212

BOOK VI.

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heavier with the depth of a shaft, of which fact he has made mention, butalso with the length of a tunnel.

The climbing machines of miners are ladders, fixed to one side of the shaft,and these reach either to the tunnel or to the bottom of the shaft. I need notdescribe how they are made, because they are used everywhere, and neednot so much skill in their construction as care in fixing them. However,miners go down into mines not only by the steps of ladders, but they arealso lowered into them while sitting on a stick or a wicker basket, fastened tothe rope of one of the three drawing machines which I described at first.Further, when the shafts are much inclined, miners and other workmensit in the dirt which surrounds their loins and slide down in the same waythat boys do in winter-time when the water on some hillside has congealedwith the cold, and to prevent themselves from falling, one arm is wound abouta rope, the upper end of which is fastened to a beam at the mouth of the shaft,and the lower end to a stake fixed in the bottom of the shaft. In these threeways miners descend into the shafts. A fourth way may be mentionedwhich is employed when men and horses go down to the underground