12 
Records of the Geological Survey of India. 
[vol. vx. 
The bed of clay slopes from north to south at about two feet in the mile, the surface sloping 
about eighteen inches in the mile. The water obtained from the blue silt is always more 
or less saline. The only deep section of the plains-deposits is from the boring for an 
artesian well at Arnbala. This position, a little to the west of the Ganges-lndus watershed, 
is on the zone of recent deposits; the river channels are all superficial, and become lost in 
the desert country to the south. There is nothing in the section of the boring to mark a 
change from these surface deposits to others of an older period. None could, indeed, have 
been expected, as it is only on an extended horizontal section that a plain of denudation, such 
as that of the present Ganges-.Tamna Doab, could be detected between any older beds and 
perfectly similar materials recently overlaid upon them. There is moreover no presumption 
that any such break exists in the plains-deposits west of the main watershed, or at least 
at that watershed. A single boring, too, can tell little or nothing of the arrangement of the 
strata. The depth reached was 455 feet, or 450 feet above the sea-level. Frequent alter¬ 
nations of clay and sand were passed through. At 286 to 296, and 400 to 417 feet, coarse 
gravel and large stones were found; strong beds of clay occurring again beneath. 
Kalar-lands. —The presence of alkaline salts to a very deleterious extent in the sub¬ 
surface water, and their appearance as an efflorescence in many parts of the country, has been 
an object of anxious enquiry in Upper India for many years back; especially as it seems 
on the increase, and most so in connection with irrigation. The efflorescence consists 
principally of sulphate, carbonate and chloride of sodium; more rai'ely nitrate; and occa¬ 
sionally with potassium as base. The crude salt with its earthy admixture is called Kalar 
(Kullur). The cultivators also speak of it as usar and reh. But, the former word is said 
properly to mean negatively sterile soil; and reh is said to be properly applied to the carbonate 
of sodium (or natron). Several conjectures have been made as to the origin of the Kalar : 
1, that it is an aboriginal ingredient of the soil; 2, that it is continually being elaborated 
from the soil by the action of water; 3, that it is brought up by water from saline deposits at 
some depth from the surface; 4, that it is vei-y largely aud to an indefinite degree due to 
accumulation by evaporation from lodgement of inundation waters. It is not likely that any 
of these is the exclusive cause; and it is most important to determine in what degree each of 
them may operate, with a view to determining the remedy to be applied in each case. The 
third supposition, which would be the most unfavorable of all, may bo set aside. There are 
some spots on the plains of Upper India, as at Bhartpiir, where deep brine-wells are 
worked; but the ground near them is not Kalar- land; and, on the other hand, through¬ 
out the tracts of Kalar-land the water of the deep wells is swoet, holding as little as, or 
even less saline matter than, the water of the great rivers. It is of course known that the 
Kalar salts are in the main the product of the decomposition of silicious minerals by 
atmospheric and other surface conditions. But the ingredients of alluvial deposits are 
entirely made up of mineral detritus that has already undergone the principal phase of this 
soil-producing action ; and its further decomposition would be very slow indeed. Whatever 
opinion may be maintained regarding very ancient /itf/ar-Iand, all the evidence upon the 
recent formation of these salts goes to prove that it is due to accumulation by evaporation 
in water-logged land ; and it is a necessary corollary from this that water-logging from river 
or canal inundation must immensely increase the rapidity of its growth. Flooding from 
rain would be limited to the salt-resources of the ground affected, or of such local drainage 
as it received; whereas river or canal inundation would be an inexhaustible source of importa¬ 
tion of these salts. Various remedies have been suggested for this most serious evil: the 
cultivation of plants, such as the barilla plant, which assimilates a largo amount of some of 
these salts ; the application of suitable mineral manures, so as to facilitate the utilization of 
these salts by ordinary crops; the application of efficient drainage If one had only a 
definite amount of Kalar to deal with, as would be the case supposing it to be of purely 
