VOL. LXXVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 283 



Betowle, and is a small principality in the first of the northern moun- 

 tains, where they rise from the plains of Hindostan, and is distant from 

 Lucknovv about 200 miles n. e. The town is a principal mart, where the 

 commodities of the mountains are exchanged for those of the plain. The 

 raja, or prince of the country, holds his possessions in the hills as an inde- 

 pendent sovereign ; but for those on the plain he owes fealty, and pays tribute 

 to the vizier. He therefore embraced this opportunity of paying homage in 

 person to his lord. During his stay at court, I had an opportunity of making 

 the inquiries I wished from his people, and particularly from his dewan or 

 minister, who had with him some of the inhabitants of the place where the 

 borax is made. 



This saline substance, called in the language of this country swagah, is 

 brought into Hindostan from the mountains of Thibet. The place where it is 

 produced is in the kingdom of Jumlate, distant from Betowle about 30 days 

 journey north. Jumlate is the largest of the kingdoms in that part of the 

 Thibet mountains, and is considered as holding a superiority over all the rest. 

 The place where the borax is produced is described to be in a small valley, 

 surrounded with snowy mountains in which is a lake, about 6 miles 

 in circumference, the water of which is constantly so hot, that the hand 

 cannot be held in it for any time. The ground round the banks of the 

 lake is perfectly barren, not producing even a blade of grass; and the earth is 

 full of a saline matter in such plenty that, after falls of rain or snow, it con- 

 cretes in white flakes on the surface, like the natron in Hindostan. On the 

 banks of this lake, in the winter season, when the falls of snow begin, the earth 

 is formed into small reservoirs, by raising it into banks about 6 inches high; 

 when these are filled with snow, the hot water from the lake is thrown on it, 

 which, together with the water from the melted snow, remains in the reservoir, 

 to be partly absorbed by the earth, and partly evaporated by the sun ; after 

 which, there remains at the bottom a cake, of sometimes half an inch thick, of 

 crude borax, which is taken up and reserved for use. It can only be made in 

 the winter season, because the falls of snow are indispensably requisite, and also 

 because the saline appearances on the earth are strongest at that season. When 

 once it has been made on any spot, in the manner above described, it cannot be 

 made again on the same place, till the snow shall have fallen on it and dissolved 

 3 or 4 times; after which the saline efflorescence re-appears, and it is again fit 

 for the operation. 



The borax, in the state above described, is transported from hill to hill on 

 goats, and passes through many different hands before it reaches the plains, 

 which increases the difficulty of obtaining authentic information on the original 

 manufacture. When brought down from the hills, it is refined from the earth 

 and gross impurities by boiling and crystallization. I could obtain no answers 



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