330 INDIA. CHAP. XXVII. 



purpose, if any such could be found and so 

 applied. In Afganistan or Cabul, gold is said to 

 be found in some of the streams that flow from 

 the mountains of Hindoo Cosh, and some silver 

 in the country of the Caffres, but nothing is 

 known as to the quantity of either 1 . 



Ava - In Ava, or the Birman Empire, mining seems 



to be an important source of the national wealth, 

 but no data respecting the quantity of the precious 

 metals thence furnished are attainable. There are 

 said to be mines of silver in the eastern range 

 of mountains towards the Chinese frontier, and, 

 according to report, the rivers, especially the Choe 

 Lien Kioup, or the river of golden sand, yield 

 gold dust. 



Assam. Although Assam has been added to the British 



dominions in India, the junction is too recent to 

 have yet afforded much information respecting 

 the operations in gold washing. The number of 

 persons engaged in that pursuit was said to have 

 amounted to about twelve thousand, and to have 

 produced annually thirty thousand ounces of gold. 

 A mine, called Pakerguri, at the junction of the 

 Bramahaputra river with the Dontriri, is said to be 

 worked for a short time in every year, during 

 which one thousand men are employed, who are 

 paid for their labour in land. 



Tibet Tibet is rich in minerals. Gold is found in 



1 Hamilton's East India Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 10. 



