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Show y -, ¦ 50 MAUCH CHUNK-THE COAL MINES. in conveying the coals, which stand out, shining, and with a beautiful play of colours ; in some places they are of better quality than in others. They are detached partly with iron crows, partly by gunpowder, broken into pieces with pickaxes, and loaded in the wagons. From one part of the mine to another there are little railroads, on which boxes with four wheels run like what is called the dog (Jiund), in our German mines, in which refuse and rubbish are removed. In this manner high heaps of rubbish have arisen about the pits, which extend further and further into the valley. In some parts of the works there are impressions of antediluvian plants, of which we found some interesting specimens. The labour of seeking, in a stooping attitude, was particularly disagreeable on this day, which was hotter than any that preceded it. When we returned from the works to our inn, the thermometer, at twelve o'clock, and in the house, was at 96°; to which we must add that the mine is 1,460 feet above the level of the sea. There was not a breath of air stirring, and everybody found the heat extremely oppressive. To return to Mauch Chunk we again got into our carriage, but had now no need of horses; the driver shoved the carriage a few steps, leaped into his seat, and we immediately proceeded faster than a horse could gallop. We had travelled the greater part of the way in seventeen minutes, when we were obliged to halt, in order to let a train of wagons, returning, pass us, which detained us about twenty minutes; we then proceeded with the rapidity of an arrow, and travelled the whole distance of eight miles in thirty-two minutes. When we had reached the bottom we hastened to see the place where the wagons are unloaded. At the end of the iron railroad is a building on the eminence, in which there is a large windlass, with an endless rope, which with one part lowers a loaded coal wagon, on an obliquely inclined iron railroad, down the mountain, while the other part draws up an empty wagon from below. The distance from the windlass to the place on the iron railway, where the wagons deposit the coals in a large shed, is above 700 feet. (Vignette V.) The mechanism of all these works is well worth seeing, and the whole establishment extremely interesting. Mr. White, one of the principal members of the Lehigh Company, is a man of much and varied knowledge, and particularly well acquainted with machinery. He has erected a saw-mill on the Lehigh, the construction of which is very ingenious. A single workman is able to saw 4,000 square feet of deal in twelve hours. The Company requires six such saw-mills in the Mauch Chunk, to saw the wood that it wants, because the coal barges are sent down the canal and the Delaware, and sold at Philadelphia as planks. The road from Mauch Chunk through the Lehigh Valley, which we took, on the 31st of August, in the evening, is agreeable and diversified. A violent thunder-storm had passed over the valley, and had poured down torrents of rain, the traces of which were everywhere visible. We proceeded along the right bank of the river, in a rather sandy road, shaded by old trees. On |