Chap. VIL] economic geology. 177 



picked out of the beds of torrents ; the quality of lime thus obtained 

 is necessarily very uncertain. There are some fine-grained, earthy 

 limestones of the lower Krol band, which would be well worth expe- 

 rimenting upon to obtain a cement stone of certain quality. The 

 want of such a material is greatly felt in the extensive irrigation 

 works all over upper India. 



Gypsum. — Gypsum is found in moderate quantities at many parts 

 of our district. It occurs in lumps through the ferruginous clays of the 

 Subathu group. At Sahansadhara, below Masuri, it occurs in small 

 irregular veins through limestone, in the neighbourhood of the sul- 

 phurous springs. From both these sources a small supply is brought 

 to market, the demand being very limited. 



Salt. — At page 60 I have given an account of the salt rock of Mundi, 

 in the strata of the Krol group. I there stated probable reasons for 

 its local occurrence in that group. The very profitable nature of this 

 mineral, as an article of commerce, has naturally excited the attention 

 of speculators, both scientific and practical. Shafts have been sunk 

 in the Nahun sandstone below Masuri, about the Noon river, and small 

 works erected for the preparation of the salt. This speculation had 

 a two-fold foundation, — a small amount of fact, and a great deal of 

 supposition. The former consists in the occurrence of a saline spring. 

 I never could get exact information as to the position of this spring, its 

 yield of water, or the precise composition of its saline produce ; the 

 locality indicated to me by the natives is at the outer ed.ge of 

 the Nahun band, at the foot of the slopes of the lignite sand- 

 stone. It seemed to me that briny water in such a locality might 

 possibly be derived from the concentrated exudations of the rock 

 above, which here, as elsewhere, effloresces copiously under the 

 influence of the sun and rain. Practical men, of course, were 

 influenced by the assumption that the rock was the same as that 

 in which salt is found to the north-west. The fact of there being a 



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