VOL. LXXXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 357 



was assured it came from Guzarat. From Bombay I obtained no satisfactory in- 

 formation. At last, in 17Q3, I obtained a satisfactory account. Sir Chas. Oakley 

 was disposed to oblige me : he was then Governor of Madras ; and his success is 

 due to the activity and judgment of Mr. Garrow. Mr. Garrow knew how difficult 

 it was to avoid the causes of my failure, from every Hindoo being occupied by the 

 duty of his cast ; scarcely thinking on any thing else, and whenever his interest is 

 concerned, being suspicious and reserved. Mr. Garrow, in the first place, ascer- 

 tained the cast connected with corundum to be the venders of glass bangles ; that 

 they used it in their business, and sold it to all other casts. This cast of natives, 

 at all times, had free access to every part of Tippoo's country ; nor, until the dis- 

 tricts about Permetty were ceded to the English, could it be procured in any other 

 way. Mr. Garrow depended on his personal inspection ; the particulars are con- 

 tained in the following letter, communicated to me by Sir Chas. Oakley. 



Sir Charles Oakley, Bart., Tritchinopoly , 10th Nov. 1792. 



Sir, — " I derived so little satisfaction from the various accounts given me of the 

 corundum, from the indifference of the natives to every subject in which they are 

 not immediately interested, that I resolved to ascertain the particulars I wished to 

 know, on the spot where the stone is found. The glassmen agreed in one material 

 circumstance, that the place was not far from Permetty: in other particulars they 

 disagreed, apparently with intention to mislead. It is near a fortnight since I dis- 

 patched a servant I could depend on to Permetty, with one of these people, who, 

 on his arrival there, probably through fear of his cast, said he knew no further. 

 My servant persevered, and informed me he had found the place I wished to see. 

 I arrived at Permetty, by the route of Namcul, the 6th; and learning that the 

 distance to the spot was about 3i hours or 14 miles, I left Permetty in time to 

 arrive there about sunrise the next morning. At this time no person but my 

 servant was present, and from a continued excavation at different depths, from 6 

 to 1(3 feet, in appearance like a water-course, running in length about a mile and a 

 half e. and w., over the brow of a very rising ground, I saw at once the place 

 from which the stone was procured. The prodigious extent that at different times 

 appears to have been dug up, with the few people employed, shows that it has been 

 a business of ages. 



" The ground through which the vein of excavation runs, and of course the 

 mineral, commands one of the finest and most extensive prospects it is possible to 

 conceive. The surface of the ground is covered with innumerable fine alabaster 

 stones, and a variety of small shrubs, but not a tree sufficient to shelter my palan- 

 quin. There is not the appearance of an habitation within -§- of a mile. The near- 

 est village is called Condrastra Pollam. In this village are about 30 small thatched 

 houses : among these are 5 families, who, in descent by prescriptive right, are the 

 miners, and dig in the pits. The nearest place of any consequence, in Rennell's 

 map, is Caranel, on the south side the Cavery. The distance of the pits from the 

 river is above 4 miles ; but the ground between prevent its being seen in a direct 



