456 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan.  2,  1893. 
begin  operation*  at  Millewitiya  and  Doloswella  and 
elsewhere  should  these  prove  remunerative,  as  I think 
they  will. 
Limited  prospecting  of  Bballow  and  deep  illan  gives 
but  a slight  clue  to  the  value  and  extent  of  the  illan 
beneath  the  surface,  and  a preliminary  examination  like 
the  present  one  in  which  I have  been  engaged,  produces 
but  a slight  idea  of  what  the  probable  results  may  turn 
out.  It  would  take  a long  period  of  time,  at  great 
coat,  to  enable  one  to  say  positively  where  the  best 
grounds  are  situated  ; and  it  is  in  these  cases  only 
by  actual  workings,  as  I have  described,  that  a true 
knowledge  of  the  value  of  tbe  properties  the  Syndi- 
cate has  procured  can  be  accurately  ascertained. 
On  the  Rakwaone  properties,  apart  from  a portion 
of  Bntiyatenne,  do  gemming  operations  by  natives 
are  now  being  carried  on,  as  the  owners  of  these  have 
not  permitted  it. 
REPORT  ON  SOME  PLUMBAGO  MINES  IN 
CEYLON. 
VII.— POSITION. 
Nambapani  Distbict. — The  plnmbago  mines  I visited 
in  this  district  are  situated  on  the  sides  of  a mountain 
raDge,  of  about  one  thousand  feet  in  height,  trend- 
ing nearly  south  from  Kinllawalla  point ; and  are 
distributed  over  an  area  of  seven  miles  in  length  by 
one  mile  in  width.  There  are  two  sets  of  veins,  the 
one  on  the  western  side  of  the  range  dipping  with 
gneiss  rock  whioh  encloses  them  in  a westerly  di- 
rection, and  those  on  the  eastern  side  in  an  easterly 
direction.  Tbe  gneiss  is  of  the  usual  compositiou 
and  character  as  before  described,  but  the  bedding  and 
foliation  here  strike  north  and  south,  instead  of 
north-east  and  south-west  at  Ratnapura,  and  east 
and  west  at  Rakwanne.  In  all  other  respects  the 
rock  is  the  same.  Flowing  in  a gorge  aoross  this 
range  is  the  Kaiuganga,  a line  river,  at  a distance  of 
2J  miles  from  Nambapani  resthouse  by  the  road,  or 
1|  in  a st  aigbt  line. 
Eight  mines  are  at  present  being  worked,  the  princi- 
pal being  designated  as  follows 
1.  Kurillawella  Owners  Pedrick  and  Brampy  Peris 
2.  TunpeLhena  Owner  Priest  of  Dumbra  Temple  lands 
3.  P*halapola  „ ,,  ,,  ,, 
4.  Mai-i pula  „ „ „ „ 
5.  Ehelepola  „ „ „ „ 
Of  the  other  mines,  4J  and  5 miles  from  the  river 
in  a direct  line,  upon  the  same  veins,  one  belongs  to 
Peuriok  and  the  other  to  the  Dumbra  Temple;  but 
these  were  not  visited. 
Of  the  five  mines  mentioned  in  the  list,  oDe  leased  to 
the  Cbetty,  known  as  the  famous  Dumbra  plum- 
bago pits,  are  second  to  none  in  the  island  for  the 
production  of  plumbago  of  the  first  quality.  Next  to  this 
in  the  district  is  Kirrillawella  mine,  and  probably  tbe 
third  is  Tunpelebena, 
They  w eie  all  discovered  many  years  ago  by  the  natives 
living  on  the  spot  finding  small  loose  pieces  of  plum- 
bago on  the  surface  of  the  soil,  when  open  diggings 
were  commenced,  and  continued  to  a depth  of  many 
feet,  wbere  the  veins  were  small,  narrow  and  branch- 
ing ; but  these  when  followed  in  depth  seemed  to  come 
together.  When  the  solid  undecomposed  gneiss  rock 
was  reached  they  increased  in  size,  but,  owing  to  the 
influx  of  water  and  hardness  of  rock,  were  more  dif- 
ficult and  expensive  to  work.  At  this  6t»ge,  such  min- 
ing required  the  aid  of  capital  and  bkill,  in  order  to 
free  the  workings  from  water,  and  in  this  the  natives 
are  deficient ; so  the  works  are  Dot  prosecuted  as  they 
might  be  by  European  companies  in  command  ot  capital. 
I will  now  proceed  to  describe  each  mine  in  the 
order  in  whioh  I visited  them. 
VIII.— DESCRIPTION  OF  MINES. 
Tonpelehena  Mine. — This  mine,  some  three  miles 
south  of  t}ie  KhIu  ganga,  is  reached  from  Nambapani 
by  traversing  the  main  road  to  Ratnapura  for  3j 
miles,  and  then  crossing  the  river  in  a ferry  to  the 
south  side,  and  continuing  tbe  journey  along  a path 
for  3 miles  to  an  elevation  of  about  600  feet. 
'J'bQ  main  vein  is  in  a decomposed  gneiss  for  a depth 
of  50  feet,  and  in  grey  gDeiss  of  a solid  chsrsoter 
dowi  wards.  Two  large  open  cuttings,  and  one  pit,  7 
feet  by  10  feet,  of  a depth  of  60  feet,  timbered,  and 
provided  with  a s'  rocg  windlass  form  the  chief  wot  kings. 
No.  1 Cutting  has  bad  45  tons  of  plumbago 
extracted  from  it  in  decomposed  rock,  and  some  from 
the  solid  gneiss,  it  is  40  feet  by  50  feet,  with  a depth 
ol  about  50  feet.  On  its  south  side  are  three  drifts,  one 
above  the  other,  and  on  the  west  are  three  more  on 
a sort  of  imperfect  parallel  veiD,  but  these  have 
been  discontinued.  Both  this  and  the  main  vein  have 
branches  which  shoot  in  various  directions,  bnt  are 
small  ; and  the  main  vein,  where  firat  worked,  is  4 
inches  wide,  dipping  east  at  an  angle  of  10°  in  the  de- 
composed rock,  while  the  solid  beds  of  gneiss  dip  at  an 
angle  i f 50°  in  the  same  direction,  aDd  there  the  vein 
coincides  with  this.  Fifteen  feet  from  the  south  end 
of  the  cutting  is  the  pit  which  struck  the  maiD  vein  at 
a depth  of  60  feet,  ano  the  lessee  says  cost  5,000 rupees 
to  sink  ; but  this  1 think  cannot  be  correct,  and  pro- 
bably includes  work  done  on  the  vein  besides. 
The  main  vein  runs  in  a south  15°  east  direction,  and 
has  been  proved  for  100  yards  in  length  by  open  cut- 
tings. From  the  first  cutting,  one  of  the  drifts  was 
driven  through  to  the  pit,  which  in  its  south  side  has 
3 drifts  at  various  levels,  the  longest  being  82  feet; 
and  3 on  tbe  north.  In  tbe  deep  level  tbe  width  of  the 
vein  varies  from  5 to  6 inches,  but  in  places  is  nipped 
to  smaller  dimensions. 
No.  2 Gutting  is  100  yards  southward  of  the  firBt, 
and  is  60  feet  by  70  feet,  and  60  feet  deep,  in  which 
is  6een  the  main  veiD  of  4 inches  in  width,  together 
with  small  parallel  and  branching  oses.  The  shaft 
was  partially  sunk  by  other  lessees,  and  6 months  ago 
the  present  lessee  continued  it  and  struck  the  vein. 
When  in  full  work,  from  75  to  100  men  are  employed. 
At  the  time  01  my  visit,  only  20  men  were  at  work 
on  the  winnlasses,  taku  g tbe  water  out  by  means  of 
large  iron-bound  bnckeis,  one  ascending  full  whilst 
the  other  descended  empty;  and  2 men  and  8 boys 
were  cleaning  the  plunruDago  with  small  triangular 
hatchets  and  knives,  on  the  dressing  floor,  the  others 
being  away  getting  in  tin  ir  rice  harvest.  Plumbago 
got  from  this  veiD,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  decom- 
posed rock,  is  broken  up  and  washed  free  from  earth 
and  impurities  m basket  bateas.  The  lessee  (Arnolis) 
informed  me  that  their  output  averaged  abont  three- 
fourtbs  to  1 ten  per  working  day,  or  about  300  tons 
per  annum ; which  be  sold  on  the  river’s  bank 
to  boat-owners  for  from  £8  to  £10  per  ton.  At  the 
time  there  were  three  large  scows  awaiting  loads  at 
the  ferry,  from  these  and  mines  to  the  southward. 
Tbe  plumbago  is  carried  in  baskets  down  to  tbe 
river  by  both  men  and  women,  the  former  receiving 
50  cents  for  a load  of  two  baskets  for  every  two  trips, 
and  the  latter  15  cents. 
Gr8y  gneiss  foims  the  country  rock,  and  the  veins 
of  plumbago  are  in  partB  in  a coarse  felspatbio  reck, 
a sort  of  graphic  granite,  which  is  in  layers  in  the 
gneiss. 
From  a rough  calculation  I make  out  that  the  profits 
to  the  owner  on  the  output  he  named  is  £700  per 
annum. 
Madapola  Mine. — Madspola  is  leased  to  a Chetty, 
who  chnfly  resides  in  Colombo. 
This  Mine  is  on  the  western  side  of  the  range,  at 
an  elevation  of  375  feet  above  the  sea,  and  J of  a 
mile  south  of  the  river,  at  a distance  of  2 miles  by 
road  fiom  Nambapani. 
Along  the  vein,  for  a distance  of  100  yards,  there 
are  eleven  pitB,  the  most  northern  one  being  down 
through  the  decomposed  gneiss  into  the  solid  rock. 
The  northern  pit,  120  feet  deep,  has  two  7-inch 
pumps,  worked  by  a horizontal  steam  ergine,  for 
draining  the  mit  e;  but  the  pumps  bad  recently  split, 
and  the  crank  of  the  foicing  set  was  broken,  so  that 
the  machinery  was  at  a BteDdstil),  and  there  was  36 
feet  of  water  in  the  shafts;  con-tquently,  Dearly  all 
mining,  except  in  the  upper  level,  was  suspended  for 
the  time.  Altogetler,  there  are  Dearly  200  mentm- 
ployed,  of  whim  32  were  engaged  on  the  windlasses, 
hoisting  out  water.  When  in  full  work,  formerly! 
they  eay  800  men  were  employed, 
