1834.] of dn Iron and Steel Manufactory . 29 



tains, which may eventually become valuable articles of commerce. 



Honey and bees'-wax are produced from bees kept, as in England, in a 

 domestic state, but they are also obtained from the jungles. As yet bees'- 

 wax has only been exported in small quantities ; there is, however, no 

 reason why it should not be abundantly collected as an article of traffic, 

 if not of manufacture on the spot. 



The Kasyas have no regular artificers, except blacksmiths and iron- 

 founders, but they are all handy and expert in the use of the daw or 

 cleaver, and also with the adze, with which they square their timbers and 

 smooth their planks. They are not often employed in building houses, as 

 workmen from the plains come up in any number that may be required ; 

 of these, excellent bricklayers may be had at the rate of seven rupees 

 a month ; good carpenters, at seven rupees per month ; grammies, 

 at five ditto ; stone-cutters, at five ditto ; coolies, at four ditto. Kasya 

 workmen may be hired by the day at three annas, but the best way 

 of employing them, and the way they like best, is by contract ; in 

 this way, the tasks they perform are incredible. I shall scarcely be be- 

 lieved when I state the particulars of some task-work, which was execut- 

 ed by a few Kasyas, with their wives and children, in the course of last 

 month (October, 1833). I had a wall built round my estate of dry stones, 

 those on the exteriorbeing broke into square or oblong slabs, so as to pre- 

 sent a smooth, well-built, and regular surface. This wall was four feethigh, 

 at the base it was four feet wide, and two feet at the top ; each foot in 

 length consequently contained twelve cubic feet of masonry ; but every 

 twelve feet in length, containing 144 cubic feet, were completed at one 

 rupee twelve annas, till the whole was finished, measuring upwards of 800 

 feet ; thus, six cubic feet, weighing, I should suppose, more than 1000 lbs. 

 cost only one anna : — cheaper labour than this I imagine it would be hard 

 to find in any country. The Kasyas are remarkably athletic and indus- 

 trious ; their women partake in their hardest labours ; and the children 

 commence carrying heavy burdens at a tender age : they live well, have 

 comfortable houses, and the poorest amongst them is not without gold or 

 silver ornaments. 



Their wealth has heretofore resulted from the manufacture of iron, 

 which process is explained by Mr. Cracroft in the fourth number of your 

 journal for the month of April, 1832. Of late, the sale of iron has been 

 unusually dull, and numerous individuals who were employed in digging, 

 washing, and smelting the ore, are out of employment. 



All these people are available for any manufactory that may be formed 

 at Chirra, at very moderate wages. 



Building materials, either for temporary or permanent buildings, are 

 abundant and cheap; for the former, posts, eighteen feet long, and from, 



