i$0 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, i88S 
The grasses, especially, seem to thrive very badly ;md 
are very coarse in quality, a chief reason probably 
why cattle and sheep succeed so badly in the Malanad, 
as the forest clad, western portion of Mysore is locally 
designated by the natives. 
As many of our readers are aware, much of our 
Ceylon laterite (cabook), the result of weathered 
gneiss, is remarkably fertile. 
Quotations from Mr. Foote's paper may be useful 
to prospectors : — 
Quartz reefs occur in all parts of the gold-field, but 
those found in the western part among- the chloritic 
and argillaceous schists adjoining the trap area, are 
the best defined, and have received most attention from 
the old miners. They are doubtless the principal source 
of the gold obtained there. The only reef from which I 
obtained free gold was one of this set. 
The quartz of the Hattikatti reef from which I got 
the specimen of free gold, and of the majority of the 
reefs throughout was of the ordinary kind, white or 
milky in colour, but very largely iron-stained in 
parts. The group of reefs occurring south of the 
village of Dhoni on the east side of the Kappatgode 
differs from all the others in consisting of distinctly 
bluish, or deep grey, diaphanous quartz, with a few en- 
closed scales of white or pale mica. 
The reefs, excepting that of Hattikatti, and two 
others a little distance to the S. W., showed no sul- 
phides of any kind, and those three yielded only a very 
few cubical crystals of iron pyrites. The argillites 
and chloritic schists, however, show great quantities 
of cubical crystals of that mineral converted into 
limonite by pseudomorphism. 
A few miles south of Jagulur occurs another aurifer- 
ous tract that yielded highly promising quantities of 
gold on washing the sands of two streams rising on 
the west and east sides respectively of the little hill 
lying north of Honnamaradi. The hill consists of drab 
or yellowish gritty schist passing into argillite in parts, 
on the south-western side of which several medium 
sized reefs of quartz appear running nearly north and 
south. Immediately east of the Honnamaradi (golden 
hill), the gneissic rocks are seen with an apparently 
faulted boundary in between. On the bank of a small 
nullah which flows south, a couple of hundred yards 
to the east of the hills are the remains of some large 
dumps where the old jalagars had evidently washed 
the sands for a considerable time. A washing of "dirt" 
from the bed of the nullah gave a handsome show of 
gold, of good grain and excellent colour ; while a wash- 
ing from the little rivulet flowing from the western 
side yielded a rich show of very coarse gold of the 
highest quality. 
No gold was seen in situ, but there is every reason 
to believe it came from the reefs above referred to, 
as the streams in which the washings were made, es- 
pecially the western one, have such very short courses 
that they could not have brought their gold-supply 
from any great distance. 
The quartzites on the Kotemaradi are of no great 
thickness, and are locally much altered, nearly con- 
verted in many parts into true quartz, and generally 
permeated by large numbers of small quartz veins . It 
will be curious to ascertain, as doubtless there will ere 
long be opportunities of doing, whether this altered 
quartzite contains any gold. It is certain that the 
small stream draining the western and northern slope 
of the Kotemaradi carries down a notable quantity of 
large gold of excellent colour, and that no reefs of 
any size or importance show through the extensive 
talus covering the slopes. 
At Ohiknayakanhalli we come again upon an auri- 
ferous tract which is frequently spoken of as the 
Ohiknayakanhalli gold-field. On Honnebagi hill, a 
couple of miles south-east of the town, old workings 
of no great size occur just within the boundary of 
the Dharwar area. The reefs occurring here are not 
promising in superficial appearance, being white and 
hungry-looking ; but the quantity of gold obtained 
by washing in the small streams flowing down the 
hill is not by any means contemptible, and deeper 
prospectingmight give still more favourable indications. 
A little south, of the Yadyur bridge m auriferous 
tract is encountered close to the village of Kalingana- 
halli. Here good washings of gold are reported by 
Mr. Chas. Ogdeu, m.e., bat no reefs of any size could 
be seen, merely small veins in great numbers traver- 
sing the country rock. Numerous dumps thickly 
scattered about show that the old miners had been 
busy here washing on a large scale. 
The Dharwar rocks seen here are baematitic quartz- 
ites of no great thickness, but very distinctly marked . 
with overlying chloritic and hornblendic sch ists. 
which stretch down south till abreast of Nagamau- 
gala. Various good-looking quartz reefs occur in this 
tract. 
A mile and half south by west of Nagamangala 
town is Honnabetta hill, an outlier of the Dharwars, 
consisting, so far as examined, of hornblendic and 
chloritic schists, with at least one fine-looking reef at 
the northern eDd of the main hill. A good washing 
was obtained in the stream draining the north-east 
side of the hill. Amine is being opened at the ex- 
treme north end of the Honnabetta outlier on a reef 
running through chloritic schists, which is traversed 
closely by a pale green dioritic '?) trap. This is the 
Girigudda mine. I obtained a very fair result by 
washing in the little stream draining the east side of 
Girigudda hill. Chloritic schists form the mass of the 
small, but rather high spur which diverges from the 
Shettihalli band and crosses the Lokapavani river 
some 10 miles S, S. W. of Nagamangala. 
It will thus be seen that quartz reefs occurring in 
chloritic* schist, the quartz itself, perhaps stained 
red with iron, are the most likely to yield gold in the 
Dharwar series of rocks, and so probably in our 
Ceylon rocks. 
Quartzite, in some cases forming a " capping " to 
the hills, is so frequently mentioned as occurring in 
the auriferous regions, that we feel special attention 
ought to be directed to the quartzite formations so 
prevalent on the railway trace as it nears Haputale 
and occurring in many parts of Uva. 
♦ 
LATEST REPORT ON CHINA TEA. 
(From Hankow Consular Reports.) 
Mr. Clement F. R. Allen reports on the trade of 
Hankow for 1887 as follows : — 
The trade of Hankow during the year 1887 shows 
a considerable decrease on the trade of the two pre- 
vious years, and there is a falling-off in both the ex- 
ports and the imports. 
Exports— Tea. 
If the diminished export of tea from Hankow was 
accounted for by increased export from other ports in 
China the decline would not be of much importance, 
but the same reduction has been going on in all the 
tea-exporting ports Comparing the season of 1880-81 
with that of 1886-87, we find that the decrease in the 
exportation of China teas was 23,800,000 lb., and the 
exportation of 1887-1888 was 20,000,000 lb. less even 
than this. The cause is evident. It is the increased 
production of better te^i in other parts of the world, 
especially in British India, Ceylon, and Java. 
The Peking authorities have frit the matter to be 
so grave that ths Commissioner of Customs here 
and at the other tea-exnosting ports have been di- 
rected to make inquiries in order to find out the 
causes of this decline, and to suggest a remedy. 
Mr. Bredon, the Commissioner of Customs, has 
kindly allowed me to see the correspondence on this 
subject. A masterly and exhaustive letter from Mr. J . 
M. Ringer, whose judgment in all matters connected 
with the tea trade is considered unimpeachable, is the 
document from which I have learnt most. From it and 
from the other papers I have drawn the following con- 
clusions : — 
1st, That Indian and Ceylon tea is better than 
Chinese, although the Shanghai tea-tasters assert that 
China tea has naturally the better flavour. In India and 
* Chlorite, a soft, olive green mineral, consisting of 
minute scales, and somewhat soapy to the touch. It 
is allied to talc, but contains also silica, magnesia, 
and alumina.— Dana. 
