1854.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, 207 



No. 43 of 1854. 

 To 

 Cecil Beadon, Esq., 



Secy, to Govt, of Bengal, Fort William, 



Dated Darjeeling, 7th January, 1854. 

 Sie, 



I have much satisfaction in reporting for the information of Government 

 that copper has been discovered'in a portion of the hill territory attached 

 to Darjeeling. 



2. The existence of the ore was first brought to my notice by Eajiman, 

 a pensioned sepoy of the local Sappers, to whom a specimen was brought 

 by a Nepalese miner named Bulthamme Singh who had been employed 

 in the vicinity in digging out a deposit of tufa lime. This man's acquaint- 

 ance with the copper-yielding rocks in Nepal led him to examine similar 

 formations here, and the result was the discovery of the ore. 



3. I forwarded specimens of the ore and of the copper extracted from 

 it to Mr. Piddington at the Asiatic Society's Museum ten days ago for 

 examination, and I last night returned from a personal examination of the 

 locality. 



4. The district of Pushak, twenty miles road distance from Darjeeling, 

 is the locality. I visited four different places in which the ore exists, had 

 some dug out of each, and had a portion smelted in my presence by a 

 party of Nepalese smelters, whom I had sent to the spot. 



5. I have left a party of men to dig out more of the ore, and have em- 

 ployed the discoverer of it to make further search for other veins on the 

 pay of ten rupees for one month with two attendants at four each. I have 

 disbursed ten in presents to the people who have been employed, and I pro- 

 pose with the sanction of Government as a preliminary means of ascertain- 

 ing the value of the ore, its extent, and distribution to expend not more 

 than 100 Us. after which I shall make a further report on the subject. 



6. I have also to report that I have got specimens of copper ore from 

 the Sikim territory adjacent to our territory but not in the same direc- 

 tion as Pushak. 



7. If these ores of Pushak turn out at all equal in richness to the 

 copper mines of Dunkoota in Nepal, this discovery will be very important 

 one. 



8. I have publicly intimated that copper ore wherever found in our 

 territory under my controul is the property of Government. This is in 



2 E 



