27 



The darkness of the morning, the gloomy lights in the deep shafts 

 of the mines, the black dirty miners, the shouts of the drivers, and 

 noise of the bullocks, with the savage aspect of the surrounding 

 hills, altogether produced an extraordinary spectacle. 



I questioned the miners, here called doharrees or loharrees, on 

 many points respecting the mines, and obtained the following 

 information. The person who has the chief management of these 

 mines, is the amull of Sanidw, in whose district is another town 

 called Cherowray; each of these places is about two miles distant, 

 in different directions from the spot we now visited. The mines 

 therefore are indiscriminately called the Santoo mines, and the 

 Cherowray mines; although in fact there are none at either of 

 those places, but being under the same amuldhar, they are so 

 named. Most of the hills in the adjacent country bearing a great 

 similarity in external appearance to those where the iron earth is 

 found, it is natural to suppose it would be found in many others; 

 but it is not so, for in these hills only, and not in all of them, is 

 this valuable earth to be met with, and chiefly in the hollow top 

 of a certain hill, in the centre of many others, extending near two 

 miles on every side of it. The earth which produces the iron ore 

 is found in the hollow of this central hill, and not in the sides; 

 there none is to be seen. There are now seven mines at work; 

 the remains of many more which have fallen in, and the traces of 

 others that have been attempted without success : the whole space 

 does not appear to exceed four or five hundred square yards. 



The entrance to each mine, and its descent to the bottom, form 

 a kind of cylinder large enough to admit of the miners descend- 

 ing and ascending, in the manner adopted by the English chimney- 



