214 Note on the Zinc Mines of Jdwar. [No. 3. 



views and pointed out to me the little use of commencing mining ope- 

 rations at all, unless perfectly sure of the value and richness of the ores 

 to be worked. He mentioned the various descriptions of ore which 

 were most likely to be found, and gave me several useful hints on the 

 subject. 



5th. Seeing it was waste of time to do any thing before having 

 procured specimens of the ore, I allowed the matter to rest, till on a 

 recent visit to Udypura, I again mentioned my wish to His Highness 

 the Maha Rana, who ordered me to be supplied with whatever was 

 needed, and issued the like orders to an old man, the only remaining 

 inhabitant of old Jawar, during the time of its prosperity. The Rana 

 gave me to understand, that the previous year he had directed the old 

 man to smelt a little of the ore which he had done, and brought to 

 Udypura, but afraid of losing his influence, should he divulge the 

 secret of preparing the ore for the furnace, he had refused to give 

 information as to the manner of working it, — the Rana thereon tried 

 to burn a little himself, but all his crucibles broke. 



6th. A few days afterwards on my visiting Jawar, the old man 

 came and at my request brought a basket of the ore in its rough state. 

 He described it as being found in veins 3 or 4 inches thick and some- 

 times in bunches, in quartz rock and mixed with other stone. He 

 broke some pieces with a hammer, showing me the good ore and the 

 simple way it was freed from the quartz rock, with which it was mixed 

 (specimens of good ore, inferior ore, and ore mixed with quartz, are 

 sent). The pure ore being very friable is then pounded and freed 

 from quartz and placed in crucibles some 8 or 9 inches high and 3 

 inches diameter ; with necks 6 inches long and half an inch in diame- 

 ter. The mouth being fastened up, the crucibles are inverted and 

 placed in rows on a charcoal furnace when the ore is fused in about 3 

 or 4 hours. If pieces of the quartz are allowed to remain with the ore, 

 the crucibles of course break, and hence, the old man informed me, the 

 Rana's failure. From each crucible the quantity of metal collected 

 does not vary much, a specimen of that extracted for the Rana from 

 one crucible is sent, as are also remains of ancient crucibles found 

 among the ruins. 



7th. I could not discover whether any flux was used in the smelt- 

 ing, or whether the crucibles are entirely or only partially filled previous 

 to the operation. 



