Iranian Minerals — Sal Ammoniac 507 



known. The Si yao er ya 1 gives a number of synonymes of Chinese 

 origin, as kin tsei ^ %£,, c'i Sa # ffi ("red gravel"), pat hat tsin 6 M 

 Hf ("essence of the white sea"). 



Sal ammoniac is found in Dimindan in the province of Kirman. 

 Yaqut (1179-1229) gives after Ibn al-Faqih (tenth century) a descrip- 

 tion of how nuladir is obtained there, which in the translation of C. 

 Barbier de Meynard 2 runs as follows: — 



"Cette substance se trouve principalement dans une montagne 

 nomm6e Donbawend, dont la hauteur est eValue"e a 3 farsakhs. Cette 

 montagne est a 7 farsakhs de la ville de Guwa&r. On y voit une caverne 

 profonde d'ou s'^chappent des mugissements semblables a ceux des 

 vagues et une fumee £paisse. Lorsque cette vapeur, qui est le principe 

 du sel ammoniac, s'est attachee aux parois de l'orifice, et qu'une certaine 

 quantity s'est solidifiee, les habitants de la ville et des environs viennent 

 la recueillir, une fois par mois ou tous les deux mois. Le sulthan y envoie 

 des agents qui, la recolte faite, en prel event le cinquieme pour le tr6sor; 

 les habitants se partagent le reste par la voie du sort. Ce sel est celui 

 qu'on expe"die dans tous les pays." 



Ibn Haukal describes the mines of SetruSteh thus: 8 "The mines 

 of sal ammoniac are in the mountains, where there is a certain cavern, 

 from which a vapor issues, appearing by day like smoke, and by night 

 like fire. Over the spot whence the vapor issues, they have erected a 

 house, the doors and windows of which are kept so closely shut and 

 plastered over with clay that none of the vapor can escape. On the 

 upper part of this house the copperas rests. When the doors are to be 

 opened, a swiftly-running man is chosen, who, having his body covered 

 over with clay, opens the door; takes as much as he can of the copperas, 

 and runs off; if he should delay, he would be burnt. This vapor comes 

 forth in different places, from time to time; when it ceases to issue from 

 one place, they dig in another until it appears, and then they erect that 

 kind of house over it; if they did not erect this house, the vapor would 

 burn, or evaporate away." 



Taxes are still paid in this district with sal ammoniac. Abu Mansur 

 sets forth its medicinal properties. 4 



1 See Beginnings of Porcelain (this volume, p. 1 15). 



2 Dictionnaire g£ographique de la Perse, p. 235 (Paris, 1861). Ibn al-Faqlh's 

 text is translated by P. Schwarz (Iran im Mittelalter, p. 252). According to Ibn 

 Haukal (W. Ouseley, Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, p. 233), sal-ammoniac 

 mines were located in Maweralnahr (Transoxania). 



3 W. Ouseley, op. tit., p. 264. 



4 Achundow, Abu Mansur, p. 144. — Abel-Remusat (Melanges asiatiques, 

 Vol. I, p. 209, 1825), translating from the Japanese edition of the cyclopaedia San 

 ts'ai t'u hut, gave the following interesting account: "Le sel nomme' (en chinois) 



