Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c22: XIV. Iron Works at Ramanakapettah
Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c22
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XIV. Iron Works at Ramanakapettah
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(By Dr. Benjamin Heyne (1st September 1795).)
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Owing to that natural impulse which I feel of attending closely to such objects as have once been voluntarily taken in hand my mind has frequently recurred to my last report of the Letchemporam Iron Works; thinking that an attention to this branch of science, or rather Indian manufacture, may prove of essential benefit; which has induced me, to avail myself of the first opportunity that offered, of seeing works of the same kind, at other places; whilst I also entertained the hopes, of being thereby enabled to point out a place where works of that nature, of consequence, might be erected, with a full prospect of success, if it should be thought advisable to establish them in this country.
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It so happened also that my excursion to the diamond mines of Mallavilly, proved favourable in this respect, for I learned on the road, that many places in the Noozeed Zemindary, furnished iron for common use; and the nearest place to the Mallavilly, was, for obvious reasons, preferred to others more distant. This was Ramanakapettah, a village 3 coss from Noozeed to the northward. The way to it from thence, is mostly through a jungle the greater part of which, lies, in the vicinity of some fine large tanks, from which in favourable seasons a very sufficient quantity of water might be furnished to produce a very plentiful harvest of paddy, were there hands enough for cultivation.
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A great number of palmera trees growing in the thickest part of the jungle, sufficiently evince the existence of former villages and greater population.
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The soil in the high ground, both cultivated, and uncultivated, mixed with gravel and clay, often of the kind which the Gentoos call Rawada, i.e. clay mixed with gravel.
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Ramanakapettah, has much better buildings than Noozeed. The streets are very broad, and the houses, in the fashion of the natives, good and large. A Choultry, one of the best I have seen in the Circars is in the middle of the village, and a fine large tank near it, to the south affords one of the greatest comforts to the inhabitants. The nearest of the hills, are to the eastward; and forms a kind of amphitheatre, opening to the southward. In this lies the village and all the iron mines. Before the famine,(The reference is evidently to the famine of 1790-2 which reduced the population of the Noozeed Zemindary from 1,00,374 in 1786 to 57,865 at the end of 1793. (See report from Noozeed Committee: Proceedings, Madras Board of Revenue, 16.1.1794),—Editor.) there were besides 40 smelting furnaces, a great number of silver and copper smiths, here, who were in a state of affluence; but their survivors are now poor and in a wretched situation.
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The iron mines are to the northward, a mile from the village and half a mile from the hills; from whence they bring the ore, in baskets, to the furnaces that are close to the village. In former times, they seem to have found the ore nearer to it. The smelters do not, here, as at Letchemporam, themselves, work in the mines, nor do they burn their coals, but rather buy both articles, the former in baskets from the mines and the latter from labourers who bring them from the hills.
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The ore runs in beds or layers, immediately under the first stratum of the ground (which consists as before said of gravel and sand) and is scarcely one and a half foot in thickness. These layers are of a small extent, and of all dimensions; seldom broader than two feet, and from two to four in thickness. The ore is very easily worked, as it consists of small round stones, which are in no way connected. It by no means derives its fusibility from the admixture of chunam (or lime) as does that at Letchemporam. Neither is any addition of other earths used, in order to promote that quality. Although it does not partake of the nature of any of the common iron ores in Europe, it comes nearest, to the haematites. It has for its properties, that of sticking on its fracture to the lips, when moistened; and is of so fine a grain, that it admits of being made into a very fine powder, which seems slightly to effervesce with acids. It appears to have very little of a silicious admixture, except some stones that consist entirely of a silicious aggregate cemented together with occhreacious clay, but these the smelters pick out as useless. Having no lodestone I cannot say whether the iron in it is in a state attachable by it; but might I be allowed to guess, I think it must exist in a semi-reguline state, which I find to my great satisfaction is admitted by some learned mineralogists which is an opinion that I merely offered as my own in my report on the Letchemporam works.
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Of the outward appearance of the mines I can say nothing, but that from a distance they bear, a striking resemblance to fox's holes. Their furnaces which were forty in number before the famine, are now reduced to ten, and are in no ways different from those of Letchemporam; nor does their mode of proceeding, differ in any essential degree.
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The coals they use in common, are from Mimosa Sundra of Dr Roxburgh, (and Sandra of the Gentoos) which I am told grows on the nearest hills in abundance. They however find any other firm wood answer their purpose as well. Four gunny bags of coals is sold for one rupee and two annas, it is the quantity required for every smelting; For the ore, they pay one Dubb per basket, of which 12 are reckoned sufficient for one smelting; the ore is not reduced into smaller pieces, but thrown into the furnace just as it is dug up. The scorias are let out only twice, the last time just before they cease working the bellows.
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With respect to the subsequent necessary addition of coal and ore, after the smelting is begun, and the first article consumed, they proceed more rationally than at Letchemporam; by discontinuing to throw these articles into the furnace, more than an hour before they remove the obtained metal.
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The whole produce of 1 maund, is sold for 2 rupees after it has been heated and hammered, to separate the scoria with which it abounds. For its more ready disposal, they make it into small pieces, weighing 2 pounds. It is still however in a very crude state, but of a soft nature, and so the more easily applied to common purposes. There is a greater demand for it than they can possibly supply though the greatest part of the year they are employed in the smelting business.
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There is no doubt, but that, this place will be found eminently deserving of notice, in the event of adopting any large works of this kind, in the Company's possessions. The ore can be procured in any quantity that is required, and probably at a less expense than anywhere else. The nearest hills afford wood for coals in plenty; and what is of still more consequence, there are many people who would be glad to be employed in a business, which, under their own contracted management, (The contracted management seems to have resulted from the disruption caused by the famine. The ‘constant dread’, the iron-makers lived under, mentioned by Dr Heyne in another account, ‘lest they should be pressed for the purpose of carrying burdens for strangers [i.e., the British army and civil personnel] from one village to another, a thing which often happens in the very season when it is in their power to employ their time to most advantage to themselves’, also seems to have added to such contracted management.—Editor.) has hitherto afforded but a scanty subsistence.
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Every furnace requires at present, nine men, who are chiefly employed in working the bellows, an operation might be soon and easily improved by a proper mechanical apparatus, through the medium of fire or water, or both, by which the number of hands would be easily reduced.
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Besides this village I am told there are six more in the Noozeed country and in which iron is constantly fabricated, of which however I do not as yet know any thing more than their names. But as soon as opportunities offer to me of examining these, or any other works of the same nature, I shall not fail to give the subject the best attention in my power; so as to enable me to furnish any further information which my limited knowledge may enable me to offer.