86 On the Mineral resources, fyc. of Northern Afghanistan. [No. 109. 



ago, thirteen of these bridges* had been erected, in a province abounding with iron 

 mines, and inexhaustible forests, and with reference to which, a celebrated mining 

 engineer, in corresponding with me upon the subject, makes the following remark: " It 

 strikes me, that if an iron work is begun in the Himalayas, iron can be afforded to 

 India at a rate lower than the present to a great degree, and at the same time afford a 

 large profit per ton." 



In the district of Bajour, an iron work upon the small scale, and similar to the 

 Swedish, might be erected with every reasonable prospect of advantage. When 

 water power can be procured, and a steady supply certain, the saving will be great,f 

 as compared with the application of steam power ; a substantial wheel can be erected 

 at a small expence, for working blowing apparatus capable of giving blast to two 

 furnaces; commencing in the first place with one, in order to learn by experiment 

 the suitable charges of iron ore, charcoal, and limestone ; and to find that very little 

 iron is mixed with the scoria, which comes off constantly from the iron at the 

 bottom of the furnace. 



Should an improvement of this kind take place in the Bajour manufacture, iron 

 of a much better quality, in much greater quantity, and at a reduced expence, 

 might be afforded to the whole of those countries situated between Ghuznee and 

 Lahore ; from the excellence of the materials, no foreign iron can ever compete 

 with it, and superior steel may also be obtained from it. No iron manufactured with 

 coal can ever be converted into steel, owing to the presence of sulphur in the coal. 

 It is in consequence of this, that the great mass of steel in England is made from 

 Swedish iron, and the cast steel for the superior cutlery of Sheffield, is from the 

 iron of the mines of Dannemora, the ore of which, (massive magnetic,) differs from 

 all the others in Sweden, on account of its purity; and the iron sells on that account 

 for about double the price of common Swedish iron. The other ores of that country 

 are, I understand, principally magnetic ; but more or less contaminated with sulphur, 

 and had they not the advantage of charcoal smelting, the iron they produced would 

 not sell at the high price which is obtained for it. 



The prices of crude iron in Cabool in time of Dost Mahomed Khan, and since 

 then, have been the following : — 



In Dost Mahomed's time. Latterly. 



Cabool Rupees. Cabool Rupees. 



Bajour iron per md. .% 8 .. .. .. .. 12 



Foormool ditto ditto, 6 . . . . . . . . 9 



* The transport of the last of these bridges, which was put up at Jula Ghaut on the Kali Gogra 

 river, amounted to Rs. 80 per ton. This reminds me of a story that is told in the neighbourhood of 

 Loch Earn, in Perthshire. In a small glen on the Northern side of the lake, a building was erected 

 about a century ago, when there were no good carriage roads in that part of the world, as is the case 

 at present. The lime used on the occasion, was brought on the backs of horses from a considerable 

 distance in Fifeshire, and it was left for the succeeding generation to discover that an excellent bed 

 of limestone existed in the same glen ; but this was not all, for the house itself was built of 

 limestone. 



t Perhaps the finest example that could be quoted of the effect of water power in saving 

 manual labour, is at Turton near Bolton, where there is an iron wheel at a cotton mill, upon the 

 spider arm construction, overshot, sixty feet in diameter, and ten feet broad in the awes or buckets. 

 From this wheel, the power is taken for moving all the spinning machinery within the mill, which 

 is reckoned equal to 50,000 cotton spindles, or the work of 50,000 people. 



J The maund of Cabool is equal to 8 seers of Cabool. The seer of Cabool, is equal to 6 seers 

 of Hindoostan. 



