northern boundary of the Central Provinces, which are believed to extend into the northern portion of Jabalpur.

ash of

The principal drawback of Indian coal is its large proportion Excessive of ash; varying from 14 to 20 per cent., as against 3 to 6 per Indian cent. in English coal. This places Indian coal measures at coals. a great disadvantage, alike for iron-smelting and locomotive But it has been proved that, with efficient firegrates and proper manipulation, 135 lbs. of Warora coal will do the work of 100 lbs. of English coal.

purposes.

The Rániganj coal-field has been estimated at an area of 500 Ráníganj square miles. In this black country' of India, which is dotted coal-field. with tall chimney-stalks, many European companies are at work, besides many native firms.1 At first coal was raised from open workings; but regular mining is now carried on, according to the system known as 'pillar and stall.' The seams are entirely free from gas, so that the precautions usual in England against explosion are found unnecessary. The miners are all drawn from the aboriginal races, chiefly Santáls and Baurís, who are noted for their endurance and docility. Baurís work with the pick, but Santáls will consent to use no other instrument than the crowbar. Wages are high, and the men look well-fed, although they waste their surplus earnings in drink.

coal in

Assam,

The coal-fields of India lie almost entirely in the broad Distribucentre of the peninsula, between the Ganges and the Godávari. tion of South of the Godávari no carboniferous strata exist; and the India. whole Presidency of Madras is thus compelled to depend for its supply upon importation. North of the Ganges, the only extensive fields are to be found in the outlying Province of Outlying Assam. There, in the Khásí and Jaintia Hills, mines have beds in been worked on a small scale for many years; but the aggregate of the deposits is insignificant, and the difficulties of carriage almost insurmountable. Still farther away, in the frontier District of Lakhimpur, a large coal-field of excellent quality was discovered at Mákum; and a private company has been established with a view to open out the field, by means of a railway. The company obtained a lease of the coal-beds for a period of twenty years, and a light railway has been constructed to the mines. Operations have not yet been carried sufficiently far to justify any forecast as to the profitable work

1 For a full account of the Ráníganj coal-field, see article RANIGANJ in The Imperial Gazetteer; and for its geological aspects, see a subsequent chapter.

ing of these deposits. In 1883-84, the out-turn from the Mákum mines was about 450 tons a week; but the company hopes to increase the out-turn to 3000 tons a week, which it is estimated will allow the mines to be worked at a fair profit. Dárjiling, Coal is also found in the neighbourhood of Dárjíling, and in Punjab. the Salt Range of the Punjab.

The four great coal

fields.

Future of Indian coal.

Indian salt.

Its three sources.

Apart from these outlying beds, the central coal-fields of India have been divided by Mr. Blanford, of the Geological Survey, into the four following groups :-(1) The Dámodar valley, including both Ráníganj and Karharbárí, which yields at least nine-tenths of all the coal as yet produced in India, and finds a ready market at Calcutta. (2) The Chutiá Nágpur group, extending over a wide area of mountainous and difficult country, as yet but imperfectly explored. (3) The Narbadá valley, south of the Sátpura range, where actual borings have hitherto proved disappointing, except in the case of the Mohpání colliery, which is connected by a short branch with the main line of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. (4) The Godávari valley, where coal has been traced from Nágpur southwards as far as Ellore: In this coal-field the only successful works are at Warorá. Of the future of Indian coal it is difficult to speak with certainty. On the one hand, the demand is constant, and increases with the construction of every fresh mile of railway, and every new factory. On the other hand, the quality is distinctly inferior to English coal, which comes out to India at a low freight-almost at ballast rates. Ráníganj coal, which is the best of the Indian coals, can do only from one-half to twothirds of the duty performed by the same amount of English coal. It contains a low proportion of fixed carbon, and more than three times the average percentage of ash.

Salt, an article of supreme necessity to the Indian peasant, who eats no butcher's meat, except a festival goat or kid at rare intervals, is derived from three main sources, exclusive of importation from Europe.1 (1) By evaporation from seawater along the entire double line of seaboard from Bombay to Orissa, but especially in Gujarát and on the Coromandel coast. (2) By evaporation from inland salt lakes, of which the Sámbhar Lake in Rájputána affords the chief example. The right of working this lake was leased by Government in 1870 from the Mahárájás of Jaipur and Jodhpur, within whose territories it is situated, and who are paid a royalty upon the out-turn. (3) 1 For the administrative aspects of Indian salt, see ante, chap. xvi. ; and for its geological aspects, post, chap. xxii.

range.

By quarrying solid hills of salt in the north-east of the Punjab. The last is the only source in which salt in India can be said to exist as a mineral. It occurs in solid cliffs, which for extent and purity are stated to have no rival in the world. The Salt Range runs across the two Districts of Jehlam (Jhelum) and The PunShahpur, from the bank of the Jehlam river to Kálábágh in jab salt Bannu District. Similar deposits are found beyond the Indus in Kohát District, where the salt is of two kinds, red and green; and in the Hill State of Mandi bordering on Kángrá District. The salt is found in the red marls and sandstones of the Devonian group. In some cases it can be obtained from open quarries; but more generally it is approached by regular mining by pick and blasting, through wide galleries. The principal mine is at Kheura in Jehlam (Jhelum) District, now called after Lord Mayo. The total annual out-turn in the Punjab is returned at about 50,000 tons, yielding an average net revenue to Government of from £300,000 to £350,000.

and Ben

gal.

In Southern India, salt made by evaporation is almost Salt supply universally consumed. Lower Bengal, and especially Eastern of Madras Bengal, use salt imported from Cheshire, at low rates of freight, and paying the excise duty at Calcutta or other port of entry. In Orissa and South-Western Bengal, both imported salt and salt made by solar evaporation are consumed; the solar salt being alone considered pure for religious purposes or for the priests.

India has almost a monopoly of the supply of natural Indian saltpetre, upon which Europe largely depends for the manu- saltpetre. facture of gunpowder. It occurs with other saline substances as a white efflorescence upon the surface of the soil in many parts of the country, especially in the upper valley of the Ganges. Its preparation leaves common salt as one of the residuary products; and fiscal restraints have accordingly tended to limit the manufacture to the most remunerative region, which is found in North Behar.

facture.

The system of saltpetre manufacture is simple, and is System entirely in the hands of a special caste of natives, called of manuNuniyás, who are conspicuous for their capacity of enduring hard work. As is the case with most Indian industries, they work under a system of money advances from middle-men, who are themselves sub-contractors under large central houses of business. In former times, the East India Company engaged in the manufacture on its own account; and when it gave up its private trade, the works were taken over by European firms.

Process

of manufacture.

Exports of saltpetre.

Indian gold.

Gold

But these have in their turn retired from the business, which is now in a state of decline (almost killed in Southern India), partly owing to the general fall in price, and partly to the restrictions imposed by the salt preventive department.

The manufacturing season begins with the cold season in November. The presence of saltpetre in the soil is revealed by efflorescence after a heavy fall of rain. This earth is scraped together, and first placed in a large vessel, through which water is filtered. The brine is then boiled in pots, and crude saltpetre mixed with common salt is the result. The proportion of salt to saltpetre is said to be about one-sixth. The sale of this salt is prohibited under stringent penalties. The crude saltpetre is now handed over to the refiners, who work on a larger scale than the Nuniyás. It is again subjected to a process of boiling in large iron boilers of English manufacture, and is allowed to crystallize gradually in open wooden troughs. In refining, it loses nearly one-half its weight, and is now ready for the market. In 1873, the single District of Tirhút contained 22,528 filters, and 305 refineries.

The exports of saltpetre from Calcutta are fairly constant, averaging about 450,000 cwts. a year, of which one-half goes to the United Kingdom. More than two-thirds of the total comes from Behar, chiefly from the Districts of Tirhút, Sáran, and Champáran, though Patná is the railway station for despatch to Calcutta. Cawnpur, Gházipur, Allahábád, and Benares, in the North-Western Provinces, send small quantities; while a little comes from the Punjab.

Although silver has ever been the currency of India in historical times, that metal is nowhere found in the country, nor in the adjoining States of Central Asia. Gold, on the other hand, exists in many parts of India, and probably in large quantities. The 'Ophir' of King Solomon has been identified by some scholars with the Malabar coast. However that may be, India claims to rank as a gold-producing country. Many hill streams are washed for gold, alike in the extreme south, in the central plateau, and on the north-east and north-west frontiers. Gold-washing is everywhere in India a miserable business, affording the barest livelihood; but the total amount of gold obtained cannot be insignificant.

In recent years, attention has been prominently drawn to mining in the possibility of extracting gold from the quartz formation of Southern India, which bears many points of resemblance to

Madras.

GOLD-MINING: COPPER.

625

the auriferous quartz reefs of Australia. The principal localities are in the Wainád (Wynaad) Sub-division of the Nilgiri District, and in Kolár District of Mysore. Gold-washing has always been practised here; and the remains of old workings show that at some unknown period operations have been conducted on a large scale. Since about 1870, individual pioneers have been prospecting in this region. Crushing the quartz by rude native methods, they proved that it contained a larger proportion of gold than is known to give a profit in Australia. These experiments on the southern ends of six reefs yielded an average of 7 dwts. per ton of quartz, rising in one case to 11 dwts. The best assay of the gold showed a fineness of slightly over 20 carats. In 1879, Government summoned a practical mining engineer from Australia, whose report was eminently hopeful. He described the quartz reefs as of great extent and thickness, and highly auriferous. One reef in Kolár, laid bare 100 feet longitudinally, had given an average of 1 oz. of gold per ton. In order to attract capital, Government proposed to grant mining leases at a dead rent of Rs. 5 (10s.) per acre, subject to no royalty or further tax. Several English companies with large capital entered the field, and the reports of their professional advisers held forth high hopes of success. Those hopes have not, however, been yet realized. Gold-mining in Southern India is in a depressed state; although some of the operations again hold out promise of success (1885).

The other Indian metals comprise copper, lead, and tin. Other Copper exists in many parts of the country in considerable metals. quantities. The richest mines are in the lower ranges of the Copper. Himalayas, from Dárjíling westward to Kumáun. The ore occurs in the form of copper pyrites, often accompanied by mundic, not in true lodes, but disseminated through the slate and schist. The miners are almost always Nepálís, and the Nepálí remoteness of the situation has deterred European capital. miners The extent of abandoned workings shows that these mines have been known and worked for many years. The best seams show a proportion of copper slightly above the average of Cornish ore, but the ordinary yield is not more than about 4 per cent.

hole'

The mines resemble magnified rabbit-holes, meandering Rabbitpassages being excavated through the rock with little system. mines

The tools used are an iron hammer and chisel, with sometimes a small pick. After extraction, the ore is pounded, washed, and smelted on the spot. The price obtained

VOL. VI.

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