Note: We are pleased to reprint this paper on the Kashmir sapphire mines. It is the first eye-witness account of the deposit and as such represents a landmark in the literature of gemology.
Reprinted from Records of the Geological Survey of
India
Vol. 23, Pt. 2, May, 1890, pp. 59–69
The existence of sapphires in considerable quantities in some part of the North-West Himalayas was first brought to light in 1881, or early in 1882, when some were brought into Simla by traders from Lahol, who stated that they had been obtained from a spot among the mountains on the borders of Zanskar, where a landslip had laid bare the rocks beneath the soil, and disclosed the presence of the gems. Various stories are told of the original discovery; according to one of these, which was told me on the spot, a certain shikari, having lost the flint from his gun while out hunting, or, as is the custom of the natives when in want of a light for their pipes, looking for a handy fragment of quartz or other hard rock to strike a light with, picked up a small sapphire, and finding that it answered his purpose better than the ordinary fragments of quartz he was in the habit of using, carried it about with him for some time, and eventually sold it to a Laholi trader, by whom it was taken to Simla, where its value was recognised. Enquiries were then made, which resulted in the discovery of the spot where the shikari had picked up the stone, and for some time, until guards were posted near the locality by the Maharajah of Kashmir, in whose territory it lies, large quantities of the stones were brought to Simla and sold at absurdly low prices, the Laholis only asking about one rupee per seer for them. Another story runs to the effect that a number of traders who had arrived in the Simla bazaar with borax from Rupshu were emptying their baskets in a merchant’s shop, when a stone fell out and was thrown by the merchant into the street. The well-known jeweller, Mr. Jacobs, happened to be passing at the time, and, so the story goes, was struck by the stone. Picking it up, perhaps with the intention of returning it, he saw what it was, and on the merchant’s claiming it, when he saw that there was something unusual about it, bought it for a small sum. This latter story, if it is to be relied on, would seem to point to the existence of another and as yet unknown locality for the gems, somewhere in Rupshu; otherwise it would be difficult to account for the presence of the sapphire among the borax, which is brought to Simla along a route that does not pass anywhere near the known locality in Pádar. Various stories have been circulated of the discovery of sapphires in Kulu and other portions of the North-West Himalayas, but up to the present time none of these have been confirmed.
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Early in 1882 a few
specimens of the gems were sent down from Simla to the
Indian Museum, and examined by Mr. F.R. Mallet, who published
a full account of their mineralogical and chemical characters
in the Records for that year—Vol. XV, page 138. Mr.
Mallet also published an account of them, with figures
of the crystals, in Part IV of the Manual of the Geology
of India, p. 40. In the former paper he says:— “The
physical and chemical characters of the specimens slow
conclusively that they are true sapphires. The specific
gravity of the larger piece was found to be 3.959 and of
the smaller 3.961. The mineral scratches topaz; is infusible
before the blowpipe; and when fused in powder with acid
potassium sulphate, and dissolved in water, yields a bulky
precipitate of alumina with ammonia.”
At
the time when these specimens were
sent down, considerable doubts existed
as to the locality in which they
were found. This was partly due to
the similarity in the name of the
district of Pádar in the Chinab
Valley, in which they were actually
found, with that of the village of
Padam1 in
Zanskar, from which district it was
at first stated that they had been
obtained. This mistake was pointed
out by Mr. Lydekker in his memoir
on the geology of Kashmir (Memoirs,
Geological Survey, Vol. XXII, p.
336). The locality is correctly given
in a letter from the Rev. A. W. Heyde,
Moravian missionary at Kyelung, printed
with Mr. Mallett’s paper in
the Records above cited, as 2 or
3 kos to the east of Machél
in Pádar; but the statement
of one of his informants, that the
place could be most easily reached
by way of the Pentse Lá, one
of the passes leading from Kashmir
to Zanskar, is incorrect, as a lofty
range of mountains extends between
the actual locality and that pass.
 |
| Plate I. The Kashmir sapphire mines. From a photograph by T.D. LaTouche. |
In the year 1887 the Kashmir Durbar, finding that the revenue from the mines, which had been worked by them with considerable profit since the first discovery, was steadily diminishing, applied to the Government of India for a geologist to examine the mines, and I was deputed to visit and report upon their present condition. I arrived at Srinagar about the middle of August, and obtained as much information as possible about the position of the mines, which I was told were situated near the village of Soomjam on the Bhutna, a tributary of the Chinab entering it from the north-east at Gulabgarh in the district of Padar. Crossing the Marbal pass, 11,550 feet, at the head of the Kashmir Valley, I reached Kishtwar, near the junction of the Wardwan and Chináb Rivers, both of which had to be crossed by jhulas, or rope bridges, in 6 days. Thence a somewhat difficult path led up the left bank of the Chináb to Gulabgarh. The river runs through an exceedingly deep and narrow gorge, and the path generally keeps at a considerable height above it, but the numerous side streams, which also run in deep gorges, necessitate a descent and ascent of two or three thousand feet in several places, so that the marches are very trying: the path is, however, practicable for unladen ponies. This portion of the journey took 5 days to accomplish, though the distance from Kishtwar in a direct line is only 24 miles. At Gulabgarh the valley opens out considerably and is well cultivated: here the Chináb is again crossed by a long and somewhat shaky jhula close to an old fort which stands at the junction of the Bhutna with the larger river. From this point, which is about 6,000 feet above sea-level, the rise up the valley of the Bhutna is considerable, about 250 feet per mile, but the valley is more open, and the path keeps near the bank of the river, so that travelling is much easier. Soomjam, the highest village on the southern side of the lofty range dividing Zanskar from the Chináb Valley, is reached in 2 marches, or 13 in all from Srinagar; this village lies at an altitude of about 11,000 feet in Latitude 33° 25' 30" N. and Longitude 76° 28' 10" E., at the lower end of a broad level plain, about 5 miles long and 1/2 mile broad. This was formerly occupied by an extension of the glaciers which now descend only as far as its upper end from the passes leading into Zanskar, a large moraine stretching from side to side of the valley immediately above Soomjam, and the polished surfaces of the cliffs on either side, indicating their former extent A general extension of the glaciers in former times over the whole of this region is shown by the occurrence, near the head of each of the streams draining this range of mountains, of a similar more or less level and open plain, near the lower ends of which are generally found the remains of an ancient moraine. But the difference in altitude between these old moraines and those now forming is not so great as one would expect, considering that in other parts of the Himalayas they are found as much as 5,000 feet below the present limits of the glaciers. This may perhaps be accounted for by supposing that during glacial times this portion of the hills stood at a lower elevation than at present, and has undergone a considerable upheaval since that period.
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A
steep climb of about 2,500 feet to the W. N. W. from Soomjam
brings one to the lower end of a small triangular valley,
formed by a bifurcation of one of the spurs that run down
from the lofty peaks to the north, and in this the sapphire
mines, or rather diggings, are situated, This valley is
shut in on the north and west by steep cliffs rising to
some 3,000 feet above it and is open to the south and east,
whence there is a magnificent view of the glaciers and
snowy peaks surrounding the head of the Bhutna and its
tributaries. The trigonometrical survey station of Ganar,
14,210 feet, lies about a mile to the west of the mines,
and I found by careful comparison of simultaneous observations
made with mercurial barometers that the altitude of my
camp, just below the workings, was 13,160 feet. Up to this
level the hill-sides are covered with grass and various
flowers, a wild onion being very common; but it is just
above the limit of the birch, which reaches an altitude
of about 13,160 feet on the slopes below. Above this the
ground is nearly bare of vegetation, a few grasses, stonecrops,
and scanty flowers, among which a kind of musk with a dark
bluebell-shaped flower was rather common, being the only
plants. When I visited the place in 1888 in the middle
of July, snow was lying on the ground close above the camp
to a depth of 8 feet, and did not disappear till the end
of August, a few small patches lingering on throughout
the year. The climate, however, was not severe during the
time I was there; between the 17th July and the 23rd September
the thermometer did not once fall below freezing point,
and snow fell on only three occasions, the 23rd August
and 24th and 30th September. The lowest temperature registered
was 28° F. on the 27th September and the highest 69.2° F.
on the 15th August. At the beginning of October snow began
to fall regularly and work had to be given up for the season.
In the year 1887 the Kashmir Durbar, finding that the revenue from the mines, which had been worked by them with considerable profit since the first discovery, was steadily diminishing, applied to the Government of India for a geologist to examine the mines…
The
small upland valley in which the sapphires are found is
about 1,000 yards long by 400 yards broad at its lower
end; the floor rises at an average angle of about 20° to
the north-west, narrowing to a point, and is thickly covered
with loose debris fallen from the surrounding cliffs. It
is from a narrow strip of this debris, averaging about
100 feet in width, along the northern side of the valley,
that the sapphires are at present obtained. They appear
to have been originally derived from a spot high up on
the cliffs to the north of the valley, near the head of
a small ravine which enters it at some distance from the
apex (see plan, Pl. III); this accounts for their distribution
along only one side of the valley.
The
rock of which the cliffs are composed
is mainly a coarse schistose gneiss,
containing a white felspar and much
black mica; portions of it are also
crowded with deep red and brown garnets.
On the northern side a thick bed
of coarsely crystalline siliceous
limestone (seen to the right of Pl.
I near the top of the cliff) is intercalated
with the gneiss. This I traced to
the south-east as far as Soomjam
and to the north-west for about two
miles. The thickness of the bed is
not constant, as it increases from
about 6 feet near Soomjam to 100
feet or more near the mines, but
its upper and lower surfaces appear
to be strictly conformable with the
foliation planes of the gneiss. Also
interbedded with the gneiss are several
large masses of a peculiar hornblende-like
rock (kupfferite): this is in part
a felted mass of fibrous lamellae,
and in part made up of radiating
fibrous aggregates several inches
in diameter: the colour is generally
grey or olive green, with patches
of a brighter green. The masses are
frequently from 20 to 30 feet thick
(one large detached mass, under which
the coolies employed at the mines
have burrowed holes in which they
live, standing out from the hill-side
close to my camp, must have been
100 feet thick at least), but die
away rapidly in a horizontal direction.
Between them and the gneiss is generally
found a band, from 1 to 2 feet thick,
of a soft rock composed of short
acicular fibres, bright green or
white in colour, apparently of the
same mineral, or in places a band
of rock entirely composed of crystals
of mica. I have only found this rock
in the vicinity of the sapphire mines,
but whether its presence is in any
way connected with the development
of the sapphires I cannot say. I
found one specimen in which a crystal
of sapphire was imbedded in the kupfferite,
but this was the only case I saw
of their occurrence in contact. All
these rocks have a pretty constant
easterly dip of about 40°. Lastly,
the gneiss is traversed by numerous
dykes of granite occasionally parallel
with its foliation, but usually cutting
directly across it. This granite
is generally very coarse-grained
(pegmatite), composed of large crystals
of milk-white felspar with much quartz,
either clear or milk-white and occasionally
pink, and sparsely scattered plates
of dark-coloured mica up to an inch
or so in diameter. As accessories
the granite contains well-developed
crystals of black tourmaline, called
coal by the coolies, sometimes of
large size (up to 4 or 5 inches in
length), light-green enclase, kyanite,
minute red garnets, and finally crystals
of corundum or sapphire. These last
are associated with a white felspar,
apparently a plagioclastic variety,
occurring in small grains, which
give a porous character to the portions
of the rock in which they occur.
The sapphire crystals appear to be
very local in their development,
the only spot where they have hitherto
been found in situ being near the
top of the ridge bounding the northern
side of the small valley above mentioned,
and about 1,600 feet above it. Here
the face of the rock has been laid
bare by a landslip, and at first
the sapphires were taken out of the
granite itself; but when I visited
the mines this patch of rock had
ceased to yield any for some time,
nor did the closest search bring
any more to light. On the northern
side of the ridge, however, I discovered
some large blocks of the granite
crowded with crystals of corundum,
most of which had a bluish tint;
but all my efforts to find the source
of these blocks were of no avail,
owing to the enormous depth to which
the rocks composing this side of
the ridge had been weathered,—so
much so that it would require a landslip
to lay the rock sufficiently bare
to enable it to be properly searched.
I attempted to bring one about by
digging deep trenches across the
hill-side in which water might collect,
but without success.
The sapphire crystals appear to be very local in their development, the only spot where they have hitherto been found in situ being near the top of the ridge bounding the northern side of the small valley above mentioned, and about 1,600 feet above it. Here the face of the rock has been laid bare by a landslip, and at first the sapphires were taken out of the granite itself; but when I visited the mines this patch of rock had ceased to yield any for some time, nor did the closest search bring any more to light.
Although
many dykes of granite are seen in other parts of the
cliffs surrounding the head of the valley, none of them
appear to contain sapphires, and none are found in the
debris covering the floor of the valley, except in a
narrow strip along its northern edge. In this, crystals
and fragments of sapphire and corundum are fairly numerous,
especially near the head of the valley; and at the time
of my first visit about 100 coolies were employed in
searching for them by digging up the surface with small
kodalis and picking up any sapphires they came across.
This was not a very satisfactory method of working the
deposit, for the darker coloured and therefore better
gems were liable to escape notice, and the upper 6 inches
or so were worked over and over again, with very poor
results: so I had a simple washing apparatus made of
a few planks and set up at a large spring which issued
from the hill-side near the camp, and the stuff containing
the sapphires carried down to it in baskets This washing
apparatus consisted of a platform about 6 feet square,
over which a strong stream of water was kept flowing,
which carried away the mud and finer particles, the coarse
pebbles and sand being held back by a low edging of upright
planks; then when cleaned sufficiently the sand and gravel
were thrown into a broad and gently sloping trough, through
which a moderate stream of water was kept running, when
the sapphires could easily be detected and picked out
(Pl. II). Most of the stones obtained in this way were
small fragments, some not much larger than a pin’s
head, and crystals, the great majority showing very little
colour and being of small value as gems. Occasionally,
however, a larger stone of good colour would be found;
thus the largest obtained in 1887 weighed about 6 oz.,
and was partly of a very brilliant colour; but in 1888
the largest weighed only 104 grains, and very few were
found weighing more than 50 grains. These are not to
be compared with those brought down when the mine was
first discovered. I was shown some in the treasury at
Jammu that measured 5 inches in length by 3 inches in
breadth, and though none of these were uniformly coloured,
but shaded off into white at either end of the crystal,
still some very fine gems might be cut from them.
In
order to find out whether or not
the deposit was equally productive
in every part, I had small pits
dug at various points, and the
stuff taken out of each of them
weighed and then washed separately,
afterwards weighing the sapphires
obtained. It was found that the
yield of sapphires steadily decreased
towards the lower end of the deposit;
but it so happened that the largest
stone obtained was found in the
lowest pit of all, which, however,
produced only one other fragment
of sapphire, weighing 1/7 tola.
It would probably therefore be
worth while to work over the whole
of the deposit, which can easily
be done by the use of such a washing
apparatus as I devised, though,
owing to the shortness of the season
during which work can be carried
on, it will take several years
yet to do so. I found also that
the productiveness of the deposit
decreased rapidly from the surface
downwards, so that at a depth of
more than 3 feet no sapphires whatever
were found.
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During
the working season of 1888, i.e., from the 17th July
to the 29th September, the total quantity of corundum
obtained was 1,630 tolas, of which perhaps one fourth
would be commercially valuable; but the average weight
of the stones, calculated from the results of 25 days’ working,
during which I counted and weighed each day’s production,
was not more than 10 grains; and I hardly think that,
considering the inaccessible character of the locality,
the difficulty of obtaining labour and of preventing
smuggling, the yield of sapphires will in the future
be very profitable, unless the actual bed in which they
occur in situ can be again discovered.
Besides
the corundum several other minerals,
interesting from a scientific point
of view, though not commercially
valuable, are found in the granite
of this region. For a determination
of the species of most of these
I am indebted to Mr. F.R. Mallet,
late of the Geological Survey,
who kindly examined them for me.
These are the following:—
During the working season of 1888, i.e., from the 17th July to the 29th September, the total quantity of corundum obtained was 1,630 tolas, of which perhaps one fourth would be commercially valuable…
While at the mines I made
several excursions into the valleys near, and sent
out many intelligent natives to try and discover new
localities for sapphires, but, except in one instance,
without success. This was close to the Hagshu-lá,
one of the passes leading from the Bhutna Valley into
Zanskar; and as I crossed this pass on a flying visit
which I made to Zanskar during my stay at the mines,
I was enabled to investigate the “find.” The
pass is about 16,600 feet in altitude, and large glaciers
descend from it on either side to the north and south.
Near the head of that on the southern side, and close
to the foot of the final ascent from the glacier to
the pass, a large block of granite, lying on the moraine
beside the glacier, was pointed out to me, which contained
numerous blue hexagonal crystals, and these on investigation
turned out to be sapphires. At first I thought that
they were merely kyanite, as they appeared to possess
the different hardness on two faces of the crystal
which is characteristic of that mineral; but Mr. Mallet
found that this was really due to a glaze of mica covering
the basal cleavage planes which he thinks is caused
by a partial alteration of the mineral, and pronounced
them to be really sapphire. Some of the crystals were
about an inch in diameter, but none of them were of
a good colour throughout, the blue shading into a greenish
blue in places. It was impossible to discover the source
of this block of granite, which was the only one visible,
during the short time I was able to stay at the spot,
but there can be no doubt that it came from some part
of the cliffs surrounding the head of the glacier.
The spot where this block was lying is about 15,500
feet above the sea, and it probably came from some
point which is much higher, and perhaps inaccessible.
I
could obtain no information
confirming the statement made
in Mr. Heyde’s letter,
quoted above, that “in
the immediate neighbourhood
of the spot described (i.e., Soomjam)
the people know of two others,
in one of which the blue stone
is found, not below the ground,
but in horizontal seams of
a large rock, but also, as
it appears, surrounded or embedded
in that white stuff.” This
may refer to the lazulite found
near Gulabgarh, which is associated
with a white schistose mineral.
Nor could I get any further
information about the locality
which in the same letter is
said to exist above the monastery
at Bardun in Zanskar, and I
was not able, from want of
time, to pay a visit to Bardun.
There seems to be no reason,
however, why sapphires should
not occur in many other places
in this region where the rocks
are pierced by granite veins,
and other localities may in
time be brought to light either
by chance, as in the case of
the original discovery, or
by a closer search than I was
able to make.
After
I had seen the operations at the sapphire
mines fairly commenced and in working
order, I paid a visit to Zanskar, whence
specimens of certain other minerals
besides the sapphire above described
had been brought to me, and as the
district appears to be one seldom visited
by Europeans, some account of my journey
may be interesting. Leaving Soomjam
about the middle of August, I crossed
the main range by the Hagshu-lá 16,600
feet, a pass which is not often used
by the natives, though a good deal
lower than the Umasi-lá further
to the east. Large glaciers descend
from either side of the pass, that
on the north being the longer, about
16 miles, without counting its numerous
tributaries. The glaciers are easily
traversed after one has surmounted
the mass of moraine matter which entirely
covers their lower ends, sometimes
for a distance of half a mile or more;
above this the surface is generally
nearly level, and very free from crevasses,
those that do occur being usually narrow
and easily jumped across; until the
head of the glacier is reached, where
there is generally a steep slope rising
towards the nevée, and cut up
by numerous large transverse crevasses,
which occasionally give trouble, but
with care they can be avoided, and
ropes are never used by the natives
while crossing them.
The
valley, called the Hagshu Tokpho, leading
down from the pass to the north, opens
into the wider valley of the Zanskar
River, a large tributary of the Indus;
here the valley is open and fairly
level for a long distance, containing
many villages and monasteries, and
in parts well cultivated, but almost
bare of trees. The only trees of any
size that I saw were some small poplars
planted near the village of Seni; these
I was told had been brought from Ladakh.
A shrubby willow is plentiful in the
ravines on either side of the main
river and along its banks, but all
timber for building purposes has to
be imported.
To
the north of the Zanskar River in this
part of its course a considerable change
takes place in the aspect of the mountains,
corresponding with a change in their
geological structure. Those on the
south are rugged and precipitous, mainly
formed of gneiss, while on the north
they are generally smothered in talus
to their summits, which gives them
a more rounded appearance and renders
them easy to climb; the latter are
formed of the slaty schists of the
Panjal series, a rock which disintegrates
rapidly under the action of frost.
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I
crossed these mountains by a little-used path across
the Rulakun-lá, about 17,500 feet—an easy
pass and quite practicable for hill ponies; some miles,
however, to the north of the pass, near the village of
Rulagong, another change takes place in the nature of
the country, corresponding again with a change in the
rocks These are massive limestones and slaty rocks of
Supra Kuling age, much contorted on a large scale, and
through them the streams have cut enormously deep ravines
with almost perpendicular sides, recalling, though perhaps
on a small scale, the canons of America. The Zanskar
River has also cut a similar gorge through these rocks,
where the gorge, 100 feet above the river, is sufficiently
narrow to allow of a wooden bridge being thrown across.
I was informed that the lumps of native copper, from
which Zanskar is said to derive its name, are found in
the bed of the river near this bridge, but only in the
winter, when the upper waters of the river are frozen,
and the bed here is more or less dried up; in September,
when I crossed it, the river was in full flood, and it
was useless to attempt to search for the copper.
Three
days’ marching through the
gorges north of Rulagong brought
me to the village of Linshot,
at the foot of a lofty scarp,
mainly formed of a black foetid
limestone, the upper beds of
the Supra Kuling series. Near
this village I discovered several
large masses of a similar black
limestone crowded with nummulites,
and traced them up to a peak,
called Z4 on the maps, immediately
above the Singhe-lá, 16,601
feet, a pass by which the scarp
is crossed, where I found the
nummulites at an elevation of
about 18,500 feet above sea-level.
These nummulites were first discovered
by Dr. Thomson in 1852 when he
crossed Singhe-lá, but
subsequently Mr. Lydekker had
thrown some doubt on this being
the locality in which they were
found, as they escaped his notice
when he crossed the pass. A description
of the locality and the rocks
in which the nummulites occur
will be found in the Records,
Geological Survey, Vol. XXI,
Pt. IV, p. 160.
The
depression which forms the pass itself,
as well as another, the Sirsa-lá,
of about the same height, several
miles to the north, is caused by
the intervention of a broad band
of shaly rocks between the black
limestones on the west and the hard
limestones and slates of the lower
Supra Kuling series on the east;
these latter are sharply contorted
on a large scale, the differently-coloured
bands of rock rendering the contortions
very visible on the precipitous face
of the cliffs. Many sections thus
exposed recall the familiar examples
of rock twisting shown in Heim’s
plates of the structure of various
parts of the Alps.
In
the valleys to the north and west
of the Sirsa-lá are found
numerous blocks of a whitish heavy
rock, allied to jadeite, called zoisite;
it takes a high polish and might
be made use of in the same manner
as jadeite for ornamental cups, &c.
A small quantity is sometimes taken
to Lahol by the natives, so they
told me, and sold for about R3 per
seer. It eventually finds its way
to Amritsar, I believe, where it
is cut and polished. The Srinagar
stone-workers to whom I showed some
specimens of it, found that it was
too hard for them to work into ornaments.
The source of these blocks of zoisite
is probably the area of tertiary
trap shown in Mr. Lydekker’s
map to the south-west of the Sirsa-lá,
and forming the peaks D24 and D28,
which are drained by the streams
to the west of the pass. Numerous
blocks of the traps are found with
the zoisite, and in many cases the
two are intermingled in the same
block.
From
this point I returned, taking the
more frequented route through Yelchung
to the Zanskar Valley near the village
of Zangla. In many of the ravines
through which this route passes earth-pillars
are very numerous and often of large
size. One group of them is in the
Khurna-foo Valley; they are formed
from a stiff clay which has apparently
been consolidated by the weight of
glaciers—a grund moraine, in
fact,—and this is frequently
full of large blocks of rock which
are sometimes seen either capping
the pillars or sticking out from
their sides.
From
the Zanskar Valley I returned to
Soomjam across the main range by
the Umasi-lá 17,369 feet,
a pass which, though nearly 1,000
feet higher than the Hagshu-lá,
is not so difficult, and is often
crossed by ponies, several of which
were brought across by my party.
The valleys on either side are filled
with large glaciers; but these do
not present many difficulties. A
halt has to be made near the top
of the pass at an elevation of about
16,000 feet, and here, as may be
imagined, it is bitterly cold; but
unless a strong wind is blowing—and
this as far as my experience goes
is a very rare occurrence at night
during August and September,—one
can camp out, even at this altitude,
without much discomfort.
In the valleys to the north and west of the Sirsa-lá are found numerous blocks of a whitish heavy rock, allied to jadeite, called zoisite; it takes a high polish and might be made use of in the same manner as jadeite for ornamental cups, &c.
On
my return to the sapphire mines I found the work progressing
favourably, though no gems of any remarkable size had
been found during my absence. With the end of September
the weather began to break, and snow fell for some
days, so that work had to be given up for the season;
and after weighing and packing up the season’s
yield of sapphire, which was taken in charge by the
Maharaja’s officials to be carried direct to Jammu,
I set out on my return journey to Kashmir. On the way
I visited various localities in which rock-crystal,
iron ore, and other minerals were said to exist, but
did not find any of them worth the trouble of mining.
Among these was a bed of arsenopyrite, a compound of
arsenic, sulphur, and iron, which was found near the
village of Berali between Gulabgarh and Machél,
and at about 3,000 feet above the Bhutna; but the bed
seemed to be small in extent. I also paid a visit to
the iron-works of Soap in the Kashmir Valley, the ore
for which is obtained from a bed of impure calcareous
limonite intercalated in the limestones and rocks to
the east of Achibal. The bed is only 1 or 2 feet in
thickness, and dips at an angle of 35° into the
hill, but its outcrop extends for a distance of at
least two miles along the hill-side, and there must
be sufficient ore here to keep the small native furnaces
supplied for many years to come, so long as there is
any demand for the iron, but it would certainly not
be advisable to start large blast furnaces on the English
plan, and moreover the ore seems to be very poor in
quality.
So
much has been said lately about
the great mineral resources
of Kashmir, that it may perhaps
be well, in conclusion, to
say a few words on the subject.
In speaking of the mineral
wealth that might be brought
to light by properly-conducted
prospecting, it does not seem
to be generally taken into
consideration that the natives
of the country have for ages
had good opportunities of discovering
what minerals the hills contain,
and that as a rule they have
shown themselves fully capable
of making use of their opportunities.
I think that I am not far wrong
in saying that in very few
instances in India have useful
minerals been discovered in
localities that were unknown
to the natives, and in which
the ores had not been worked
by them at one time or another. Even the more uncivilised hill
tribes are more or less well
acquainted with the minerals
their hills contain, and are
by no means in the condition
of the Blacks of Australia
or the Bushmen of Southern
Africa, in whose country the
European prospector has found
so great a field for his energies.
To take a single instance:
the Khasis of Assam, who till
the beginning of the present
century had hardly felt the
influence of Western civilization,
have for ages obtained their
iron from an ore which occurs
as minute grains of magnetite
disseminated in the granite
of their hills. Many a highly-trained
European geologist might justly
have been sceptical as to the
possibility of obtaining a
productive iron ore from granite,
and would very possibly have
passed the rock over as being
utterly useless for such a
purpose. Yet the Khasis discovered
the mineral, and in all parts
of the hills ancient heaps
of slag testify to the use
they made of their discovery;
moreover, they obtained the
ore by a process which was
ingenious and even scientific—in
fact, a kind of hydraulic mining
somewhat similar to the latest
process devised for obtaining
gold in California. Can it
be doubted that if any other
useful minerals existed in
their hills, the Khasis would
not have found and worked them
long ago? Similarly, in Kashmir,
any mineral deposits that exist
are probably well known to
the natives, and, if useful,
are already worked, and these
are not of any great importance.
Even the common minerals, coal
and iron, are not found in
any large quantity, and where
they do occur, are poor in
quality. Accident may bring
to light the presence of some
of the rarer minerals, as in
the case of the sapphires,
but even the most energetic
and intelligent prospector
might spend years among the
mountains before making such
another discovery.
CALCUTTA, 1889.
Footnote
text
1 In the name Padam the “a” is short, while the first in
Pádar is long; the former word is the same that occurs in
the Buddhist prayer, “Om mani padme haun,” and is said
to signify a lotus. The village is so named from being built round
the foot of a conical knoll, on which the chief’s house stands,
thus resembling the petals and central portion of a lotus blossom. (back
to text)
For further information on Kashmir sapphires, see Richard Hughes’ (Palagems.com ex-webmaster) writings at:
Pala International
912 So. Live Oak Park Road 
Fallbrook, CA 92028 USA
Tel: 800-854-1598; 760-728-9121 Fax: 760-728-5827 E-mail: info@palagems.com
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January 21, 2009
