

598 Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Afghanistan. 



worked in the time of Nadir Shah. Subsequently the Sir- 

 dars of Candahar worked the mines, and report says to 

 great advantage : some accounts state the profit to have been 

 900 per cent.! Others 1,900 per cent., and that the ore 

 was sold in Candahar at the same rate as European sheet 

 copper imported from Bombay. This may be taken as a 

 fair example of the exaggeration to which the AfFghans are 

 so prone. 



All accounts agree that a profit was made, and that cop- 

 per money was coined and cannon cast from the metal. It 

 must at the same time be borne in mind, that the villagers in 

 the neighbourhood of the mines were compelled to work them 

 free, so that one very considerable portion of the usual 

 expences was thus saved, and the Sirdars could well afford 

 to sell the ore at a cheap, and yet with remunerating price 

 to themselves since it cost them little or nothing. Another 

 copper mine occurs at Nesh, and produces a rich yellow 

 copper ore; a man who resides there and is a dealer in 

 braziery, declared that for every outlay of 20 rupees he 

 would derive a profit of 20 tomauns, i. e. he would gain 

 clear 19 tomauns or 380 rupees upon his outlay, or a profit 

 of 1,900 per cent. This tallies with the accounts given me 

 by others of the profits derived by the Sirdars, but I do 

 not believe it for all that, and these accounts may serve to 

 show the difficulty of arriving at the truth from persons 

 so regardless of it as the AfFghans generally are. 

 'The copper now used in Candahar and the neighbouring 

 districts even to Herat, comes partly from Bombay and partly 

 from Persia. That from Bombay is in sheet, and comes from 

 Europe ; it sells in Candahar at two rupees and a quarter 

 per seer of eighty tolahs, and is said to cost in Bombay 

 about \ Rs. per seer. The duty at Candahar is l-40th. 

 European sheet copper also finds its way to Cabul, Bokhara, 

 and other northern states. Although copper ores are abun- 

 dant in many parts of Affghanistan, and some of them 





