SURVEY OF THE GANGES^. 51 i 



tain. Three Cos to the south of this place, are the lead and copper mines 

 of Dhanpur. They are at present farmed, for the annual sum of four 

 thousand rupees, by a man named PuKi Sonar, whom we saw at the ca- 

 pital, and who- furnished us with a few specimens of the ores. The cop^ 

 per is produced i^i varioys soils ;. it is sometimes mixed in strata of differ- 

 ent coloured clays, and sometimes runs in veins, through hard and solid 

 rock. When the veins are rich, they yield two thirds of metal, but the 

 averaged quantity extracted, amounts to about one half. Two or three 

 hundred people are employed, the whole year round, in working the 

 mines, and smelting the ore ; the process of which is very simple, con- 

 sisting only in pounding the ore, and making it up, with cow dung, into 

 balls, which are put into a furnace, sufficiently heated to produce a fusion 

 of the metaL About four Cos to the north, on the opposite hills, are the 

 copper mines of JVdgpur; which, although considered the richest of any 

 in the Srinagar distri6l, are not worked at present ; as a considerable ca- 

 pital would be required to open them, and no person has been found 

 willing to undertake the risk, under the precarious security of Gurc'hdli 

 faith. 



At seven minutes past three, P, M. ws experienced a slight shock 

 of an earthquake, which lasted for six or seven seconds, accompanied by 

 a rumbling noise, like distant thunder. Our tent was pitched at the foot 

 of a high mountain, covered with rock and large stones : the daily ocu- 

 lar demonstrations we had of the destructive effects of these convulsions 

 in the hills, made us not a little apprehensive for our safety; and we 

 sought for refuge on the plain, where we waited for sometime, in anx- 

 ious expectation of the result. The temple of Maha'de'va stood a 

 melancholly proof before us, having lost its cupola and roof> in the con- 



