Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c23.s4.4

c23.s4.4

About five miles farther west are the mines of Kotah, but the iron is bad, and I therefore pass on to the more celebrated mines of this district, viz. those of *Saigerh* and *Chandrapura*, which are situated on the crest of the Bindachel range, and near the point where the waters separate; in this respect they correspond with the mines of *Baragaon* and *Emliya* before mentioned, and like them also, the ore (No.27 and 28) differs both in nature and character, from all the other ores of this district; it lies in a thin vein, in ferruginous sandy, or gravelly clay—very near the surface; and its streak, in some specimens is yellow, in others yellowish brown, whilst that of all the other ores is red; in general appearance, it somewhat resembles the ore of *Baragaon*, but the grains are not so perfectly formed; its iron is excellent, possessing tenacity and malleability in a high degree far excelling every other description of iron produced in this district; *coal shale* crops out in its neighbourhood, and in all probability *coal* exists near the mines, but with all these advantages, the want of water carriage will ever prevent them from becoming more valuable than they now are.