No. 31.— 1885.] 



PLUMBAGO. 



235 



to remove earth and other foreign substances) are spread out to 

 dry. In the background is seen the cadjan (cocoanut leaf) covered 

 shed, in which Sinhalese (and a few Tamil) male and female 

 labourers are employed, breaking up pieces of plumbago, removing 

 hard pieces and bits of rock, and assorting. In this process small 

 axes are used, which will be seen in the hands of coolies repre- 

 sented in the group No. 2. 



" No. 4 shows one of the native bullock carts in which plumbago 

 is conveyed to and from the stores, and No. 5 represents the casks 

 into which — according to the classes into which it is carefully 

 separated — the mineral is packed for export. 



" No. 6 represents the owner of the establishment and his trusted 

 overseers. 



" Mr. Fernando's Plumbago Exhibits include : — 

 One case large lump plumbago. 

 One barrel ordinary lump do. 

 Do. chips do. 

 Do. dust do. 

 "Mr. Fernando also exhibits a Ceylon elephant, cut out of 

 plumbago, and polished." 



I have no doubt that photographic or other illustrations 

 of the now important plumbago industry of Ceylon will 

 accompany specimens of the mineral or objects, such as 

 figures of elephants and other animals carved out of its 

 substance, to the forthcoming Great Exhibition of the pro- 

 ducts and manufactures of the Colonies of Britain and her 

 Indian Empire. Elephants and other figures are usually 

 sculptured from blocks of the softest, and therefore the 

 most valuable form of plumbago, and in proportion to the 

 softness of the material, the sculptured objects are specially 

 liable to breakage. I would suggest that blocks be chosen 

 for sculpture purposes, of the variety of plumbago which in 

 commerce is ranked second class, not because it is not pure 

 in quality, but because in mechanical condition it vies in 

 hardness with the rocky quartz for which the mineral has 

 such a striking affinity. The account of Mr. Fernando's 

 establishment to which I have alluded is as follows : — 



"A visit we paid the other morning to the plumbago store of 

 Mr. W. A. Fernando at No. 1, Brownrigg-street, Cinnamon 

 Gardens, has given us a new and enlarged view of the ramifica- 

 tions of the Plumbago Industry of Ceylon. We were, of course, 

 familiar with the rise aud progress of our export trade in this the 



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