TALCHEER COAL FIELD. 87 



&c. &c. Of these the last mentioned is one of the most favorably situ- 

 ated, being built in a locality -where an exhaustless supply of ore may 

 be had within a few hundred yards ; though, as has been already 

 implied, it is not usual to quarry or work the rock in situ. 



As may be seen, by reference to the map, the villages are but sparsely 



Scarcity of labor ex- Scattered. They are also of small size, many not 

 penenced. Containing twenty houses and some not a dozen. 



Therefore, as will be supposed, there is some difficulty in procuring a 

 sufficient supply of labor. 



Such are the present circumstances of the iron manufacture 

 as carried on in this district, and certainly, from the enormous waste 

 of fuel, the wretchedly defective manipulation, the very inadequate 

 furnaces employed, &c. &c., the results presented, are — in an ecomonic 

 point of view — about as unsatisfactory as could well be imagined. 



They are such as to preclude any sanguine expectation of self- 

 improvement on the part of the natives, who, after long experience, 

 still follow methods so pernicious, and to destroy all reasonable hope 

 of any material increase in the return of metal, without a thorough 

 reform of the present most wasteful and unproductive sytem of working. 



Some of the means, whereby the processes of the manufacture might 

 be improved, and the resulting produce increased and made available, 

 have been already considered, and our researches on these points, with 

 especial reference to this district, have been referred to in the previous 

 notice of " The Coal and Iron of Cuttack" by Mr. Oldham. It is unne- 

 cessary, therefore, to discuss these questions here. 



There are great difficulties to be overcome, as before mentioned, 



from the scarcity of labor and the great 

 Labor. 



deficiency of mechanical skill on the part of the 



natives of the country. But there are many counterbalancing advanta- 



Encouraging consider- S^s, which might Stimulate to the endeavor ; and 



^ '°°^" among the principal are, the abundant, almost 



exhaustless, supply of fuel and water, the form of occurrence of a great 



