are unclothed. They work readily enough for their three francs a-day,[1] and take to their labour cheerfully; very few skulkers can be seen in the Mont Cenis tunnel. The following table shows how small is the risk to life.
| Fatal Accidents which have occurred at the Great Tunnel of the Alps from the commencement of the works to August 1869:— | |||||
| Inside the Tunnel. | Outside the Tunnel. | ||||
| From falls of rock | 8 | Falls from heights | 2 | ||
| Accidents from waggons | 14 | Accidents from waggons | 4 | ||
| Premature explosions | 3 | —25 | Explosion of gunpowder | 5 | —11 |
| Total . 36 | |||||
It will be seen from this that one-half of the fatal accidents have arisen from men being run over by waggons. This has chiefly come from the impossibility of making the miners walk on the footways at the sides of the tunnel. They will walk. on the rails. The result is that they are not unfrequently killed, although the greatest precautions are taken with the waggons descending with débris. The total is insignificant when one considers the number of men engaged and the length of time over which it is spread, and it compares favourably with almost any other enterprise of similar magnitude.
The waggons laden with débris run down, on the French side, by their own weight, on account of the gradient, and so did the truck on which I descended with my guide—the courteous engineer who directs the works. Fresh relays of miners were entering, and those whom they relieved were coming out with their arms around each others' waists "in the manner of schoolboys and lovers." The air seemed chilly, although it was a bright summer day; and our nostrils, for hours after leaving the tunnel, yielded such supplies of carbon as to suggest that the manufacture of compressed soot might be profitably added to the already numerous industries of the works.
- ↑ The workmen in the advanced gallery receive five francs a-day, and a small bonus per mètre if they exceed a certain fixed distance.
