olO Cornet Alexander on the Saline Lake of Loonar. 
brate her dismal orgies. The weather-worn appearance of the 
buildings around the spring, sufficiently indicates that it has long 
been a seat of Hindoo worship. At this time, however, the 
small stone tank exhibited a lively and interesting sight : crowds 
of Mahrattah women, in a state of semi-nudity, laved their 
limbs in its refreshing waters ; others were employed in wash- 
ing their clothes, lightening their labour with singing ; whilst a 
solitary and aged Brahmin poured his evening libation on the 
uncouth statue of the god. 
It now remains to give some account of the waters of the 
Jake, which, in a mineralogical point of view, are far from be- 
ing uninteresting. 
The name Loonar is derived from a Hindostanee word, sig- 
nifying a salt-pit. The specific gravity of the water is very 
great. When I visited the lake immediately subsequent to the 
monsoon, the taste was uncommonly brackish ; but in the hot 
season the weight of the water is nearly equal to that of Lake 
Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea of Judea, which is 1 .246. 
By a rough analysis, the component parts in 100 are nearly 
as follows : 
Muriate of Soda, . . . 20*82 
Muriate of Lime, . . . 10*60 
Muriate of Magnesia, . . 6*10 
37*52 
The salt of the lake is of a greyish colour, and sometimes 
crystallised in cubes. 
Uses . — About six years ago, before the commencement of the 
late Mahrattah war, the annual revenue which arose from the 
collection of the saline crust on the margin of the lake amount- 
ed to three lacks of rupees ; since which the bunds or mounds 
of earth, which are built across the heads of two gullies which 
descend into the lake, have been suffered to fall into decay : in 
consequence of this, a very small portion of the bed of the lake 
is now dry in the hot season. The town of Loonar is now al- 
most dilapidated. When I passed through it, there was only a 
single doocan or shop in the Bazar, which formerly was the re- 
sort of merchants from every part of India, as the extensive ka- 
ravanserahs on the outskirts of the town sufficiently indicate. 
