THE THAR AND PARKAE DISTRICT. 260 



Sahib Dinai jo Chaho, sample of phvli containing 34 per cent, 

 of XaCL 



Dangi io Chaho, sample oi phuli containing 35 per cent, of 



' XaCl. 



The Deputy Collector of the East Xara. in forwarding the Com- 

 mittee's report, states that chaniho is not annually Eotmd in the same 

 set of (Viands. '"'After a few years " he says " the conditions 

 change, and no chaniho is found there, but is found in oilier places 

 where there was none for years." He proceeds to point out that 

 in the same dhand are found several grades of chain' ho, a, superior 

 quality used as baking powder for pulse-cakes, and an inferior salty 

 quality used for washing and dyeing. Re. 1-8-0 is obtained per 

 maund for the superior, and As. 10 per maund for the inferior 

 quality. Most of the chaniho is collected in May or June, i.e., 

 when the dhands have been evaporated to their greatest concentration. 

 During the enquiry into the chaniho industry, the Salt Depart- 

 ment collected and analysed 41 samples of chaniho and phvli from 

 the dhands of Khairpur State. I have given a list of 37 of these 

 dhands and the results of the analysis in Chapter III, p. 232. 



Comparing the results of the analysis of the Khairpur dhands 

 with those of Thar and Parkar. it will be seen that while the majority 

 of the Khairpur dhands yielded a fairly pure chaniho, those of Thar 

 and Parkar had in many cases over 50 per cent, of NaCl. Apparently 

 the deterioration of the Thar and Parkar chaniho was in 1899 only a 

 recent feature. Mr. W, H. Lucas, then Deputy Commissioner of 

 Thar and Parkar, in a letter to the Commissioner in Sind J states 

 that he had questioned a man who had been employed for 25 years 

 in removing cJumiho from the deposits of the district, and that this 

 man stated that it was only since 1890-97, that this very highly salt 

 impregnated kind had been deposited. 



Mr. Lucas describes in his letter the conclusions he arrived at 

 after having visited the Dabhiwari dhand. He emphasises the 

 fact that many different grades of chaniho are hopelessly mixed 

 together in the produce of one dhand in one year. "Chaniho highly 

 impregnated with salt might lie," he says " side by side in the bed 

 of the dhand with chaniho which contained hardly any salt. The 

 same dlumd often produces quite pure chaniho one year, and very 



1 Letter to the Commr. in Sind, No. 6S1, datod 0th April 1900. 



