700 MR ROBERTSON ON THE IRON MINES OF CARADOGH. . 



neighbourhood of the Persian mines, and having been during that time engaged 

 in superintending the manufacture of cast-iron, trusts that the following short 

 account of the mines, and of the very primitive process of the iron manufacture, 

 vrhich came constantly under his observation, may be found interesting, if it be 

 not also of some practical advantage, even where the manufacture is conducted 

 with all the refinements of modern scientific improvements. 



We have no historical record from which to ascertain the period at which 

 the iron mines in the district of Caradogh were first wrought. But there is every 

 reason to suppose that they were resorted to from the remotest antiquity. The 

 district itself is very secluded, and is of a wild, forbidding aspect ; it has, without 

 almost any interval, formed part of the Median, and latterly of the Persian, em- 

 pire ; and, under the rule of native princes, has all along been free from the re- 

 volutions which have so frequently convulsed Western Asia. The iron mines 

 themselves also bear evident marks of antiquity. They form large quarry-like 

 excavations, thickly surrounded by immense tumuli of iron-sand and small pieces 

 of ore, thrown out in the course of working. Upon a rough calculation, founded 

 on the size of the excavated hollow which it exhibits, one only of the numerous 

 iron mines which abound in the district, was estimated by the writer of this no- 

 tice to have now afforded above 4,000,000 cubic feet of iron-ore. Taking the spe- 

 cific gravity of the ore at 5, a cubic foot would weigh about 300 lb., and conse- 

 quently seven cubic feet would weigh about a ton ; and 4,000,000 cubic feet, the 

 total quantity excavated from that mine, would weigh 571 ,428 tons. Now, at 

 the present day, 2000 horse loads is a full allowance for the yearly quantity 

 carried away, and as each horse carries about 2 cwt., we have a total of 200 

 tons per annum as the exported produce at present. It may be reasonably as- 

 sumed, that this quantity has, upon an average, never been exceeded during the 

 many ages in which the mines have been wrought. Indeed, this estimate cer- 

 tainly exceeds the actual average yearly produce ; for although a considerable 

 quantity of Russian iron is now imported, to supply the increasing wants of the 

 inhabitants, it cannot be imagined that, in periods of their early history, the na- 

 tives would require nearly so much iron as they now do. Upon that assumption, 

 and without taking into account the other neighbouring mines, it would follow 

 that 2857 years have passed since the soil was first removed from the surface of 

 the mine alluded to. Were the other neighbouring mines taken into account, the 

 antiquity of the whole would be proportionally increased. The writer has not by 

 any means stated these as calculations, or as at all approximating to accuracy, 

 but still he thinks that, from such data, fanciful as they may in some measure 

 appear, an estimate may legitimately be formed on the very great antiquity of 

 the Persian mines. 



The native smiths are dispersed in small hamlets, situated in the woods 

 which clothe the sides of the ravines, through which the mountain torrents flow 



