as clear as some spirit thrice refined, and it
swayed to and fro over its stony bed, like a pond
of liquid quicksilver.

Another foot lower, and we slipped off our
muddy seats, to stand fairly at the bottom of the
sea.

Here Robinson, very kindly, went through
a variety of performances, with the view
of enlightening me as to the manners and
customs of mermen-stonemasons while at work in
building under the sea. He took the loose
plank upon which I had been sitting, and
placed it against the other plank upon which
he had been sitting, in an horizontal, but
upright position; he then reached a couple of
wedges from a small ledge at the side, with
which he made this structure firm, until it was
turned into a perfect trough. He then took the
pickaxe, and dug out a few stones at the bottom
of the sea, which he shovelled into this
trough, and then we stood upon the lower centre
plank, while he gave the sign to those above to
move us.

"Now," he said, pulling the signal handle,
which was like a syringe handle, a preconcerted
number of times, "we'll go over the mud-box."

In a few seconds, with a slight roar as we
left the bottom, we found ourselves rising
slowly, like a very heavy balloon. The chalk
and flint, after shaking about in the liquid
glassy microscope for some little time, grew, by
degrees, more misty, and, at last, disappeared.

"Now," said Robinson, giving another pre
concerted number of pulls at the signal handle,
"We'll hold hard:" and in a few seconds the bell
was motionless.

"Now," said Robinson, acting as before,
except with regard to the number of pulls,
"we'll go to France;" and in a few seconds
more, we were moving in a forward direction,
away from the English coast. A few paces
brought us to the spot where Crusoe knew the
mud-box to be, and another series of pulls caused
the bell to stop, and assume a downward direction.
Casting my eyes in the water, I soon saw
the dim outlines of an oblong shape, which
gradually developed into a long open iron coffin,
with heavy chains stretched tightly across its
surface, and secured in the middle with a large
iron ring. A few more seconds of descent,
during which this chest of water seemed to rise
slowly towards us, and I found that it was full
of flint and chalk. The trough in our bell was
soon knocked to pieces, by taking out the side
wedges, and the rubbish which it contained was
swept down into the mud-box beneath. This
box, when full, is attached to chains
communicating with the machinery above, and is hauled
up to any position that the work may require.
As a rule, it is drawn up full on the Ramsgate
side of the pier, and emptied on the Folkestone
side, as a protective embankment, against the
constant and partial washing of the sea.

These operations, with the block-raising and
block-placing before alluded to, constitute the
chief work of Robinson Crusoe and all his
merman mates. Occasionally, to save time,
excursions are made with the protection of the
diving helmet, under the edge of the bell, out
into the deep sea. The air is then supplied to
the labourer under water from the chamber of
the bell, by means of a tube; and he looks, as he
walks along the flinty uneven pathway, in heavily
weighted clogs, to keep him steady and to keep
him down, like some curious half-human monster
employed in smoking a gigantic hookah, the
bowl of which is the bell, and the pipe of which
is the elastic communicating tube. "This here
is divin'," as my old friend at the polytechnic
would have said, "and this is the sea."

Robinson, having put the bell through all
the paces of which it is capable, lifting and
dropping, backwards and forwards, and right
and left, at last gives the signal—according to
my desire—that we shall be raised once more to
the upper world; and five men, as I am
informed, now work the windlass which took two
men to let us safely down.*

* The writer has not only to thank these men,
but the superintendents of the works, for their
courtesy and attention on the occasion of his
visit.

We rise, even more slowly and imperceptibly
than we descended, because of the pressing
weight of water above our heads; the light
gradually changes from the black twilight of the
bottom, through the green fog of the centre, up
to the yellow sunlight higher still. The water
over the bull's-eye windows becomes thinner and
thinner, until it dashes backwards and
forwards, like molten silver. The face of Robinson
(who still sits opposite to me, the mud trough
having been broken up and once more distributed
as the two end seats) participates in all
the changes of light, until it passes from a dark
shadow to a bright, open, copper-tea-kettle
countenance. A thin white mist, or steam, has floated
between us all through the upward journey,
which the learned tell us, somewhat obscurely,
is generated by the water having overcome some
portion of the air, in consequence of a slight
tilting of the bell while we were at the bottom.
No practical merman, or landman, can give any
common-sense explanation of the mysterious
vapour.

The water got thicker and thicker as we
drew near the surface, until it assumed the
appearance of a thin white paint; and all the way
up, my ears were musical with a cracking,
buzzing noise, as if a couple of bees had taken
possession of my brain, and were striving to
converse with each other across the passages.

At last I saw the silvery water fall off from
the bull's-eyes, and in a few minutes our wet
glistening iron chamber released its hold upon
the sea. The fresh air rushed upward, tingling
in my head, like a sniff of smelling salts; the
boat came under us once more, containing
another merman to take my place, provided with
a tin bottle of tea (the chief refreshment the
divers are allowed to carry down), and after
wishing Robinson good day, I went on shore
amongst a gang of mermen, who were still