1847.] 



in the Provhice of Malabar. 



17S 



with which it immediately amalgamates, and from which it is after- 

 wards easily separated by heat. The process with each tray or 

 Murriya takes up from about twenty minutes to half an hour. The 

 quantity found in each worked in the presence of the Committee was 

 exceedingly small, but it proved to them satisfactorily, that gold did 

 exist in the spot examined. Lieutenant Nicokon stated to them 

 however that the most productive veins were in the principal shaft 

 which was completely covered with water, and that fair specimens 

 could not be obtained until this was cleared by pumps. Under these 

 circumstances the Committee deemed it expedient to request Lieute- 

 nant Nicolson to remain in the neighbourhood of the mines until 

 pumps should arrive from Calicut in order to procure favorable spe- 

 cimens of ore for their examination. His answer is given below* 

 and will be more particularly noticed hereafter. 



The number of men employed at this mine was variously reported 

 to be from 300 to 500 ; from the immense accumulation of waters 

 we may presume that it had been altogether deserted by the natives 

 for a considerable time. The washing before the Committee was car- 

 ried on by a few of the Pioneers under Lieutenant Nicolson's orders. 



'* The Committee afterwards proceeded to a small hill opposite to 

 the one above described, where in the midst of jungle they found 

 numerous excavations varying in dimensions some of them apparently 

 from ten to thirty feet in depth. They seem to extend over a space 

 of ground equal to about a square mile. They are worked only dur- 

 ing the rains as the want of water presents operations being carried 

 on in them during the dry weather. Unlike the one first described 

 these are confined to the alluvial deposits on the surface, and do not 

 extend into the laterite. 



"Next morning the Committee proceeded to examine some 

 mines situated in the bed of the Beypoor River near Mamhaat about 

 seven miles in a westerly direction from JVelaynhoor. They found 

 extensive excavations, from twenty to thirty feet in depth in a bank 

 apparently thrown up by the rivers when swollen by the rains on one 

 side of its channel. The superstratum consists of sand and gravel, 

 below which are large nodules of Quartz and Gneiss, then occurs a 



* Extract from Lieutenant Nicolson'' s letter, dated \Wi March, 1833. 

 " I beg however to solicit the consideration of the Committee as to the lateness of the 

 season and my dear bought experience that there is no remaining with safety in these 

 jungles beyond the end of March, until when, my health permitting, all the activity i 

 my power may be relied upon." 



