APPENDIX. 



Fmrn Captain H. C, James, Officiating Superintendent of Darjeeling, to 

 W. Gbey, Esq., Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Fort William, 

 —(No. 301, dated the 23rd June 1856.) 



The Lieutenant-Governor is, I believe, aware that Mr. Hunt, the Railway Con- 

 tractor of Mirzapore, stated, when in Calcutta, his willingness to send a practical mingr 

 in his employ, to ascertain the value of the copper veins in the vicinity of Darjeeling. 

 Captain Taylor, the miner, arrived here in April, and I at once rendered him every 

 assistance to enable him to visit the copper localities : the pathway to the principal 

 mine was in such a bad state that I had it put in order, and erected a small shed for 

 Captain Taylor to reside in during his stay at the mine. 



2. I now beg to enclose Captain Taylor's Eeport, which, I regret to say, is not 

 of a very favorable character. I have had much conversation with Captain Taylor 

 since his return from the mine, and I learn from him that he does not think there 

 is a chance of any richer ore being met with, unless a " level " is driven from or near 

 the river on to the course of the lode which is now being worked ; to do this would, I 

 understand, cost at least two or three thousand rupees, and it is even then uncertain 

 whether richer ore would be found. I presume that it is not the intention of the 

 Government to undertake the working of this vein ; we must wait therefore till some 

 one comes forward with more capital than the man who at present rents the mine 

 possesses, before so expensive an experiment can be undertaken. 



3. From Captain Taylor's report it appears that only from 12 to 15 per cent, 

 of metal* is obtainable from the ore, and though this quantity does and will pay 

 the natives working in their primitive and inexpensive method, no capitalist would 

 think of laying out money on so unpromising a speculation. 



4. Captain Taylor visited some others of the localities at which copper ore has 

 lately been discovered, but he informed me that the indications at the surface were 

 not sufficiently favorable to induce him to make further investigations, and, the rains 

 coming on, he was obliged to leave many places unexplored. 



* Captain Taylor says the lode will yield in places 12 to 16 per cent., and it is clear from his data that 

 he meant that percentage of ore, not of copper.— F. R. M. 



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