Okehampton is but a mean relic; Restormel is circular; Trematon is like a pork-pie; Pendennis, S. Mawes, late and insignificant. Tintagel owes everything to its superb situation and to the legend that it was the place where King Arthur was born. The most picturesque of all is Pengersick, near Breage, but that is late. Its story shall be told in the [chapter on Penzance].
CHAPTER V.
TIN MINING
The granite eruptions in Devon and Cornwall--Elvans--Lodes--Tin passing into copper--Stream-tin--Story of S. Piran and S. Chigwidden--Dartmoor stream-tin--Joseph of Arimathea--The Cassiterides--Jutes--Danish incursions--Tin in King John's time--Richard, Earl of Cornwall--Elizabeth introduces German engineers--Stannary towns--Carew on mining--Blowing-houses--Miners' terms--Stannary Courts--Dr. Borlase on tin mining--Present state.
I remember being at a ball many years ago at that epoch in the development of woman when her "body" was hooked along her dorsal ridge. Now I learn from competent authorities that it is held together in other fashion.
There was at the ball a very lusty stout lady in slate-grey satin.
By nature and age, assisted by victuals, she was unadapted to take violent exercise. Nevertheless dance she would. Dance she did, till there ensued an explosion. Hooks, eyes, buttons, yielded, and there ensued an eruption of subjacent material. In places the fastenings held so that the tumescent under-garments foamed out at intervals in large bulging masses.
This is precisely what took place with Mother Earth in one of her gambols. Her slate panoply gave way, parted from N.E. to S.W., and out burst the granite, which had been kept under and was not intended for show.
Her hooks and eyes gave way first of all in South Devon, and out swelled the great mass of Dartmoor. They held for a little space, and then out broke another mass that constitutes the Bodmin moors. It heaved to the surface again north of S. Austell, then was held back as far as Redruth and Camborne. A few more hooks remained firm, and then the garment gave way for the Land's End district, and, finally, out of the sea it shows again in Scilly.