INTEODTJCTOllY. • 5 



in the soil of the place. Salt in large blocks like quarried stones was 

 lying (as it does often still) piled at the entrance of the Lun Nala,* 

 ready for exportation to India or '^ Khorassaun." 



Another early record appears as an abstract of Lieutenant Burnes^ 



Lieutenant A. Burnes, (afterwards Sir A. Burnes') paper on the geology 



1831-32-1838. ^f ^.j^g |^,^j^|,g ^f ^^^ Indus, fecf He describes the 



salt as being found in " layers of about a foot in thickness, separated 

 from each other by thin strata of clay/'' referring no doubt to the 

 laminated structure of the salt, and perhaps mistaking tbe darker coloured 

 lines for earthy layers. He found what he supposed to be bituminous coal 

 at Kohat, and stated that the Salt Range " extended across the Indus 

 into that district/' supporting an often-repeated error. The abstract 

 seems much condensed, and but little is said of the Salt Range proper. 



In another paper by the same author J the locality of the range as the 

 Lieutenant A. Burnes, Southern limit of a plateau between the river Indus 

 •^^^^- and the Hydaspes is correctly given, as is also the 



general elevation, but this is followed by a statement that the formation 

 is •'sandstone occurring in vertical strata.^'' The desolate aspect of 

 the hills, the hot springs, alum, galena, and sulphur, are mentioned, as 

 well as a red clay in the valleys, indicating salt, which is found at intervals 

 throughout the range. 



A description of the " Keoru " (Kheura) mines follows. Gunpowder 

 was not used lest the roof should fall in, accidents of the kind occurring 

 even then. The miners received a rupee for 20 maunds of salt raised, 

 and its selling price was Rs. 3 per maund exclusive of duties. The 

 profit is stated to amount to about 1,100 per cent., and from it Runjit 

 Singh hoped to derive a revenue of 16 lakhs of rupees. The mode of 



* Called by Jameson the Gossai Nala. 



t A Memoir on the Geology of the banks of the Indus, the Indian Caucasus, and the 

 plains of Tartary to the shores of the Caspian, by Lieutenant A. Burnes, Proc. Geological 

 Society, London, Vol. II, p. 8. 



% " Some account of the Salt Mines of the Punjab," by Lieutenant S. [A.] Burnes, 

 Bombay Army, Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, Vol, I, p. 143, &c. 



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