1847 ] in the Province of Malabar. 177 



Moplays and others. The large excavations already described as 

 having been made by them at Capul^ and the difficulties they have 

 to contend with in keeping the shafts free from water show their 

 perseverance in the search. It may here be asked, why if the pro- 

 fit of mining be so trifling,' they continue to employ their labour in 

 this manner ? It can only be explained to arise from that natural 

 eagerness which men in all countries show to enter into mining 

 speculations, and by that ' unaccountable infatuation' which often 

 prompts men to desert even the ' less arduous and more wholesome 

 labours of agriculture' for the search after gold and silver."^'' 



*' Had the productiveness of the mines been considerable, it is highly 

 probable that in a country where labour is so cheap as in Malabar, 

 where a cooly can be hired for a Pagoda a month, and where a thirst 

 for gain is a well known feeling of a large portion of the inhabitants, 

 some person possessed of capital would have invested it in working 

 them — not an instance however is known of a person employing coo- 

 lies for this purpose. One or two monied men indeed are in the ha- 

 bit of advancing small sums to the workmen, charging interest on 

 the same and buying up the gold at a certain price. But these men 

 though they must be well aware of the actual quantity yielded, 

 have never entered upon the speculation themselves; and we can 

 only ascribe this to a conviction on their part of its unprofitableness. 



" In the foregoing short statement of the results of the inquiries 

 regarding the past productiveness of the mines, it will be seen that 

 though found over a large extent of country, the quantity of gold so far 

 as is yet known is in no place great, that the number of people em- 

 ployed in mining bears a very small proportion to the total population 

 of the districts in which gold is found, that those moreover are prin- 

 cipally cultivators and coolies, who in this search employ only the 

 time not occupied in agriculture, that the mines though known for the 

 last fifty years have never attracted any marked attention, that the 

 tax levied on them has been trifling, and that in one district at least it 

 has been considerably reduced, that the richness of the earth in the 

 precious ore is far below that which is reckoned encouraging in other 

 countries, that the quantity found by one man daily is barely suffici- 

 ent to furnish him with the necessaries of life, that the quantity an- 

 nually produced is trifling when compared with the extent of territo- 

 ry and the population, and that no instance has occurred of native 



* (Caklclcugh's Travels in South America: loc. cit.) 

 Y 



