MINERALS.

IRON ore occurs in a few of the spurs which run east from the Sahyadris. It is sometimes found on the surface in irregular masses mixed with other stones, but it is generally reached by sinking shafts, two to ten feet below the surface, through a thick layer of iron-clay mixed with a composite stone locally known as jambhla or purple stone, The ore stratum is seldom more than eight or ten inches thick and thirty to forty feet broad. It appears to dip from north to south at an angle of about 12°. Formerly iron was much smelted. In 1854 thirty furnaces were at work with a yearly outturn of 225 tons worth about £900 (Rs. 9000). The mining and smelting employed 180 miners, who belonged to a wandering class of Musalmans named Dhavads. Since 1854, the dearness of fuel and the cheapness of European iron, have between them destroyed the smelting industry. It still goes on in ten hill villages, five in Bhudargad and five in Vishalgad. In 1881 fifteen furnaces yielded about two tons, of iron and employed fifty-three Dhavad workmen during six months in the year whose average season's earnings were about £5 (Rs. 50). Besides smelting the iron the Dhavads make it into field tools and cooking vessels, which they offer for sale in the nearest markets. A small fee of 4s. to 8s. (Rs. 2-4) is charged for the use of the ground in which the shafts are sunk.

The ore is of three kinds borgale, shelga, and tatha. The process of smelting, though simple, is slow and costly. The ore is dug from the pits with crowbars and pickaxes; the large pieces are broken by the hammer and then fired. When cold, the ore becomes brittle and is made ready for the furnace by grinding it to powder on a hard slate. One of the most important parts of the furnace is a flint tube which is known as mus. To make this tube a number of flints are thrown into a fire and merged under large stones,, as they are apt to burst with the heat and wound the work-men. When fired, the flints are ground to powder and mixed with clay and water. When sufficiently kneaded and pliable, the mixture is rolled into a ball and a round rod sixteen inches long and about one and one-fourth inches in diameter is thrust into the mass and covered with a uniform coating of the flinty clay. The rod is laid in the sun and when the clay has dried it is drawn out leaving a hollow tube. On the tube thus formed a second layer of flint and clay is laid and the tube is again dried. To make the furnace, a round hole about three feet deep and one and one-fourth broad is dug. At first one side is left open and the other sides arc lined with a mixture of moist clay and powdered flint or iron ore. At the bottom powdered charcoal is heaped about six inches high and water is poured on it and about four shers of powdered charcoal are added. The flint and clay tube or mus is placed in the open side of the furnace, which, like the other side, is closed with clay and flint Charcoal is thrown in till the furnace is half full. The noses of two large bellows are set in the outer end of the tube. They do not fill the mouth of the tube and in the space left open a movable ball of clay is placed which can be taken out if the workmen have to clear any thing likely to stop the free passage of air. When every thing is ready two men begin to blow the bellows; one of them simply blows. Close to the other man is a long iron spoon and two heaps one of charcoal the other of powdered ore. As he blows he every now and then passes a ladle full of ore into the furnace and then fills it with charcoal. So great is the heat that the ore rapidly fuses. Powdered ore and charcoal are again and again added and an unbroken blast is kept from the bellows until the heap of ore is finished. To feed the furnace and know the moment of fusion require both experience and skill. The miners say that as soon as fusion sets in, the flame turns from reddish to white. The ball or mudga of metal which forms at the bottom of the furnace, weighs ten to twenty pounds (¼-½ man). It takes three hours to make and uses about forty pounds of charcoal and thirty pounds of powdered ore. The metal is left to cool in the furnace and is taken out with a pair of pincers. The furnace lasts for two or three smeltings, but before each smelting requires fresh lining of clay and flint and the flint and clay tube or mus never stands more than two smeltings. After the iron is hammered it is ready to be worked into field tools and cooking vessels. Each furnace gives employment to six men, two bellowsmen and two labourers who bring charcoal and water and repair the furnace, and two men who gather ore and fuel.

BUILDING STONE.

Good building stone occurs in almost every part of the State. The building stone in general use is a blue or dark gray trap or basalt. It is obtained either from large hill-side boulders or from quarries which are carried through the broken trap or murum stratum. Quarry stone in many places shows stratification and in quarrying often goes off in layers, presenting an uniform surface generally coated with a thin layer of white substance which is probably olivine carried in solution and deposited. Red veins due to iron make the stone unfit for use, as when exposed to heat and damp it is apt to split along the line of the red vein. Boulder stone is hard, fine in grain, and takes a high polish. In the Ajra and Torgal districts a pinkish white granite is used for building, but care must be taken in choosing it as the softer kinds which look like sandstone cannot stand the weather. Laterite or iron-clay is chiefly found in the Ajra sub-division in the south-east and in the Panhala subdivision in the north-west. It is seldom used for building, except where there is neither trap nor basalt. On a part of the road between Ajra and Amboli the drains and culverts are of a reddish iron-clay. This stone is of an open texture either nodular or cellular and is easily quarried by wedges into cubical blocks, which on exposure become hard and durable.

For ordinary building quarried trap is the easiest stone to dress but it is seldom used for fine carving as it is apt to split along the scales and red veins. For carved and polished work columnar basalt or boulders are better than quarried trap as they are generally free from flaws. Boulder trap takes a high polish and is often used for inscription tablets or ornamental bases and capitals in Hindu temples. Most of the polished boulder trap is brought from Jotiba's hill about seven miles north-east of Kolhapur.

The Kolhapur masons are either Musalmans or Marathas. The Musalmans are the best workmen turning out superior carved and ornamental work and showing an aptness for inventing scroll and flower designs. In recent times Kolhapur masons first showed their talent for original designs when the Kolhapur high school was being built, and since then high class ornamental work has been executed in various buildings. Kolhapur does not require to import masons for any class of stone work. The cost of ordinary good building rubble delivered at the quarry is 4s. 6d. (Rs. 2¼). A poorer class of stone can be got at 3s. 6d. (Rs. 1¾). For fadis or stones hewn on one side and khandkis or chips the rate varies in proportion to the size of the stone and is generally paid by the foot, the length from face to tail varying from 12" to 18". Block stones that is stones in the shape of a^. cube or parallelo-piped cost 5¼d. the cubic foot if from two to four cubic feet in size; 7½d. the cubic foot if from four to six cubic feet in size; 10½d. the cubic foot if from six to eight feet in size; and 1s. the cubic foot if from eight to ten cubic feet. Uncoursed rubble in foundations costs £112s. (Rs. 16) and in superstructure £1 16s. (Rs. 18) the cubic foot. Coursed rubble in superstructure costs £2 10s. (Rs. 25) the cubic foot for the first sort and £2 (Rs. 20) for the second sort. Fine cut-stone work costs about 3s. 6d. (Rs. 1¾) the cubic foot.

ROAD METAL

AS good crumbly trap or murum is found over nearly the whole of Kolhapur, broken stone is seldom used for metalling roads. What little is used is broken from nodular basalt or quarried. Metal broken from basalt nodules costs 5s. (Rs. 2½) and from quarried basalt 7s. (Rs. 3½) the hundred cubic feet. Laterite, which makes a good lasting road, is also used in the Ajra sub-division at a cost of 4½s. (Rs. 2¼) the hundred cubic feet.

SAND.

Sand or gravel is found in the beds of rivers and streams. The building sand is of superior quality and is free from large pebbles, salt, Shells, and other impurities. Common sand is also used for bindage in mending metal and murum roads at a cost of 2½s. (Rs. 1¼) the hundred cubic feet at the river side.

LIME.

Lime is made from limestone nodules or kankar which usually occurs on the surface of black soil fields. The nodules are irregular in shape, from half an inch to three or four inches in diameter, and composed within of tolerably compact carbonate of lime and on the surface of a mixture of carbonate of lime and clay. Lime is burnt either on the intermittent or on the continuous system. Under the intermittent system the whole kilnful is burnt at once. The kiln is cylindrical both inside and outside. It varies in size according to the supply required and is usually built of stone and mud. At the bottom of the kiln a layer of charcoal or cowdung cakes is laid, and, over the charcoal, alternate layers of lime nodules and babhul or tamarind firewood twelve to fifteen inches thick.. The top layer ends in a conical mound. The fire is lighted below as well as at the top. As the lime burns the contents of the kiln subside and the space left at the top is filled with fresh layers of nodules and fuel and plastered over with clay. When the nodules are burnt, the kiln is allowed to cool, and the burnt limestone is taken out and slaked by spreading it on the ground in a layer about one foot thick and pouring water over it. For every hundred cubic feet of limestone two and three-quarters to three khandis of firewood are required. A kiln takes about ten days to burn and slake. Every hundred cubic feet of kankar yield, when slaked, one hundred and twenty-five cubic feet of lime. Under the continuous system the burnt nodules are gradually removed from the bottom of the kiln. Inside the kiln is shaped either like a cylinder or an inverted cone. It is built of stone and mud and has an inner lining of brick. The burnt lime is removed through an opening below called the draw-hole. At the lower end of the inverted cone is an iron grating on which are laid nodules and charcoal mixed in the proportion of one thousand pounds of charcoal to one hundred cubic feet of kankar. When the nodules are sufficiently burnt they are removed from the draw-hole and fresh nodules and charcoal are added from the top. The continuous system is not often used in Kolhapur, as, unless the kiln is skillfully managed, the lime is apt to be unequally burnt and useless. Slaked lime varies in price from £1 18s. to £2 2s. (Rs. 19 - 21) the khandi of a hundred cubic feet.

TILES.

Clay for making bricks and tiles is found almost everywhere. The bricks usually made are of two kinds, flat and thick. The sizes are 9 ½ " x 6 ½ " x 1 ½ " and 9" X 4 ½ 0" x 2 ½ ". The cost of thick bricks is 14s. (Rs. 7) and of flat bricks £1 4s. (Rs. 12) the thousand. Bricks are seldom used for building, as they are much more costly than stone. Tiles are of two kinds, flat and arched. The cost of flat tiles is 3s. 6d. (Rs. 1¾) and of arched tiles 7s. 6d. (Rs. 3¾) the thousand. Ridge tiles cost 10s. (Rs. 5) the thousand.

COLOURED EARTH.

Yellow white and red earth, decomposed hornblende, felspar, and iron-charged clay are commonly used for colouring house walls. They are of little value and are used only by those who cannot afford the better sorts of foreign pigment.

FORESTS.

The wet rugged west and the high spurs which stretch from the Sahyadris to near the east border of the State, give Kolhapur a large area suitable for forests. It is said that up to the early part of the present century the slopes and spurs of the west of Kolhapur were covered with timber. The country was thinly peopled and except near hill forts tillage was scarcely possible. During the last fifty years as population increased tillage spread westward and timber was felled without restriction except in a few hills or dangs set apart as game preserves. The practice of kumri or wood-ash tillage cleared brushwood and young trees from the Sahyadri spurs. The first attempt to save the forests was in 1874 when a staff of thirteen rangers and one inspector was entertained. In 1878 a separate department was organized under a forest officer lent by the British Government and the conservancy and protection of the Kolhapur forests were placed on the same footing as in the neighbouring British districts. In 1882 the forest establishment included one forest officer, nine inspectors, nineteen head foresters, one hundred and nineteen foresters, one draftsman, three clerks, and eight messengers representing a yearly cost of £1737 (Rs. 17,370).

Settlement.

In the sub-divisions of Panhala, Karvir, Alta, and Shirol about 177 square miles have been set apart for forests of which 122 square miles are reserved and fifty-five are protected. Demarcation is in progress in other sub-divisions and will be completed in two or three years. In choosing lands for forest reserves, the forest officer consults the district revenue officer as to private rights. Special care is taken to meet the needs of husbandmen in the matter of forest produce. Under certain restrictions they are allowed free grazing, firewood, loppings for ash manure, wood for housebuilding, and field tools.

Description.

No detailed information is available, but it is estimated that when the demarcation is completed the forest area of the State will include about 500 square miles. The forest blocks of the Kolhapur State may be grouped under two classes, those that belong to the main range of the Sahyadris and those that belong to the spurs and valleys that strike across the State to the north-east and east. The main line of the Sahyadris, though in places the hill sides have been stripped for wood-ash tillage, has fine evergreen forests with much valuable timber. The Sahyadri forests may be roughly arranged under two groups, a smaller section in the north stretching as far south as the Anaskura pass and a larger section in the south including the rest of the Kolhapur Sahyadris. The northern section covers about 100 square miles and includes the forest lands of Amba, Pandhrepani, Marshi Majre, Gajapur, Yelvanjugai, and other villages. These reserves are patchy and scattered, but, where spared from branch-lopping and reckless cutting, they are thickly stocked with evergreen trees, among which the chief are the ain Terminalia tomentosa, nana Lagerstrsemia lanceolata, hirda Terminalia chebula, kinjal Terminalia paniculata, jambhul Eugenia jambolana, bava Cassia fistula, karmal, shevri, cher, kumb, and surung. [A list of trees found in the State is given in the Appendix,] The chief divisions of the southern and longer section of the Sahyadris are the Anaskura, Kajirda, Bavda, and Phonda hills. The forest land in these hills covers an area estimated at about 160 square miles. Except in places where they have been stripped by careless cutting, these reserves are well stocked with the commoner forest trees, and yield large stores of inferior timber and firewood. They also contain blackwood, teak, khair, kinjal, and bamboo. The forest lands along the ranges and the streams that stretch east and north-east from the Sahyadris lie in the cool and moist belt to the west of Kolhapur city, seldom passing more than twenty miles east of the crest of the Sahyadris. Of nine chief blocks, two, the Varna and the Mhasai-Pathar, are in the Varna valley; four the Asandoli, Bhadara, Manbet, and Mainghole are in the valleys of the Bhogavati and its feeders; one, the Vaki lies near the source of the Dudhganga; one, the Mhasrang lies near the source of the Vedganga; and one, the Ajra lies near the source of the Hiranyakeshi.

Description.

In the north the VARNA block, with an area of about fifteen miles, stretches along the hills to the south of the Varna in the upper part of its course. Except near the centre the Varna block is well stocked with ain,kinjal, jambhul, nana, and. other common forest trees. To the south-west of the Varna block is the MHASAI-PATHAR reserve, a valuable tract of forest land in the hill range that lies between Panhala and the Sahyadris. All of its area of about twenty square miles is covered with a flourishing growth of ain, kinjal, hirda, and other common forest trees. About twelve miles south of the Mhasai-Pathar forest and about twenty miles west of Kolhapur is the ASANDOLI block. This has an area of twenty square miles most of it in a chain of hills that runs east from the Sahyadris as far as the village of Kale. It is crossed by the Tulsi stream a feeder of the Bhogavati. It is one of the best forest reserves in North Kolhapur, being well stocked with ain, kinjal, jambhul, nana, hirda, and other common trees. During floods timber rafts can be floated down the Tulsi to Kolhapjur. Five to ten miles southeast of the Asandoli block are the BHADARA forests in the Bavda sub-division, chiefly composed of the hill sides which drain into the valley of the Kumbhi a feeder of the Bhogavati. The Bhadara forest land stretches from the Sahyadris about ten miles east to the village of Salvan which is about fifteen miles west of Kolhapur. It has an area of about fifteen square miles and is well stocked with ain, kinjal, hirda, and other forest trees. Teak and the bamboo do not occur. About eight miles to the south-east of the Bhadara forest lands, on the banks of the Dhamni which runs north-east nearly parallel with the Bhogavati, is the MANBET block. It has an area of about twelve square miles, and is well stocked with the commoner forest trees, mixed with ain, kinjal, hirda, bava, dvala, and the rattan and bamboo canes. Six to twelve miles east and southeast of the Manbet reserve along the banks of the Bhogavati, is a stretch of forest land known as the MAINGHOLE reserve. It covers an area of about twenty-five square miles which are thickly wooded with mixed forest, the chief trees being the ain, kinjal, and hirda. About ten miles to the south, along the upper course of the Dudhganga, the VAKI forest range covers about twenty square miles. It contains fine blocks of forest, yielding many thousand hirda trees and much bamboo mixed with ain, kinjal, and other commoner trees. About ten miles further south, in the upper course of the Vedganga, the MHASRANG block comprises several ridges and valleys covering about twenty square miles. Like the Vaki block this is a splendid tree-producing tract. It is thickly covered with almost all kinds of local trees among which the ain, kinjal, and hirda are the chief. About ten miles to the east, across the great Utur-Bhudargad or North Ghatprabha spur in the west of the Ajra division, are about twenty miles of forest land which are known as the AJRA block. Most of this lies within the drainage area of the Hiranyakeshi on three spurs of which the Chaloba hill is the chief.

Ticket System.

To secure the goodwill of the people who. live in and near the forest lands the poor are allowed tickets under which they can remove headloads of firewood free of charge. Firewood and thorns may also be taken free of charge by all who live in and near the forest lands for home use and for field purposes provided none but matured trees and shrubs are cut. Any dead sticks and branches may be taken from the forests, but no reserve trees may be cut or lopped. Fuel for kilns, distilleries, and other industrial purposes maybe cut and removed on paying 2s. (Re. 1) the khandi and 2¼d. (1½ as.) the bullock, ass, pony, or buffalo load.

Forest Tribes.

The Dhangars spend most of their time in the forests with their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle but there are no separate forest tribes. Forest workers are paid daily wages varying from 3d. to 6d. (2-4 as.). Between 1878 and 1881 forest receipts rose from £49 to £6047 (Rs. 490 -Rs. 60,470) and charges from £1124 to £3986 (Rs. 11,240 -Rs. 39,860). In 1881-82 of the whole receipts, £4523 (Rs. 45,230) were from myrobalan or hirda berries, £647 (Rs.6470) were from building timber, £236 (Rs. 2360) from firewood, and £637 (Rs. 6370) from minor produce.

Timber Trade.

There has never been any regular timber trade in Kolhapur. Formerly all were- allowed, according to their wants, to go into the forests and cut what timber they might want. The large teak beams used in the old buildings of Kolhapur came either from Kanara or from Burmah. Since the introduction of forest conservancy cutting is as far as possible confined to worn-out or decaying trees and the produce is disposed of at auction sales, which are held in different parts of the State. The chief minor products are the myrobalan or hirda berry, grass, and honey. The hirda, which of late years has become an important article of trade, is bought yearly at the forest stores by wholesale dealers for export to Europe, where it is valued for dyeing. The hirda harvest begins early in November and ends at the close of February. During these four months the berries are gathered by people of all classes under the supervision of the forest officers, and are delivered at the rate of ¾d. (½ a.) the paili of five pounds. Grass grows freely over almost all the forest land. In 1882 grass yielded a revenue of £503 (Rs. 5030). The yield from wild honey is chiefly confined to the reserves of Bhudargad, Panhala, Bavda, and Vishalgad. Most of it is produced by four varieties of bees the kolambi or agya, the satin, the pova, and the kanta. During the flowering periods of the karvi or Strobilanthus, which generally happen at intervals of seven years, the yield is so abundant that honey sells for about ten pounds for 1s. The combs of kolambi or agya bees are found on the face of rocky cliffs and hanging from the boughs of large trees. A single comb often contains as much as twenty shers of honey. Bee-spoiling goes on at night and is generally difficult and often dangerous. The nest is sometimes several hundred feet below the crest of the scarp and the man has to be lowered in a cradle held by a single rope. When the cradle has reached the level of the combs, the men above swing the rope until the cradle touches the face of the rock. The bee-spoilers have a bundle of chips of the wild sago palm bherla or surmad Caryota urens which they keep alight and the smoke drives off the bees, especially as the attack is generally made at night. The comb of the satin bee is found in the cliffs of rocks and on small trees, and the quantity of honey obtained from one hive is generally about four pounds (2 shers).

Honey.

The comb of the pova bee is found in the hollows of large rocks and in decayed trees. This honey is finer than either of the other kinds, and crystallizes when kept for any length of time. Each nest yields about a pound (½ sher). The comb of the kanta bee is found in thorny shrubs and bushes. The cells always cluster round a single  branch instead of hanging like the combs of other bees. The honey harvest is in April when the dhayti Grislia tomentosa tree and the karvi are in blossom. The second crop of honey in August is watery and does not keep. The right of gathering honey is farmed at £5 to £10 (Rs. 50 - 100) a year. But much smuggling goes on as the people get oil from the village shopkeepers in exchange for honey.

Reserved Trees.

Teak, sandal, and blackwood are the property of the State and are nowhere allowed to be cut. The cutting of nineteen other trees is forbidden in lands set apart as forests. These are, ain Terminalia tomentosa, heddu Nauclea cordifolia, bibla Pterocarpus marsupium, hirda Terminalia chebula, sissu Dalbergia sissoo, kalamb Nauclea parviflora, koshimb Schleichera triiuga, shivan Gmelina arborea, rdnphanas Artocarpus hirsuta, kinjal Terminalia paniculata, nana bondara Lagerstramia parviflora, kalvin Tetranthera launginosa, kumbiya Careya arborea, khair Acacia catechu, dsan Briedelia spinosa, bondara motha Lagerstraemia lanceolata, jambhul Eugenia jambolana, and mango.

Roadside' Trees.

During the last twenty years the growth of roadside trees has received much attention. Almost all the chief roads are lined with rows of trees, in some places beautifully grown, in others still small. The kinds most used are the babhul Acacia arabica, nimb Melia azadirachta, nandruk Ficus benjamina, and the vat or banian Ficus indica and other kinds of fig.