JAN. — MAR. 1857.] Plimhago ofKumaonand Travancore. 259 
it has sufficient lustre it may be applied to such a purpose, but 
then it is always a low priced article. 
Notwithstanding the unfavorable opinion entertained by Mr. 
Brockeden of the Graphite from Kumaon, I again submitted to 
him the specimens sent to the Exhibition of 1851, as well as those 
which had been forwarded from Travancore. He considered both 
as valueless, so Messrs. Reeves whose opinion I likewise asked 
accounted them " quite useless for the manufacture of black-lead 
pencils." Messrs. Wolff of Church Street Spitalfields who also 
make pencils, by first grinding and then condensing Graphite, took 
a more favorable view of tlie specimens, inasmuch as they could 
not conceive why pure specimens should not be found in the locali- 
ties where both kinds had been collected. But they also observed, 
that they could not use the specimens in the state in which they 
had been sent, without damaging their machinery, and it would 
take time and labour, costing of course a good deal of money in 
this country, to separate the purer specimens from those which • 
were intermixed with quartz or ores of iron. 
Among the Travancore specimens however Messrs. Wolff ob- 
serve many which are sufficiently pure for use, and if these were 
picked out in India and sent separated from the pieces covered and 
intermixed with quartz or iron ore, there is no doubt that it would 
sell in the markets for at least £8 or £10 a ton according to its 
purity and perhaps higher. As Trevandrum near to which the 
Plumbago is found is in the vicinity of the Sea and near a port like 
Cochin, there would be very little expense in land carriage and 
therefore freight would be the chief charge, but this might not be 
high as Plumbago is sometimes sent as ballast. 
With regard to the Graphite from near Kumaon, Messrs. Wolff 
state, like Mr. Brockeden, that they cannot use it in the state 
in which it is sent in consequence of the quartzy sand and iron 
ore with which it seems to be intermixed. But from the internal 
purity of some of the Graphite in nodules, as well as from 
the appearance of the larger specimens they conceive that pure 
specimens of compact Graphite should be found in the same lo- 
cality. But of this, those examining the localities themselves must 
