was only because the other birds were all waiting near the house for scraps which are thrown out for them, and the Hawk had to come near or go hungry. When the snow began to thaw, the water could not run away as the ground was still frozen hard. Miniature ponds were formed in the fields, and the roads became like rivers owing to the frozen drains. Now that the land has returned to normal, the early spring flowers are beginning to show through the earth. The snowdrops and aconites are in flower, and it will not be long before the celandine blooms. The birds are singing once more, and it is lovely to hear the Blackbird's evening song again after this exceptionally hard weather. F. Hillyard, Lower VI.
GOLDMINING. The first aspect to be considered is, of course, the excavation of the ore. In this mine the rock is mainly pyritic shale (shale with an addition of iron pyrites or ferrous sulphide). In this lie the main quartz, gold-bearing veins of which there are three. There are few outcroppings (rocks showing at the surface) and this renders the already hard task of ascertaining the position of the lodes, or veins, underground doubly difficult. But before approaching the modern aspect of the mine let us go back to the time of the Roman Legions and their conquest of Britain. That time is the earliest period during which the mine is known to have been worked. Evidence has been found in the pieces of pottery and coins and the shape of some adits (tunnels into the hillside). These adits are shaped like a triangle standing on its apex. The reason for this is that the narrow portion at the bottom is wide enough to allow for the feet of a man and the broad upper part is made so as to allow for the shoulders and basket of ore to move to and fro along the adit. The Romans did not employ underground work much ; their main method of excavation being quarrying. The gold vein was lying between two layers of rock, something like the ham in a sandwich. The Romans stripped off the top layer, leaving the naked gold vein exposed. With their crude methods of excavation and extraction it is surprising that the Romans could make the gold workings pay. True, their labour was almost entirely composed of slaves. Also the ancient waste rock dumps, known as " tailings," not slag heaps, which can still be seen, may contain gold which the Romans, with their crude methods of extraction, could not obtain, and which may be " pay-ore " with the modern methods. 29
