170 



Account of the Gold Mines 



[No. S2, 



pear invidious to institute comparisons between Malabar and Ame- 

 rica ; but when we remember that a search for the precious metals 

 has ever been a favorite speculation with men of all countries, 

 and that there is no want of enterprize among the Natives of India 

 when their own interest is nearly concerned, the small number 

 of persons engaged in mining operation in Malabar, may lead us to 

 form a low estimate of the quantity of gold in the country. Of the 

 4,000 or 5,000 persons said above to be connected with the mines, 

 few or none indeed, gain their subsistence entirely by this means. It 

 appears in evidence before the Committee, that in the search for gold 

 they employ only these periods during which the weather interferes 

 with the carrying on of agricultural operations. They resort to the 

 beds of rivers in the dry season, and to the hills during the rains, 

 whenever their leisure or inclination leads them, and no instance is 

 known of a person deserting other employments for the exclusive 

 search for gold, another presumptive proof of the general belief of the 

 unprofitableness of the pursuit. 



3. " No correct information could be obtained regarding the 

 length of time during which gold mines have been opened in Mala- 

 har. It is pretty certain that Tippoo attempted to make them a 

 source of revenue during his possession of the country. Mr. Sheffield 

 in his letter which has already been alluded to, states ' that it has 

 ' been well known from the earliest period that gold is produced in 

 * the province, and the collecting of it has been formed out in Wy- 

 ' naad and the Nelamhoor valley for the last forty or fifty years.' 

 In the same document it is mentioned that the Honorable Mr. Dun- 

 can, Governor of Bombay, as far back as 1793 — drew the attention of 

 the local authorities to the gold mines. The celebrated Dr. Bucha- 

 nan who travelled through Mysore in 1802-3, casually alludes to 

 gold being collected in the Nelamhoor valley, and the privilege of 

 collecting it being farmed out to a Nair.* Dr. Whitelaw Ainslie in 

 the first edition of his Materia Medica of Hindoostan published at 

 Madras in 1813, gives an account of the places where gold is found 

 in India which, as it is applicable to the present subject, may be here 

 quoted with advantage. ' Gold-dust has been found,' says he ' in 

 the bed of the Godavery and in Malabar in the bed of the river 

 which passes Nelamhoor in the Irnada district ; it has moreover 

 been procured in very small quantities in Wynaad, in the Arcot 



*TiavcIs in Mysore, vol. ii. p. 111. 



