1834.] of an Iron and Steel Manufactory. 31 



of considerable scantling, but the price increases in proportion to the dif- 

 ficulty of conveyance ; beams of twenty-two feet long and nine inches 

 square cost six rupees each ; but if the Kasyas were furnished with 

 trucks for its conveyance, large timbers might be brought in, at one-fourth 

 of the Calcutta price. The saw is not yet brought into use for cutting 

 planks : a saw-mill might with advantage form part of such a concern as 

 I should recommend to be established at Chirra. The experiments which 

 have hitherto been made in the pucka or terrace roofs of Messrs Sar- 

 gent's and Cracroft's houses, lead to an opinion that they will not an- 

 swer at Chirra. Mr. Cracroft, I believe, has fully adopted this opinion, and 

 expresses a conviction, that permanent buildings will require to be roofed 

 with copper, lead, or spelter ; but I am far from coinciding in this convic- 

 tion,being satisfied that a fair trial has not yet been given to terrace -roofs : 

 those at present existing, which have failed, were constructed too 

 late in the season, and consequently were not sufficiently beaten down and 

 consolidated before the heavy rains set in. Pucka roofs to be effectual 

 at Chirra should be constructed at a pitch of about fifteen degrees ; should 

 cover the walls and project so as to form a sort of false verandah from 

 three to four feet beyond them. The composition should be laid on by the 

 middle of December ; and the process of beating down should be slowly and 

 regularly persevered in, till a perfect consolidation is obtained. Such a roo f 

 I am convinced will answer ; and if so, a most important object will have 

 been accomplished, as all the materials are on the spot ; whereas, metal for 

 roofs must be brought from Calcutta at great expence, and experienced 

 workmen must also be brought to lay them on, and kept in employ for 

 their occasional repair. 



These valuable materials are supplied in exhaustless abundance from 

 a range of hills which run about three miles north and south across the 

 table land, extending between the Sanatarium on the east, and the village 

 of Nunklow on the west. This range rises abruptly to the height of about 

 four hundred le :t: its summit is flat, and it is covered from top to bottom* 

 in contradistinction to the surrounding hills, with timber jungle and luxu- 

 riant vegetation ; its base may cover an extent of six or seven square miles 

 (but this is mere conjecture). At the foot of this range the lime-stone is 

 produced, and at about one-third the distance up, a seam of coal is exhibit- 

 ed of from ten to sixteen feet thick, in various directions, so as to leave 

 no doubt of its extending almost in an horizontal stratum through every 

 part of the range ; this seam has been the more easily traced, as there 

 have been slips from all parts of the range, leaving perpendicular gaps, 

 where the various strata composing the structure of the hill lie exposed 

 to a considerable extent of its elevation. 



At the foot of one of these gaps or slips it was that I first discovered, 



