The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1851-05-21
A NINE UNDER THE SEA.

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The following description Of The visit 10
botallack Copper Mine. in England, is from
a~ork recently published, entitled, Ram.
tles beyond RAILROADS." 10 complete min
i"g equipment. with candles stuck BY lumps
OF clay To their felt hats, The travellers have
painfully descended. by perpendicular ladder
saeSleng dapp,ag xeierock passages, faith.
ons down mi" Pilchey darkness; the miner
who guides them calls a halt, and their ex.
act position with reference to the surface Of
the 'tersqueous globe is thus described:
We are nov four hundred wards out, un
oer fhe bottom Of The sea and twenty faith
"ms, or one hundred and twenty feet below
the sea level. Coast.trads vessels are sail.
i0g over our heads. Two hundred and forty
iett beneath US men are at work, and The re
are galleries deeper yet, even below that
Inc extraordinary position down the face of
the ciiff, OF The engines and other works on
The surface, al ButtaIlack, is now explained.
Ihe mine IS not excsvated like other mines
under The land, but under the sea
Having communicated these particulars,
the miner next tells US to keep strict silence
and listen. We obey him, sitting speechess
and moiionless. Ii The reader could have
only beheld US now, dressed in our conner
co'o'ed garments, huddled close toge her in
mere cleft Of subierrnnean rock. with q
lime burning on our heads and darkness en-
'el0pi"g our limbs-hs must certainly have
imagined without any violent stretch of fan.
cy, that be was looking down upon conc ave
Of gnomes.
After listening for few moments, dis.
tan', unearthly noise becomes family audible
Il long, low, mysterious moaning that new.
er chsnges-tha, is fell on tho ear ssweI
as heard BY i'-a sound thai might proceed
from some Incalculable dls'ance-from some
far invisible heigh,-a sound unlike anything
hat 10 heard on the upper ground, in the free
air oi Hearen-a sound so sublimely mourn.
iul and still, so ghos,ly and Impressive, when
listened to in the subteIranean recesses Ctbe
earth, that we continue ins,inc,ively to hold
our peace, as if enchanted by it, and think
no. OF communicating to each oiher the
strange feeling Of astonishment which i, has
inspired IN US both from the frs.
Al last the miner speaks again, and tells
US thst "hatw We hear Is the sound Of The surf
lashing the rocks one hundred and twenty
'eet above US, and Of The waves that are
breaking on the beach beyond The lide is
now at he flow, and the sea is in no extra.
ordinary degree Of agitation; so the sound
IS Ia" and distant just a, this period. But
when 'lofms are Ut their height, when the
n r Ig M aT,a
ter oa The cliffs, then the sound is terrific
the roaring down here in the nine is so mex
pressoly herce ard awful, that the boldest
men II work are afraid to continue their Ia
bor-al ascend TO The surface TO breathe the
upper ar and stand "n the firm earth; dread. 1
ing, though no catastrophe has happened yet
that The sea will break in on them if they
renal, IN the cavern below.
Heafing this, we gel up to look at the .
rock Hbose us. We are able 10 stand IN.
right in the position we now occupy; and
flaring our candles hither and th,her in the
darkness, can see The bright, pure copper
s,reahng the gallery in every direction.
Lump Of ooze. of the most Iustrous green
color, trave'sed by a ma ursI network of thin
~" '''"S 'pu, oPprdT HSIe anu Inefe IN
arge irregular patches. over which water is
slowly dipping necessarily 10 certain places.
ih's IS the salt water percolating through
Invisible craines in the rock On stormy
lays II spirits out fuIiously in thin, continuous
dreams. Just over our heads we observe ..
wooden peg of the thickness of mans leg J
here is a hole here, and the plug is all we
ave TO keep out the sea
Immense wealth of metal is contained in :
he roof of this cutlery, throughout its whole =
.ngh; but It remains, aud always will re-.
,sln, untouched the miners dare not take il y
" 1t is part, and n great par, Of the rock q
h'ch forms their only protection against the
"a, and which has been so far worked away
ere, that it's thickness is limited TO three t
et only between the water and the gallery
J which we now stand. No one knows {
hat nigh. be The consequence of another ;
iy's labor with the pickaxe on any part a
il, " u