Beyond the West: containing an account of two years' travel in the other half of our great continent far beyond the old West, on the plains, in the Rocky mountains, and picturesque parks of Colorado. Also, characteristic features of New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho ... Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and ... California, the end of the West ... the great continental railroad, together with the ... most wonderful natural scenery in the world .../ by George W. Pine.

TH E QUICKSILVER MINE.
and recrossings, the windings and intricacies of-the
labyrinthine passages could only be compared to
the streets of a dense city, while nothing short of the
clue furnished Thesus by Ariadne, would insure the
safe return into day of the unfortunate pilgrim who
should enter without a guide. The miners are all
Mexicans, and have named the different passages after their saints, and run them off as readily as we do
the streets of a city; and after exhausting the names
of all the saints in the calendar, have com-menced
on different animals-one of which is not inaptly
called E1 Elefante. Some idea of the extent and
number of these passages may be formed when we
state, that sixty pounds of candles are used by the
workmen in twenty-four hours. Another turn brings
s upon some men at work; one stands upon a P..ingle
plank high above us in an arch, and he is drilling
into the rock above him, for the purpose of placing
a charge of powder. How he can maintain his equilibrium is a mystery to us: yet no accident of consequence has as yet happened in the mine.
These men work in companies-one set by night,
another by day, alternating week about. These underground miners are short-lived, showing conclu.
sively how essential light and air are to animal as
well as vegetable life. With a sigh and a shudder
we step aside to allow a set of laborers to pass.
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