Often down a quarter of a mile in the earth are stables kept as clean and as sanitary as a race-horse barn. The mule is brought down the shaft in the cage, or elevator, blindfolded, and he stays down below until he dies, or is rendered "hors de combat" by accident. If he is sick there is a "barnyard" covered with white sand—the only touch of white to be seen—where he can roll and rest to his heart's content.