October i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



257 



PLUiMBAGO :— CFYLON'S ONLY MINERAL OF 



TMPORTANCK. 



(Summon/ of a Fajh-r read before the Ceyhn Branch 



of the ' lioifal Asiatic Society, ott Aug. 38, by 



Mr. A. M. Ferguson, C. M. G.) 



PLUMBAGO: With Special Reference to the Pogition 

 Occupied by the Mineral in the Commerce of Ceylon; and 

 the Question Discussed of the AU eyed Existence in the Island 

 of the Allied Substance, Anthracite. 



Mr. Forgiison commenced by ptMing that tlie mineral of 

 whifli his paper treated was a form of carbon, the sub- 

 stHUce which constitutes so large a portion of organized 

 nature, more especially of the vp^etable world. Graphite 

 was in truth vegetable matter mineraiiz-^d by those various 

 forces of moisture, heat, friction, pressure, ami electrieitv 

 or magnetism, which have so marvellously metamorpJiosed 

 the primitive rocks in which the mineral is generally, if 

 not eschisively, found. In Geikie's Handbook of Ofology^ 

 graphite is mentioned first in the list of rock-furmiog 

 raineraU, sulphur and iron following^. before silica in its pro- 

 tean forms is specitietl. In a more (ir less detinifejy crys- 

 tallized, foliated, columnar, needle-liUt-, or massive shape, 

 the mineral embodies the altered rfmains of some of 

 the earliest plant forms which appeared on the earth, when 

 the fiat was uttered in the far back agrs of creation, ''Let 

 the earth put forth ^rass. herb yiehlincj seed, and fruit tree 

 bearing fruit." Those of the au<lience who entertained 

 a vivid recollection of the fascinating paper by Dr. Trinien 

 on tlte Flora of Ceylon, recently read in that ball, could 

 imagine the delight it would afford that eminent natural- 

 ist and thousands of other scientists, could the brilliant 

 steel-grey to jet-black "re they were considering reveal 

 ihe secretg of its vegetable origin and show the fibres, llie 

 leaves, the flowers, and fruits cf the earliest herbage of the 

 morning of the times, from which it has been transformed, 

 in like manner as ordinary coal also generally speaks of the 

 early days of the geologic aeres. But erapbite (so called 

 frnm its earliest use in the formation of p^^ncils for writing 

 and sketching.) whicli there can be little doubt is closely 

 allied to coal, although generally older in origin, and the 

 subject of more intense and long-continued metamorphio 

 intiuence tl>an the carbonaceous substance so valuable 

 as fuel, is too highly mineralized (with the exception, per- 

 haps, of the formations in Canada) to display a trano of the 

 vegetable tissues from which it claims its descent. 



To the seeker f"r fossil remains of ancient organic life, 

 therefore, graphite, like our other primitive rocUs, gneiss 

 ami crystalline limestone, is less interesting than are the 

 coal measures, with their wonderfully preserved specimens 

 of plants and animals and shells, on which human eye 

 pro^'ftbly never looked until the operations of the toiling 

 miner reveale 1 their, in some cases, almost perfect linea- 

 ments. Graphite seems, in truth, to be the most highly 

 crystallized form of carbon next to the peerless diamond, 

 which poetically, if not with perfect scnentific accuracy, has 

 been described as a drop of pure li'juid carbon crystallized. 

 Graphite (to whieh, when burnt, the diamond reverts) has 

 n beauty of its own, an^ as small diamo 'ds have actually 

 been formed by artificial means, t'>e time mny possibly 

 arrive when the form of caruon wbiih niinuralogists r:ink 

 only next below the diamond may, by means of tlie ap- 

 pliinces of progressive science, be advanced from the 

 second to the first place. Let us only attempt to imagine 

 a mass of pure graphite equal to a quarter of a ton, 

 finch as that sent to Melbourne in 1880, and the still 

 larger mass vhich will probably figure in the Court of the 

 Colonial and Indi:in Exhibition of 18S6, metamorphosed into 

 diamond " of purest ray serene." and try to conceive the 

 thing of beauty it would be, even if shrinkage in the trans- 

 formation process reduce<l its eize to one-tenth or even one- 

 hundredth of the original bidk. Meantime itsecms cutious 

 that Ceyhm, so rich in "precious stones" which with all 

 their brilliancy are simp'y crystallized and coloured clays, 

 should be utterly destitute of specimens of the king of nil 

 gems, seeing that diamonds are found close by us in Southern 

 India and in formations similar to tbdse existing here: 

 hit' rite, occasionally, and especially in association with corun- 

 Huni, which in Ceylon is so common and of which our most 

 precious sapphires and rubies are but hijjher forms. 



The paper then stateil that of more value to Ceylon c cnn- 

 ondcally, beyond all comparison, would be the real discovery 



33 



amidst its rocks of that form of carbon which ranks next to 

 the diamond antl graphite, and wliich seems to be giiiphite 

 and perhaps diamond in a less altered form. It needs scarcely 

 be said that coal is referred to. 



The autlnu-ity of the late Dr. Gardner, formerly of the 

 Koyal Botanic Gardens. PeraileTdya, the late Rev. Dr. 

 MacVicar and Dr. "Wifiam Kiug of the Imiian Geo- 

 logical Survey, was quoted, to show the imprebability of the 

 existence of coal where, as with us, prindtive rock formed 

 the surface strata, and the reader proceeded to discuss fully 

 and to show the utter baselessness of statements made by 

 Dr. Gygav, a Swiss minerolo^ist. and endorsed by 

 Teiment. to the etfect that iiiadilition to nnllions of tons of 

 iron, which could be laid down in Colombo at £6 a too, 

 anthracite, in association with plumbago and basaltic rock, 

 was equally abundant and could he laid down in Colombo at 

 18si)erton,after cost of digging ami conveyaneo from Sabara- 

 gamnwa. If Gygax and Tennent considi-red the alleged dis- 

 covery of anthracite iiujiortant with reference to steam 

 navigation in 1843, how much more important would such 

 a disc'ivery be now, when the powerful but odourless and 

 smokeless heat which the form of coal called anthracite 

 yielils would be ju>t what is wanted by oiu* expanding tea 

 iudusfry, while, as regards the requirements of steamers, 

 it need only be mentioned that between 1880, when Colombo 

 Harbour first nlFonicd moorings fur steamers, ami 18S*4,the 

 imports of coal into Ceylon bad gone up from Hit. 000 to 

 nearly 2iH),000 tons, the average value being over l\'20 per 

 ton. But while bituminous coal was found in India anthracite 

 did not exist there, the nearest approach to it being crushed 

 coal near Darjiliny', which had been converted into semi- 

 graphite. But, while dogmatism was deprecated, entire 

 scepticism was expressed as to the existence in 

 Ceylon of anything more closely resembling coal 

 than the peaty matter found, amongst other 

 places at Nuwara Eliya, and which, compressed and 

 dried, might be useful as a fuel, "What seemed beyond 

 question certain was that nei'herDr. Gygax nor any other 

 human being liad ever seen anthracite in our gneiss rocks, 

 and as to the alleged discovery of Ihe mineral in enormous 

 quantities, Mr. Ferguson said : In the histt^ry of scientific 

 exploration and report, an^l of colonial history and progress 

 there seems to bo no greater fiasco. 



A curirus circumstance in coimection with the alleged 

 existence of anthracite in Ceylon was mentioned. The 

 late Mr. John Armitage. a well-known and enterprising 

 merchant, saw in the British I\luseum a specimen of 

 fine iridescent anthracite labelled as from Saffra- 

 gam, Ceylon. It was said to be from the collection 

 of a Colonel Greville, a name not prominent in the 

 annals of Ceylon, aud Mr. Ferguson added ; — To show 

 how confusion may arise, I need merely mention 

 that through the dropping of a comma, plundiago is 

 represented in successive works, iuciiiding the Eiicyalopa'dia 

 Jhiianniea, as found in " Travancore Ceylon." as if the 

 localities were one. There h the case of cof/(mh/f root, too, 

 which received that name because ships touching last at 

 Colombo brought the bitter root to Europe from India. 

 But the croA-ning absurdity was that theEmigralion Com- 

 missioners, who had in 1840 the ordering of such matters, 

 instead of saying to Messrs. Armitage and Tii'dall, ''We will 

 refer to the Governor of the colony for iuformation," or. 

 *' You go and prospect and let us kiiow what you find 

 and under what circumstances, make your offers, and we 

 will consider them," jumped instantly to the conclusion 

 that anthracite of such quality, in such plenty, and in 

 such circumstances of cheap acquirement, existed in Ceylon, 

 that 4f) per cent would be a fair royalty to charge! There 

 the matter ended, until Gygax's alleged discovery was an- 

 nounced, two years subsetjuently. It seems just possible 

 that in both cases the supposed anthracite was the rocky 

 hard form of plumbago, which tln^ natives call i/ahora or 

 iron dross. It was suggested that finally 1" set at rest 

 the question of what minerals or metals nu'ght md might 

 not be expected to occ.r in our Ceylon formations, the 

 Asiatic Society should press on (iovernment the propriety 

 of asking for the loan of the services of a crtinpetcnt 

 geologist liko Dr. William King of the Indian Geolog- 

 ical Survey, who, with his experience acquired in India, 

 could pronounce on all important points in a period of 

 time probably not extending beyond a year. 



Passing overmuch detail of a more or less interesfing 

 character, wc quote as follows; — 



