1843.] Mineral Resources of India. 549 



of iron works in England ever be judged good policy, as they have alrea- 

 dy destroyed some of the finest forests of oak, and as the workmen requir- 

 ed for them can be employed to greater national advantage in the finer 

 manufactures. We know that the French have, within a few years past, 

 erected some very fine forges in the Isle of France, whether with the 

 view of being able to undersell every other nation trading to India, in 

 the articles of iron and steel, or of supplying the country powers with 

 artillery in the most secret manner — we cannot pretend to say : but from 

 the extreme lowness of the price of slaves there, we think it highly 

 probable, that they will be enabled to do both as soon as the islands are 

 sufficiently cultivated to produce provisions in plenty for their inhabitants, 

 especially as it appears from what M. Bougainville (in his Voyage round 

 the Earth,) says of those works, that their owners are supported by the 

 French Government. 



We shall now, Gentlemen, take the liberty to offer our sentiments with 

 respect to the utility of working the lead mine in Ramghur. This mine 

 consists of one small vein, which produces the ore known to mineralogists 

 by the name of Potter's lead ore, because instead of being smelted on 

 account of its metal, it is usually sold with greater advantage to those arti- 

 ficers for the purpose of glazing their wares. Now as no people make 

 more use of earthenware than the natives of this country, and none are 

 worse provided with materials for glazing it, the only means of rendering 

 it neat or cleanly, or capable of containing fluids for any considerable 

 time, we presume it would not be very difficult to introduce this improve- 

 ment into common use. Besides, as all lead ores are known to contain a 

 certain portion of silver, though generally too small to bear the expense 

 of extracting it, we might perhaps find this ore worth treating upon that 

 account, since fuel is remarkably cheap in Ramghur, and since the litharge 

 into which the lead must be converted in order to obtain its silver, would 

 answer still better the purpose of the potter than the raw ore. 



Another beneficial consequence of working this mine would be, the sup- 

 plying of the market at Patna with lead ore : for at present considerable 

 quantities are carried thither, and sold by the name of surma (antimony). 

 This ore is brought from countries to the westward of any of the Compa- 

 ny's possessions, and is used by the country people chiefly for colouring 

 their eyelids. We have had it very accurately assayed, and can pronounce 

 with the utmost degree of certainty, that it is a true lead ore, not contain- 

 ing the smallest particle of antimony.* 



* 1 might as well state here, on the strength of repeated analysis, that no small 

 portion of what is sold at this day in the bazars, under the name of surma, is a 

 sulphuret of lead without a particle of antimony. To those who physic their own 

 horses, this hint may not be valueless. — S. G. T. H. 



