it amongst the European officials of the province, and one doubtful case amongst the planters. As regards mining and the extraction of gold, there is little to be said. I inspected the works and the rock drills. These work through the agency of compressed air, and at a cost of 15 rupees a day for coal for each drill, the same tool which is used in drilling by hand. It is doubtful whether hand-drilling is not cheaper, but the latter is far slower, and hence does not pay as well, rapid progress being absolutely essential. When working with rock drills, a shaft can be sunk 10 to 20 feet a month, against 7 to 8 feet by hand, and a level may on the average be driven 45 to 50 feet a month by rock drills against 10 or 12 feet by hand. When, however, a large surface for operating on is exposed, hand-drilling may be profitably employed. This is interesting as illustrating the fact that where labour is cheap machines seldom pay, and this is particularly worth mentioning for the benefit of those who have thought that it would be useful to introduce agricultural machinery into India. After looking at the rock drills I inspected the gold extraction works. The processes here need not detain us long. The quartz is first broken by stone-breakers like those used in England. The broken stone is then placed in an iron trough (battery box), and is pounded by iron stampers, which of course are worked by machinery. In front of this trough is a fine sieve. Water is incessantly run into the trough, and as it overflows, carries with it all the quartz which has been pounded sufficiently to pass through the sieve. The water, mingled with this finely powdered quartz, then falls on to a sloping plate of copper coated with quicksilver, which amalgamates with, and so detains, the gold. The deposit thus formed is scraped off the sheets of copper at intervals of about eight hours, and formed into balls of various sizes, which consist of about one-half gold and one-half quicksilver. The latter is subsequently separated from the gold by processes which I need not describe, and the gold is afterwards formed into bars for export. I inquired particularly as to the rates of wages. These are, for coolies working underground, from 7 to 8 annas a day (with the rupee at par one anna is equal to 1-1/2d., and 8 annas would therefore amount to 1s.). Those who work rock drills in mines, 12 annas to a rupee a day; ordinary coolies working aboveground, 4 to 8 annas; and women, 2 to 4 annas a day. The working population on the field numbers about 10,000, while 20,000 more, who work for varying periods of the year, reside in the neighbouring villages.