1849.] Statislics of the Circar of Dowlutabad, 543 



is then poured in till it covers the earth, and is then well stirred to- 

 gether. After a day's digestion, the water is allowed to drain away 

 laden with saline matter : by opening a hole made for the purpose, at 

 ihe bottom. The lixivium thus obtained, is then boiled rapidly in an 

 iron pot for twelve hours, removing the scum as it rises, and then 

 poured into small earthen pots to cool and crystallize, which are plac- 

 ed edge-ways to drain : it receives no further preparation; and in this 

 state is of a reddish brown color. 



One boiling of the iron pot in use, will produce twelve seers, and 

 the price it sells for is 10 rupees a puliah. 



People necessary for the operation are three men for scraping and 

 bringing the white earth, at two rupees a month. Three men for 

 chopping wood and bringing water, and two men for attending the 

 furnace, and boiling, each at three rupees a month. 



Wood being scarce in the part of the country where the manu- 

 facture is carried on, the operation is made dearer than it otherwise 

 would be, each boiling consuming half a rupee's worth of fuel. The 

 work goes on by night as well as during the day. 



The other mode is adopted during the hot season and requires a 

 high mound of earth, at the foot of which are placed the shallow 

 chunamed pans for evaporation ; on the summit of this mound, the 

 white earth is lixiviated, and after being boiled in an iron pot, is pour- 

 ed into channels that convey it down the sides of the mound into the 

 pans below, depositing its earthy particles as it passes along, and 

 when' evaporated, the crystals deposited are swept away and packed 

 for sale. 



Pottery. 



A coarse manufacture of porous unglazed earthen pots called mut- 

 kas is carried on in every large sized village, the process of which is 

 as follows. A particular sort of black clay is procured from the nul- 

 lahs, and tempered by admixture with horse dung and ashes, and 

 well trodden for a whole day under foot ; the method of forming the 

 tempered clay into vessels is done by placing a lump of it upon the 

 centre portion of a horizontal Avheel, applying rotatory motion before 

 doing so, the velocity of which is greatly increased by whirling it 

 round briskly two or three times by means of a stick fixed in holes 

 made for the purpose on its outer rim. 



The wheel is a very simple affair, having a disc placed in the centre, 



