OLD MINES AND MILLS IN INDIA 



489 



CUPS IN BEDROCK USED AS MORTARS FOR GRINDING ORE ' INDIA 



OLD MINES AND MILLS IN INDIA 



EVER since England began the con- 

 quest of India old mine workings 

 have been found in various states, and 

 many references to them are made in the 

 reports of the Geological Survey in India. 



Several years ago a young engineer 

 visited certain old workings in the Bom- 

 bay Presidency, Southern Mahratta Dis- 

 trict, about 300 miles southeast of the 

 city of Bombay and near Gadug. He 

 writes : "Imagine great mines without 

 hoisting machinery, the underground 

 railway, or the throbbing steam pumps 

 of today." 



The workings were entered by crawl- 

 ing and climbing down narrow, inclined 

 passages, over heaps of bats' dung, the 

 accumulation of centuries ; awesome with 

 the beating of the wings of the living 

 bats, and the rocks alive with cock- 

 roaches. 



The walls of the excavations are worn 

 smooth by the naked bodies of workers 

 who labored under untold tyranny. The 

 hoist and pumps were rows of humans 

 that passed the water jars or baskets of 

 ore from hand to hand. 



These excavations reach a depth of 

 over 200 feet (this is unusual, as the old 

 mines are usually filled with water to 

 within 40 or 50 feet of the surface), 

 and are narrow, sloping tunnels that turn 

 and twist in all directions as they follow 

 the pay ore. 



The rocks of the locality are granites, 

 schists, and trap, but the relation of the 

 ore to these rocks is not stated. 



There is a smooth path of flagstones 

 laid from the mines down the mountain- 

 side to the river bank, where the ore 

 was crushed. The "mill" was described 

 as follows : 



Along the higher side of sloping bed- 



