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moulds in the pure state in which it reaches the market. It is cast into ingots, cakes, or pigs, according to the purpose to which it is to be applied.

But copper-smelting is not the only metallurgic process here carried on. The Swansea Valley and the Neath Valley contain iron-works, coal-works, zincworks, and tin-plate-works. Of the iron and coalworks we need say nothing: they are similar to those which have before engaged our notice, but smaller. Of zinc-works, Messrs. Vivian are proprietors of one of the very small number existing in this country. Zinc occurs in various English counties, in combination with lead, sulphur, carbon, and other substances; and the smelting process has for its object to drive off these extraneous matters, and leave the zinc in the pure metallic state. The roasting and melting, the refining and deoxiding, somewhat resemble the analogous processes in copper-smelting, but on a less extensive and varied scale.

Tin-plate-works, we have said, are also among those which distinguish the Swansea district, and which are likewise to be met with in other parts of South Wales. This is a very remarkable manufacture. Those who study the philosophy of a tin-kettle, soon become aware that is is not a tin-kettle; it is an iron kettle with a thick varnish of tin on its surface. Tin is too soft a metal, and melts at too low a temperature, to be used as a material for making vessels; but it forms an excellent protector from air and moisture for metals

which are liable to be injured by either. All (so-called) tin culinary vessels are made of very thin sheets of iron, both sides of which have been coated with a layer of liquid tin. So thin is this layer, that half an ounce of tin has been made to cover 254 square inches of surface. There is a chemical affinity between tin and iron, which tends to make them unite when the tin is in a fluid form; but delicate precautions are necessary to ensure the success of this process. The iron is of a superior quality, and is heated and rolled several times in succession, until it assumes the form of a thin, smooth, and very tough sheet, which is cut to the size of a small quadrangular piece or plate. The plates then go through a long routine of processes. They are steeped in dilute muriatic acid; they are placed in a red hot oven until a thick scale falls off them; they are laid on an open floor to cool; they are straightened and beaten smooth on an iron block; they are made additionally smooth and elastic by being passed between hardened rollers; they are steeped for ten or twelve hours in bran-water; they are 'pickled' for about an hour in dilute sulphuric acid; they are scoured with sand and water; they are washed in clear water; they are steeped in melted grease for an hour; they are plunged into a vessel filled with melted tin; they are removed, after an hour or two, with a layer of tin adhering to both surfaces; they go through a draining process to remove the superfluous tin; they are rubbed with dry

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bran until the tin presents a bright polish; and finally they are packed in boxes, each box containing from 100 to 225 plates, and the plates measuring 13 inches by 10 up to 17 by 13. These processes seem strangely numerous; but most of them are rendered necessary in order to render the surface of the iron scrupulously free from oxide and all other impurities.

SWANSEA; ITS BAY, AND ITS ENVIRONS. Such are some of the industrial pursuits which give such a busy aspect to Swansea and its neighbourhood. Let us now leave the work-people, and view this interesting district under another aspect. (Cut, No. 4.) Swansea Bay is one of the most beautiful in South Wales. Its amphitheatric character is very striking, especially when viewed from the Mumbles Head at its south-west extremity. We may consider the eastern extremity of the bay to be formed by the headland near which Porthcawl is situated; but it is more usual to name Aberavon or Port Talbot as the eastern limit, from which spot to the Mumbles, or the western limit, is about ten miles, which may be deemed the width of the bay at its opening. The depth of the bay is about four miles, with an additional small but deep creek close to Swansea town. Into this bay, in the north-east corner, enters the somewhat wide mouth of the river Neath; and at the lowest point, where this river is narrow enough to be crossed by a bridge, stands the town of Neath. In the north-west part of the bay enters the Tawy, which has flowed from the mountains through the beautiful Swansea valley.

The whole of the towns surrounding Swansea Bay are gradually becoming absorbed in the vortex of manufactures. Porthcawl was a place scarcely known a few years ago; but a railway has been formed, which springs from the iron and coal works at Duffryn, and winds through the Llynvi valley to Porthcawl, which is becoming a place of shipment.

The same may be said of Aberavon or Port Talbot, a little farther up the bay towards Swansea. Aberavon is its old-fashioned Welsh name; Port Talbot is its new-fashioned commercial name. It is a very old and humble village, with a marshy shore in front, and a range of hills behind it; but it stands at the mouth of the little river Avon, and this river flows through the small valley where the gigantic Cwm Avon works are situated. Hence Aberavon became the port of shipment for copper, iron, and tin-plate; and hence the chief proprietor, Mr. Talbot, has done his best to make it a convenient port. A straight trench has been cut through the marshy land from the river to the sea; and this has been so cleverly done that a fine port has been made, capable of admitting ships of large burden.

Between Porthcawl and Port Talbot is Margam Park, the residence of Mr. Talbot, and one of the finest estates in South Wales. It was once called Pen-dar, or the oak summit, and consists of a beautiful alternation of wooded heights, and shady hollows. An

abbey once existed at this spot; it was built in the early part of the twelfth century for a Cistercian brotherhood, and bore a high name among the abbatial establishments of its time. After the dissolution of the monasteries, part of the abbey was occupied as a dwelling-house until 1782. Nothing now remains except a few fragments of the chapter-house, and the west front of the abbey church, which forms part of the modern church. Margam House is a modern structure of large size, in the Tudor style; and around it are plantations which are said to be enriched by the largest orangery in the world; rich, not only in oranges, but in lemons, citrons, shaddocks, and pomegranates. How long this beautiful spot will continue undefiled by smoke remains to be seen; already the Tai-bach copper-works, at no great distance, are sending forth their clouds of white vapour.

The valleys to which Porthcawl and Port Talbot serve as outlets are growing rapidly in commercial importance. About twenty years ago a tramway was formed from Duffryn to Porthcawl, and a small harbour formed to accommodate the vessels which shipped the coal brought down by the tramway; but it is only very recently that iron has been added to the exports. There are now many large establishments in the Llynvi valley-the Maestog Company, the Llynvi Company, the Tondu Company, the Cefyn Company-which send down enormous quantities of iron and coal to Porthcawl. The Avon valley has a still more remarkable establishment, the Cwm Avon works, perhaps the largest in Wales except the Dowlais. They belong to the "Governor and Company of the Copper Miners of England;" or, more strictly, we believe that they actually belong at the present time to the Bank of England, owing to certain financial arrangements between the two companies. They comprise five establishments in one; for there are collieries, iron-works, copper smeltingworks, tin-plate works, and chemical works; they cover an immense area of ground, and give employment to some thousands of persons. A lofty hill at Cwm Avon may be seen from a great distance vomiting forth clouds of smoke and vapour into the air; this is the upper extremity of a system of flues formed up the slope of the hill from the works beneath, constituting, perhaps, the loftiest chimney in the world.

Having had occasion to speak of the somewhat neglected state of the dwellings occupied by the miners and workmen in other districts, it is pleasant to read what a competent authority has to say concerning Cwm Avon. Mr. Seymour Tremenheere, the Mining Commissioner, in his last Report to the Government (1850), says, "The Cwm Avon Works are now carried on on behalf of the Bank of England, under the management of Mr. J. Biddulph. Important additions have been made to their schools. Two clergymen have been appointed; one to take the place of the incumbent. Reading-rooms have been formed, accessible to all the workmen. principal one, near the offices, containing an abundance

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of well-selected books, papers, and reviews, supplies books, &c., to the others, held in the school-rooms at the remoter parts of the valley. To this is also attached a mechanics' institute; and both are shortly to be placed in a large building under the same roof. Useful and attractive lectures are given, and musical performances the latter chiefly by young men belonging to the works. Evening schools have also been opened for young men and young women; the latter zealously superintended by the ladies of the chief persons in the valley. A more systematic attention has been paid to sanitary measures as regards sewerage, taking off all refuse, &c. A penny in the pound is stopped from all wages for this purpose. The Company's shop (on the truck system) has been given up; advances in cash are made weekly to every workman, and the balance paid every month. Several good shops were immediately opened by persons from a distance. Excellent accommodation has also been afforded for holding a market, at which there is a daily attendance of persons who bring their goods from Aberavon, Neath, and Swansea, and a full market every Saturday; and the prices of everything were, I was informed, precisely the same as at Swansea. needs no such example to disprove what is often alleged as an excuse for a company's shop (and which was so formerly here), that it is necessary as a check upon exorbitant prices. Where between 4,000 and 5,000 persons are collected, earning in good times about £10,000 per month, there can be no fear of a want of sufficient competition for the supply of such a demand." Mr. Tremenheere states that the proprietors of the Maestog and Llynvi works have lately entered upon a similar excellent mode of attending to the comforts of the persons employed by them; and in relation to the copper-works of Messrs. Vivian, he says, "Spacious and handsome school-buildings have been erected close to the works, at a cost of £2,000 or £3,000. They are placed under trained masters and mistresses, and amply supplied with every requisite for good schools. The cottages for their work-people are of the best and most convenient kind in all their arrangements, with gardens both in front and behind, and small paved back-yards. The occupants have the opportunity of hiring a piece of land in adjoining fields for their potatoes. Foot-pavements are laid down between the rows, and the roadways properly made. Water, generally scarce about large works, is to be brought in, either from the town or from a reservoir to be formed in the hills. The number of public-houses is also kept down in their immediate neighbourhood. The cottages already built are only the commencement of an extensive design, which includes the building of a church, and the leaving vacant a large space near the centre of the rows of the cottages, to be laid out ornamentally for the purposes of recreation."

A cluster of hills separates the Avon valley from the Neath valley, and when we have passed this cluster, we find ourselves at the town of Neath. The river Neath flows from the Brecknockshire hills, and by its side is

the mail-coach road from Merthyr to Neath and Swansea. A railway, called the Vale of Neath Railway, was planned a few years ago; but the South Wales Railway is the only one which yet accomodates this town. Neath is supposed to have been the Roman Nidum, and a few Roman coins have been found there. An abbey was built here in the time of Henry I. which was one of the most beautiful in South Wales. A castle had been built earlier than this, but of this castle scarcely anything remains, while the ruins of Neath Abbey are still majestic and interesting. Industry is encroaching on the precincts of this venerable pile with stern determination. There are iron-works, copperworks, tin-works, and collieries, in its immediate. vicinity. The Neath iron-works form an extensive establishment not only for the smelting and making of iron, but for the manufacture of machinery; a very large portion of the smelting and mining machinery of South Wales and of Cornwall has been made here. Near the abbey also are the copper-works of the Crown Company and the Mines Royal Company. These, with the coal and the tin-plate works, are gradually converting the Vale of Neath (one of the most beautiful in South Wales) into a smoke-covered manufacturing district.

A few short miles bring us from the Neath valley to the Swansea valley, where, as we have already said, coal-smoke and cupreous vapour are also doing their work. Swansea is one of the best towns in the principality. It is the centre of commercial transactions of such magnitude, that many wealthy families have congregated in and near it, and these families bring with them the amenities and usages of cultivated society. Swansea is the only town in Wales which can offer a fitting locality for the British Association for the Advancement of Science; and the meeting of this society at Swansea showed how well the inhabitants were prepared to welcome their scientific visitors. The town stands chiefly on the west bank of the Tawy, near the mouth, but it also stretches across to the east side. The best streets run nearly north and south through the town. They extend beyond the limits of the river itself, and follow the curvature of part of the beautiful bay. In the western part of the town is a fine new market-place, and new streets and handsome buildings are springing up rapidly. The remains of the castle are now so surrounded with buildings in the very heart of the town, that they can scarcely be seen; the chief portion is a circular tower, from the summit of which a fine view can be obtained over the bay.

Few commercial towns have so admirable a sea-side walk available to the inhabitants, as that which extends from Swansea to Oystermouth and the Mumbles, round the western margin of the bay. The whole line of coast is gently and gracefully curled, and a fine road having been formed throughout the whole distance, every part of the route is made easily available. For those who do not or cannot walk, frequent and very cheap conveyances follow this line of route. Leaving Swansea at its south-west margin, and passing through

ascending to the summit of the headland, from whence is obtained a view of great magnitude and extent. The whole of Swansea Bay lies spread out before us; while a distant blue line, towards the south, marks out dimly the Devonshire coast, on the opposite side of the Bristol Channel. Landward we can see the white smoke of the copper-works; and immediately beneath us we have a view of the fleet of oyster-boats,—such of them at least as happen to be drawn up near the shore. There are from sixty to eighty of these boats, manned by four hands each. The oyster beds lie off the Mumbles and to a considerable distance westward of that point; and the men have often a fierce struggle to contend against the winds and tides of the Channel. During the season, each boat takes from 500 to 3000 oysters per day, which are sold to Swansea dealers at 9s. to 16s. per thousand; and these dealers supply Bristol, Liverpool, and even London; for the Mumbles oysters are highly esteemed. Besides the oyster boats which thus speckle Swansea Bay, it forms an excellent refuge

streets of good houses, we arrive at this water-side | There are steep winding paths which afford means for boundary, near which are many private mansions and pleasant nooks. Just before arriving at that jutting peninsula which forms the Mumbles Head, we pass Oystermouth. The village was anciently called Caer Tawy. Its ancient importance was due to a castle, which, until a few years ago, was hardly known or appreciated, from being buried so deeply in its own ruins; but the Duke of Beaufort, to whom it belongs, has judiciously expended a small sum in making such clearances as shall develop the majestic character of the ruins, without making them too ornate or formally trimmed. Oystermouth depends in modern times on three elements oysters, limestone, and visitors. The oyster-fishery is carried on during the season to a considerable extent. The limestone, which is of very fine quality, fitted for decorative purposes, is found in quarries behind the village; the quarrying, the sawing, and the polishing give employment to a number of the inhabitants; and a tram-road, running alongside the coach-road, affords the means of conveying the stone to Swansea. Visitors are attracted to the neigh-in bad weather: 500 vessels having been sheltered in bourhood during the summer by the beauty of the surrounding scenes seaward and landward; but the bold headland of the Mumbles shuts out so much of the sun's rays, that the 'season' is very short.

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The Mumbles Head is a conspicuous spot. It bends round so far to the south-east as to give a deeplycurved form to the western half of Swansea Bay.

it at once. The headland of the Mumbles is itself composed of limestone, which is quarried in large quantities; but there is another circumstance which will very shortly cut up this delightful breezy elevation into a series of ravines and pits. It was discovered in 1845 that iron-ore exists in the headland; and the proprietor has not been slow to avail himself of the

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