METALS.—­The plutonic rocks of Ceylon are but slightly metalliferous, and hitherto their veins and deposits have been but imperfectly examined.  The first successful survey attempted by the Government was undertaken during the administration of Viscount Torrington, who, in 1847, commissioned Dr. Gygax to proceed to the hill district south of Adam’s Peak, and furnish a report on its products.  His investigations extended from Ratnapoora, in a south-eastward direction, to the mountains which overhang Bintenne, but the results obtained did not greatly enlarge the knowledge previously possessed.  He established the existence of tin in the alluvium along the base of the mountains to the eastward towards Edelgashena; but so circumstanced, owing to the flow of the Walleway river, that, without lowering its level, the metal could not be extracted with advantage.  The position in which it occurs is similar to that in which tin ore presents itself in Saxony; and along with it, the natives, when searching for gems, discover garnets, corundum, white topazes, zircon, and tourmaline.

Gold is found in minute particles at Gettyhedra, and in the beds of the Maha Oya and other rivers flowing towards the west.[1] But the quantity hitherto discovered has been too trivial to reward the search.  The early inhabitants of the island were not ignorant of its presence; but its occurrence on a memorable occasion, as well as that of silver and copper, is recorded in the Mahawanso as a miraculous manifestation, which signalised the founding of one of the most renowned shrines at the ancient capital.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Ruanwelle, a fort about forty miles distant from Colombo, derives its name from the sands of the river which flows below it,—­rang-welle, “golden sand.”  “Rang-galla,” in the central province, is referable to the same root—­the rock of gold.]

[Footnote 2:  Mahawanso, ch. xxiii. p. 166, 167.]

Nickel and cobalt appear in small quantities in Saffragam, and the latter, together with rutile (an oxide of titanium) and wolfram, might find a market in China for the colouring of porcelain.[1] Tellurium, another rare and valuable metal, hitherto found only in Transylvania and the Ural, has likewise been discovered in these mountains, Manganese is abundant, and Iron occurs in the form of magnetic iron ore, titanite, chromate, yellow hydrated, per-oxide and iron pyrites.  In most of these, however, the metal is scanty, and the ores of little comparative value, except for the extraction of manganese and chrome.  “But there is another description of iron ore,” says Dr. Gygax, in his official report to the Ceylon Government, “which is found in vast abundance, brown and compact, generally in the state of carbonate, though still blended with a little chrome, and often molybdena.  It occurs in large masses and veins, one of which extends for a distance of fifteen miles; from it millions of tons