MORINDA 



ANQUSTIFOLIA TRADE IN MICA 



E. Bengal 



an approximate expression of the production ; but as regards value, the export 

 returns may be accepted as a closer approach to the figures which should express 

 production." 



Uses. Uses. The uses of mica depend on its peculiar combination of qualities, viz. 



its highly perfect cleavage ; its transparency to light, together with a comparative 

 opacity to radiant heat-rays ; its low power of conducting electricity ; its chemi- 

 cal stability ; the great flexibility of its folia, combined with a high elastic limit 

 and consequent power to resist violent shocks or sudden changes of temperature. 

 It may be substituted for glass in lanterns, doors of furnaces, windows, as a 

 glazing material for pictures, for backing of mirrors, etc. By far the largest 

 qiaantity of sheet mica, however, is used for electrical purposes, for covering 

 portions of dynamos and other electrical machines. For similar vises, thin films 



Micanite. have lately been used for making the so-called Micanite, in which films of mica 



are made to adhere to one another by a highly insulating cement. According 

 to Holland, the invention of micanite has created a new opening for the use of 

 the smaller grades of mica, formerly rejected as waste. In India itself mica is 

 chiefly employed for decorative and ornamental purposes, e.g. in ornamenting 

 temples, palaces, and many of the banners, robes, etc., employed in ceremonies. 

 In fine fragments or as powder it is also used for ornamenting pottery and fancy 

 cloths, especially the Afridi wax-cloth (see Carthamus, p. 282). Finally, it is 

 used to a considerable extent in Native medicine, and even more naturally and 

 successfully as a manure. 



Exports. Trade. For the years 1897-8 to 1902-3, it is stated that the mica EXPORTS 



averaged 19,173 cwt. with an annual value of 77,613, or 4'05 per cwt. A 

 table is furnished by Holland that shows the relative contributions of the mica- 

 exporting provinces. The two chief, Bengal and Madras, during the years under 



Averages. review (1897-1903) contributed to the average total as follows : Bengal, 12,282 



cwt., valued at 52,272 ; Madras, 6,872 cwt., valued at 25,241. Of these exports 

 the United Kingdom took the largest share, amounting on the average to 14,843 

 cwt., valued at 56,799, or 77'4per cent, of the total quantity and 73" 2 per cent, 

 of the total value. Much of this, however, is sold in the United Kingdom for 

 transmission to the Continent and America. The United States come next, 15' 5 

 per cent, of the average total quantity and 20" 1 per cent, of the total value. 

 The mica sent to America, it is stated, brought a higher price, as only the better 

 qualities could face the heavy import duty imposed by the Dingley Tariff in 1897. 

 Turning to the annual statement of the Trade and Navigation of British India 

 with foreign countries for the year ending March 1907, we learn that the following 



Actuals were the actual exports from India during the past five years : 1901-2, 16,298 



cwt., valued at Us. 10,50,511 ; 1902-3, 20,412 cwt., valued at Rs. 13,13,909; 

 1903-4, 21,548 cwt., valued at Rs. 12,94,453; 1904-5, 19,575 'cwt., valued at 

 Rs. 14,68,986 ; 1905-6, 31,554 cwt., valued at Rs. 23,94,413 ; and 1906-7, 51,426 

 cwt., valued at Rs. 38,24,988. 



[Cf. Watt, Rev. Mm. Prod., 1893, 23-4 ; 1894, 22-3 ; 1895, 47-8 ; 1896, 49-50; 

 Handbooks Imp. Inst., 1893, No. 19 ; Repts. of Chief Inspector of Mines ; Mervyn 

 Smith, Mica Mining, in Beng. Trans, of Instit. of Mining and Metall., 1898 ; Rept. 

 on Bendee and Jhirkee Mica Prop., Hazaribagh Dist., Chota Nagpur, 1898 ; Min. 

 Indust., 1898, vi., 478-81 ; 1899, vii., 509-10 ; 1901, ix., 472 ; 1902, x., 458 ; 

 1903, xi., 468 ; Dutt, Mat. Med. Hind., 1900, 76-80 ; Dunstan, in Agri. Ledg., 

 1900, Nos. 2, 24 ; Mica Deposits of Ind., Bull. Imp. Inst., No. 1 Board of Trade 

 Journ., suppl., May 21, 1903, xlix.-l. ; Imp. Inst. Tech. Repts., 1903, 27-34 ; 

 Watt, Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 211, 231-2.] 



D.E.P., MORINDA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., iii., 155-8 ; Watt, Agri. Ledg., 



v., 260-75. 1895, No. 9 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 422 ; Talbot, List Trees, etc., 

 Al Dye. 1902, 196 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, 1903, i., 572-3 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., 



1903, i., 613-5 ; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain, 1905, i., pt. 2, 426-7 ; 



Brandis, Ind. Trees, 1906, 392 ; RUBIACE.&. A genus of erect or climbing 



shrubs or trees which comprises about 40 species, all tropical. Of these 



seven are natives of India. 



M. angustilolia, Roxb. / R ec . Bot. Surv. Ind., i., 248, 347. The ddru haridrd, asugach, 



chenung, ban hardi, yiyo, etc. An evergreen bush of the Eastern Himalaya 



ascending the hills to 6,000 feet in altitude ; Assam ; Eastern Bengal to Tenas- 



serim. 



782 



