RESTORATION OF THE LOGAN STONE. 339

and valued by them as one of the most remarkable curiosities of their country. Great, therefore, was the clamour occasioned by this proceeding; and some influential persons thought proper to complain of the outrage to the Admiralty. The popular feeling was respected, and orders sent down that the stone should be replaced. This was a work of greater difficulty than its dislodgement had been ; and such was the interest and enthusiasm excited by the circumstance, that the population assembled in crowds to witness the reinstatement of their idol on its rocky throne. How the affair was managed I cannot exactly tell you: the power required must have been enormous, but its application was at length successful; and the narrow, tooth-like projection, which formed a sort of pivot, was restored to the hollow it had previously occupied. The Logan Stone was once more poised; but I have been told by a gentleman who visited it afterwards, while the marks left on the rocks by fixing the capstans and machinery employed in the restoration were still recent, that the equilibrium does not appear to be so nicely adjusted, as when it was the undisturbed result of the process of disintegration."

"I shall never forget that word, nor the process

expressed by it," said Harry; " now that it is connected with so wonderful a story."

"I dare say you will be surprised at my taste," replied his father; "but I confess that the mineral riches of Cornwall, contributing as they do to the prosperity of our country, are far more interesting to me than all its cairns and cromlechs, or even the Logan Rock itself."

"They are more useful certainly, papa; but I wonder you should think them more interesting than those relics of ancient times, that have so many romantic stories associated with them."

"I suppose the interest of such stories arises from sympathy with the situations and feelings of traditionary heroes. To me they appear so much obscured by the mist of fiction and fable, that I had rather sympathize with the courage, ingenuity, and perseverance of real, living men, or those who have lived within the period of authentic history. That little map of yours' reminds me of a circumstance which affords quite as striking an example of the power of slender means when employed with energy, as could have been displayed by the renowned king Arthur, or any other hero of romance. Why, Harry, you draw in your chair,

1 See page 104.

ENTERPRISE OF A MINER.

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and look as if you expected some old heroic ditty!' But mine is only a plain prose tale of humble life: however, you shall hear it.

66 The range of rocks in Mount's Bay, immediately south of Penzance, is traversed by a large vein of felspar porphyry, perhaps twenty yards wide. Part of this vein supports the pier, and some of the neighbouring houses are built upon it; for a short space the rock seems to be lost beneath the sand of the beach, but soon appears again, and runs along the shore for a considerable distance towards the village of Newlyn. Your map is on a very small scale, but I see this rock is represented by a line drawn from the point of Penzance in the direction I have just mentioned; at low-water it is a very conspicuous object.'

66

Any peculiar appearance in a rock so situated was likely to attract attention; and many small veins of tin having been observed to cross it, some persons, about the middle of the last century, thought it might be worth while to risk a mining adventure, and accordingly made a beginning, by sinking works to the depth of a few fathoms, but they afterwards abandoned the project.

"I believe it was in the year 1778, that a poor

1 Dr. Forbes on L. E. D. Ibid, ii. p. 271.

miner, whose name was Thomas Curtis, had the boldness to renew the attempt. I will endeavour to make you comprehend the nature of the obstacles he had to overcome.

"The rock in which these veins of tin had been observed, is, at high-water, about two hundred and forty yards from the neighbouring beach; and the form of the shore is such, that the distance is not materially lessened at low-water, though the rock itself is then uncovered. At spring-tides the water is supposed to rise nineteen feet above the top of the rock, which is only bare at certain intervals between the daily tides; and these intervals, when added together, make about two months in the year, during which the rock is visible. The prevailing winds cause a great surf to break against it even in summer; but in winter the sea bursts over the rock with such violence, as to render it quite impracticable to carry on mining operations. Here was an undertaking for a poor fellow, who probably had not ten pounds in the world when he began his struggle with the ocean: for you perceive the attempt was almost equivalent to that of sinking a mine in the sea!"

“Well, papa, I grant he was as bold a man as

1 Hawkins on Submarine Mines. Trans. Geol. Soc. Corn. i. p. 136, &c.

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any knight of romance: but if he succeeded, he must have been like Lord Chatham, and trampled upon impossibilities. I cannot imagine how he would even set about such an attempt!"

"You perceive that he and his assistants could work only during the short interval between tides, when the rock was above water. Three summers were therefore consumed in sinking the pumpshaft, which you may compare to a well dug in the solid rock. When this was done, a framework, securely boarded, was fixed round the mouth of the shaft, cemented to the rock with pitch and oakum, and carried up above the level of the highest spring-tide. This boarded turret rose twenty feet above the rock, and was two feet one inch square. In order to enable it to resist the beating of the surge, it was supported by eight stout iron bars, placed in an inclined direction against its sides. A platform of boards was then fixed round the top of the turret, and upon this a wins, to be worked by four men. Curtis hoped he had now hit upon means for carrying on his operations, even during the winter months, when the weather was favourable: but he was disappointed; finding it impossible to keep the water from forcing its way into his mine. Neither could he, when he had