jan. — mail 1857.] Mines of Antimony, 



255 



the principal being a Sulphuret of Antimony. In June 1855, 

 M. Marcadieu, the Analytical Chemist, visited the locality, and while 

 he acknowledged the richness of the mine, urged that placed as it 

 is at an elevation of 13,507 feet, and covered for a great portion of 

 the year with snow, no great commercial benefit could be antici- 

 pated from it. Major Hay, however was by no means discou- 

 raged, and determined to prosecute his researches, the results of 

 which he communicated to the Deputy Commissioner of Kan- 

 gra. 



Six distinct beds of metal are now visible on the surface, three 

 of which have been worked. Major Hay believes that the supply 

 is inexhaustible, and the specimen sent to Dr. Macnamara for 

 analysis, was found to contain so much as sixty per cent, of pure 

 metal. It appears that owing to the dreariness of the locality, and 

 other unfavourable causes, it would not be advisable to work the 

 mines for more than three months in the year, and even during 

 that limited period, the labourers would have to work under con- 

 siderable disadvantages. Major Hay calculated that including 

 every expense, the Antimony could be landed at Nuggur for two 

 rupees per pucka maund ; but he seems to have made no allowance 

 for the impurities with which the metal must always be impreg- 

 nated, and it is said that the three hundred and twenty kucha 

 maunds lodged at Nuggur, probably do not contain more than one 

 hundred and sixty maunds or sixty pucka maunds of pure metal. 

 The Officiating Commissioner and Superintendent of the Trans- 

 Sutlej States, is disposed to estimate the precise cost of the An- 

 timony at Nuggur, after purification, at double or triple the price 

 fixed by Major Hay. 



With the view of testing the commercial value of the Antimony 

 sent down, a meeting of the merchants of Julundhur trading in 

 this article Was called, and they assured Major Lake the Officiat- 

 ing Commissioner that in its then impure state, Major Hay's An- 

 timony would scarcely find a market ; that the sulphur with which 

 it was impregnated would seriously affect its value, and that even 

 under the most favorable circumstances, it would scarcely fetch 

 more^ than four or five rupees a pucka maund. The Officiating 



