CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS OP INDIA. 133 



Nitre saltpetre, locally " Khai jdbkahi" is produced in Cuttack. 

 Some is manufactured by a process of solution and filtration, (which it 

 would be unnecessary here to describe,) from a thin whitish efflorescence 

 scraped off old mud walls and buildings, &c, where it is produced more 

 or less in all localities freely, that are continually exposed to the action of 

 sea air in the cold season, and dependent on the existence of certain con- 

 ditions. Some is more carefuly prepared, for the most part only in the 

 hill tracts, from a similar efflorescence found in the cold months on the 

 base of cow-house walls, and there generated, it is to be supposed, by 

 the action of the ammonia thrown off from the urine of the cattle. 

 Neither kind is manufactured extensively enough for commercial pur- 

 poses, still the local manufacture furnishes a good deal of the saltpetre, if 

 not the bulk of it, used in native gunpowder for shooting and fire-works 



Sal-ammoniac for tinning and frigorific mixture, 12 annas per seer, is 

 made in various parts of Oude. It is manufactured from the contents of 

 cesspools, and is used for tinning copper pots and pans ; mixed with 

 common salts, nitre, &c, it forms a frigorific mixture. 



Nitrate of potash for frigorific mixtures and for gunpowder, three 

 seers per rupee, is made in various parts of Oude. This is nitre of the 

 first crystallization ; nitre is found in the earth of old buildings and 

 ruins, which has long been exposed to the air ; water is filtered through 

 this earth, and then boiled and concentrated. This kind is only used for 

 frigorific mixtures. 



Saltpetre and salt are produced abundantly in some parts of Shah- 

 abad ; the crude saltpetre is prepared at from six to seven rupees per 

 local maund by the Nooneahs ; this would be 151. to 18Z. per ton. The 

 salt produced with the saltpetre is of a coarse kind, and only sold to 

 the poorest of the community, under the names of " Kharree Nimuck? 

 It can, however, easily be purified by boiling, and then is a good and 

 pure salt. 



It may be here noticed, as an important and singular fact, that het 

 strata on the north, east, and south faces, (where the face of the plateau 

 towards the plains is invariably precipitous) has a considerable dip in- 

 wards, varying from 5 to 45 degrees. This circumstance prevents any 

 springs making their appearance on the face, which would have the 

 effect of leaving the table lands dry, and would render them a desert. 

 This fortunate dip has a contrary effect, retaining the moisture as in a 

 basin, and water in consequence may be had in most places on the table 

 lands at a moderate depth, while in several localities springs of pure 

 and limpid water flow above the surface all round the year, consequently 

 numbers of villages dot the table lands, and it is probable that not 

 many years will elapse before large tracts are brought into a more 

 profitable cultivation of coffee, cotton, and oil-seeds, by European energy 

 and skill. The finest rice raised in the district is already grown in 

 these shallow valleys, and when the soil has been subjected to the plough 

 proves by its abundant crops what it might produce under a proper cul- 

 tivation. 



