464 Copper Mines of Pokree, fyc. [No. 138. 



Nundadevi, Purychoola, and Kylas to the right, fully merit the title 

 bestowed upon them by the Shastra,* of " Mountain Kings." Mr. 

 Wilkin reports, that " the Dhunpoor mine is situated on the north side 



Dhunpoor Mine. of a hight and precipitous range in compact dolo- 

 mite." The ores of this mine are principally copper pyrites and grey or 

 vitreus copper ore with the red oxide, and green carbonate in smaller 

 quantities : the latter being scarce. The ores are found in a bed, (or 

 channel of ground fifty or sixty feet wide,) which runs nearly north and 

 south, and underlies east about one foot in the fathom. It is divided 

 by a bed of potstone or indurated talc, which runs through the 

 copper formation longitudinally, conforming to the strata, and having 

 a frith or JIukan on the western side. 



" This lode of potstone will facilitate the driving of passages into 

 the mine, and it is sometimes productive ; but the greater part of the 

 ores are found In the adjoining rock in seams and branches, which 

 cross it in every direction. The seams of ore are said to be one foot 

 thick at times, but generally they are less than one inch thick, and 

 any thing more than that is considered a prize by the miners. When 

 I visited the mine in 1838, the best seam or vein which I saw was 

 not more than half an inch thick; but on my last visit in 1841, 

 I saw one two inches thick, and I was informed that it had been 

 one foot thick during the interval between my visits. It is perpen- 

 dicular, and cut out at the bottom of the working by a horizontal 

 vein which carried it eastward ; the ores are mostly within one foot 

 of the horizontal vein, above which it dwindles away to the size 

 of a reed. All the other places which I saw, were poor in comparison 

 to this. The ores are the softest part of the rock, and are consequently 

 dug out first, after which the miners burn the rock with wood and 

 then throw water on it. Owing to the calcareous nature of the rock, 

 this process facilitates the work considerably ; but still I think blasting 

 would be cheaper, as the burning does not penetrate beyond a few 



* Captain Webb gives the following altitude of the Dhunpoor village, 7,956 feet; the 

 mine is a few hundred feet higher, and the ridge above the mine in some places is 

 rated at 9,500 feet above the sea. 



f The repeated allusions to the great Himalyan chain in the sacred books of the 

 Hindoos, are too well known to require quoting. The names assigned to some of the 

 peaks are, I think, appropriate and poetical: such as Kada-nath, Lord of water; Roodra- 

 nath, Lord of tbe Roodras or Demi-gods. 



