REVENUE FROM SALT. 297 



five or six feet deep. Should Government con- 

 sider the subject worthy of attention as a source 

 of revenue, it would appear from Mr Hodges' 

 description that this salt may be obtained in 

 almost any quantity and of the pm^est kind." 

 Soon afterwards specimens of the deposit were 

 forwarded to Kurrachee by the collector of 

 Hyderabad. These were forwarded to Bom- 

 bay, but owing to the opposition of the salt 

 merchants there, whose interests might be af- 

 fected were Sindh salt to get into the market, 

 the subject remained in abeyance." 



These beds were subsequently examined by 

 an engineer officer, who estimated the quantity 

 at fifteen hundi-ed millions of tons. The price 

 of common salt in the Kurrachee bazaar is ten 

 annas for a camel load of from five to six 

 maunds ; and by retail four pounds for one pice. 

 Sindh is not subject to the salt tax, unless such 

 has been laid on since I left the pro^dnce, 

 which was the only portion of our Indian em- 

 pire so exempted, and seemingly without cause, 

 as the Sindhecs could well afford it, owing to 

 the low price of that condiment. The Punjaub 

 realizes a revenue from its salt of nearly 15 

 lakhs of rupees per annum, and were the tax 



