The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1912-10-18
QUEER old MINES
The Orpiment Workings In the
Snow Clad HimaIayas.
A DAZZLING BLAZE OF COLOR.

SpIendors Of the Dismal Mineral Pits
as Tkpy 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 Himalayas OF
Chitral. are the old mines where orpi
ment Is found. Orpiment is a faky.
flexible mineral. compound of arsenic
and sulphur, the basis Of certain beau
tiful yellow pigments, the auripigmen-
tum Of the ancients. In "Sp0rt and
Life in the Farther hlmalayas" Major
Kennion describes his visit to these
workings. the first visit to them. be
was told. ever made by European:
1.-THE holes through which the mines
are entered are in the face Of a 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 Ave 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 nainers
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 excresceRces.
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 q few yards we found our
selves in a small chamber about eight
cen f1et leRg. in which a man could
stand upright. The air was fresher
than had expected. but there was no
orpiment ia sight
I'm the farther corner there was
what looked like a well, and toward
this my guide led me. Following his
example. sac on the 6oOr and let my
self down feet foremost into this dark
and narrow hole The shaft did not 60
straight Down. and on the whole 1t was
easier to descend than factory chin
ney. for here and there were projecting
lodges en- which yea could rest your
toes. But for any one except sweep
or an orpiment miner it was difficult
enough.
"After descending some twenty feet
I felt nay legs swinging in space.
hand grasped enc foot. guided 1t to
rock and let myself down on solid
earth. was in another chamber.
smaller than the f3rst and stuftier. But
still there was no orpiment.
"a hole appeared to lead away in
downward direction from the farther
end Of the chamber. and on one side
lot Of debris had fallen. My gaide
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 I 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 sulphurous
dust If 1t 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 it was possible to
sit up.
"Here at last was the orpiment. and
it 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
scrlbable blanc Of color
after admiring the fascinating gilt
ter and CLEAN and ever changing blaze
Of beautiful color of this display Of sub
terranean spiOndor for awhile and
breaking or q 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
siderabiy easier than the descent"