188 Mr. Verchére on the Geology of Kashmir, [No. 8, 
49, The ore is carried in kilters or baskets, carried on the back, 
by the means of shoulder-straps, to Kothair, a distance of two miles 
ona bad hill-path. It is not smelted nearer the mines, on account 
of the want of water; though it seems that it would be very much 
easier to bring up water for the miners, who only know of that element 
asa drink and therefore require but little of it, than to take the 
ore down tothe village. The ore is broken into small fragments 
by children, and mixed with the ochrous earth and with coarsely 
powdered limestone. These materials are piled up in a small furnace 
about two feet high, with intervening beds of charcoal, and two hand 
bellows are used to create a blast ; the smelting lasts about 12 hours, 
and the produce of a furnace is only a few seers. The heat is not 
sufficient to make the iron run; and it remains at the bottom of 
the furnace as a viscous mass, full of scorie, and very brittle when 
cold, with a tufaceous aspect. The slag isa black glass, compact, 
and much less scoriaceous than is customary. The iron is heated and 
beaten with hammers to refine it. It is short, probably from bad 
manufacture. 
Two or three men and children and some women, all of one family, 
working as miners, carriers and smelters, turn out about two maunds 
of iron in the month from one furnace. There are only three 
furnaces at Kothair, giving a supply of six maunds of iron per mensem. 
There are similar mines at Loap and at Kookur Nag in the Bringh 
valley, on the southern side of the same mass of mountains. 
From the dip of the beds, it is probable that these works are in a 
much more favourable position than those of Kothair; they are said 
to be much more considerable ; the ore is obtained in the same manner 
as at Kothair, and there are no regular mines. The ore is the same, 
according to my guide, a miner who had worked at Loap, but it is 
obtained much more easily and is found in thicker beds. Mr. Turner 
showed me some iron from Kookur Nag, and it appeared identical to 
the pig-iron of Kothair. 
The turn-out I have given of the smelting at Kothair is not to be 
regarded as an indication of the richness of the mines. I believe that 
the miners only work the ore to pay their taxes to the Maharajah’s 
government, and that their most usual occupation is to grow a little 
rice and Indian corn. I have no doubt that the amount of ore is 
