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302 XJKDEIt THE SEA,.:
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
V December Lias Not Everywhere In Englan...
mire we accumulated . I was especially unlucky , the truck in which tlie sub-lieutenant iiad g _* one down was soaked with , mirebut I ,, who
, came next , found mine cushioned ¦ . with ; it , oozy , clammy mire , thick and moist . The truck was no bigger than a child ' s wheelbarrow ,
but I could not let my feet go to the bottom of it , there was a small hog to receive them if I had ventured it . But a little more -or a
little less dirt was not of much consequence in the state to which we had brought ourselves by this timeand it was something to be
in the last abyss of the great mine _, and , know that more than a quarter of a mile from the shore the waves were rolling two
hundred fathoms above us down there out of their reach , under their own deeps . Welland what did we see there ? Not
muchindeed very , the ends of the , pumps which drew the water out , of the mine were there , and below them a dirty
puddle—marvellous enough , though , if you consider that here is collected the drainage of that vast mine . For it was not more than a yard ,
or so , wide , and for depth—the sub-lieutenant , having- stepped riht into it in getting out of his truckinformed me that it was
not g a foot deep , and I consider myself , wise in taking his word for it without repeating the experiment . We noticed a , little
round blast-hole bored in the terminating rock—the shaft must be deeper by this time .
The sub-lieutenant took it into his head to clamber up beside the narrow truckway , which process being only a three minutes
extra fatigue without the stimulus of a new exploration or a trifling riskI declined . I had a fancy to be a moment alone here , and
, watch the effect of the gloom broken by my solitary candle as I stood by myself below , and see the other lights glimmering through
the orifice above , so I _enjoyed niy fancy , and was the last of the partto ascend ; butinglorious to relatewhen I endeavoured
to get y into my truck , on its slanting stand , I found it quite out of the question unassistedunless I stood to mount it in the red pool ,
which I considered objectionable , , so I was forced to . accept the aid of our sailor friend , who , after having partly accomplished his
ascent , returned to further mine , and , seated in my dirty conveyanceI presently passed him labouring vigorously upwards .
_Returned , to the 190 level we entered it a little way to see the effect of the tincture-stained rockwhich though picturesque in
, colouring had not here the especial beauty said to be in the closedup portion of the 16-5 level , but there was nothing to see by
further exploration , excepting a repetition of what we had visited aboveand we were content .
One , of the levels near the surface runs the farthest of all under the seaand to this extreme we had some fancy for going . Bsiat
, when we were told that it would take two or three hours to go there now and return ,, we thought it well to take Captain Joint's
advice and not put ourselves and him to so much inconvenience ,
302 Xjkdeit The Sea,.:
302 _XJKDEIt THE _SEA ,.:
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1863, page 302, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071863/page/14/
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