It was upheld on all sides by heavy wooden supports of bluegum and
stringy bark, the scarred surfaces of which made them look like the
hieroglyphic pillars in old Egyptian temples. The walls were
dripping with damp, and the floor of the chamber, though covered
with iron plates, was nearly an inch deep with yellow-looking water,
discoloured by the clay of the mine. Two miners in rough canvas
clothes were waiting here, and every now and then a trolly laden
with wash would roll suddenly out of one of the galleries with a
candle fastened in front of it, and would be pushed into the cage
and sent up to the puddlers. Round the walls candles fastened to
spikes were stuck into the woodwork, and in their yellow glimmer the
great drops of water clinging to the roof and sides of the chamber
shone like diamonds.

'Aladdin's garden,' observed Vandeloup, gaily, as he lighted his
candle at that of Archie's and went towards the eastern gallery,
'only the jewels are not substantial enough.'

Archie showed the Frenchman how to carry his candle in the miner's
manner, so that it could not go out, which consisted in holding it
low down between the forefinger and third finger, so that the hollow
palm of the hand formed a kind of shield; and then Vandeloup,
hearing the sound of falling water close to him, asked what it was,
whereupon Archie explained it was for ventilating purposes. The
water fell the whole height of the mine through a pipe into a
bucket, and a few feet above this another pipe was joined at right
angles to the first and stretched along the gallery near the roof
like a never-ending serpent right to the end of the drive. The air
was driven along this by the water, and then, being released from