112 Memorandum on the Geological structure [No. 2. 



The gold of Sonapet is considered the best. The price varies 

 from ten to seventeen Rs. per tola. I think it probable that a mnch 

 greater amount might be extracted, and great labour saved by treating 

 the residuary sand, found after the coarse gravel is got rid of with 

 mercury ; I have collected some of the sand that this question may 

 be decided ; also with a view to examination, for other metals which 

 elsewhere are found, to accompany gold. 



The process of washing has often been described. A wooden 

 tray like those used by butchers in England and an iron hook to 

 loosen the gravel with are the only implements. The labourer may 

 be seen after his day-work melting the result, with a bamboo tube 

 for a blowpipe, and a little bit of borax as a flux, at a common wood- 

 fire, where several work together they weigh it on the spot and 

 decide the share of each. In Tamar during the dry season numer- 

 ous parties assemble and dig great pits in the bed of the Kurkuree 

 river, but any thing approaching to a mine, I have not seen. 



The spots where gold is found most abundantly are those where 

 the strongest currents of the streams are met by a bank of the 

 river ; thus, search would be made at A in the annexed diagram in 

 preference to any other points. 



My own belief is, that the precious metal is derived chiefly from 

 the metamorphic rocks, i. e. slates and schists which have been 

 altered by the action of fire. The natives do not appear to have 

 any suspicion as to its source, and I have not heard of any instance 

 in which the metal has been found attached to stone. 



Quartz and large quartz dikes abound. I have searched the soil 

 without success in the neighbourhood of some of the largest dikes. 

 The stone itself has yet to be examined. 



Copper. 



There were vague rumours of the existence of ancient diggings 

 for this metal when I first entered Singhbhoom, but on those spots 

 where it had formerly been found, it had long ceased to be sought 

 for. There was no local tradition as to when, or by whom the dig- 

 gings had been worked, and it was a matter of doubt whether they 

 were really made for copper. In Seraikela the Zemindar assured 

 me that the metal had not been sought for during the time his family 

 had been settled there, that is for about a century. 



