262 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October 1, 1885. 



tection of wells, and that measures to prevent accidents 

 from subterraneous blasting and the collapse of tunnels, as 

 also to secure free ventilation, may be necessary. Though 

 not so much so as gera-diggiug, plumbago mining is, no 

 doubt, largely a speculative pursuit, involving the loss and 

 demoralization which ever accompany gambling pursuits. 

 The ultimate result is, however, beneficial to the people 

 and the country. 



From some of the Administration Keports consulted, 

 it would seem that the plumbago industry is a recent 

 one in the district of Sabaragamuwa, although the ex- 

 istence of the mineral must, surely, have been revealed to 

 the gem-diggers who have for jiges been engaged la search- 

 ing lor the sappbires and rubies for which the region 

 around "the city of gems" (Ratnapiua) is so famous. 



A vivid idea will be formed of the extent to which Gov- 

 ernment — that is, the public — were formerly cliea*ed under 

 the system of collecting the royalty at the pit's mouth, 

 when it is mentioned that while cwt. 22t),000 were exported 

 in 1869, the royalty recoveied was only iil6,U00, against 

 R65,000 on cwt. 263,000 in 18S3, the rate in the latter year 

 being only one-third of that in the former.* The extreme 

 rate of oOs per ton in 1869 evidently proved an irresistible 

 temptation to diggers and headmen, and the royalty re- 

 covered was only one-tenth of the sum which ought to 

 have been collected. 



As has been proposed in the case of chips in the cin- 

 namon trade, it would almost si-em desirable that low 

 quality dust should be excluded from the exports. Bu} ers 

 are strongly inclined to confine their attention to lump of 

 best quality, and I have heard that some of the local dealers 

 have injured their own reputation, and that of the article 

 in which they deal, by mixing lower qualities with the 

 higher. As matters staiul the proportions in which the 

 mineral seems to be exported are ; — lumps, 1st and 2ud 

 quality, 50 per cent ; chips and dust, each 25 per cent ; so 

 that dust is only one-fourth of the whole. In the home 

 market during the past five years of unprecedented outturn 

 I am informed that prices have ranged from £20 per ton, 

 the highest for lump, down to £1('. In Colombo, apart from 

 the exceptional case in the experience of Mr. W, A. 

 Fernando, already mentioned, the highest prices ever known 

 are stated to be K320 per ton for fine, K270 tor ordinary, 

 K95 for dust. In the old sailing ship days plumbago was 

 taken at an exceptionally low rale of freight as " dead 

 weight." Since 1880 the average rates for a ton of 20 cwt. 

 have been: — steamer -lOs; sailer 35s. 



The United States are our best customers in the case of 

 plumbago, the C'eylou form of which the late Sir. Joseph 

 Dixon saw and appreciated in 1827, and of which he secured 

 a first shipment in 1829. In 18»2 the quantitv received in 

 the United States from Ceylon was stated at 1(1,000,000 lb., 

 and of the cotnparotively small quantity of 22^ millions of 

 pounds sent from Ceylon in 18S4, more than half went to 

 the United States. But a memorandum showing the various 

 countries for which the plumbago exported in the past five 

 years was destined will clearly indicate how important a 

 customer for cur mineral we have in the United States with 

 its large steel manufacturing industry. The general result 

 is that of the whole export of 1,170,000 cwt. in the five 

 years, 641 ,000 (or very considerably more than one-half of 

 the whole) went to the United States, the United 

 Kingdom taking the bulk of the remaining 529,000 cwt. 

 Out of an export of 263,000 cwt. in 1883, Britain took 

 119,000 and the United States 142,000, leaving only 3,000 

 cwt. for all other places. The memorandum referred to 

 is appended as a note.f It seems probable that three- 



* How striking is the illustration here afforded of the 

 value of indirect (and especially Customs) taxa' ion, rather 

 than a direct levy, in the case of Orie-ntals. No greater 

 fiscal boon could probably be conferred on the jteople of 

 India and Ceylon than— if it were possible — the collection 

 of all Government dues through the Customs Department, 

 BO saving an amount of oppression on the one hand, and of 

 bribery and t'orruption on the other, of which Kuropeau 

 administrators never get more than a faint idea. 



t Plumbago exported in each of the last five years, show- 

 ing the countries J to which the mineral was shipped: — 



1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 



cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. 



United Kingdom 70,276 89,709 143,450 119,312 84,981 

 Holland .. — — — 438 946 



fourths of all the plumbago which Ceylon exports is used 

 in the great crucible factories of Britam and the United 

 States, that established by the Messrs. Morgan Bros, at 

 Battersea and the crucible factories of Jersey City, Kcw 

 Jersey. 



Kotices then foUowedjot the Battersea Crucible 'N^'orks, and 

 those of the Joseph Dixon Company, New Jersey, and It was 

 stated that a vast fund of inlormation regardmg plumbago 

 and the very numerous and varied uses to which it is 

 put were quoted from desciip^ions of those extensive 

 establishments. 



The Battersea ^Vorks were founded by the Brothers 

 Morgan in 18:''5. The American establi-shmeut had been 

 at work long before this period, but no doubt its pro- 

 ductions did not go beyond local demand, for in a notice 

 of the Battersea works we find it stated that previou.sly 

 to 1855 crucibles were almost exclusively imported from 

 Germany. Now that country, together with other cen- 

 tres ol industry on the Contiuent, is principally supplied 

 from Battersea, where crucibles are turned out at from 

 8d per dozen, up to a gigantic melting pot costing £6 5s 

 and capable of taking m 1,000 lb. of steel. Such a cruci- 

 ble can bear from 8 to 10 meltings, while in the case of 

 gold a crucible taking in 1,200 ounces can sometimes stand 

 seventy meltings. So in the case of brass, while crucibles 

 for assaying the precious metals are very carefully manu- 

 factured, being rendered porous by the use of chaicoal. 

 The absence of coal fuel from Ceylon is probably a fatal 

 objection to local iron or steel manufacture or any ex- 

 tended scale, but for srp.all quantities of superior steel for 

 .special local use, 1 would, with some dithdeuce, suggest 

 that crucibles composed of our indigenous plumbago and 

 kaolin clay, both abundant and cheap, might be profit- 

 ably used. The existence of "millions of tons" of iron 

 ore in Ceylon is not so apocryphal as that of anthracite, 

 and those who owe their origin to Britain aro not likely 

 to forget that her wealth in iron quite casts into the 

 shade all the treasures of the diamond mines of Gol- 

 conda aud the gold diggings of Oalilorma and Australia. 



Mr. Ferguson said, commenting on a very able paper by 

 Mr. Orestes Cleveland, of the Joseph Dixon Company ; — 

 In most of the works consulted m tlie preparation of 

 this paper — and they have been many and various^the 

 credit of having first made and used plumbago crucibles 

 has been giv^n to the Germans. Mr. Cleveland awards 

 the credit to the Dutch, and it is certainly significant 

 that the Dutch name for the mineral should be potluut, 

 or pot lead, the lead of which crucibles are maile (?) — 



Again : — And so our plumbago, like our coftee, sutt'ers 

 from the •' wajs " that ae literally "dark " of the 

 adulterators. Mr. Cleveland, in a kind of despair, ex- 

 claims .■ — " Perhaps no article except mustard cau be so 

 successfully adulterated as plumbago.'' He means, of 

 cour.se, lor stove polish, because adulteration in the case 

 of plumbago used for crucibles would soon be betrayed in 

 the trial by fire, one great value of the pure plumbago in 

 crucibl&s being that it conserves carbon in sttel when 

 being melted. 



As a lubricant for metal surfaces, journal boxes, carriage 

 axles, and all metal bearings, we can easi.y uudtrslaud why 

 only the very finest plumbago should be used, the chuicist 

 lumps being pulverized till the partic.es will not glisten but 

 the mass becomes a dead black. It cannot, Mr. Cleveland 

 slates, be made fine enough by bolting (he means sitting 

 through silk), but must be floated either in v ater or air. 



I notice, however, from odvertisen.enls in the American 

 papers, that "mica grease" as a lubricator is couijietiug 

 with plumbago, hut how far successfully I cannot say. 



Trieste .. 107 4,217 1,828 — 210 



France ,. 607 699 300 294 884 



Hamburg .. — 4,031 — — 816 



U. S. of America 133,.5.'i6 160,259 113,451 141,664 94,083 



British India . . 1 ,095 109 999 326 606 



Australia .. 197 885 118 — — 



China . . — — 12 



Hongkong .. _ ^ 8 739 — 



Total . . 205,738 259,909 260,166 262,773 182,425 



