CHAP. I.] 



MINERALS. 



31 



the southern range of hills near Nambepane, in close 

 proximity to rich veins of plumbago, which are largely 

 worked in the same district, and the quantity of the 

 latter annually exported from Ceylon exceeds a thou- 

 sand tons. Molybdena is found in profusion dispersed 

 through many rocks in Saffragam, and occurs in al- 

 luvium in grey scales, so nearly resembling plumbago 

 as to be commonly mistaken for it. Kaolin, called by 

 the natives Kfrimattie, appears near Neuera-ellia, at He- 

 wahette, Kaduganawa. and in many of the higher ranges 

 as well as in the low country near Colombo ; its colour is 

 so clear as to be suitable for the manufacture of por- 

 celain 1 ; but as yet the difficulty and cost of carriage 

 render it unavailing for commerce, and the only use to 

 which it has hitherto been applied is to serve for white- 

 wash instead of lime. 



Nitre has long been known to exist in Ceylon, where 

 the localities in which it occurs are similar to those in 

 Brazil In SafFragam alone there are upwards of sixty 

 caverns known to the natives, from which it may be 

 extracted, and others exist in various parts of the island, 

 where the abundance of wood to assist in its lixiviation 

 would render that process easy and profitable. Yet so 

 sparingly has this been hitherto attempted, that even for 

 purposes of refrigeration, crude saltpetre is still imported 

 from India. 2 



GEMS. But the chief interest which attaches to the 



1 The kaolin of Ceylon, according 

 to an analysis in 1847, consists of 



Pure kaolin . . . 70-0 

 Silica .... 26-0 

 Molybdena and iron oxide 4-0 



100-0 



In the Mi)ig-she, or history of the 

 Ming dynasty, A.D. 13681643, by 

 Chan-ting-yuh, "pottery-stone" is 

 enumerated among the imports into 

 China from Ceylon. B. cccxxvi. p. 5. 



2 The mineralogy of Ceylon has 



hitherto undergone no scientific scru- 

 tiny, nor have its mineral productions 

 been arranged in any systematic and 

 comprehensive catalogue. Specimens 

 are to be found in abundance in the 

 hands of native dealers ; but from 

 indifference or caution they express 

 their inability to afford adequate in- 

 formation as to their locality, their 

 geological position, or even to show 

 with sufficient certainty that they 

 belong to the island. Dr. Gygax, as 

 the results of some years spent in ex- 

 ploring different districts previous to 



