OCT. — mar. 1858-59.] other portions of the Ceded Districts. 293 



of a very thick bamboo jungle which appears to cover the whole 

 of these hills ; the spot is marked on the Ordnance maj) of the 

 district as a lead mine, and must at one time, have been one of 

 some importance as there are now still existing the remains of what 

 may be considered for native undertakings very extensive workings. 



These consist of a number of pits varying in depth from 10 to 25 

 feet with galleries now fallen in, but which no doubt connected 

 the pits and had extensive ramifications, more than 100 of these 

 pits were counted, the working pits were confined to a compara- 

 tively small area, but numerous trials had evidently been made at 

 some distance from the main seat of operations. 



The ground in which these pits are sunk is for a few feet im- 

 mediately beneath the surface a highly crystalline sandstone, they 

 then pass into a dry and a very firable argillaceous compound ; 

 the sandstone resting upon this dry clay, has been at this point 

 upheaved by some force beneath it, as the beds under which it lies 

 are shown by the various depths in the pits at which the sand- 

 stone ceases, and dry clay begins to dip in opposite directions from 

 it along a line having a direction somewhat to the east of north, 

 in this dry clay the galleries have been executed and no doubt the 

 lead found. 



The sandstone forming the sides of the pits has been very much 

 loosened and broken by exposure, so that without more skilled 

 labor than I had at command, I was unable to render any one of 

 them sufficiently safe for a man to work in, or it would have been 

 exceedingly desirable to have sunk a little deeper at one of them, 

 as well as to have cleaved out some of the galleries as owing to 

 the great quantity of debris accumulated in them, I was not suc- 

 cessful in making out the vein of ore there is every reason to be- 

 lieve exists here. 



The general circumstances here have some analogy with the 

 occurrence of lead ore at the third place I shall have to describe, 

 and which I shall allude to hereafter. 



The jungle about the mine is very thick and much frequented 

 by tigers, it was with some difficulty that coolies could be obtain- 

 ed to proceed to the place at all ! water is procurable about one 

 Vol. xx. o, s. Vol. v. n. s. 



