Chap.!.] economic geology. 219' 



in shallow pans, about 25 feet long and 5 feet wide. The floor of these 



is made of river gravel and of kunkur, beaten to- 

 Mode of manufacture. 



gether into a concrete, and requires to be repaired 



and freshly beaten after each evaporation. Much salt is doubtless lost 



by percolation. 



The wells are a little over 2 feet 6 inches wide, and lined with 

 wicker work. An earthern vessel with a wide mouth is used to draw the 

 brine, and the pans are filled to a depth of about 3 inches. They evaporate 

 to dryness in about 13 days in the cold weather, and in 8 days in the hot 

 season, yielding 2> seers of salt in the former, but more in the latter, 

 probably from the loss by percolation being less. Each well produces about 

 a kandi, or 20 maunds of salt, per month. Manual labour alone is em- 

 ployed in working the wells. 



It is by no means impossible that clay containing salt may exist at 

 considerable depths beneath the alluvium of Khandeish and of the 

 Nerbudda plain, but such is not positively known to be the case. 



Abates, CorneliaKj Jasper and oilier Ornamental Stones. — Agates and 



jasper of various kinds are largely yielded by the trap rocks ; they are 



collected in various parts of the country and cut by the lapidaries of 



Cambay, Jubbulpoor, &c. The only place, however, where any regular 



workings take place are amongst the gravels of the tertiary rocks, many 



beds of which consist entirely of agates derived from the traps. The 



principal of these workings are near Ruttunpoor, 13 miles east of Broach. 



The only agates considered of any value occur in 

 Kuttunpoor mines. 



a thin ferruginous bed, not exceeding a foot in 

 thickness, to the iron in which is probably due the colour which gives 

 the stones their value. The pits worked vary of course with the depth 

 of the stratum; those examined by the survey were about 30 feet deep, 

 and the miners descended by foot holes in the sides. Beneath, the usual 

 rabbit warren style, so prevalent in Indian mining, and chiefly remarkable 

 for the utter absence of anything like system, was employed to dig 



(381) 



