205 COTTER: SODA INDUSTRY OF SIND. 



This report deals mainly with an area in Eastern Sincl, com- 

 prised by the southern half of the Khairpnr 



ihc ri Snc?yo?crt. rOS * State ' tllc eastern half of Nawabshah district, 



and the northern half of Thar and Parkar 

 (see Plate 14). 



This area is entirely covered by alluvial clays or by wind-blown 

 sand, and there are no outcrops of rock visible. 



It is bisected in a north-south direction by the East Nara Canal. 

 This canal lies in the bed of an ancient river, known to history as 

 the Hakro or Lost River of Sind. 1 The only other canal which 

 need be mentioned is the Jamrao, which leaves the East Nara, 

 near the southern boundary of Khairpnr State, and runs in a S.W. 

 direction into Nawabshah district, finally turning south into Thar 

 and Parkar. 



Roughly speaking the area covered by alluvial clays and silts 

 lies entirely west of the Nara, and south of the Jamrao. The area 

 covered by wind-blown sand includes all the country east of the 

 Nara, and north of the Jamrao Canal. I shall proceed to give 

 short descriptions of each of these areas. 



The alluvial country south of the Jamrao and east of the Nara, 

 is covered by fine clays and silts, which, it is important to observe, 

 are very highly impervious to water. This fact has been demon- 

 strated by observations of leakage of water from the Jamrao and 

 from other canals, which show that while that part of the canal 

 which runs through sand-hills allows large amounts of water to 

 escape through the walls, only a very small percentage of water 

 leaks from the canal where it runs through alluvium. 



A large portion of the soil of this country is unfit for cultiva- 

 tion, being highly charged with mineral salts, known as rch or 

 hilar. These are mixtures of the chloride, sulphate, and carbonate 

 of sodium, but of very variable composition, the chloride being 

 largely predominant in this area. 



A few halophytes grow upon this soil, the most abundant being 

 small shrubs of the Goosefoot order (Salsola, Sueda.). 



Regarding these plants Brandis 2 remarks, "As far as known, 

 their roots largely take up salts of sodium, while most other tree* 

 and shrubs mainly take up potassium salts, though sodium salts 



* Sind Gazetteer, 1907, p. 323, also J. A*. Soc. Bengal, LXI, pt. 1. 

 2 Sir D. Brandis, " Indian Trees ", p. 518. 



