MANUFACTURING IRON. 131 



things. The principal marts for them are Be- 

 nares and Patna, and they are sold by weight. 

 From these places, they are sent to all parts of 

 India; a great number to Ramghur, to exchange 

 for iron and other merchandise; from thence, 

 most of them are again transported into the 

 Mahratta country, where they are much valued. 

 The iron is sold at the places where it is thus 

 made, at the rate of about a penny per pound. 

 The principal place to which it is earned, is the 

 city of Patna : it is conveyed there by Biparies, 

 on the backs of bullocks, each bullock carrying 

 about three hundred pounds weight, a distance 

 from where it is manufactured of a hundred and 

 sixty, to a hundred and eighty miles. From 

 thence it is transported to most parts of India 

 by water. 



The head residence of the Loharias is called 

 Belle ah, and is about forty miles from Chittrah, 

 in the direct road to Ramghur. At that place the 

 Sardar, or chief of the Loharias, always resides, 

 who regulates the price of iron throughout the 

 country, and decides all disputes relating to the 

 manufactory, between the Augureeas, Lohars, 

 and Loharias ; and, on extraordinary occasions, 

 assembles a punchite, of which he is always the 

 K 2 



