Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c23.s4.9

c23.s4.9

The Katola mines extend from the Ken to the Dessan rivers, and it is remarkable that the ore is confined to the cluster of hills, which lie between those points—never being found northwards of them—and only in a few instances, in the *sandstone* range south of them; this cluster, like the detached hills of *Callinger* and *Adjyegerh*, have all the appearance of having once formed part of the great range; their bases are all composed of Syenite or Syenitic Granite, and their caps of *sandstone*, and there is strong reason to conclude that the iron ore, here found, is an associate of the latter rock;—with one exception only—it consists, as I have stated above, of varieties of the red oxide, and in no instance have I found it affect the needle, unless it is heated, and even in that case, it is the compact variety alone, which does affect it slightly; its principal vitiating constituent is clay—which the native smelters do not manage well—and this perhaps is the reason of their obtaining so little produce; the refiners also have *bad usages* in their refining process in common with other parts of India, and though it cannot be said that they are unable to make good iron if they please, yet it is a fact that they have an objection to make it good for bazaar sale, except in the shape of culinary or other utensils which yield a better profit; their furnaces both large and small, and also their refineries, are exactly the same as those of Tendukaira in form, and the only difference in their process consists in keeping the wind tubes separate, as at Jabalpur.