SITIM.Y UK MICA 



MICA 



A oei. 



mi.nl;. met \\ith up to 6,000 feet in altitude, and frequently < 



\ale<l in India and Burma. 



Like the nim, thin species also yields a brown adhesive GUM and the seeds O<IBU 

 afford a fixed oil ; but these are not important. It lias |,,n/ i,.-,- M u^-,1 m n,.-.h. m,- 

 by ihu Arabs and Persians, but the Hindus seem to have neglect* 

 ul nim. The stiu< from the frmt i- , -mploye.1 a i,t as a bead, being 



perforated and strung into necklaces, rosaries, etc., and is supposed to act M a 

 charm a-am-i disease. According to most writers, the wood in liable to warp 



.In. but C amble states that the samples used at the Imperial Forcwt S 

 for Museum cases ami furniture behaved well. It is handsomely marked and 

 takes an excellent p,.h,h. [C/. Taleef Shereef, I.e. 3!. I'..'; /.!</,<* sSffimta 

 (A. lams. Comment.), 1847, iii., 449-60; Hentham. Rev. of Targioni-TtnzeUi, 

 Journ. Hurt. Soc., 1855, ix., 177 ; Moodoen ShentT. I.e. 99 I .orjei, 



I.e. 186, 195 ; Woodrow, I.e. 2:u ; Firminger, Man. <innl. Ind. (ed. Cameron), 

 l'.K>4. i.V>; Der Tropenpflanzer, Oct. 1904, No. In. f>78-80.J 



M. composite, Wiltd.; M. duhiu, I Hern (mm Cur.), in PI. Itr. hid., i., 646. 

 The fim'ir, k-mlu klxijur, liinlxirnt. itinifkurlong, mallay vembu, bern. .1 \ 

 deciduous tree of the Sikkim Himalaya, up to 6,000 feet ; R nils; hills 



of Western (ihats in South India anil west coast forests from the Kmikan south. 

 (Jamhle states that the wood will probably be found useful for tea-boxes and 

 similar purposes, and that it should he cultivated on account of its rapid growth. 

 In Ceylon, the outriggers of native boats are made of it. 



MICA; Ball, Man. Econ. Geol. I ml., iii.. .",L'| ; Holland, Mica De- D.B.P., 

 posits Ind., in Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1902, xxxiv., pt. 2; Phosphatic v., 239-4O. 

 Mica-Peridotites in Lower Gondwana Rocks, Beng., in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., Mica. 

 1894, xxvii., pt. 4, 129-46 ; also Rev. Min. Prod., in Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., 

 1905, xxxii., pt. 1, 14, 63-9; 1907, xxxvi., 76. The group of minerals cw< Fonm. 

 known collectively under the name Mica have several characteristics in 

 common, which vary with the combining ratios of the bases and the 

 silica of which they are composed. The light-coloured micas generally 

 belong to the kind known as muscovite, the black to biotite ; other 

 varieties are lepidolite and lepidomelane. It has the following vernacular 

 names : abrak, appracam, kokabdlarz, vajrdbhra (black mica), etc. 



Sources. Though mica is one of the most widely distributed minerals in India, LocaliUm. 

 its occurrence in plates of sufficient size to be of commercial value is limited to a 

 few tracts. Holland (Mem. Geol., I.e.) gives a full account of the geographical 

 distribution of the known mica-bearing areas of India. The most important 

 localities occur in the provinces of Bengal, Madras, Bombay and Burma, hut in 

 another publication (Rev. Min. Prod., I.e.) he states that Bengal and Madras 

 are the only provinces in which the mica-mining industry can be viewed as 

 established and important. In the official returns, Financial and Commercial 

 Statistics, published by the Government of India, particulars are given of factories 

 or works that employ 25 persons or over. Under "Mica Mines" (on that 

 standard) there were in 1901, 17 mines employing 6,668 persons; in 1902, \<< 

 mines employing 7,242 persons ; in 1903, 18 mines, employing 6,276 persons ; 

 and in 1904, 45 mines, employing 6,559 persons. Including all grades of mica 

 mines, there were 9,165 persons employed on the average during the three years 

 ending 1903, of which 6,694 were in Bengal and 2,47 1 in Madras. In 1905, 1 -VJ 1 1 . 

 and in 1906, 15,723 daily workers were recorded at the mica mines. 



Outturn. As regards the outturn, Holland observes that the published returns 

 grossly understate both the quantity and value, since they are below the figure* 

 usually quoted for the exports. " As the only mica on which royalty is charged 

 is that raised on Government land, and as many mica miners have mines in both 

 Zemindari and Government land, there are obvious reasons for understating 

 the production ; and, besides this fact, the nourishing industry of stealing mica 

 diminishes the returns for "production without affecting the export figures. A 

 considerable quantity of mica of the poorer grades is consumed in the country for 

 ornamental and decorative purposes, and a small quantity of the larger sheet* 

 is used for painting pictures on, in various parts of the country. As far as the 

 figures for quantity are concerned, therefore, the exports cannot lw accepted as 



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