GOLD.
Gold mines are as uncertain as women, and yet from either it seems impossible to keep away. Perhaps it is this very uncertainty which constitutes the chief charm of both. But, however that may be, it is certain that about gold in general, whether visible or prospective, there is such a degree of attractiveness that, as the Kanarese proverb puts it, if gold is to be seen even a corpse will open its mouth; and I feel sure as I write, that in this chapter at least I can count not only on attention, but on a general attitude of expectancy in the mind of the reader. And from one point of view he will be fairly satisfied, for the history of gold mining in Mysore has quite a romantic cast, and in the hands of a skilful novelist, there might be extracted from it much literary capital. The foremost fact indeed which I have to give has almost a sensational flavour, and at first sight seems a mere dream. We often read of fields of golden grain, but that corn should ever, by any process of nature, have on its ears grains of gold, seems beyond belief. And yet the fact of grains of gold being found on the ears of the rice plants is probably the very earliest tradition connected with gold, and it is not improbable that the circumstance may have been one of the means of calling attention to the existence of gold in Mysore. An account of this tradition is to be found in the "Selections from the Records of the Mysore Government,"[[25]] and from them it appears that Lieutenant John Warren, when he was employed in surveying the eastern boundary of Mysore in 1800, was told by a Brahman that "In prosperous years when the gods favoured the Zillah of Kadogi (a small village on the west bank of the Pennar river, Hoskote Talook, 15 miles from Bangalore) with an ample harvest now and then grains of gold were found on the ears of the paddy (rice plants) grown under the tank lying close to the north of that village." And in this connection I may mention that, when visiting the Kolar mines last January, I found, in the course of a conversation with the head man of the village of Ooregum, that he was aware of this tradition, and that grains of gold were said to have been seen on the rice plants at a village about fifteen miles distant from his own. The explanation of this is extremely simple, as the rice plants are usually grown in nurseries and transplanted in bunches of several plants, after which the fields are flooded, and in heavy floods (and this accounts for the gold having been found in the years which are prosperous from the abundant rain) the plants would often be quite submerged. With the water no doubt came grains of gold, which were deposited on the rice plants, and as these grew, the grains of gold would naturally rise with them, and thus often be found adhering to the roughly-coated grain.
After the attention of Lieutenant Warren was called to the subject, he seems to have taken some trouble in investigating it, and having heard a vague report that gold had been found in the earth somewhere near a small hill about nine miles east of Budiakote, offered a reward for information regarding this, and shortly afterwards a ryot of the village offered to show him the place, which was close to his village. He visited the spot in question on February 17th, 1802, "when the women of the village were assembled, and, each being provided with a small broom and vaning basket, and hollow board to receive the earth, they went to a jungle on the west of the village. Here they entered some small nullahs, or rather breaks in the ground, and removing the gravel with their hands, they swept the earth underneath into their vaning baskets, by the help of which they further cleared it of the smaller stones and threw it into the hollow board above mentioned. Having thus got enough earth together, they adjourned to a tank and placed the hollow boards containing the earth in the water, but just deep enough for it to overflow when resting on the ground, and no more. Then they stirred the earth with the hand, but keeping it over the centre of the board, so that the metal should fall into the depression by its own weight, and the earth wash over the edges. After a few minutes' stirring, they put the metallic matter thus freed of earth into a piece of broken pot, but only after examining it for gold, which they did by inclining the board and passing water over the metallic sediment which adhered to it. They thus drove the light particles before the water, leaving the heavier metal behind just at the edge where it could easily be seen, however small the quantity." Lieutenant Warren, having afterwards heard that gold was extracted from mines near Marikoppa, three miles from Ooregum, visited four of the mines, the descent into which was made by means of small foot holes which had been made in their sides. The first was two feet in breadth and four in length with a depth of about thirty feet, and in distance fifty feet (of galleries I presume), the others were from thirty to forty-five feet deep. "The miners extracted the stones (how we are not informed) and they were passed from hand to hand in baskets by the miners who were stationed at different points for the purpose of banking the stones. The women then took them to a large rock, and pounded them to dust. The latter was then taken to a well and washed by the same process as that used when washing the earth for gold, when about an equal quantity of gold was found to that procured from an equal quantity of the auriferous earth."
The only people, writes Lieutenant Warren, who devote their time to searching-for gold are Pariahs, who work as follows. "When they resolve on sinking a mine, they assemble to the number of ten or twelve from different villages. Then they elect a Daffadar, or head man, to superintend the work, and sell the gold, and they subscribe money to buy lamp oil, and the necessary iron tools, then partly from knowledge of the ground, and partly from the idea they have, that the tract over which a peacock has been observed to fly and alight, is that of a vein of gold, they fix on a spot and begin to mine."
Such, then, was the condition of gold mining in Mysore about the end of the last and the beginning of this century, but in ancient times mining was carried on by the natives to very considerable depths, and I am informed by Mr. B. D. Plummer, who has had ten years' experience of mines at Kolar, and worked the Mysore and Nundydroog mines, that the old native workings went down to a depth of about 260 feet. These, which were all choked up, were followed down to the bottom, and valuable lodes were found at about 150 to 260 feet. Nothing was found in the old native workings, but remains of old chatties (earthenware pots) and the wooden props put in to secure the sides. The native workings, in the opinion of Captain Plummer, were evidently carried on with skill and efficiency, and appear to be of great antiquity. Large quantities of water were found, requiring pumping machinery working day and night for its removal. How the natives in olden times got rid of the water is not known. It is supposed that they must have done so by chatties, and by hand, with the aid of large numbers of people. As no native iron tools[[26]] were found in the cases of the two above-mentioned mines, it is evident that they were deliberately abandoned, either from excess of water in them, or some unknown cause. As the lodes they worked at the depths they reached were rich, it is probable that the miners could no longer contend with the difficulty of removing the large quantities of water. I am informed by Mr. Plummer that the main lodes where the natives have formerly worked have, in nearly every case, proved successful. Mr. Plummer has examined other districts in the province, extending more than 100 miles north of Mysore city, and thinks that there is a very large mining future for the Mysore country. I am informed by one of the mine managers that from the quantity of charcoal found in the old native workings, it is probable that the natives first of all burnt the rock so as to make it the more easy of extraction, just as they now burn granite rock in order the more easily to split off the stone.
As the facts connected with these mines were brought very fully to the notice of the Government at such an early date, it at first sight seems strange that we have to skip over a period of about seventy years till we again meet, in the "Selections" previously quoted from, any further notice of the mines; but the neglect of them was evidently owing to the similar neglect of coffee and other industries, which might have been pushed forward at a much earlier date, and most certainly would have been, had the Government taken pains to see that the information so frequently obtained was published in an available and readable form, instead of being buried in the various offices of the State. That more efforts were not made in this direction was probably owing to the fact that the Government officers did not perceive the widespread effect that the introduction of European capital would have on the agriculture of the country, and, consequently, on the finances of the State—a subject referred to in my introductory chapter, and to which I shall again allude in the chapter on Coorg—while they were under the erroneous impression that Europeans would probably be a cause of annoyance to the Government and the people. We find a characteristic survival of the last idea in the "Selections," and in Clause X. of the conditions under which, in 1873, the first leave to mine was granted by the Government of Mysore, it is declared that, "In the event of the grantee causing annoyance or obstruction to any class of the people, or to the officers of Government, the chief commissioner reserves the power of annulling the mining right thus granted." But such apprehensions, I need hardly say, have long since passed away, and certainly within my long experience they never existed in Southern India in the case of the planters who, as a body, have always been encouraged by the State, and have always got on well with it and the people, though, of course, as in all countries, there are occasionally individuals who cannot bring themselves into harmony with any person, or condition of things.
And now, before proceeding with my narrative of gold mining in Mysore, I pause for one moment to note the rather remarkable fact that it seems impossible to find in old records or inscriptions any reference to gold mining in Mysore.[[27]] As to this I have made diligent inquiry, from the librarian of H. H. the Maharajah, from a member of the Archæological Survey of Mysore, and in every quarter that occurred to me. I was informed by a European resident at Bangalore that, at the Eurasian settlement near that city, there is a stone pillar with an inscription said by tradition to relate to gold mining, but I can hardly suppose it possible that this could have escaped the notice of the officers of the Archæological Survey. One of the officers of this department informed me that, in consequence of the absence of traditions regarding gold mining, he inferred that mining in Mysore must have been carried on from very remote times. But it is time to proceed with the history of mining in Mysore.
It appears, then, from the "Selections," that a Mr. Lavelle on the 20th of August, 1873, applied for the right to carry on mining operations in Kolar. Two years previously he had examined portions of the Kolar district (without any grant it would seem, from no mention of one being made), and found three auriferous strata, in one of which he sunk a shaft to the depth of eighteen feet, and found gold increase in quality and size as he went downwards. In the event of a mining right being granted he proposed to begin work again in November. After some correspondence came a letter from the chief commissioner, dated September 16th, 1874, submitting conditions (which must be regarded as final) as the basis of an agreement (to be afterwards legally drawn up) to be entered into between the Government and Mr. Lavelle. It is unnecessary to recapitulate all the conditions; suffice it to say that the right to mine in Kolar was to extend over twenty years, and that a royalty of ten per cent. on all metals and metallic ores, and of twenty per cent. on all precious stones, was to be paid. On September 20th, 1874, Mr. Lavelle accepted the terms, but what he did or did not do as regards mining does not appear in the "Selections," and I find it merely stated therein that on March 28th, 1876, leave was given him to transfer his rights to other parties. It, however, appears from a statement made by Mr. Lavelle in 1885 to the special correspondent of the "Madras Mail,"[[28]] that a small syndicate was formed, and some work carried on in the native style, though little success seems to have been met with, and the work was abandoned. About a year afterwards it was again recommenced by Mr. Lavelle, who in the meanwhile had been prospecting in other parts of Southern India, and he succeeded in once more attracting attention to the Kolar field, and subsequently various companies were formed, but so disappointing were the results obtained that all were practically closed in 1882, except the Mysore mine, which was working to a small extent. In February, 1883, the Nundydroog mine was ordered to be closed, and almost every other mine was in a state of collapse. Caretakers were put in and only a little work done. Early in 1884, when only twelve or thirteen thousand pounds of their capital were left, the Mysore shareholders were convened. Some were for closing at once and dividing the remaining capital, but, acting on the advise of Messrs. John Taylor and Sons, of 6, Queen Street Place, London, it was, fortunately for the province of Mysore, determined to spend it on the mine. The shares were then as low as tenpence. The company began to get gold about the end of 1884, and the prospect improved so much that the Nundydroog mine in May, 1885, was enabled to raise money on debentures, and so to again carry on work. If the shareholders of the Mysore company had not persevered, it is almost absolutely certain that the whole of the Kolar gold field would have been permanently abandoned. This is just one of those cases which cheer the sinking hopes of shareholders, and attract vast sums of money to gold mines; and no wonder, when we find the chairman of the Mysore company apologizing lately because he could not declare a dividend of more than fifty per cent.; that up to the end of 1892 the gold sold by the company realized £1,149,430 2s. 1d., and that the total sum paid in dividends amounted to £602,156 10s. 6d.
The Mysore mine had been sunk to a depth of about 200 feet when it was proposed that the project should be abandoned. Just below this depth the miners struck the Champion lode on which the Mysore, Ooregum, Nundydroog, Balaghaut, and Indian Consolidated Companies are working. The Mysore mine has now been sunk to a depth of over 1,200 feet, Ooregum 850 feet, and Nundydroog over 860 feet. The lode is not richer per ton, as is commonly supposed, on greater depths being reached. The yield per ton is probably about the same, though from larger quantities being taken out, and the use of the rock drill, which causes a large extraction of country rock, the product per ton of quartz is apparently smaller. The specimens now found are as good as ever.
The circumstances of the Champion lode are briefly these. In the interior of a surrounding of granite there is a great basin of hornblende rock of schistose character, and through this, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, runs the lode. This is not of continuous thickness. In some places it is four or five feet wide, in others runs down to an almost vanishing point, and then again thickens. In the case of the mines now working on this lode, the basin of hornblende is more than two miles in width, and is possibly many thousands of feet in depth, so there seems to be a reasonable prospect of there being a long future before the workers on the Champion lode.
The Kolar gold field is about seven miles in length, and averages about two to three miles in width. There are in all fourteen mines, but two of them are practically stopped. The general appearance of it is at present by no means attractive, as the land is rocky and sterile, and unfavourable to the growth of trees, but, from the appearance of some of the Baubul trees, I feel sure that if large pits for the trees were dug, and filled with soil from the low-lying ground, a great deal might be done to beautify the field, by planting here and there groups of Baubul and other hardy trees indigenous to the locality. As I thought it would be interesting, and perhaps useful, to give some idea of life on the fields, I asked one of the ladies resident there to supply me with some notes for publication, and her observations on the situation from a social and general point of view are as follows.
"You ask me for some notes on the field, and I may begin by telling you that we usually rise about half-past six, when the menkind go off to their offices, or underground, as the ease may be. We have tiffin between twelve and one, and dinner at half-past seven. Breakfast is generally at about eight, and the managers commonly have theirs sent down to the office.
"In the afternoon, that is to say, when the five o'clock whistle blows, we play tennis, or else go down to the Gymkana ground to watch the cricket. Sometimes there is a gymkana in which we all take great interest, particularly in those races called ladies' events, when the winners present their prizes to the ladies who have nominated them. The great drawback to the gold fields at present is the absence of some general meeting-place or club, but it is hoped that by next year this want will be supplied, as the Ooregum, Nundydroog, and Champion Reefs Companies have combined to build a hall, which is to contain a billiard-room, card-room, library, etc., and there is to be a tennis court in the compound.
"One of the great pleasures is gardening. The plants that grow best are jalaps, sunflowers, roses, cornflowers, nasturtiums, verbenas, and geraniums, all of which, with the exception of the two first-named plants, require water constantly. The creepers that grow best are passion-flowers, and a small kind of green creeper with convolvulus flowers, the name of which I do not know. Honeysuckle also grows, though but slowly. Trees have recently been planted in the various compounds, and also along some parts of the road leading to the bungalows, but owing to the shallowness of the soil, and the roots so soon reaching the rock, they seldom grow to any size. Some casuarinas in the Mysore mine camp have grown to about twenty feet in height, but these have now struck the rock, and most of them are dying.
"We have occasional visitors, many of them being shareholders in the various mines, bringing with them introductions from England, and wishing to inspect all the works, stamps, etc., on the surface, and very often going underground. Several ladies have been taken down the mines lately, but they do not seem to care for it much, for though of course it is interesting, still the fatigue of going down so many feet on ladders is great. The mines, too, in many parts are dirty and wet, and amongst other disagreeables are the cockroaches, which are enormous, and the stinging ants. Ladies too, I find, are as a rule disappointed at not seeing more 'visible gold.' I believe they cherish generally some idea of picking up a nice little nugget to keep as a souvenir of their expedition.
"None of the mines have any 'cages,' as they are called, so if one does not want to go down by the ladders, one can only go in the box in which the quartz comes up, and as this is only two feet square and four feet deep, the journey by it would be decidedly uncomfortable. At every eighty feet, I may mention, you come to a small wooden platform (or level) where you can rest, and from which branch off the cross cuts and drives, or narrow passages. The depths of the different mines vary a great deal, Mysore being as low as 1,400 feet, the greatest depth sunk at present, while the least depth sunk is about 300 feet. Ladies going underground have to wear suitable attire. Skirts would be quite useless. A long coat, or short skirt reaching to the knees, and knickerbockers, is the most comfortable dress for the occasion. Very strong boots should be worn.
"Many of the miners and people employed in the gold fields have joined the Volunteers. There is now quite a strong corps of about 100 men, some being Eurasians, but the majority are either English or Italians. Once a year some 'bigwig' comes from Bangalore to review them. There is a sergeant-instructor on the field, and the adjutant comes very frequently to see them drill, etc.
"Round the various large tanks about six or eight miles away from the mines excellent snipe shooting is to be had, and duck and teal are also to be found. Spotted deer and bears are sometimes shot by sportsmen from the mines, but for those one must go further away. The fishing is not considered to be very good, but perhaps those who fish do not know how to set to work. The natives sometimes bring very large tank fish round for sale.
"Driving and riding are not very enjoyable, owing to the terribly bad state of the roads. When the railway to the mines is opened, which it soon will be, I am happy to say, the roads will be better. At present the heavy machinery for the mines, boilers, etc.—sometimes taking sixty bullocks to draw them—cut up the roads dreadfully. These will of course come by rail directly the line is open for traffic. The supplies, vegetables, fruit, etc., come from Bangalore three times a week, each mine keeping a 'Supply boy' (servant), who goes in from Kolar Road (our railway station, seven miles from the mines), and returns the following day. We get mutton and beef from the local butcher, and also good bread from the bakery on the field. Our butter comes from Bangalore, and from there we obtain, peas, potatoes, French beans, tomatoes, cauliflowers, vegetable marrow, and lettuces, and also fruit, such as apples, peaches, grapes, plantains, custard apples, melons, and sometimes pine-apples. Servants on the whole are good. Most of them come from Madras. Wages are much higher on the gold fields than in Bangalore—head butlers, 16 rupees; ayahs, 12 to 14 rupees; chokras, 10 to 11 rupees; cooks, 11 to 14 rupees; and gardeners, 10 to 16 rupees a month. Many of them leave domestic service and take work in the mines, where they get higher wages very often."
As the elevation of Kolar is about 2,700 feet above sea level, the climate is for many months of the year extremely agreeable, and it would, so far as my experience goes, be difficult to find a more exhilarating and more exquisitely-tempered atmosphere than that of Kolar in the month of January—at least such was my conclusion when I stayed with my friends at the field last January. Nor did I hear anyone there complain of the climate, which, from the appearance of my host (who looked as if he had never left England) and others on the mines, must be a very healthy one, and in proof of this I may mention that Mr. Plummer, whom I have previously quoted, told me that the European miners had as good health as miners have in England. Cholera has on several occasions broken out amongst the coolies, but this was rather a proof of the want of attention paid to sanitation and water supply, as none I believe has occurred since an improved water supply has been introduced by all the companies now pumping it up from depths of 200 feet from the bottoms of abandoned shafts. There was a remarkable confirmation of the connection between cholera and water supply and sanitation one year, and the first company which paid attention to these points had no cholera amongst its people, while most of the other mines had more or less of the disease. I may mention here a fact to which I have alluded in my chapter on coffee planting in Mysore—namely, that Europeans in Mysore have been so little liable to cholera that in sixty years there has only been one death from it amongst the European officials of the province, and one doubtful case amongst the planters.
As regards mining and the extraction of gold, there is little to be said. I inspected the works and the rock drills. These work through the agency of compressed air, and at a cost of 15 rupees a day for coal for each drill, the same tool which is used in drilling by hand. It is doubtful whether hand-drilling is not cheaper, but the latter is far slower, and hence does not pay as well, rapid progress being absolutely essential. When working with rock drills, a shaft can be sunk 10 to 20 feet a month, against 7 to 8 feet by hand, and a level may on the average be driven 45 to 50 feet a month by rock drills against 10 or 12 feet by hand. When, however, a large surface for operating on is exposed, hand-drilling may be profitably employed. This is interesting as illustrating the fact that where labour is cheap machines seldom pay, and this is particularly worth mentioning for the benefit of those who have thought that it would be useful to introduce agricultural machinery into India. After looking at the rock drills I inspected the gold extraction works. The processes here need not detain us long. The quartz is first broken by stone-breakers like those used in England. The broken stone is then placed in an iron trough (battery box), and is pounded by iron stampers, which of course are worked by machinery. In front of this trough is a fine sieve. Water is incessantly run into the trough, and as it overflows, carries with it all the quartz which has been pounded sufficiently to pass through the sieve. The water, mingled with this finely powdered quartz, then falls on to a sloping plate of copper coated with quicksilver, which amalgamates with, and so detains, the gold. The deposit thus formed is scraped off the sheets of copper at intervals of about eight hours, and formed into balls of various sizes, which consist of about one-half gold and one-half quicksilver. The latter is subsequently separated from the gold by processes which I need not describe, and the gold is afterwards formed into bars for export.
I inquired particularly as to the rates of wages. These are, for coolies working underground, from 7 to 8 annas a day (with the rupee at par one anna is equal to 1½d., and 8 annas would therefore amount to 1s.). Those who work rock drills in mines, 12 annas to a rupee a day; ordinary coolies working aboveground, 4 to 8 annas; and women, 2 to 4 annas a day. The working population on the field numbers about 10,000, while 20,000 more, who work for varying periods of the year, reside in the neighbouring villages.
I was much struck with the fact that no advances whatever are given to coolies by the companies, as is the case with men working on plantations, and I would particularly call the attention of planters to this, as it proves what I have elsewhere stated—namely, that where labour rises to a comparatively high rate no advances are necessary, and I feel sure that if planters would resolve to reduce gradually the amount of advances, they might ultimately be altogether dispensed with.
My next subject of inquiry relating to labour was as to the probable total amount paid for it, and, from an estimate made for me by a very competent authority residing on the mines, I believe that the following account is substantially correct. The amount of wages paid monthly to native labourers and the small number of Eurasians working on the mines is about 2 lakhs of rupees. To natives who fell and bring in timber for fuel about 80,000 rupees monthly are paid. On quarrying and carting granite, and in building, about 30,000 rupees a month are spent; on the carriage of materials from the railway about 15,000 rupees, and probably from 5,000 to 10,000 rupees on local products such as straw, grain, oil, mats, bamboos, tiles, etc. Now, if we take no account of the last two items, and deduct 10,000 rupees from the second and third, we shall have a fair estimate of three lakhs of rupees a month as the amount spent on the Kolar gold field in wages, which, taking the rupee at par (and I think I am justified in doing so, as for expenditure in India by labourers it goes about as far as it ever did), amounts to £360,000 a year. And this great sum is earned by people who either have land and work for occasional periods of the year on the mines, or by labourers, who, when they have saved enough money from their wages (which they could do with ease in a year), will acquire and cultivate a small holding. A large proportion of this sum of £360,000 a year—probably two-thirds of it—goes to improving the status and condition of the agricultural and labouring classes, and I need hardly add that this not only leads to an improvement of the resources of the State, but enables the people the better to contend with famine and times of scarcity, and thus still further improves the financial condition of the Government. And it is largely in consequence of the great sums brought into Mysore by the planters and the gold companies that the revenues of Mysore are in such a nourishing condition, and that year after year the annual budget presents an appearance more and more favourable.
And here this question naturally arises. What can the Government of Mysore do to stimulate the employment of labour in mining, and thus still further strengthen the financial position of the State? I am prepared to show that it can do much to stimulate the opening of new mines, and also to encourage many of those now in existence which have not as yet been able to pay dividends.
The reader will see by a glance at the map that the auriferous tracts of Mysore (to which I shall presently more particularly allude) are of great extent, and, judging from the report of the geological surveyor employed by the Government, and especially from the existence of numerous old native workings, there is no reason why prizes even greater than the best of those already obtained should not exist. Now one of the greatest obstacles in the way of rapid progress lies in the fact that before mining can be got fairly under weigh much preliminary work has to be done, and the shareholders have therefore a long time to wait before any paying return can be obtained. But if the preliminary work, such as the providing of water, the collection of building materials, and the making of roads, etc., were carried out before a company was formed, mining could be begun at once, and results rapidly arrived at, and the frittering away of money, both in England and India, that at present necessarily occurs, would be averted. Now the country has already been largely explored, and the Government is therefore in a position to know the places where favourable results will probably be obtained, and as the State, besides the other advantages I have previously pointed out, gets a royalty on the gold, it has a natural interest in doing its utmost to select the most favourable sites for new mining operations. Such sites then should, with the aid of experienced mining advisers, be selected by the Government, which itself should execute the preliminary works previously specified, and then advertise the blocks, so selected and prepared, for sale in the London market. For such prepared blocks purchasers could readily be found, and if the price they paid merely covered the bare cost of the preliminary works, the expenditure of capital that would thus be stimulated, with all its consequent direct and indirect advantages to the province, would amply repay the Government for its trouble and outlay.
But the State may give yet another stimulus to mining, which, I feel sure, would prove of great advantage to the State. The present royalty is five per cent. on the value of the gold produced, and from this source the Government last year received 5 lakhs and 18,000 rupees. Now the prosperous companies which are paying good dividends do not feel this to be a very serious burden, but it is a serious burden—every shilling of expenditure indeed is—to a company which has not begun to pay dividends, and I would suggest that, till a company is able to pay dividends, one-half of the royalty, or, better still, the whole of it, might be remitted. This sum would by no means be lost to the State, for does not the milk that is left in the cow go to the calf?
The measures I have proposed would be of such obvious advantage to the State that, were I a shareholder, or intending investor, in mines in Mysore, I should have no hesitation in suggesting their adoption, but it may be as well to mention that I am neither.
I drove one afternoon with my host to the court on the field, and had some conversation with the magistrate regarding thefts at the mines, and it certainly appears that a special Act is required to check the stealing of gold. Sponge-gold (i.e., gold from which the quicksilver has been evaporated), quartz, or gold amalgam, if found in the possession of any person, renders the individual liable to prosecution, if the possession of gold in any of these forms cannot be satisfactorily accounted for. But the individual cannot be called to account for having ordinary pure gold in possession. Now in a man's possession at the mines there has been found all the means of separating the gold by quicksilver, and it is therefore quite clear that gold stolen in either of the first three mentioned forms may, after having been deprived of its concomitant impurities, be held by an individual to any amount, and even by a workman earning 6d. a day, without his being liable to be called upon to account for its possession. Some Act to meet this kind of case is then clearly required—an Act similar to our Mysore Coffee-stealing Prevention Act, which provides that any person not a planter is liable to be called upon to account for coffee in his possession.
A difficult point occurs where quartz is found in a hut occupied by several people, as it is impossible to charge any one person with being in illegal possession of the article. There are numerous evidences of gold stealing, and certainly some summary process ought to be established with the view of checking these thefts. I may add that the Government is much interested in this matter, as five per cent. of the gold belongs to it, and is handed over in the shape of royalty. Those who are most concerned should bring the matter annually before the members of the Representative Assembly. Even in England remedies for, or mitigations of, evils are not provided without much continuous parliamentary hammering.
After discussing the subject of gold stealing with the magistrate, I called on the manager of the Mysore mine, and afterwards went with my host to a lawn tennis party at the house of the doctor of the mines, who is employed by the various companies. He has a comfortable bungalow, which is at a considerable elevation above the level of the valley, and commands an extensive view of the surrounding country and of the distant hills. Above the house, and at some little distance on one side of it, stands the hospital, and on a knoll just below, the building of the new Roman Catholic church was in progress, and the walls were nearly finished. From the doctor's bungalow a good general view of the whole field can be obtained, and I was particularly struck with the number of buildings to be seen in all directions. I was told that from this point as many as thirty tall chimneys can be counted.
There is a great want of water in the field, for purposes connected with the separation of the gold from the quartz, and tanks are being provided to store it. I venture to suggest that a considerable distance of the catchment area on the sides, and especially at the back, of the tanks should be honeycombed with pits, as the water, which is often largely lost from falling in heavy deluges, would thus percolate into the ground, and so find its way into the bed of the tank by degrees. I may mention that a great effect has been produced in the case of a tank on one of my coffee estates by thus digging pits to catch water that would otherwise run directly down into the tank, to be largely lost by the overflow during heavy rains, and a similar effect has been produced on the property of a neighbour. In fact, the effect produced by such pits on the supply of water in tanks is far greater than one could have imagined to be possible, and I may therefore, in passing, call particular attention to the advisability of such pits being made near tanks used for agricultural purposes. On the margins of the tanks, and in parts of the bed where sufficient soil exists, trees should be planted, with the view of diminishing evaporation from the surface of the water.
When the railway is completed, soil might easily be brought into the field oil trucks, and the pits dug for trees should be filled with it. The planting of trees in and around the field would certainly be beneficial in many obvious ways, and would improve the climate and probably affect, not perhaps the amount, but the distribution of the rainfall. I would suggest that if earth closets were used by the people, and the used earth spread around the trees, there would be a great improvement in their growth. This would at once improve the sanitation of the field and beautify it at the same time.
The reader has now probably learned enough of this rising settlement,[[29]] and I have only to add that on the day following I returned to Bangalore, after having had a most pleasant and interesting time of it with my friends on the Kolar field.
I next pass to a brief mention of the other auriferous tracts in Mysore, which were surveyed in 1887 by Mr. R. Bruce Foote, Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, who, in connection with his investigations between February 2nd and May 7th of that year, travelled no less than 1,300 miles in Mysore in marching and field work. A full report of his work appears in the "Selections,"[[30]] and this is accompanied by a map in which Mr. Foote has sketched out the distribution of the auriferous rocks. In the "Selections" alluded to there, is also a "Report on the Auriferous Tracts in Mysore," by Mr. M. F. Lavelle, and "Notes on the Occurrence of Gold and other Minerals in Mysore," by Mr. Walter Marsh, Mining Engineer. But in the brief remarks I have to make I shall confine my attention to Mr. Foote's Report.
Mr. Foote informs us that the chief gold-yielding rocks of Southern India belong to one great geological system, to which, from the rocks forming it occurring very largely in the Dharwar country, he two years previously gave the name of the Dharwar System, as he saw the necessity of separating them from the great Gneissic System, with which they had formerly been grouped. In his long tour in Mysore he found that every important auriferous tract visited lies within one or other of the areas of the Dharwar rocks, or forms an outlying patch of the same. These Dharwar rocks, it appears, are the auriferous series in Mysore, the ceded districts, and the Southern Maharatta country.
Mr. Foote groups the auriferous rock series of Mysore into four groups—the central, west-central, western, and the eastern—the last group being formed by the Kolar gold field, which was not included in the tracts Mr. Foote was called upon to visit. He then gives a systematic account of his examination of the country, beginning with the central, and ending with the western group.
He examined ten auriferous tracts or localities in the central group, beginning with the Holgen workings near the southern border of the province, and ending with the Hale Kalgudda locality near the northern border, and reports more or less favourably on five out of the ten localities in question. For brevity I use the numbers into which he has divided the localities he regards as more or less promising. Of part of number three, he says that his examination, though but a cursory one, led him to regard it "very favourably," and of another part, he says that the whole outline indicated, which is seven miles long by about a mile wide, is deserving of very close examination, and the reefs of being prospected to some depth. As regards number five, he reports the existence of old native workings occupying a considerable area, and which showed evidence of much work being done. Fine reefs are to be seen pretty numerously, and he desires to draw attention to this promising tract. With reference to number eight, he says that "taking all things into consideration this tract is one of the most promising I have seen." Of number nine he says, "with regard to this gold-yielding locality, it is one of very great promise and worthy of all attention from mining capitalists," and as regards number ten, he reports that, though not so favourable as the two numbers previously mentioned, it is yet deserving of the closest investigation.
The west-central group was examined by Mr. Foote in the same order, i.e., from south to north, and he tells us that the auriferous localities in this group occur all in small detached strips or patches of schistose rock scattered over the older gneissic series. They are really, he says, remnants of the once apparently continuous spread of schistose (Dharwar) rocks which covered great part of the southern half of the Peninsula. Mr. Foote examined in all fifteen localities, and they do not, from his account, seem to present appearances as favourable as those of the central group, and he only recommends that attention should be paid to six of them. As regards the first locality mentioned, he says that, though the results from washings and other indications were not very favourable, the field was deserving of further close prospecting, as the nature of the country is favourable. Of locality number five, he says that it contains a considerable number of large and well defined reefs, to which a great amount of attention has been paid by the old native miners, and thinks that they are deserving of the closest attention at the present time by deep prospecting on an ample scale. Of number seven he finds it impossible to form any positive opinion, though he adds that the size of the old workings show that the old miners found the place worth their attention for a long period. He advises that number eleven should be prospected and tested. Locality thirteen he considers to deserve close prospecting, and he makes much the same remark as to number fourteen.
The western group, Mr. Foote tells us, is far poorer in auriferous localities than either of the others, and they are scattered widely apart. He examined in all seven localities. Of the first locality examined, he says that the geological features are all favourable to the occurrence of gold, and that the locality is worthy of very careful prospecting. In locality number two, such a good show of coarse grained gold was got from the sands of a stream that he thought a portion of the land from which its water came ought to be closely tested in order to trace the source of the gold found in the stream. When writing on locality number three, Mr. Foote observes that the elevated tract of the auriferous rocks of which the Bababudan mountains form the centre is one well deserving great attention both from the geologist and the mining prospector, it being an area of great disturbance, the rocks being greatly contorted on a large scale and, the north and south sides at least of the area, much cut up by great faults. The whole of the auriferous areas here, he says, are deserving of close survey, for even the best of them are very imperfectly known, and much of what was known to the old miners in former generations has been forgotten. "From the fact," writes Mr. Foote, "that in my hurried tour I came upon no less than five sets of old workings that had not been brought under the notice of Messrs. Lavelle and Marsh (reports of whose investigations are given in the "Selections"), I quite expect to hear that many other old abandoned workings exist in wild and jungly tracts which bound in the hilly and mountainous parts of the country." In locality number five such fine shows of gold were obtained, and there was such a good looking old mine, and quartz reefs of great size, that Mr. Foote considered the place deserving of "very marked attention from earnest prospectors."
It is evident, from what Mr. Foote has said, that there is much to be done in the way of exploring and testing the Mysore province for gold, and I hope that what I have written may be the means of attracting further attention to the subject.
At the close of his report Mr. Foote mentions the fact that "a great dyke of beautiful porphyry traverses the hills east of the Karigatta temple overlooking Seringapatam. The porphyry, which is of warm brown or chocolate colour, includes many crystals of lighter coloured felspar, and dark crystals of hornblende. The stone would take a very high polish, and for decorative purposes of high class, such as vases, panels and bases for busts and tazzas, etc., it is unequalled in South India, and deserving of all attention. If well polished it fully equals many of the highly prized antique porphyries. The dyke is of great thickness and runs for fully a mile, so is practically inexhaustible. Blocks of very large size could be raised, and from the situation of the dyke on the side of two steep hills, it would be very easy to open up large quarries if needful." As this dyke is close to a railway it may be worthy of the attention of capitalists.
[25] Printed for the use of the Government, and kindly lent to me by the Dewan of Mysore.
[26] Mr. Bosworth-Smith, vide p. 36 of his Report, says that, up to 1889, only three finds of iron tools had been met with in the old native workings.
[27] In Mr. Hyde Clarke's paper entitled "Gold in India," London, Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, 1881, it is stated that "Dr. Burnell brings direct proof as to the abundance of gold, by his successful decipherment of a remarkable inscription in the Tanjore temple. Dr. Burnell is thus enabled to state that in the eleventh century gold was still the most common precious metal in India, and stupendous quantities of it are mentioned. He considers, too, that this gold was obtained from mines, and that the Moslem invasion interrupted their workings." It does not, however, appear, at least in Mr. Hyde Clarke's paper, that the inscription deciphered by Dr. Burnell makes any reference to gold mining.
[28] "The Kolar Gold Field in the State of Mysore." Reprinted from the "Madras Mail," December, 1885; Madras, the Madras Mail Press. London, Messrs. H. S. King and Co., 1885.
[29] Those who desire detailed information are referred to Mr. P. Bosworth-Smith's "Report on the Kolar Gold Field and its Southern Extension." Madras, Government Press, 1889. Mr. Bosworth-Smith writes as Government Mineralogist to the Madras Presidency.
[30] "Selections from the Records of the Mysore Government. Reports on Auriferous Tracts in Mysore." Bangalore. Printed at the Mysore Government Press, 1887.