Stopped at the village on the way
where there are iron works, and saw them smelting the ore which is
obtained from the neighbouring mountains, this ore is a yellow powder,
and appears to be almost pure oxide. Their method of working is very
rude; a small furnace, such as a blacksmith uses at home, supplied with
a pair of leather bellows constitutes the whole of the foundry, and is
of course, only capable of smelting a very small quantity of ore at a
time. Kookur Nag is the name of some springs about two miles from the
village I have encamped at, and I walked over this afternoon to see
them. It was scarcely worth the trouble. There are a great number of
them close together and they issue from the ground, as usual, at the
foot of a prettily wooded hill. The water is very pure and cold, and of
sufficient quantity to form immediately a large and rapid stream. This
place lies near the mouth of a wide gorge or valley which leads right up
to the snows, and down which there must have been at one time, either a
mighty rush of water or a vast glacier, as the ground is thickly strewn
with huge boulders. The stratification of one mountain against which it
is evident the flood impinged--is very clearly and beautifully shown.
AUGUST 18th.--To Vernag, ten miles, crossing a range of hills, the
descent being the steepest I have experienced.
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