1843.] of the Panjab and Affghanistan. 575 



who use salt in their bread. If the miners are found stealing a seer or 



two, they are obliged to extract twelve goonees of salt for one rupee, 



each goonee containing two and a half maunds. The government pay 



one rupee nominally for sixteen maunds, which quantity weighs 



actually twenty maunds. 



The hire of carriage to Pind Dadan Khan is 1 rupee per twenty 



maunds from all the mines, except the Makraj one, 

 Hire of Carriage. , . 



the hire from which is 1 rupee for sixteen maunds. 



The camels on which the salt is carried are all the property of Rajah 



Gulab Singh. The merchants, who make wholesale purchases, get 



the salt at 11 rupee the maund, others pay 2 rupees. Formerly the 



tax on the salt amounted to 4 lakhs of rupees. After the visit of 



Captain Wade, the farm rose to 8 and 9 lakhs, afterwards to 12 



lakhs, then to 14, at which I found it; as far as 

 Salt Farm. 



25 lakhs are said to be realized. Rajah Gulab 



Singh has farmed the mines from Maharajah Runjeet Singh. The 



labourers, who carry the salt out from the mines, are paid 1, 2 



and 3 annas the day. Formerly one miner and two labourers got 



paid by the day one rupee ; — the labourers being mostly males and 



females, adult and children, and the miner's own family. None 



but the experienced miners of the place can dig the salt. The 



labourers, when the salt is dug, bring it out by the aid of lamps in 



baskets, which they carry on their heads. Their clothes are completely 



blackened. The miners told me an anecdote, which was this : During 



Captain Wade's visit to the mines, when he was in one of the large 



. „ T , chambers, Rajah Gulab Singh, jealous of a close sur- 

 Captain Wade. ' J & ' J 



vey being made, ordered the miners to throw up 



salt from behind the visitor, so as to fall in showers from above about 



him, and then to get up a cry that the roof was falling in, so as to 



cause his speedy departure. This stratagem succeeded. The galleries 



are driven under ground to the length of several hundred yards. The 



four mines that are at work are Khur Chotana, 

 Mines at work. 



Korah, Kerah, Makraj. The inhabitants of the 



neighbourhood of these mines do not cultivate ; but depend on 



their labour in the mines. The salt of these mines appears perfectly 



inexhaustible. Each miner digs from fifteen to twenty maunds a 



day. 



