29 



about seventeen paces in length, through which I walked upright, 

 after an entrance of some difficulty: but so dismal were these 

 subterraneous regions that I was glad to make my exit at the first 

 extremity I reached; their coolness was the only compensation for 

 a visit. The supporters are large and substantial; the whole inte- 

 rior of the mine is of a deep purple colour, not easily distinguished 

 from black by the light of a single torch, which was all we had 

 for our guidance. The whole substance is so extremely soft, seem- 

 ingly from moisture, that I broke off a handful with great facility; 

 and a man with one of the working tools filled a basket in an in- 

 stant. The ore does not run in any particular vein, but is con- 

 tained in all the earth: here and there are seen small lines of a 

 white greasy matter; and now and then a flake of that kind of 

 stone of which the hills about this country are formed. 



From the above account it will be found, that, labour excepted, 

 a raaund of iron may be made at Berye for about three rupees. 

 One hundred maunds of iron earth cost two rupees delivered into 

 the forge, and the charcoal fifty rupees per hundred maunds, ad- 

 mitting two parts of the latter to be necessary for working one of 

 the former. So powerful was the effect of the iron in the environs 

 of Berye, that the compass varied nearly three points. 



From thence we proceeded, on the 2d of May, towards Gwalier, 

 a name celebrated in the military annals of India, for the gallant 

 and successful enterprize of captain Popham, in taking this for- 

 tress in the year 171)0. The road from the mines thither was 

 pleasant, but hilly; crossing the river Ummer, Ave reached Cherow- 

 ray, a town already mentioned, situated on a hill between two 

 valiies, commanding an extensive view. The more direct road t© 



