When you have finally got there, you can see opposite you a shiny black wall three or four feet high—the coal face. Overhead is the smooth ceiling made by the rock from which the coal has been cut; underneath is the rock again. The first impression of all is the frightful, deafening noise from the conveyor belt which carries the coal away. You cannot see very far, because the fog of coal dust throws back the light of your lamp, but you can see on either side of you the line of kneeling men, busy feeding the coal on to the conveyor belt. Down this belt a shining river of coal races constantly. In a big mine the belt is carrying away several tons of coal to the outer air every minute. It bears it off to some place in the main roads where it is shot into tubs holding half a ton, and hence dragged to the cages and sent to the outer air.
It is impossible to watch the miners at work without feeling kind of envy for their toughness. It is a dreadful job that they do, an almost superhuman job. For they are not only carrying large quantities of coal, they are also doing it in a position that doubles the work. They have got to remain kneeling all the while—they could hardly rise from their knees without hitting the ceiling—and you can easily see by trying it what a tremendous effort this means. They have got to remain kneeling all the while. Shoveling (铲) is comparatively easy when you are standing up, but kneeling down, the whole of the stress is thrown upon your arms and belly muscles.
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