66 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF SIKHIM. 



The roasted balls are subsequently broken up and ground, and 

 the powder sprinkled into the furnace (tora) in the same way as the 

 original ore. 



The copper was formerly exported to Nepal, but for the last two 

 years importation has been stopped by the Nepalese Government, for 

 what reason is not known ; in consequence the Newar lessees have a 

 large stock of copper in hand, the cost of manufacture being estimated 

 at Rs. 23 a mauud, while the price in Calcutta is only Rs. 20. It will 

 not pay to export, and consequently the stocks are held over for a rise 

 in the market or the reopening of Nepal. It is suspected that the 

 closure of Nepal was carried out with a view to prevent emigration 

 of the Kami class. At present Russian copper is used here, chiefly in 

 sheets : the price in Calcutta is Rs. 29 a maund. It does not require 

 to be re-infused before being wrought into manufactured articles, 

 whereas Sikhim native copper does, and loses 20 per cent, in weight 

 in the operation. 



The usual transit charge in Nepal is one anna per dharni (2| 

 seers) (here a dharni is 3 seers, but in Nepal it is 2 seers 10 chitaks). 



In Nepal there are several copper mines, much drier than those 

 in Sikhim. 



Deep mining is not practised, owing chiefly to the want of suit- 

 able apparatus for draining the mines. At Pachlkhani, the only place 

 where coj^per ores are worked on a tolerable scale in Sikhim, the deep- 

 est mine goes down only to about 55 feet ; and I found water had 

 collected to such an extent even at this depth that the miners were 

 talking of abandoning it, though the ore is very rich. Many mines, 

 as, for instance, those of Tukkhani (south of Namchi), have been 

 abandoned owing to the difficulty of draining the water with the 

 primitive appliances used by the miners. As the ore almost invari- 

 ably gets richer with depth,* deeper working at the abandoned mines 

 with improved appliances may be reasonably expected to yield 

 good results. Mining under the present conditions may be said to be 

 abandoned just when it begins to be most profitable. 



The miners are all Nepalese, and belong to the caste of Mangars. 

 The men and boys work in tlie mines, and the women dress the ore. 

 Smelting of the dressed ore is^ierformed by the caste ofKamis or black- 

 smiths. This is considered a very low caste ; and a Kami would not be 

 allowed to enter the house of a Mangar or any other Hindu of a higher 

 social status. The houses of the Mangars run north-south, whereas 

 those of the Kamis have their length directed east- west ; so that in a 



* This was unquestionably found to be the case at Pachikhani, the only place where I 

 could compare surface with comparatively deep-seated ores. A specimen of picked ore from 

 the surface yielded on assay 14U6 per cent, of copper, whereas one taken at random from a 

 depth of about 50 feet from surface gave 203 1 per cent. 



