148

MINERAL RESOURCES.

form of chips and dust from Rs. 100 to Rs, 200 per ton. Of
the exported graphite, America takes the greater part, the
United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium coming next in
order,
The digging for and loeal trade in graphite remain chiefly
in the hands of the Sinhalese ; it has, however, been mined:
on a number of tea estates and proved remunerative, It
has been estimated that the various processes of mining,
lifting, carting, sorting, packing, and shipping graphite, as
well as the making of the casks in which it is exported,
provide employment for about 50.000 men, women, and
children,
Its uses are manifold : about one-third of the export is used
in the manufacture of crucibles, one-third for stove polish
(“black lead”), and the remainder for lubricating purposes,
siectroplating, and in the manufacture of black paint and
of lead pencils.

Mica—sometimes erroneously called tale—is found in large
Juantities in the central districts, where it not infrequently
shows on the surface, and generally exists in the neighbourhood
 of the beds of crystalline limestone. Almost the only
mica hitherto found in Ceylon in pieces large and clean
enough to have commercial value belongs, ag in Canada, to.
phlogopite ; the greater part of the Indian mica, however,
belongs to muscovite. The Ceylon mica is accordingly
coloured, amber and bottle-green colours being most usual.
Colourless phlogopite is also found occasionally,
Mica is not mined for in a systematic manner, but is.
collected Ly hand from pits dug where there are surface
signs of a vein ; the veins are not as a rule more than one or
bwo feet in width, and are composed of closely packed
hexagonal erystals of mica of variable size, usually free from
any admixture of other minerals. It is chiefly found in the-Uva
 and Central Provinces, There is some local demand for
mica in connection with the Kandyan art industries. It was.
largely used in the time of the Kandy kings for decorative
purposes. Loeally procured mica was also used in connection
with the electric lighting of Kandy. The quantity exported
has shown a steady decrease from an amount valued at
Rs. 43,617 in 1896 to an amount valued at only Rs. 375 in
1902. There seems no reason why a more extensive trade
should not be carried on.
{ts splendid insulating properties, combined with its.
ability to withstand the highest degree of heat and to resist
damp, and the fact that it ig incompressible, tough, and non-