196 Report on the Kooloo iron Mines. [No. 3. 



results of the produce of three qualities of pine growing in the dif- 

 ferent parts of Europe. 



Pinus picea. ^ 



p. , . / Dried in the air, consequently having lost 



-r,. ., , . \ 5 to 6 per cent, of water, 



rinus suvestris. * r 



The mean by the defective process, is 13 to 14 per cent. Ey the 

 improved process 26 to 28 ; 1 hold it essential to set forth this enor- 

 mous difference to prove the importance of endeavouring to obtain 

 the maximum in this country, for the difference is nearly double, 

 and consequently from the same quantity of wood, a double 

 quantity of iron could be obtained. These advantages would be of 

 the greatest importance, in an economical point of view, and con- 

 sequently require the strictest attention on the part of Govern- 

 ment. It is the more necessary to try and attain them, with this 

 firm conviction that success is assured by complying with the rules 

 prescribed by experience and observation. 



If by chance the person charged with the direction of these 

 practical works had not a knowledge of some of these improve- 

 ments, I would with pleasure furnish all the information he might 

 wish for, on the subject, as well as the plans, connected with the 

 work. 



Kooloo is an interesting country, worthy of a serious study 

 for many other things, throughout the whole of its extent. The 

 existence of sulphurets of copper, lead and iron, in different places 

 of a district, is often the foreteller of interior metallic deposits, 

 sometimes rich, and sometimes poor. These characteristic signs 

 never escape the European mountaineers who make a profession of 

 mine-seeking ; they call these sulphurets, flowers. When they fall 

 in with any during their laborious excursions, they attack the soil 

 with that ardour, that is inspired by the hopes of success, and it 

 must be granted that if the works of these intrepid men are often 

 unsuccessful, it is just also to say that sometimes they derive from 

 them the finest results. Certain parts of Kooloo are precisely 

 in the position to excite the courage of the mine-seekers of Europe, 

 the flowers appearing as a certain pledge of success, but we should 

 never in these investigations go beyond the limits of prudence. The 

 valley of Munnikum offers examples of these indications, which 



