52 Descriptive notice of the District of Jhilum. [Jan. 



The vault where the mineral is dug out, is a mass of salt above and 

 below and on all sides, the crystal being hewn out of the rock, in large 

 masses by pickaxes, and carried out of the mine by manual labour. 

 The roofs of the mines are covered with stalactites of fantastical shapes. 

 In the time of Ranjit Singh, the mines were under the superinten- 

 dence of Raja Golab Singh, who managed them for many years. He 

 was succeeded by Misr Umir Chand, a half brother of Raja Lai Singh ; 

 In 1904, Dewan Mulraj obtained the lease of them, and in 1905, Misr 

 Kallu Ram, one of the oldest and most respectable officials in the Pun- 

 jab. The former rate of salt was 1^ Rs. per maund, the seer of the 

 mines being 114 Rs. weight. The price was raised in 1905, to 2 Rs. 

 per seer, and has since the annexation of the Punjab been raised to 2 

 Rs. a maund, the seer being of 80 Rs. Formerly the byapari obtain- 

 ed some further advantages, by certain reductions callad ' choot and 

 gularvat,' the former being a percentage allowed on the quantity of 

 salt bought, and the latter a reduction made on account of the loss sus- 

 tained by melting. The miners receive 5 Rupees per 100 maunds for 

 the salt conveyed by them to the mouth of the pit, and when the shaft 

 is in position not accessible by cattle 2 Rs. per 100 maunds, for con- 

 veying the salt from the mouth of the pit to the village of Khyura : 

 a further sum of 4 Rs. per 100 maunds was charged to the byapari, 

 for conveying the salt on bullocks to the mundi at Pind Dadan-khan ; 

 but the byaparis now carry it away themselves. It is said that in the 

 time of Akbar, 12 lacs of maunds of salt were extracted from the salt 

 range, and the rate being then 2J Rs. a maund, the revenue derived 

 was 30 lacs of Rupees. 



The camels employed in the carriage of salt are reared chiefly on the 

 1 Thul' country of Ahmedabad, and the sandy tracts of Mitta Tuwanah, 

 and Kuchi to the southward. Upon these camels a grazing tax called 

 ' trini,' is levied of 2 Rs. a head yearly, the gross amount settled on 

 each village, being paid by the chief men of the * Koris' or herds. 

 In some parts of the Punjab, the revenue derived from this source 

 is very great, the f trini' of Kot Kumalia and Syudwala in the Rechab 

 Doab, being above 50,000 Rs. yearly, in the time of the Sikh regime, 

 and the single town of Nurpur Tuwanah paying more than 7000 

 Rs.* The mines now worked are Khyura, Mukrach and Surdi, the 



* N. B. The cattle used in the salt trade are called by the local name of 

 1 lashia.' 



