1849.] Trip to Pind Dadud Khan and the Salt Range. 687 



liquid, is 3 J maunds for the rupee of 13 annas, which is universal here. 



The lixiviating vats are 12 ft. square by 1 ft. 5 in. deep. 



The evaporating vats in which the small crystals of alum are depo- 

 sited are 8 ft. 8 in. long, 5 ft. 5 in. broad and 1 ft. 5 in. deep. 



The gurrahs in which it is finally crystallized are 1 ft. 8 in. deep, 

 the same breadth at shoulder, and 6 in. wide at mouth. 



April 15th. — Kalibag. — Visited the salt mines here, which are situ- 

 ated on both sides of the river above Kalibag at a village called Maree. 

 The rock salt forms a hill between Kalibag and a nullah called the 

 Loon, which enters the Indus opposite Maree on the N. side of the river, 

 and is worked at various points from the surface, there being no need 

 for sinking mines, the rock salt having tumbled down in immense 

 masses from the heights above, requiring only to be broken into por- 

 tions fit for removal. The salt is of excellent quality on the E. side 

 of the hill, but on its west side is mixed with a great deal of red 

 marl which deteriorates its quality. The stratification of the salt is 

 more apparent here than in any place we have seen to the E., and dips 

 to N. W. at an angle of 40°. The marl is interlaminated with a strata of 

 gypsum, which generally is of an earthy character, the saccharine 

 gypsum being less abundant than in salt marls to the east. The prin- 

 cipal salt workings on the N. side of the Indus at Kalibag are in the bed 

 of the Loon nullah, and on its W. side, the soft sandstone strata rising 

 up into a high range stretching N. on its E. side. About a mile from 

 the mouth of the nullah thin strata are seen crossing its beds and ex- 

 tending along its W. bank, reposing on other sandstones and conglomerates, 

 containing masses of siliceous limestone and primitive rocks. Beneath 

 these in regular succession appears a deposit of the same white siliceous 

 limestone with fossils, as seen to the E. and of great thickness, its 

 lower strata being arenaceous and succeeded by an immense develop- 

 ment of bituminous shales charged with pyrites and containing small 

 seams of coal, none larger that we saw than J of an inch to \ an inch 

 thick. This is the shale from which the alum is made, and in it regu- 

 lar shafts are sunk, from which the shale is excavated ; one I measured 

 having a depth from surface of 207 feet. The working of the 

 shale is attended with frequent accidents, from the loose nature of the 

 strata which are constantly tumbling into the shaft. Here and there 

 the shales are interlaminated with beds of indurated calcareous 



