950 On the Salts, called Puckwah and Phool-Kharee. [No. 120. 



16. We must then in the absence of better data than the foregoing 

 take 



The exports, at bazar maunds, ... ... ... 5,00,000 



The consumption at least, ... ... ... 5,00,000 



Total amount oi refined Saltpetre produced, Baz^Mds, 10,00,000 

 And in the production of this, there appears good che- 

 mical ground for asstiming, that at least 25 per cent, 

 of Puckwah are produced, which gives, from the Saltpetre 

 manufactory alone, Puckwah to the amount of, Baz, Mds, 2,50,000 



17. We have next to consider, that we may at least look at all the 

 sources of the article, the different notices of the Salt works which 

 are to be met with in various authors. This Salt we may also 

 call Puckwah. They will scarcely afford us data, but they should not 

 be passed over in attempting to estimate the quantity of Puckwah 

 thrown into the market. 



18. Mr. Colebrooke, (Remarks on Husbandry and Commerce of 

 Bengal,) says, page 181, of London edition, that in Oude and Benares, 

 this process of washing earth and evaporating the solution, is followed 

 to obtain Culinary Salt without extracting the Nitre, and he details 

 the process, but without any figured statements, as a perfectly familiar 

 one. The proportion of edible Salt must be considerable, and the 

 places where it is found numerous, to render it so well known an oper- 

 ation. Dr. Buchanan, vol. i. p. 550, speaks of the Salt works from 

 wells in Ramghur, Zillah Shahabad.* In vol. iii. Dr. Buchanan, 

 as before quoted, says, that the Beldars of Puranya made Culinary 

 Salt alone, and he describes it as a separate manufacture at p. 337 and 

 338, the produce selling at 4 rupees per maund. Mr. Stephenson 

 (Journal Asiatic Society, vol. iii. p. 36,) has a valuable paper on the 

 manufacture of Salt in the Ghazeepore district, shewing that the 

 earth contains half as much Muriate of Soda as Sulphate of Soda, 

 i. e. 1.5. Muriate to 2.7 Sulphate, and that the Salt contains 60 per 

 cent. Muriate of Soda or edible Salt to 37 per cent, of the Sulphate. 

 We have no data by which to ascertain the extent to which this 

 edible Salt manufactory is carried ; we must therefore allow it as a 



* Mr. Stephenson found the water of wells in Tirhoot to be strongly impreg- 

 nated with Muriate of Soda. 



