The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-19

10 De found in the world. Hundreds or feet below, upon a rugged field of dag zling whiteness. suggestive of the ice- pack in the arctic regions, herds of men, each apparently as large as a cheese mite, moved about feverishly like the occupants of an ant heap. Here and there points of electric light shone like suspended stars. The general impression was that of nest of insects viewed through Brobdingnagian magnifying glass.
 Fairy Music From the Depths.
 A hushed tinkling noise came up from the depths like fairy music. thought I should never tire of watching the grace ful movements of these remote human insects I almost began to fancy that they must belong to another planet, and such was the extraordinary fascination exer- cised by this marvellous sight that I found 1t a painful wrench 10 tear myself away. I could have remained crouching over this peep-hole for hours, and felt quite annoyed with the director of the mine when he patiently reminded me that I still had much to see before the de- partnre of my train.
 So we returned along the gallery and entered one of the powerful lifts which are employed to bring up trucks of salt from the bottom of the mine. The direc- tor assured me with smile that need not have any alarm about the capacity of the lift, as 1t was constructed to carry over twenty-five hundredweight.
 Indeed. we crawled down at a snail' 8 pace. and had an opportunity of studying the strange natural frescoes on the walls. They were merely geological formations. of course but they assumed the shapes here of wild sea serpents, there of beau tiful decorative patterns. and every now and then of impossible heraldic animals. Dados on dados, I mentally summed them up.
 We stepped out on to the floor of a | Titanic cathedral a vast basllea, where armies might have knelt in prayer. and where people who knew no other world might easily imagine that this was the universe Even the great, strong electric globes could only create a dim religious light In this huge edifce. The lofty walls were marked with curly stripes of sparkling gray and white running up and down like the waves of a tempestu- ous sea. Along the various naves and aisles rude tramways were laid out upon kind of embankment of salt. Here trucks were waiting to be fed by the miners who came up ladders and ele- mentary gangways bearing loads from the salt trenches below
 Atmosphere Is Strange.
 
 The atmosphere was utterly unlike any l had ever breathed elsewhere. It was very dry, very pungent, highly exhilarat- hg like some mineral water turned into gas. There was a pleasure in quaffing it with deep breaths, but presently as you licked your lips you tasted salt, you smelt salt you felt yourself impregnated with salt. It was almost possible to un- derstand the sensations of Lots wife. The nraV1ilinp daeirh na or ing for the immediate consumption of beverages by the bucketful.
 1 remarked this to the director, who told me two things. In the first place the free workers in salt mines acquire so perpetual a thirst that few of them can resist the temptation to become habitual topers During their work tee totalism is enforced and they are always finding excuses to make their way to the tank of fresh water which Is kept near the bottom of the lift. But directly they emerge upon the outer earth they make stampede to the nearest public house and spend most of the night, as well as the greater part of their wages. in con- tinual carouse
 But they are not so much to be )itied as might be imagined by readers of sensa- tional fiction about the horrors under gone by Nihiists in the salt mines of
 
 the director told me was that the climate of a salt mine Is the best in the world. It Is even said to be a certain cure for consumption.
 Though in summer the even tempera- ture of the heart of the earth must be very pleasant as a refuge from the roast ing Roumanian sun, and even in winters after the arctic atmosphere outside the work is undoubtedly hard and probably mOnotOnOne Tn fhn ctr vi sesses a charm of its own.
 Mark Time With Picks.
 The workers are divided up into squads of six. Each man takes for himself an oLloLg piece of the floor of the mine, about as big as a tombstone. It is his business to scoop round 1t with his pick little channel or moat some five Inches deep. When he has done this he sum- mons the other five members of his squad and they stand beside him on the slab They all raise their picks together and bring them down simultaneously at the word of command, A good deal of force is necessary, but what Is much more im- portant is that they should strike with rhymtical accuracy If they do not strike together and fin the right place the whole effect is spoiled.
 I wondered that they did not sing at their work as the Somaills do or that the administration did not provide a band but I was told that by dint of long prac- tice they have become extraordinarily expert, and that they scarcely ever di- verge hairs breadth from the point at which they aim This process does not last many minutes. and as soon as the squad has hammered away long enough the men know by kind of instinct from the sound of their blows that the job is done. The persistent blows have de- tached the slab. which may now be raised by lever with a long, strong pull of the si men together. As soon as they have raised one slab they proceed to the oth- CTS in turn, until they have raised all six. It is simple form of cooperation
 Earnings Are Small. Then each man returns to his own slab ani breaks it rp into chunks, which are placed upon a truck, sent up by lift, and credited to his account. A very active man can earn from a crown to three shillings a day, but beginners must be content with good deal less Each man has a particular mark or sign which he carves upon one of the Jumps in his truck before he sends It up to be weigh et.
 The convicts who work in the salt mine at Doftana are in many ways almost as well off as the free miners except that when the daily task Is over they cannot quench their great thirst at the tavern and must return to their prisons. But they are actually paid for their work from sixpence to eightpence a day, which is enough to encourage their industry and enable them to obtain a few extra com