Tourmalines 165
are
found only intermittently in the vein. One may get several in the
length of one yard, and then they will unaccountably cease. Directly
one man strikes a vein yielding crystals every one who can commences
digging along the line of the vein, but it is all a toss-up as to
whether, when the vein is reached, there will be tourmaline therein.
Adjoining shafts give absolutely different results, and it is
calculated that at least two thirds of the shafts sunk yield nothing at
all, while only an occasional one is at all rich.
Of
the sixty-two shafts at the time of Mr. George's visit only three were
yielding, and of these only one had traces of the best quality stone.
The veins are fairly deep down, none having ever been reached at a
lesser depth than nine fathoms, while an ordinary depth is forty or
fifty cubits. When the " vein " takes a downward direction it is
followed as far as possible, but that is rarely over about sixty
cubits, for at that depth the foulness of the air puts the lamps out.
All
the material dug out from the inside shaft is pulled up to the surface
in small buckets, all worked by enormously long pivoted bamboos
weighted with a counterpoise, and the tourmaline is sorted out of hand,
the granitic fragments being piled in a wall around the mouth of the
shaft.
The
folk-lore of tourmaline tells us that both the introduction of this
beautiful and multiphase mineral to the knowledge and appreciation of
mankind, and its discovery in America, were due to children. Soon after
the year 1700,
