their ordinary day's work was equal
to the carrying of a hundredweight from the level of the sea to the top
of Ben Lomond. They were marked by a peculiar type of mouth, by which I
learned to distinguish them from all the other females of the country.
It was wide, open, thick-lipped, projecting equally above and below, and
exactly resembled that which we find in the prints given of savages in
their lowest and most degraded state, in such narratives of our modern
voyagers as, for instance, the "Narrative of Captain Fitzroy's Second
Voyage of the Beagle." During, however, the lapse of the last twenty
years this type of mouth seems to have disappeared in Scotland. It was
accompanied by traits of almost infantile weakness. I have seen these
collier women crying like children, when toiling under their load along
the upper rounds of the wooden stair that traversed the shaft; and then
returning, scarce a minute after, with the empty creel, singing with
glee. The collier houses were chiefly remarkable for being all alike,
outside and in; all were equally dingy, dirty, naked, and uncomfortable.
I first learned to suspect, in this rude village, that the democratic
watchword, "Liberty and Equality," is somewhat faulty in its philosophy.
Slavery and Equality would be nearer the mark. Wherever there is
liberty, the original differences between man and man begin to manifest
themselves in their external circumstances, and the equality
straightway ceases. It is through slavery that equality, among at least
the masses, is to be fully attained.[8]

I found but little intelligence in the neighbourhood, among even the
villagers and country people, that stood on a higher platform than the
colliers. The fact may be variously accounted for; but so it is, that
though there is almost always more than the average amount of knowledge
and acquirement amongst the mechanics of large towns, the little hamlets
and villages by which they are surrounded are usually inhabited by a
class considerably below the average. In M. Quetelet's interesting
"Treatise on Man," we find a series of maps given, which, based on
extensive statistical tables, exhibit by darker and lighter shadings the
moral and intellectual character of the people in the various districts
of the countries which they represent. In one map, for instance,
representative of the state of education in France, while certain
well-taught provinces are represented by a bright tint, as if enjoying
t