336 Report on the Geological Structure of the Salt Range. [No. 4. 



the Chichalee pass. At Kalibagh the principal workings are at a 

 place called Chatab on the north-east side of the Kalibagh hill, above 

 the Soan Nullah and about a mile from the Indus opposite Marie. 

 Here the lower alum shales are fully two hundred feet thick, and are 

 surmounted by a high scarped precipice of nummulite limestone. 

 Eegular shafts are sunk in the shale or " Eal" as it is called by the 

 natives, to depths varying from two or three hundred feet. After 

 being carried out of the pits by men and boys, it is packed in coarse 

 blanket bags and conveyed on bullocks or donkeys to the alum 

 works at Kalibagh, where the miners are paid at the rate of one 

 rupee for from thirteen to seventeen maunds, according to the qua- 

 lity of the shale delivered. From the incoherent character of the 

 beds, and the rude way of mining them, accidents to the miners are 

 of very frequent occurrence, who, from the sulphureous air they are 

 obliged to breathe in the pits, and the laborious nature of their 

 employment, have a most sickly and emaciated appearance. 



In the town of Kalibagh there are generally from twelve to four- 

 teen kilns for burning the shale, to each of which the necessary 

 arrangements for the preparation of alum are attached. In 1852 

 only twelve kurrahs or evaporating pans were in use, one being 

 attached to each kiln. 



In preparing the kiln a layer of brushwood (generally tamarisk 

 jungle which abounds on the banks of the Punjaub rivers) is spread 

 on the ground to an extent varying according to the size of the one 

 to be constructed. On this a layer of the Hal or Shale in fragments 

 is deposited to the depth of about a foot, to which succeeds a second 

 layer of brushwood, and then another of shale, a quantity of wood 

 being added according as the shale is more or less bituminous. 

 "When several of these layers have been arranged, the kiln is set on 

 fire from below, care being taken that the combustion is not too 

 rapid, which from time to time is moderated by sprinkling water on 

 the shales. The kiln being well lighted fresh layers of shale and 

 brushwood are added, and when the whole has attained the height 

 of thirty or forty feet it is left to burn, six or eight months being 

 sufficient to effect the thorough decomposition of the mass, which 

 when completed has changed from a black to a brick red colour in 

 consequence of the oxidation of the pyrites. Its surface is covered 



