The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-11-07
QUEER OLD MINES
The 0rpiment Workings In the
Snow Clad HimaIayas.
A DAZZLING BLAZE OF COLOR.

opisndors Of the Dismal Minera! Pits
~ They Sparkle In Brilliant Mosaic
Of Gold and Rubies In the Light OF
the Flashing Torches.
High on the tanks of Tirich Mir. one
Of the snow clad giant Hima!ayas OF
Chitral, are the old mines where orpi-
ment is found Orpiment is Il haky,
flexible mineral. Il compound of arsenic
and sulphur. the basis or certain beau
tiful yellow pigments. the alr;,iisinen-
tum Of the ancients. In sport and
Life In the Farther Hilnaayas" Major
Kennion describes his visit to these
workings. the first visit - them. he
was told ever made by a European:
1.-The holes through which the mines
are entered are in the face Of Il precipi-
tous rock and are reached by il 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
| told. affected the hands of the i.:;nerS
| in peculiar way. That was Obvious
enough The hands Of many of the
| men l saw were shrunken to the bone,
of dark slaty color and covered with
knots and excrescences
Il 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 Il few yards we found our.
| selves I'm Il small chamber about eight
cen feet long. in which Il man could
stand upright. The air was fresher
than l had expected, hut there was no
1 orpinlent in sight.
I'm the farther corner there was
what looked like well. and toward
this my guide led me, Following his
example | sat ON the floor and let N.Y.
self down feet foremost into this dark
and narrow hole The shaft did not 20
straight down. and on the whole it was
easier to descend than n factory chin
ncy for here and there Were projecting
lodges on which you could rest your
toes Rnt fnr any one except a sweep
or an Orpin,cnt miner 1t was difficult
enough
"After descending some twenty feet
! felt my legs swinging In space.
hand g-asped one foot guided II to a
rock aud ! let myself down Oh solid
earth was IN another chamber.
smaller than the first aud stni.irr But
still there was no orpiment
"a hole appeared to lead away In a
downward direction fron, the further
end of the chamber, and on one side
lot Of debris had fallen My guide
rhcerfully told me that this was the
grave of eight men. who had been bur
led under this fall of stonc xiliic work
ing Mt the end Of the passage
"My guide now disappeared into the
no room to crawl-you had to lie down
and work yourself along with your toes.
The air was foul and full Of sulphurous
dust II it had been possible to turn
round and retreat think should have
done so After traversing forty feet.
WuICu SccuItftg az Nv Ahfo
painful manner we reached another
chamber. in which It was possible to
sit up.
Here at last was the orpimeiIt. and
II was almost worth the trouble nf 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
I seemed dazzling. scintillating mosaic
j Of gold and rnhies The light was
+ thrown hack from an infinite number
I Of glittering points. in which every
! shade Of red md yellow. from the deep
, est rnby to the most brilliant scarlet
e from old gold to the palest sulphur
was intermingled to form an inde
4 Rcribable blaze Of rOlor.
I "After admiring the fascinating gilt
ter and gleam and ever changing hlaZ.
' Of beautiful color Of this display nf sub
J. terranean splendor for awhile ant
breaking or few specimens of eari
t ons hups began to long for the unpe
e air So we began the ascent from Aver
' nus. which | was pleased to lind con
Q siderably easier than the descent