1855.} Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 707 



Superintendent's Office, Darjeling, the \9th April, 1855. 

 To W. Grey, Esquire, 

 Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Revenue Department, 

 With the Honble the Lieut. -Governor, Camp, Gyah. 

 Camp, Titalyah, the 16th February, 1855. 



Sir, — In my letter No. 591, dated 24th November last, I applied for 

 the sanction of the Lieut. -Governor to the expenditure of Rs. 100 in 

 digging out copper veins discovered in the Darjeling territory. This was 

 agreed to, under date 5th December last, No. 87, and I accordingly put 

 men to work. 



2nd. After fifteen days' operations on the Pushak and Mahaldiram veins 

 I forwarded specimens to the Asiatic Society for examination and for 

 comparison with the ore taken from each of those veins during last year. 



3rd. Annexed is a letter, original, from the Curator of the Museum of 

 Economic Geology, dated 19th January, which is encouraging to further 

 operations, and I am able, in addition to this, to state that the people who 

 have been employed by me to dig out the ore are hopeful of improvement, 

 especially in the Mahaldiram veins. 



4th. — Being reluctant to recommend further outlay which I could not 

 well controul, and being at the same time confident of the propriety of 

 further operations below the surface, I submitted specimens of the ordi- 

 nary copper of the Nipal mines to a person in Calcutta to ascertain its 

 market value, intending if the price that could be given at Darjiling, for 

 similar copper of our own would induce private persons to smelt our ores, 

 to propose to Government to buy up the metal, or to sanction my offering 

 the purchase of copper to a tradesman under some arrangement with Go- 

 vernment for the privilege of purchasing. 



5th. — I found however, that the price which could be safely given at 

 Darjiling, twenty-five rupees per maund, would not induce the men who 

 had been employed by me and who best knew the quality of the ores, to 

 work the veins on their own account in the above described manner. 

 Disappointed in this effort to go on with the operations without outlay by 

 Government, I proposed to these persons that they should work the 

 Pushak and Mahaldiram veins for their own benefit under some arrange- 

 ment to be made with Government, but they declined the offer. After 

 these men declined this proposal, I was about to submit to Government a 

 plan for carrying on operations on a larger scale of outlay than hitherto, 

 although I could not well undertake to look strictly after them, when they 

 made me an offer of 100 rupees per annum for the privilege of working 

 all the copper veins now known, or which might be afterwards found in 

 the Darjeling territory. 



