chamber which has been made by the removal of the gold bearing rock. Off in the distance glimmer the candles of the men at work, and we make our way towards them with no little difficulty, for the reef is narrow here and this stope is only about three feet high, so one must do practically as the serpent did after it tempted Eve, and literally crawl on our bellies. As we progress the stope grows higher and when we reach the machine we have been making for, we find it is six feet high.

Setting up the camera it is leveled off, and the picture is focussed on candles, top, bottom, right and left sides being obtained in the same way. Pouring a little methylated spirit on the wick of our flash lamp it is charged with about a teaspoonful of magnesium powder, and the spirit lighted. Then we burn a strip of magnesium ribbon to accustom the eyes of the miner and his boys to the light, then uncap the lens and fire the lamp. After packing up we go on down the stope and climb out on the next level, 100 feet below the one we left above us. Along it we travel until we come to the end of it where we find a man engaged in "driving." This means he is running the level along the reef so that all portions of it belonging to the mine can be got at on this level. Here is

where it is dead easy to rig up the camera, for we are on level ground, and the "hanging" is usually six feet above the foot walk, so one can easily stand erect. But right here is where picture making is difficult, for the ventilation is poor and the dust from the machine makes things look pretty foggy. But mister miner stops his machine and we wait a bit until the atmosphere clears up when we have a go at him and so obtain a picture of a machine at work in a drive.

Turning back we start towards the station on this level and eventually bump into a gang of "hammer boys" at work starting a stope downwards. There is no machine here, but instead. a lot of Kaffirs, each one of whom is hard at work with hammer and drill making a hole, that when loaded with dynamite and fired will bring down the ore containing the yellow metal which will buy anything in the world from a man's honor to a woman's virtue. Again we rig up our camera and burn some more powder, the result being a good picture.

And so we tramp on, passing Kaffirs pushing truck loads of ore from the ore boxes at the bottom of the stopes to the station where it is dumped into ore bins preparatory to being hauled to the surface.

Down from one level to another we go through the stopes until we reach the bottom of the vertical shaft. Rambling around on this level we stumble on a diamond drill at work hunting for the reef which has been lost here. Another flash light exposure yields a picture of the drill with the shift boss on one side with his prospector's pick in his hand, and a Boer miner on the other side.

station, and find that an inAt the top of it is an electric

Thence back we go, past the clined shaft has been sunk here. hoist, and another flash yields a picture of it with the engine driver and his "boy" apparently hard at work.

But it is close onto four o'clock. All the holes have been charged up and it is time to get back to the station before blasting commences, for we don't want to take any chances on "getting blasted" by running onto a charge accidentally and we don't want to get "gassed" by breathing a lot of dynamite smoke. The cage comes down soon after we reach the station, and in we climb preparatory to being hauled up to the surface where old Sol in all his glory, shines out of the western sky.

By C. W. CANFIELD.

(Editor of the American Annual, 1887-1891.)

HOTOGRAPHERS are a queer lot "except thee and me, Betsy-and thee is often a bit queer." It would seem the most natural thing in the world for a number of them even in scattered

localities, to "get together" for mutual benefit and the comparing of notes and results, especially through the obvious medium of circulating collections of their pictures. But a diligent combing of records shows the present existence, in these United States, of only four societies along this line. "Pour encourager les autres," as well as in recognition of these devoted pioneers, the editor has thought it fitting to give some account of them here.