among
the mountains for tin, copper, and lead. All three, however, are
reported to exist by persons who have themselves discovered them, and
quicksilver and plumbago (kalu miniran, Singh.) which of late
years has been largely exported to England, may be added to the list.
Gold and mercury, which arc said to occur native in Ceylon, according
to this writer are rarely found, but small lumps of the former have
been at times met with. 'Did any,' he continues, ' of the common, and
what is more, of the precious metals occur in Ceylon, it would have
been known long ago; for the natives are inquisitive and curious, and
being in the habit of searching for gems, and collecting everything
that glitters, or that is in the least likely to sell, even bits of
iron pyrites and ores of iron, it would be very extraordinary were they
to pass unnoticed substances more attractive, with the value of which
they are well acquainted.' I may cursorily observe that this remark is
rather applicable to the natives of the southern, than any of the other
provinces of Ceylon, and that the opposite conclusion of another
learned geologist, embodied in the note,* is nearer the truth. Dr.
Davy's erroneous conclusion on these points must have arisen from the
imperfect opportunities at his disposal for the survey of the whole
island, not more than one-third of which he ever visited, and not from
any want of sagacity in observing, or ardour in pursuing the various
branches of natural science. Stahltein, or crystalized pyrites,
impregnated with a little copper, is used by the Singhalese for making
buttons." From Dr. Mac. Vicar's Paper.
" This
humble view of Ceylon I take from considering its geological structure,
which is such, that it can never give anything better on the large
scale than a very poor soil and which holds out no promise of yielding
either minerals or metals worth the mining.
Hoping,
that it might be otherwise, the Government of Lord Torrington some
years ago, when extravagant hopes of the resources of the island were
entertained, appointed Dr. Gygax, an accomplished mineralogist who
happened to be on the spot, as its geologist, to explore the country
with a view to economic obiects. But the result was wholly negative.
Except a very friable plumbago which has been long mined by the natives
and exported by the English merchant, to line the hold of ships
previously to putting in more valuable cargo, such as coffee, nothing
of any value was found in situ. Dr. Gygax's report is now,
doubtless among the archives of the Colonial Office in Downing Street,
and therefore accessible to the naturalists of this country; and the
collection of minerals which he made for the Government of Ceylon was
very handsomely given by Lord Torrirfgton to the charge of the Ceylon
Branch of the Asiatic Society, in whose Museum at Colombo it is now
deposited, and where it can be inspected by any one who has an hour to
spare. Let the mineralogical traveller prepare for disappointment,
however, if he expects Ceylon to realize in any measure the conception
of an island of gems. Dr. Gygax found only thirty-seven mineral species
in all, the commonest, such as quartzes, felspars, and mica, included.
His results have been published in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of
the Asiatic Society for 1847."
With
reference to our extract the other day from the Mahawanso about the
gold miraculously produced in the forms of roots and twigs, it is a
curious coincidence, and tends to confirm our idea of a real discovery
of gold being indicated, that in California gold sometimes resembles
twigs. In connection
*"The
sciences of geology, mineralogy, &c, in all their branches are but
imperfect understood by the natives, notwithstanding Ceylon is the
depository of such an extensive variety of specimens. Their attention
seems never to have extended much beyond the valuable gems and the
mineral ores. As to a thousand other subjects, both on the surface of
the earth and imbedded in the hidden substrata of nature, so
interesting to men of science, they have allowed them any almost
undisturbed repose, never having exarted themselves either to quvry
out a knowledge of their latent properties or ascertain their intrinsic
worth,"
