340 
Records of Hie Geological Snrvei/ of India. 
[voL. XJ. 
Third, the proper amount of stone was never either mined or crushed in the 
time estimated for a paying result. The engine was overestimated in its power, 
and the 15 stamps were never worked at once; while the calculation was that, 
with 15 stamps, 15 tons of quartz could be crushed in the day’s work. As it is, 
according to the returns supplied to me by the Alpha Company, I find that had 
their work been at the rate originally proposed, even under their small general 
average, the working of the mine would not have been a failure. The cost of 
raising and crushing 769| tons of quartz was Es. 2,971-0-5; and taking the 
value of their gold at Es. 45 per oz,, which is about what was paid for it, the 
amount realised on 91 oz. 12 dwts. 23 grains, or about Es. 4,224-0-0, leaves a value 
of Es. 1,252-11-0 for other expenses, besides raising and crushing. It is true 
that parts of eight months were occupied in this crushing, but the work ought all 
to have been done in two months and a half, reckoning 20 working days to the 
month; and had the work been properly done, it is almost certain that the cost of 
raising and crushing would not have been so high as it is set doum in their table, 
the average cost of rai.sing and crushing the quartz being Es. 3-86 per ton, a far 
too high rate for Wynad mining. 
The next adventure is that of the Wynad Prospecting Company, -which has 
been carried on in a very small way with the intention of making preliminary 
trials as to the paying capabilities of the reefs. The works are situated on the 
edge of the Carcoor cherrum, near the outfall of one of the minor streams of the 
Dayvallah country, so as to take advantage of the water-power, while the reefs 
worked are also close by. In the case of this undertaking also, the mining has 
not been systematic, nor has it been carried to any depth in the hillside or dowm- 
ward. Of the reefs taken up by this Company, the Monarch was tried by a 
shaft and level drift run into the eastern side of the hill through which the reef 
runs, but was given up at 55 feet, as the lode was not struck, as had been expected, 
if the dip of the reef had remained constant. Operations ivere then confined 
to the Hamhn, Bear, Korumber and Etacull reefs, where they crop out on the edge 
of the Dayvallah plateau, or at the toj) of the northern slope of the Carcoor 
cherrum, and where there is an extraordinary number of old shafts and excava¬ 
tions of the old gold-diggers. It was from among the leaders of these reefs, in 
the soft decomposed felspathic gneiss, that lumps of quartz with visible gold 
associated with nests of hmonite were obtained. 
The Prince of Wales’ Tribute Company was started on a very small scale, 
perhaps more with the idea of keeping the gold industry before the public. The 
mines, machinery, &c., of the Alpha Company were taken on a tribute for a 
certain period, and operations were commenced with stone from the old quarries 
of the Alpha works. A commencement was also made on the northern extension 
of the Skull reef in a high hill between the works and Dayvallah village, but the 
excavations were stopped owing, as already stated, to the reef not being struck 
at the expected distance, though the search was afterwards resumed, and the reef 
found just before the lease had expired. However, a persistent drive at Wrights’ 
level resulted in a find of rich stone, which continued to give good results, until 
March last, when the operations were discontinued. 
