198 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[voL. xtir. 
Tlio salt is obtained from four sources— 
1st. —From tlie large shallow lakes, from which great quantities of the best quality of salt 
are obtained. 
2nd. —From earth-wor-ks, or the collection of the efflorescence on the surface of the soil, 
re-dissolving it in pits, and allowing it to evaporate in shallow pans. 
3rd.—From vvoak brine wells, as at Bhartpur. 
4<7i. —From the deposits formed in old beds of rivers. 
Tbo earth-works used to be exceedingly numerous, particularly on the western 
side of the Arvalis, but they are now mostly abandoned. Large quantities of 
salt were also obtained at Pachbadra, from pits sunk in a hollow supposed to be 
an old bed in the Lfini river. 
Under the new salt revenue regulations the works at Bhartpur arc closed, 
l)ut they were once extensive. In the Gazetteer of the Bhartpur State, salt 
llgurcs as more than two and a half lakhs of rupees in the revenue recei[)ts 
for 1873-74. The principal works were close to the west of the city, where 
largo evaporating areas were supplied with brine drawn from wells in the open 
plain. The nature of the source is altogether obscure : there is no natural sur¬ 
face efSoresocnce or any other sign to indicate the salt below: rich cultivation is 
carried on close to the brine wells, and in other wells at a short distance off 
sweet water stands at about the same level. At the time of observation 
(December 18GS) the briny water was only 20 feet from the surface, and was 
said to be 20 to 30 feet deep. A well then being worked was said to have boon 
in use for 28 years, without sensible change in the quality of the water. In 
one unlined well the 20 feet over water level was seen to bo one unbroken mass 
of sandy kankaiy clay, of the type so general in the great alluvial deposits of 
the plains. 
At present the manufacturing operations are almost restricted to the salt 
lakes, the most important of which are— 
Sambbar on the borders of Jeyporo and Jodbpore — 
Kaclior-Bewasa ... ... ... ... in Sbaikbawati. 
Uidwaiia and Plmlodi ... ... ... .. in Jodbpore. 
Lonkara Snr ... ... ... ... in Bikaneer. 
But as I have visited only the first three of these lakes, my remarks will be 
confined to them. 
The Sdmhhar Lahe —is situated on the eastern side of the Aiwali range 
(Indian Atlas sheet 33, S. E.). Its greatest length is about 20 miles, and 
the average breadth is about 5 miles. Its greatest depth, near the centre, at 
tbo end of the rains, is seldom more than 3 feet. 
The Arvali range near the lake consists of several broken parallel ridges of 
quartzite, some of them rising to a height of 1,000 feet above the level of the 
plain. The ground between the ridges is not much higher than the level of the 
])lain to the cast, and is mostly covered by the blowTi sand. 
The country oast of the range, and surrounding the lake, is covered by long 
ridires of sand running in an east and west direction, some of them ninvards 
