The guide smiles grimly as he answers, “We are little more than half-way to the bottom; but we can descend no deeper in this direction.”
Heaven knows we have no desire!
“This is the first working,” he continues. “The rest of the mine is much the same as you have already seen. We have no other means of reaching the workings than by the stone staircases you have partly descended.”
“What are the miners’ hours of work?”
“Eight hours a day for five days in the week at this depth,” is the answer. “In the deeper workings the hours are fewer.”
“What is the extent of the mine?” we demand.
“I cannot tell. There is no miner living who has traversed them all. The greater portion is out of work, and spreads for miles under ground.”
“And the depth?”
“About two hundred fathoms—twelve hundred feet—the sea level. The ‘Old Hope of God’ is sixty feet below the level of the sea.”
“Are there many mines like this?”