526 Report on the Salt Range, fyc. [Nov. 



In all the commercial European alums, as far as we can ascertain, the 

 alkaline base is Potash or Ammonia — the former alkali being charac- 

 teristic of British alums, while the latter occurs in those of France. In 

 the alum of Kalibag however, and in another sample of alum of a dif- 

 ferent external appearance, which we obtained in the Jullundur bazaar, 

 soda forms the alkaline base, a fact which the addition of Jumsan to 

 the crude alum liquor first led us to suspect, and which a chemical ana- 

 lysis of the alum has subsequently confirmed. A soda alum, as far as 

 we can ascertain from the chemical or pharmaceutical works we have at 

 present access to, is only known as an interesting chemical preparation ; 

 but we are not aware that such has been noticed as a staple article of 

 commerce in the N. W. provinces, and probably throughout British 

 India. 



Purity of the Alum. — Considering the coarse apparatus in which the 

 alum is prepared, its purity is astonishing. It effloresces considerably 

 on exposure to the air, has a slight pink color, arising from the presence 

 of a little iron which strikes a blue color with yellow prussiate of potash^ 

 and only contains a trace of muriate and sulphate of soda. 



Besides the alum we have just noticed, another kind is prepared, 

 from a light grey shale, containing silky crystals of what appears to be 

 subsulphate of alumina. It is found associated with the other alum 

 shales around, but in small quantity. To prepare the alum, the shale 

 in coarse powder is mixed up with the impure liquid, from which the 

 alum crystals have separated. The mixture is then dried in the sun, 

 in irregular shaped masses of about a seer in weight, and which are of 

 a brownish color. When dry they get a second dip in the same alum 

 liquor, and are again dried, becoming of a tawny yellow color, in which 

 state, under the designation of Kaee, they are sold to dyers at 8 annas 

 per maund. This alum is a mixture of sulphate of alumina and sul- 

 phate of iron, and where mixed with the infusion of pomegranate rind 

 yields a good black dye. 



Although alum is only manufactured at Kalibag, yet as the same 

 shales occur in quantity to the eastward, similar manufactories might be 

 established with advantage in other parts of the salt range — the only 

 obstacle being the difficulty of access to the shale deposits, which, as well 

 as the coal, might be brought to the foot of the range on bullocks, were 

 paths made similar to the one which leads to the Kalibag alum shale 

 pits before noticed. 



