CHAP. XXVII. INDIA. 331 



many parts in uncommon purity. The mines are 

 the exclusive property of the government, which 

 permits one of them to be worked by contract to 

 such an extent as shall yield a net amount of 

 about five thousand ounces ; and the whole pro- 

 duce is, perhaps, scarcely to be estimated at more 

 than double that amount. 



In Cochin China both gold and silver have Cochin 

 been extracted from the sand of the rivers, but, 

 according to Bissach^re, the working of mines 

 was prohibited under the penalty of death. St. 

 Croix asserts that the gold is of the purest kind 

 that is ever found, but that the quantity yielded 

 is very small. 



It does not appear by any accounts that have Nepaui. 

 been collected, that any of the precious metals 

 have been procured in the country of the Ne- 

 paulese, or in any part of Tartary, though in 

 very remote ages a large portion of gold, ac- 

 cording to history, was extracted from the latter 

 country. 



The extensive territories of the East India com- 

 pany afforded little of either gold or silver; none is 

 found within the governments of the three great 

 presidencies. Some gold is procured on the Mala- 

 bar coast, in Coimbatore, and in the whole tract 

 of country to the west and south-west of the Neel- 

 ghery mountains. According to the evidence of 

 Mr. Baber before the East India committee of 

 the House of Commons, the auriferous district 



