ABSTRACT
‘The prince was almost frantic, when he saw himself let down with some other miserable captives into those infernal dungeons, where the light of the firmament is excluded, and even hope itself, the last comfort of the most forlorn. Such as were obstinate suffered severe chastisement from their brutal overseers, or dragged a load of chains at their feet. They were employed in subterranean chambers and vaults, which extended almost a mile from the inlet, or well, where they entered, in digging masses of ore, with spades and iron crows, and conveying them in barrows, or baskets on their shoulders, or in smelting-houses at the furnaces, separating the metal from the / stone, sand, and dross. Their food was dried fish and Indian corn. They were seldom admitted to visit the genial air, after they were once imprisoned in these infernal abodes; but lingered out a wretched life of toil, to tear from the bowels of the earth the pestiferous gold and silver, with which they never could satisfy the avarice of their cruel task-masters. At night they had no amusements to enliven the only dreary interval from labour allowed them, but sought their relief and solace in sleep, which made them forget for a few hours their wretched existence.
