1840.] 



Hemaj^hs upon the Auriferous Deposits of India. 



31 



currence of auriferous deposits in various parts of the Indian peninsula. 

 The impression made upon my mind at the time with regard to the 

 immense diffusion of this metal, has daring my residence in this country 

 been fully confirmed— it is an important, though almost unheeded fact, 

 that gold is very generally distributed, though in sparing deposits, 

 throughout extensive tracts in India, extending from the tenth to be- 

 yond the thirtieth degree of north latitude. There is every reason to 

 believe, therefore, that this metal might be made a new source of revenue 

 to the state, of wealth to the country, and a profitable object of occu- 

 pation to its population, were sufficient skill and attention devoted to 

 the subject. It is with this object in view, that the following remarks 

 have been written. 



From the comparative rarity of practical science, among those ob- 

 servers to whom we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of Indian 

 mineralogy, it is not, I fear, possible to obtain from the details they have 

 famished us, any very clear or definite knowledge of the actual richness 

 of these gold tracts. They are generally described as being poor, and 

 containing the precious metal in very small proportions, but the poverty 

 of metallic ores thus expressed, is entirely a relative term, and liable to 

 much ambiguity. What it would be desirable to know, is the actual 

 quantity or per centage of the precious metal, which can be extracted 

 from a given quantity of mineral matter ; with this datum we might 

 form a correct idea of the value of the mineral, though it would still be 

 desirable to know the cost of production, and the means of washing or 

 reduction employed, as after all much would depend on the greater or 

 less perfection of these processes. Gold except in a few rare cases, is 

 always found in very sparing quantities, compared with the mass of sand, 

 veinstone, or other mineral substance which accompanies it ; which is in 

 fact the principal cause of the high relative value of this metal : yet many 

 auriferous deposits are by good management made to yield a profit by 

 the skilful mining Engineer, which to the uninstructed eye would ap- 

 pear either totally destitute of the precious metal, or so poor as to be 

 absolutely worthless. 



Without attempting to describe, or even to point out every locality 

 in this country, where gold has been ascertained to exist, I shall com- 

 mence by briefly enumerating such of those tracts as now occur to me, 

 and will most readily confirm my views of the abundant distribution 

 of the precious metal throughout a large portion of the IndiaH penin- 

 sula. 



Taking first the Madras presidency, gold is well known to occur in 

 Coimbatoor, in numerous localities on the w estcrn and southern de- 



