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Notices of Books 



[July 



milk white, but a-re severally changed to black, red and white by burn- 

 ing, which is conducted on the spot. 



" Mines of Mewar.—' To the mines of Mewar alone,' observes Colo- 

 nel Tod, * can be attributed the resources which enabled her princes so 

 long to struggle against superior power, and to raise those magnificent 

 structures which would do honor to the most potent kingdoms in the west.' 

 But we search in vain throughout his w^ork for any specific information 

 on the subject. * Tin mines' he says, ' were here very productive even 

 in silver ; but the caste of miners is extinct, and political reasons dur- 

 ing the Mogul dominion led to the concealment of such sources of 

 wealth.' Speaking of a favorite project—the formation of a canal on 

 the Bairass river to connect the ancient and modern capitals of Mewar, 

 Oodipore and Chittore, he observes * that he felt so strongly impressed 

 with the importance of those objects that he would willingly' (though 

 impaired in health and retired from active service) ' return to India to 

 superintend the construction of the canal, and to open the tin mines of 

 Jawara. 



" * Copper ore of very fine description is likewise (says Colonel 

 Tod) abundant, and supplies the currency of the Chief of Saloombra 

 who even coins by sufferance from the mines in his own estate. Surma 

 or oxide of antimony is found on the western frontier ; garnet, amethys- 

 tine quartz, rock crystal, crysolite, and inferior emeralds are all to be 

 found in Mewar and though Colonel Tod saw no specimens decidedly 

 valuable, the Rana has often told him that according to tradition his 

 native hills contain every species of mineral wealth.' 



" Malcolm observes that iron ore of good quality is plentiful in the 

 boundary hills of Mewar and Marwar* which extend to the north- 

 west between Malwa and the Guzerat; and at Ajmere copper and lead 

 mines are stated to have been formerly worked to some extent and with 

 considerable profit, but during the late troubled times this v.^ork was 

 stopped and has not since been resumed. 



Hardy on the other hand remarks that copper does not appear to 

 be very plentiful, though it forms a constituent in most of the argillace- 

 ous slates of Mewar, and mines of it have been worked at Mandahf 

 There is a lead mine he thinks 12 miles south of Oodipore at the village 

 of Jawar, probably the tin mine of Colonel Tod, the ore occurs 

 according to Mr. Hardy in an alternation of quartz and slate ; a con- 

 siderable proportion of silver was said to have been found combined 

 with this ore which was worked at one time with considerable advan- 



* " Asiat. Res. Vol. XVIII, Part II, 70," t " Ibid, 89." 



