82 KING : NELLOItE PORTION OF THE CARNATIC. 



dug great holes and found it would not pay, and I must say no amount 

 of copper would pay the way they went to work. 



" One of those old workings is to the north of the village and in hard 

 trap (or compact) , and some thousands of cubic yards were blasted to 

 follow the lode on the dip. 



" In every attempt made at mining in those fields, the surface was 

 only scratched, and no attempt made at sinking. 



" Those copper lodes must have been known to the natives, but they 

 did not consider them sufficiently rich to work. 



" The field known as the copper-bearing country and worked by the 

 natives lies to the north, in the Rajah of Vencatagherry-'s territory. 



" Very large old workings are to be found in the vicinity of Gorgan- 

 pully, about 30 miles to north of Guramanapettah. Some of those old 

 workings are carried down 100 feet, and several hundred feet long. 



u The old mines in the Vencatagherry territory and near Gorganpully 

 were vigorously worked for the Nabob of the Carnatic, and the ore 

 smelted and sent to his palace or gun factory before the year 1780, but 

 as British arms triumphed, those as all other mines in India declined, 

 and on the assumption of any territory by the British, mining entirely 

 ceased, and now the natives will endeavour to lead Europeans astray, as 

 to the whereabouts of all mines, especially the Brahmins ; and the only 

 people information can be got from, is the working class. 



General remarks. 

 " The copper zone or belt runs nearly north and south along a valley 

 bounded on the west by the Doranal range of mountains, and on the 

 east by a series of small outlayers or range of low hills. A belt of juugle 

 of several miles long and 12 miles wide divides the field from the new 

 canal, which is about 20 miles from the field. From this jungle, char- 

 coal can be had at a very low rate, and on the west near Gorganpully, 

 large timber for mining purposes, and charcoal from the same forest, are 

 very cheap. Cartage is scarce, as no roads run through the field, but 

 along the coast, road cartage is plentiful, and as the country is favourable 

 to road-making in being very stony and no heavy alluvial deposits, the 

 ( 190 ) 



