Colonel Kirkpatrick had received information of mines of antimony and mercury, but considered the information vague. I am well assured of the existence of the latter in the form of a native cinnabar, which is called Sabita by the natives, and is exported to the low country for sale.
The position of such of the mines as have come to my knowledge, will be seen in the maps.
Mines of sulphur are said to be numerous in these regions. Colonel Kirkpatrick [78b] says, that the government of Gorkha was obliged to desist from working them, on account of their
deleterious qualities. This was probably owing to an admixture of arsenic, which he says is also found.
Corundum of the compact kind, such as is found in the western provinces under the presidency of Bengal, is called Kurran by the Hindus of the mountains, and is found in great quantities on the hills of Isma and Musikot; and at Kathmandu, I was shown some of a coarse nature, said to be brought from the surrounding mountains; but what is most esteemed in that capital is said to come from Thibet. In both the Company’s territory and in Nepal, it is always found in detached rounded masses lying on the surface, but often of considerable size. In Nepal, these masses seldom exceed four or five pounds, but in the Company’s provinces they are much larger.
I saw masses of the Agalmatolite, used in China to make images, and in Ava for pencils. They were said to be brought from the mountains in the vicinity of Kathmandu.
I have seen very fine specimens of Talc brought from Nepal as a medicine; but I have no information concerning the place where it is found.
On the banks of the Gandaki, at Muktanath, is a precipice, from which the river is supposed to wash the Salagrams or black stones, which are considered by the Hindus as representatives of several of their deities, and which are the most common objects of worship in Bengal, where images are scarce. They are of various kinds, and accordingly represent different deities. Pilgrims, who have been at the place, say, that the stones are found partly in the precipice, and partly in the bed of the river, where it has washed down the earth. On account of its containing these stones, this branch of the river is usually called the Salagrami, and the channel every where below Muktinath, until it reaches the plain of India at Sivapur,
abounds in these stones. All the Salagrams consist of carbonate of lime, and are in general quite black, but a few have white veins. Their colour is probably owing to some metallic impregnation, which also occasions their great specific weight. They rarely exceed the size of an orange, and they are rounded, I suppose, by the action of water. Most of them are what naturalists call petrifactions, and by far the most common are Ammonites, half imbedded in a ball of stone, exactly of the same nature with the petrified animal. Others, which are reckoned the most valuable, are balls containing a cavity formed by an Ammonite, that has afterwards decayed, and left only its impression, or they are what Wallerius calls Typolithi Ammonitarum. The Ammonites or their impressions are called the Chakras or wheels of the Salagrams, but are sometimes wanting. The stone is then a mere ball without any mark of animal exuviæ. Some balls have no external opening, and yet by rubbing away a portion of one of their sides, the hollow wheel (chakra) is discovered. Such Salagrams are reckoned very valuable.
In many parts of these mountains, the substance called Silajit exudes from rocks. I have not yet satisfied myself concerning its nature; but intend hereafter to treat the subject fully, when I describe the natural productions of Behar, where I had an opportunity of collecting it, as it came from the rock.