'M MALLET: GEOLOGY OF DARJILING AND WESTERN DUARS. 



5. I have lately seen some very rich copper ores from a mine in Nepal, situated 

 a short distance from this, where in some of the veins the pure metal is found ; and 

 as the same range of hills runs through the Darjeeling territory, I feel confident that 

 much richer lodes are to be, and will be, here met with : the very thick jungle is the 

 great impediment to these discoveries, as during the greater part of the year the surface 

 of the ground is invisible owing to the dense foliage which covers it. 



6. The balance of the amount of Rs. 180, placed at the disposal of the Super- 

 intendent of Darjeeling for the purpose of searching for ores, has been laid out on 

 that account, and I am glad to report that copper ore has been discovered in four 

 other localities. In clearing the jungle around the mine, and in making the road 

 to it passable, I was obliged to expend more money than I then had in hand, and I 

 have now the honor to request that the Lieutenant-Governor will sanction the extra 

 outlay, viz., Rs. 48-10-9. I also beg that I may be allowed to spend Rs. 100 during 

 the ensuing cold weather in making further search for copper ore and coal, and which 

 search I shall be able personally to superintend. 



7. I have delayed the transmission of Captain Taylor's report, in the hope that 

 two Assistants in the Geological Survey, the Messrs. Blanford, who are daily expected, 

 would be here and able to give their opinion on the other localities where copper ore 

 has been discovered ; but as they have not yet arrived, I have thought it best at once 

 to despatch the report. 



8. Considering that this report on the vein now worked is not of a very satis- 

 factory nature, I have to request that the Lieutenant-Governor will allow me to 

 rent it to the present tenant till the 30th April 1857, at the annual sum now paid 

 by him, namely, Rs. 100 ; for under present circumstances I do not anticipate a 

 higher offer. 



From Captain T. Taylor, to Captain H. C. James, Officiating Superintendent, 

 Darjeeling, — (dated 12th May 1856 J 



Having during the past month examined the copper works and the neighbour- 

 ing hills agreeably to your request, I beg to hand a report thereof. These works are 

 situated near the Manunda river and about nine miles from the plains. Only one 

 lode, or vein, is opened and wrought on to any extent; the hill in which this lode is 

 discovered is running at about right angles from the river, and the working is carried 

 on about 500 feet from the base. From the great declivity of the hill I suppose the 

 rains have washed down the superincumbent earth, showing the back or top of the 

 lode in an easterly and westerly direction with a dip or incline or underlay north of 

 30° from the horizon. 



2. This lode is about 2| feet wide, with well-defined walls imbedded in gneiss 

 or mica-schist. The component parts arc chiefly quartz, iron pyrites, prian, blende 

 ••hlorite, and gossan intermixed throughout with copper pyrites (some of which I 



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