330
CHAP. XXVII.
Ava.
purpose, if any such could be found and soapplied. In Afganistan or Cabul, gold is said tobe found in some of the streams that flow fromthe mountains of Hindoo Cosh, and some silverin the country of the Caffres, but nothing isknown as to the quantity of either 1 .
In Ava, or the Birman Empire, mining seemsto be an important source of the national wealth,but no data respecting the quantity of the preciousmetals thence furnished are attainable. There aresaid to be mines of silver in the eastern rangeof mountains towards the Chinese frontier, and,according to report, the rivers, especially the ChoeLien Kioup, or the river of golden sand, yieldgold dust.
Although Assam has been added to the British dominions in India , the junction is too recent tohave yet afforded much information respectingthe operations in gold washing. The number ofpersons engaged in that pursuit was said to haveamounted to about twelve thousand, and to haveproduced annually thirty thousand ounces of gold.A mine, called Pakerguri, at the junction of theBramahaputra river with the Dontriri, is said to beworked for a short time in every year, duringwhich one thousand men are employed, who arepaid for their labour in land.
Hamilton's East India Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 10.