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JOURNAL, ll.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



only mineral of any importance of which Ceylon can boast. 

 * * * But although it was quite evident that the digging 

 and mining which brought so large a quantity of plumbago to 

 light, as well as the carting, preparation, and picking, must give 

 employment to a great number of people, we had no idea before 

 the inspection of Mr. Fernando's store of the very considerable 

 iDfluence which the industry now has on the welfare of many 

 thousands of the population in the Western, the North-Western, 

 and Southern Provinces. The favourite mining districts are at 

 present in the neighbourhood of Kurunegala, Avisawella, Ratna- 

 pura, and Kalutara, and in the Pasdun Korale. Mr. Fernando, a 

 most intelligent enterprising Christian Sinhalese of Moratuwa, 

 whose father and family have for many years been connected 

 with 4 plumbago,' was unable to tell us that the seekers after 

 plumbago were guided by any better indication than the appear- 

 ance of the surface soil, or of pieces of the mineral cropping up 

 through fissures in the rock. Here, is just the case where a 

 Government Geologist might afford valuable aid in developing 

 an important industry. Mr. A. C. Dixon, if employed by Govern- 

 ment during the Academy vacations, might be able to point with 

 much confidence to undeveloped Crown lands likely to prove of 

 great value for their beds of plumbago, and his advice to private 

 proprietors might also save much time and money in trial pits, 

 surface digging, and general exploration. Plumbago mines have 

 been sunk in Ceylon several hundred feet in depth, and some are 

 worked with all the appliances of an English mine, but, as a rule, 

 the plumbago is found near the surface. It is difficult to say 

 how many men are engaged in digging plumbago, but taking 

 half-a-ton for each man per month in a favourable field as a high 

 average, and making allowance for the wet seasons, holidays, &c, 

 we may feel sure that no less than from 4,000 to 5,000 men were 

 required to provide the quantity shipped last year. The carting 

 to Colombo must have given employment to a good many others, 

 perhaps more or less to 500 carters, carts, and pairs of bullocks. 

 But it is the elaborate preparation now observed in the Colombo 

 stores which has taken us by surprise. Plumbago is now picked 

 and sized, we may say, as carefully as coffee. The various pro- 

 cesses are seen to perfection at Mr. W. A. Fernando's store. He 

 gives employment to from 120 to 150 men and women,* paying 



* Sinhalese women have only lately been induced to work as plumbago 

 pickers ; their manual dexterity gives them an advantage over men, but Mr. 

 Fernando had trouble in overcoming a strange prejudice they had to plumbago, 

 as poison or worse for them to touch with their fingers ! Now they like the work 

 and come to it readily. 



