INTRODUCTION. 204 



me by deputing the Assistant Commissioner of Salt, Excise, and 

 Opium, Mr. E. L. Thurley to accompany me on my tour. 

 Mr. Thurley joined me just before Christmas, and gave me the 

 full assistance of his department in collecting samples of lake- 

 water and dry specimens of salt and alkali. I was thus enabled to 

 handle a far greater number of specimens than I could have done 

 unassisted. In Khairpur State, the Vazir of Khairpur sent one of 

 the State officials connected with the soda trade, Mr. Mohammed 

 Khan, to my camp. This officer gave me groat help in showing 

 me the various dhands, and accompanying me on tour throughout 

 the State. Without his aid, travelling in this desert country would 

 have been exceedingly difficult. 



In the taluqas of Nawabshah, Sanghar, and Khipro, I received 

 much help from the Mukhtiarkars, who both assisted in the collec- 

 tion of samples, and in obtaining information from the local villagers 

 regarding dhands which had ceased to yield chanilw. My thanks 

 are due to these officials, through whose aid I was enabled to make 

 a fairly comprehensive survey of the soda industry of Sind. 



In order to examine the water of the alkaline lakes, I came 

 -, . equipped with a small travelling laboratory 



Mot hod of exami- ju„ , ^1 * , T & J 



nation. t01 volumetric analysis. It was my practice 



to visit each dkand, and after making the 

 usual observations regarding size, depth, etc., fill a bottle with the 

 bittern, which was afterwards tested in camp. On arrival in camp 

 the specific gravity was first taken by means of hydrometers 

 graduated to three places of decimals ; the bittern was then tested 

 for total alkalinity with half-normal acid, and usually for salinity 

 with standard silver nitrate of the same strength. Roughly 

 graduated school burettes were used, so that the results are not so 

 accurate as those made in a laboratory, although they are sufficient In- 

 accurate for all practical purposes. 



It was not found possible to determine the sulphate content 

 volumetrically. An attempt was made to do so by Wiidenstein's 

 method. The bitterns are however so much cchured by' organic 

 matter, that the end-point of the reaction was quite impossible to 

 determine. 



Fifty-seven samples of bitterns were collected and sent to the 

 Geological Survey Laboratory in Calcutta for further more accurate 

 analysis. Besides these a large number of specimens of crude 

 trona (chaniho) were collected and sent to Calcutta for analysis, 



• b2 



