reason. From the primitive character of the old workings it naturally followed that from time to time casualties and loss of life resulted from the water coming in. What up to sixty years ago used to be the principal entrance to the mines, was at that date the scene of one of these catastrophes, when no less than 300 people are reported to have perished. That
- ↑ This it should be borne in mind is the Government rate.
