The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1912-12-19
QUEER OLD MINES
The 0rpiment Workings In the
Snow Clad HimaIayas.
A DAZZLING BLAZE OF COLOR,

Splendors OF the DISMAL Mineral T. Is
as They Sparkle In a Brilliant Mosaic
of Gold and Rubies In the Light of
the Flashing Torches.
High on the flanks of Tirich Mir, one
of the snow clad giant Himalayas of
Chitral, are the old mines where orpi-
ment is found. Orpiment is tlaky,
flexible mineral, compound of arsenic
and sulphur, the basis of certain beau
tiful yellow pigments. the auripigmen-
Gum of the ancients. in Sport and
Life In the Farther Himalayas" Major
kennion describes his visit to these
workings. the first visit to them, he
was told, ever made by European
THE holes through which the mines
are entered are in the face of precipi-
tous rock and are reached by narrow,
downward sloping ledge. They were
about large enough for hyena to walk
into without inconvenience.
ION my arrival FIVE or six men with
bloodshot eyes and faces covered with
yellow dust crawled out. Although not
injurious to health, the orpiment, was
told, affected the hands of the miners
In a peculiar way. That was obvious
enough. The hands of many of the
men | saw were shrunken to the bone,
of a dark slaty color and covered with
knots and excrescences.
81 told my guide to lead on, and he
disappeared into one of the holes.
followed more deliberately, surprised
at being able to get in at all. After
crawling a few yards we found our
selves in a small chamber about eight
cen feet long, in which man could
stand upright The air was fresher
than | had expected but there was no
orpiment in sight.
I'm the farther corner there was
what looked like a well, and toward
this my guide led me. Following his
example. sat on the floor and let my
self down feet foremost into this dark
and narrow hole. The shaft did not go
straight down. and on the whole it was
easier to descend than a factory chin
ney, for here and there were projecting
lodges on which you could rest your
toes. But for any one except a sweep
or an orTiment miner it was difficult
enough.
After descending some twenty feet
I felt my legs swinging in space,
hand grasped one foot. guided it to
rock and let myself down on solid
earth. was in another chamber,
smaller than the first and stuffier But
still there was no orpiment.
boIo N AMMAN, nod 20 Iaod au,ou in a
downward direction from the farther
end of the chamber, and on one side a
lot of debris had fallen My guide
-cheerfully told me that this was the
grave of eight men. who had been bur
led under this fall of stone while work
ing at the end of the passage.
"My guide now disappeared into the
hole and | had to follow. There was
no room to crawl-you had to lie down
and work yourself along with your toes.
The air was foul and full of sulphnrous
dust If it had been possible to turn
round and retreat think | should have
done so. After traversing forty feet,
which seemed as many miles. in this
painful manner we reached another
chamber, in which 1t was possible to
sit up.
Here at last was the orpiment, and
1t was almost worth the trouble of com
ing to see. Except where the roof was
blackened by our torches the miners
do their work in the dark for the sake
of purer air-the walls of the mine
seemed a dazzling. scintillating mosaic
of gold and rubies. The light was
thrown back from an infinite number
of glittering points, in which every
shade of red and yellow. from the deep
est ruby to the most brilliant scarlet,
from old gold to the palest sulphur,
was intermingled to form an inde-
scribable blaze of color.
"After admiring the fascinating gilt
ter and CLEAN and ever changing blaze
of beautiful color Of this display of sub
terranean splendor for awhile and
breaking off few specimens of vari-
Gus hues began to long for the upper
air. So we began the ascent from Aver
nus, which | was pleased to find con-
siderably easier than the descent