Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/789

765 INDUSTRIES.] INDIA 765 the north-east of the Punjab. The last is the only case in which salt can be said to exist as a mineral. It occurs in solid cliffs, which for extent and purity are stated to have no rival elsewhere in the world. The chief of these has given its name to the Salt Range, running across the dis- tricts of Jhelum (Jhilam) and Shahpur, from the bank of the Jheluin river to Kalabagh in Bannu district. Similar deposits are found beyond the Indus in Kohat district, where the salt is of two kinds, red and green, and in the hill state of Maudi bordering ou Kangra- 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 Keora in Jhelum district, now called after Lord Mayo. The total annual out-turn in the Punjab is returned at about 50,000 tons, yielding a revenue to Government of more than 400,000. In 1877-78 the actual figures of revenue were (1) from the Salt Range, 426,000, (2) from Kohat, 8000, (3) from Mandi, 6000. In southern India salt made by evaporation is almost universally consumed. Lower Bengal, especially eastern Bengal, uses 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 latter being alone considered pure for religious purposes or for the priests. Saltpetre. At one time India had almost a monopoly of the supply of saltpetre upon which Europe depended for its gunpowder. In combination with other saline sub stances it occurs 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 consequently fiscal reasons have tended to limit the manufacture to the most remunerative region, which is found in North Behar. The manufacture is simple, and entirely in the hands of a special caste of natives, called Nuniyas, who are conspicu ous 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 the large houses of business. In former times the East India Company engaged in the manufacture on its own account; when it abandoned all private trade, its works were taken over by European firms, but these have in their turn retired from the busi ness, which is now in a state of decline, partly owing to the general fall in price, and partly to the restrictions imposed by the salt preventive department. The exports of salt petre 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 TirhiU, Saran, and Champaran, though Patna is the railway station for de spatch to Calcutta. Cawnpur, Ghazipur, Allahabdd, and Benares, in the North- Western Provinces, send small quantities, while a little comes from the Punjab. Gold exists in many parts and probably in considerable quantities. Herodotus affirms that the Indians were the only nation who paid their tribute to Darius in gold ; and there is some reason for believing that the &quot; Ophir &quot; of King Solomon is to be identified with the Malabar coast. Nearly every hill stream is washed for gold, whether in the extreme south, in the central plateau, or on the north-east and north west frontiers. It is true that gold-washing is everywhere a miserable business, affording the barest livelihood ; but yet the total amount of gold obtained in this way cannot be insignificant. In recent years attention has been prominently drawn to the possibility of extracting gold from the quartz formation of southern India, which bears many points of resemblance to the auriferous quartz reefs of Australia. The principal localities are in the Wainad (Wynaad) subdivision of the Nilgiri district and in Kolar district of Mysore. Gold-washing has always been prac tised there ; and the remains of old workings show that at some unknown period operations have been conducted on a large scale. From about 1875 to 1880 individual pioneers were prospecting in that region. Crushing the quartz by rude native methods, they proved that it contained a larger proportion of gold than is known to yield 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 sum moned 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 Kolar, laid bare 100 feet longitudinally, gave 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 Us. 5 (10s.) per acre, subject to no royalty or further tax. Up to 1880 the enterprise had scarcely passed beyond the stage of laboratory experiments. If the results of actual working with elaborate machinery realize the promise held out by competent investigators, gold-mining will be established as an important industry in southern India. Copper is known to exist in many parts of the country Copper in considerable quantities. The richest mines are in the lower ranges of the Himalayas, from Darjfling westward to Kumaun. The ore occurs in the form of copper pyrites, often accompanied by mundic, not in true lodes, but dis seminated through the slate and schist. The miners arc almost always Nepalis, and the remoteness of the situation has deterred European capital. The extent of abandoned workings proves 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. The mines resemble magnified rabbit-holes, meandering passages being excavated through the rock with little system. The tools used are an iron hammer and chisel, and sometimes a small pick. After extraction, the ore is pounded, washed, and smelted on the spot. The price obtained for the metal is Rs. 2.8.0 per 3 sers, or at the rate of about lOd. a pound. Copper-ore, of fair purity and extending over a considerable area, also occurs in Singbhum district of Chutid Nagpur, where there are many deserted diggings and heaps of scoria). In 1857 a company was started to re-open the workings at these mines ; but, though large quantities of ore were produced, the enterprise did not prove remunerative, and was finally abandoned in 1864. A similar attempt to work the copper found in Nellore district of Madras also ended in failure. Lead occurs in the form of sulphuret or galena along Lead, the Himalayas on the Punjab frontier, and has been worked at one place by an English company. Tin is confined to the Burmese peninsula. Very rich Tin. deposits, yielding about 70 per cent, of metal, occur over a large extent of country in Mergui and Tavoy districts o the Tenasserim region. The ore is washed and smelted, usually by Chinese, in a very rough and unscientific way. Recent experiments made by a European firm seem to show that the deposits, though rich and extensive, are not suffi ciently deep to repay more elaborate processes. Antimony, in the form of surmd, which is largely used Anti- by the natives as a cosmetic, is chiefly derived from the mon y- hill states of the Punjab. It is also found in Mysore and Burmah. The minerals of Rajputana, which have not yet been thoroughly ascertained, include an ore of cobalt used for colouring enamel. Petroleum is produced chiefly in Independent Burmah, Mineral but it has also been found on British territory in Pegu, in oil -