But now all appeared
to be fire and smoke, and the great works which belched them forth
seemed a strange and marvellous sight to us after walking so long
through such lonely districts.
[Illustration: THE SMOKE OF SHEFFIELD. "The district verging upon
Sheffield was well known to the Romans as producing the best iron in the
world."]
Sheffield has a world-wide reputation for its cutlery and for its other
productions in brass, iron, and steel, for the manufacture of which pure
water of a particular variety was essential. The town was well provided
in that respect, for no less than five rivers flowed towards Sheffield
from the Pennine range above. From the finest steel all sorts of things
were made, ranging from the smallest needle or steel pen up to the
largest-sized gun or armour-plate. It would no doubt have interested us
greatly to look through one of the works, but such as we passed were
labelled "No admittance except on business," which we interpreted to
mean that no strangers were allowed to enter, lest they might carry away
with them the secrets of the business, so we walked slowly onward in the
hope of reaching, before nightfall, our next great object of interest,
"The Great Cavern and Castle of Peveril of the Peak.
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