282 Correspondence. 



This mineral does not appear to me to be the true corundum, for 

 I find it evidently to be silicious on testing it by the blowpipe. It seems 

 to me to be the grey flint mentioned by Ainslie. 



Very fine ribbon agates are found in the Cuddapah hills, and in the 

 district of Congoondy, from which latter place I have a specimen more 

 than five inches in diameter ; they occur as rolled pebbles in the river 

 beds. 



Very fine specimens of rock crystals are found near Vellum to the west 

 of Tanjore, where there is a mine in which they occur ; but the largest 

 I have seen is a hexagon of one and a half inch in diameter. In the 

 bed of the Godavery, west of Rajamundry, very large specimens are 

 found, some of which I have seen being nearly four inches in diameter. 



Saltpetre is manufactured in great quantities in the Salem district and • 

 in Coimbatore; but this mineral product is so well known, that it 

 hardly requires a particular notice. As the local value of the product 

 is very little, it might, by burning it with charcoal, be converted into 

 carbonate of potash, and that again by incinerating it with fragments 

 of horns and hoofs, be converted into prussiate of potash,' which from 

 the cheapness of the materials in India, and the low price of labour, 

 might be a valuable article of import into England. 



In association with the magnesia at Salem, chromate of iron is found 

 in detached lumps, and embedded veins in the mass of the dykes of 

 magnesia. It is mined for to some extent by the Company at Porto 

 Novo, who import it for sale in the English markets. The mineral 

 does not occur in any great profusion, and therefore the labour of min- 

 ing for it is extensive. 



Kyuk Phyu Coal. 



We are requested by Dr. Spry, to state that the paragraph relating 

 to the non-payment of the coolies employed in searching for coal 

 at Kyuk Phyu, which appeared in his letter in the last Number of our 

 Journal, was given on authority that appears to be incorrect; and that 

 he has since been assured by the Principal Assistant to the Commis- 

 sioner at Kyuk Phyu that the authorities of the province have had 

 quite adequate funds placed at their disposal for prosecuting Coal dis- 

 covery. 



Captain Lumsden has also communicated that the excavations (al- 

 luded to in the letter of Dr. Spry, as being under execution) have since 

 failed, after sinking to the depth of nineteen and sixteen feet respective- 

 ly, but that he has reason to believe that when the operations were 

 stopped the stratum through which the workmen were passing had 

 nearly been pierced. 



