APPENDIX. 275 



so much so, as to be scarcely credible to those who have not seen it. I am also 

 fully aware that the mode now in use for the manufacture of charcoal here a& 

 elsewhere through the country, is nothing more than an ingenious device for ob- 

 taining the smallest possible amount of useful fuel from the largest possible quan- 

 tity of wood. And for improvement in both these directions I would be prepared' 

 to allow for very large deductions from the amount as given above. But even 

 supposing that under improved management these items were reduced three- 

 fourths or by 75 per cent , there would still remain a demand for six times the 

 present amount of fuel, to meet the possibility of producing 100 tons of raw iron 

 per week, a demand, from the facts I have mentioned, it is obvious the district 

 could not yield." 



" The soil is poor ; Mr. Jacob says " very barren," and the growth of timber is 

 necessarily slow and stunted, so that, once exhausted, years would elapse before 

 the supply could be renewed. I am therefore fully satisfied, that so far from Mr. 

 Jacob's statements that "the supply would last for many years" being in accord- 

 ance with the facts, it would not keep a single furnace yielding 100 tons of iron 

 per week in blast for many months. I would add that I feel equally satisfied that, 

 if Mr. Jacob were writing his report in 1856 instead of 1854 this would be his 

 own statement also, after the experience of the intervening years." 



" I believe that this circumstance is perfectly conclusive against any attempt to 

 establish iron works on a large scale at, or near Poonassa." 



" But while thus compelled to differ from Mr. Jacob's views, or rather from 

 what were his views in 1854, the fact still remains that there is a large amount 

 of rich and valuable ores of Iron, which, were fuel accessible, could be easily 

 economized. And it will be worth while to consider whether this rich ore could 

 not with profit be conveyed to some other locality, where the circumstances are 

 more favorable." 



" I think it unnecessary to discuss the reasons given by Mr. Jacob to Lieut. 

 Col. Kennedy for selecting Poonassa. They appear to me to be without force, and 

 I am disposed to think that a point on the south side of the river Nerbudda was 

 fixed upon with a view rather to the then contemplated branch of the Bailroad 

 up the valley, than simply from a consideration of the circumstances of the loca- 

 lity. Had the present project of a branch on the north side of the river from 

 Baroda to Indore been then thought of, I cannot but fancy that a very different 

 locality might have been selected. The fact of Poonassa being in British territory 

 while the north side of the river is in native territory, appears to me to be of 

 very trivial importance. I could not ascertain, I confess, that there would be 

 any material distinction bearing on the value of such works, between the two. 

 And as to the proximity of the required flux (limestone) there are few points in 

 the valley of the Nerbudda, between this and Jubbulpur, where from the abun- 

 dance of limestone it could not be procured at a reasonable rate." 



" I would add to this information regarding the Iron deposits of Chandgurh a 

 few details as to the cost at which it is at present manufactured. The establish- 



