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



as has been proved. Taking these points into consideration, I see no 

 reason for believing that course adopted was injudicious. 



The failure of this undertaking renders it impossible for me to re- 

 L . , cord an opinion in favour of fresh experiments being 



States that he cannot ' ° 



recommend further made under European superintendence at Pokree; 



Experiments. 



I fear no such experiment could pay at that place, 

 and with regard to the copper mines of the province generally, I have 

 reluctantly come to the opinion, that they do not present a fair field 

 for the employment of capital on the following grounds : — 



1st. The great distance of the Pokree and other copper mines of 

 Ghurwal from the markets to which their produce would have to 

 be brought.* 2d. The absence of water carriage, and slowness and 

 expense of carrying articles of bulk in a country like Ghurwal. 

 3d. The non-existence of coal and the cheapness of English copper, 

 carried as it is entirely by water to the great commercial towns 

 of Upper India. The above circumstances would, I apprehend, be 

 insuperable obstacles to the success of any speculation of the kind. 

 For supposing even that a rich and abundant copper mine should 

 hereafter be discovered, and that by European superintendence and 

 the aid of machinery, great improvements were made in every process 

 of mining, f and the price of the article (which now sells at the door 

 of the mine at a dearer^: rate than English copper does in the plains,) 

 were to be greatly reduced, I still think, that the cost of transporting 

 it to a good market would absorb all returns, or leave little profit to 

 the speculator — further that this profit would be in the course of a few 



* The copper mines of Kumaon Proper, at Seera and Gungoolee for instance, are 

 also, all situated far in the interior of the mountains. The talcose and calcareous 

 formations in which the ores are found, occupy the high precipitous mountains, which 

 (in this province at least,) separate the mica slate, gneiss, and not unfrequently granite 

 of the central hills from the similar rocks which build up the buttresses and compose 

 the peaks of the great Himalayan chain. This mighty chain itself appears to be 

 partially metalliferous, judging from the lead mines at Ghertee (now waste) between 

 Melum and Neetee, the copper indications at Tola and elsewhere in the Jowahir Pass, 

 and the ores of the latter metal and of iron actually found and worked at and about 

 Polan in the immediate neighbourhood of Koodurnath, one of the snowy shrines 

 between Kedernath and Rudrinath. 



f The washing and smelting of rich ores under the native system costs 50 per cent. 

 Poor ores do not pay. 



X Wrought copper sells in the hills at 1 Rupee 12 Annas to 2 Rupees per seer, 

 equivalent to 70 to 80 Rupees per maund. English copp.er can now be brought at 



