Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/458

Rh 426 CORNWALL 1700 ; and up to thai time the casual produce had been bought by Bristol merchants, to their great gain, at the rate of from 2, 10s. to 4 per ton. In 1718 a Mr Coster gave a great impulse to the trade by draining some of the deeper mines, and instructing the men in an improved method of dressing the ore. From that period the present trade in Cornish copper may be said to date its rise, the annual produce, with occasional exceptions, having until recent times progressively increased. In 1851 the mines of Devon and Cornwall together were estimated to furnish one- third of the copper raised throughout other parts of Europe and the British Isles (De la Beche). It has been calculated that the clear profits from fourteen of the most productive mines in. Cornwall (both tin and copper), daring the present century, have reached to 2,756,640, the value of the entire produce having been 13,158,203. From this gross sum the expenses of labour, materials, working costs, and &quot; dues &quot; or royalties have to be deducted. The number of years during which these fourteen mines have been worked varies from 5 to 66. The underground wealth of Cornwall is, however, not only diminishing in quantity and quality, but the process of raising it is becoming too expensive to be continued. No copper lodes of great importance have been discovered of late years, while the surface or stream tin is nearly exhausted. Almost all the Cornish tin is now raised from deep mines at heavy expense, and has to compete with the vast supplies which arrive from foreign countries. The Cornish miners ars an intelligent and independent body of men. They are in request in whatever part of the world mining operations are conducted ; and it may fairly be asserted that the solution of every intricate problem in mining geology is generally assigned to a Cornish agent, and every task requiring skill, resource, and courage in trusted to a Cornish miner. About 28,000 persons used to be employed in the mines, but emigration to more remunerative fields abroad has recently reduced that number most materially. For many centuries a tax on the tin, after smelting, was paid to the earls and dukes of Cornwall. The smelted blocks were carried to certain towns to be coined, that is, stamped with the duchy seal before they could be sold. By an Act of 1838 the dues payable on the coinage of tin were abolished, and a com pensation was awarded to the duchy instead of them. Stannary Courts. By ancient charters, the tinners of Cornwall were exempt from all other jurisdiction than that of the stannary courts, except in cases affecting land, life, and limb. The earliest charter is that of Edmund ear] of Cornwall, but the freedom then assured was rather confirmed than given for the first time ; and it is probable that the customs of the stannary courts are of high antiquity. Twenty-four stannators were returned for the whole of Cornwall. Their meeting was termed a parlia ment, and when they assembled they chose a speaker. In earlier times, the combined tinners of Devon and Cornwall assembled on Kingston Down, a tract of highland on the Cornish side of the Tamar. After the charter of Earl Edmund, the Cornish stannators met (apparently) at Truro ; those of Devonshire at Crockern Tor on Dartmoor. An officer was appointed by the duke of Cornwall or the Crown, who was Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and the parliaments were assembled by him from time to time, in or Jer to revise old or to enact new laws. The last Cornish stannary parliament was held at Truro in 1752. For a long series of years little or no business was transacted in the stannary courts ; but the necessity for a court of peculiar jurisdiction, embracing mines and miring transac tions of every description within the county of Cornwall having become more and more apparent, a committee was appointed to report on the subject, and an Act of Parliament wac afterwards (1836) passed, suppressing the law courts of the stewards of the different stannaries, and giving to the vice-warden their jurisdiction, besides confirming and enlarg ing the ancient equity jurisdiction of that office. Several statutes have since been passed defining and amending the stannary laws. From the judgments of the vice-warden an appeal lies to the Lord Warden, and from him to the Supreme Court of Judicature. The court, thus renewed, has greatly benefited the mining interests of Cornwall. Fisheries. The fisheries of Cornwall and Devon are the most important on the south-west coasts. The pilchard is in great measure confined to Cornwall, living habitually in deep water not far west of the Scilly Isles, and visiting the coast in great shoals, one of which is described as having extended from Mevagissey to the Land s End, a distance, including the windings of the coast, of nearly 100 miles. In summer and autumn pilchards are caught by drift nets ; later in the year they are taken off the northern coast by seine nets. Forty thousand hogsheads, or 120 million fish, have been taken in the course of a single season, requiring 20,000 tons of salt to cure .them. The northern shoals are by far the largest. Twelve millions have been taken in a single day; and the sight of this great army of fish passing the Land s End, and pursued by hordes of dog-fish, hake, and cod, besides vast flocks of sea-birds, is one of the most striking that can be imagined. The fishery gives employ ment to about 10,000 persons, and a capital of nearly 300,000 is engaged in it. The headquarters of the fishery are Mount s Bay and St Ives, but boats are employed all along the co.ist. When brought to shore the pilchards are carried to the cellars to be cured. They are then packed in hogsheads, each containing about 2400 fish. These casks are largely exported to Naples and other Italian ports whence the fisherman s toast, &quot; Long life to the Pope, and death to thousands.&quot; Besides pilchards, mackerel are taken in great numbers on the southern coast. Conger eels of great size, weighing from 60 to 120 K, are found near the shores, and among other fish taken should be mentioned mullet and John Dory. Recently a brisk trade in &quot;sardines&quot; has been established young pilchards taking the place of the real Mediterranean fish. History. Although there can be no doubt that Cornwall and Devonshire are referred to under the general name of Cassiterides, or the &quot; Tin Islands,&quot; it cannot be said that we have any authentic historical knowledge of either county until after the Roman conquest of Britain. It remains un certain whether Phoenician or Carthaginian traders actually visited Cornwall, or whether they obtained their supplies of tin through Gaul. But we know that the tin of the district was largely exported from a very early period, and that the mines were still worked under the Romans. Cornwall formed part of the British kingdom of Damnonia, which long resisted the advance of the Saxons westward, and remained almost unbroken in power until the reign of Lie of Wessex (688-726). From that time the borders of the British Kingdom gradually narrowed, until, about the year 926, Athelstane drove the Britons from Exeter, and fixed the Tamar as the limit between them and the Saxons of Devon. At this period, and perhaps for some time after, the Britons of West Wales (the name given by the Saxons to the old Damnonian kingdom) retained their line of chiefs, though under some kind of subjection to the kin^s of Wessex. The British bishop, Conan, submitted to archbishop Wulfhelm of Canterbury after Athelstane s conquest, and was reappointed by him in 936. The Cornish see was afterwards merged in that of Crediton, and in 1050 the place of the united sees was transferred to Exeter, where it remained till 1876. But Cornwall, although the mass of the people remained Celtic, speedily received Saxon masters, and in the Domesday Survey the recorded names