No. 31.— 1885.] 



PLUMBAGO* 



205 



attainable, would not help us much, because mere numbers 

 would not distinguish between holes of a few feet deep and 

 Mr. Jacob De Mel's great mine in the Kurunegala district, 

 already described. Some years ago there was an account 

 of a mine on a large scale opened for a Mr. Mathew 

 by a European miner in the district of Kegalla, and 

 many years ago a couple of North of England men, 

 brothers named Sims, tried their luck in mining plum- 

 bago, but without success. What are called mines are 

 generally, however, vertical holes, and the great trouble of 

 the miners, as it is also of the gem-diggers, is to keep 

 out water or get rid of it. Steam machinery has been on 

 a few rare occasions resorted to, and in one instance it has 

 been stated that owing to a deficiency of hose sent out, 

 the primitive means in use amongst the natives of baling 

 by buckets had to be reverted to in supersession of the 

 steam engine. From the Govern in ent Agent of the Southern 

 Province I have received a translation of a Sinhalese 

 description of a plumbago mine, illustrated by a diagram, 

 which is printed as an appendix, and will be found curious 

 and interesting. 



As a general rule, graphite seems to exist not far 

 from the surface, on which its presence may be revealed 

 through fissures, while in regard to this mineral as well 

 as gold and other ores, indications in streams guide ex- 

 plorers up to the including rocks, generally quartzy gneiss, 

 in which the mineral is embedded or diffused. Mr. De 

 Mel tells me that very good plumbago is often found near 

 the surface, but that, as a general rule, the lower the digging 

 operations go, the better the quality and the larger the 

 quantity of the mineral. I remember once at Baddegama ; 

 near Galle, seeing in a rice field what looked like a large 

 gneiss boulder, the top of which had been blasted away, the 

 process revealing a "pocket" of plumbago. As a general 

 rule, the mineral runs in long thin horizontal veins through 

 the quartzy strata of the gneiss, but downward veins are not 

 uncommon. Of course the purer the finds are, and the 

 larger the masses the better, but a visit to any of the prepar- 

 ing yards in Colombo will show that besides the cost of 

 prospecting and mining and the uncertainty of ultimate 

 success, a good deal of expense is involved in conveying a 



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