1834.] From the Sand-beds of the Jumna. 35 



Each of the three persons, (sometimes women are employed,) can gain 

 their anna per day by making two and half seers of salt, which sell at the 

 rate of onerupee permaund. They work each from sun-rise tillabout noon, 

 and not later, as they consider " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof;" 

 besides, after twelve o'clock, the sun becomes too powerful for them to 

 work out of doors. 



The locality of this salt preparation is on the Bundelkhand side of the 

 river, about thirty-six miles by water, and twenty-four by land, above 

 Culpee ; is under the authority of the Budek Raja, and is situated op- 

 posite to the village of Marhapoor, nea Karimkhan (or Kurmookah 

 Ghat), where the chief operations of removing the rocks which impeded 

 the navigation of the Jumna have heen carried on for some time 

 past. 



The favorable season of the year for this salt operation is only in the 

 hot dry months of April, May, and June, before the river rises ; for on 

 its subsidence, which takes place at the close of the rainy season, the sun 

 must be allowed to gain some power before these people can attempt a 

 renewal of the process, because the only sand from which the salt is dis- 

 engaged is drawn forth and raised above the general surface of the bed 

 by the direct influence of the sun's heat, which is not sufficiently power- 

 ful in the cold season to produce such an effect. I am not aware whe- 

 ther the little hillocks of swollen-up sand subside again or not after the 

 sun's departure below the horizon, but I should think that they do not. 

 A number of sand mounds, fifty or more, raised here and there, some 

 given up, and the rest in progress, were to be met with in June last; butl 

 should scarcely think if the preparation of salt were carried on after this 

 manner on a more extensive scale, that it would reimburse the specu- 

 tor for any large sums of money that he might hazard in the manufac- 

 ture of the article. 



It appears, from the natives' account, that four baskets filled with this 

 saline collection weigh about two maundsof forty seers each (160 lbs.), or 

 forty lbs. eachbasketful; also, that half aseer (one lb.) of salt was extracted 

 from a maund weight, or eighty lbs. of sand. That a day's work, consisting 

 out of doors, of six hours, (passed in collecting, filling, and filtering tillnoon ; 

 and the rest of the day in the evaporating process,) enabled the manufac- 

 turer to prepare a sufficient quantity of salt for him and each of his family 

 to gain an anna a day clear, for the fire cost him but little, as he gather- 

 ed or picked up the fuel, consisting of old sticks and gobar, or dried cow- 

 dung, and he purchases the earthen pots for a mere trifle, and they last 

 a long time, excepting the one subjected to the action of the fire. This 

 anna, equal to three half-pence, is found to be sufficient for the individual's 

 maintenance; but I suspect he gains something more, as he stated that 

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