Page:Madras journal of literature and science vol 1 new series 1856-57.djvu/15

Rh of 50 per cent of the neutral carbonate, being found close to the saline springs themselves—whence it is raised by diving. The depth of the lake near the springs, varies from 5 or 6 feet in the hot months, to 12 or 14 during the rains.

There are six principal varieties of salt to which the natives give the following names:—1 dulla, 2 nimuck dulla, 3 khuppul, 4 puppree, 5 bhooskee and 6 madkhar. Dulla and nimuck dulla are used for dyeing silks, fixing colors, and as medicine, and in the manufacture of bangles. Of khuppul, there are two kinds, one of greater value than the other; this salt is used in fixing the red dyes of cloths. Puppree is used in the manufacture of bangles, in the baking of a cake called papur—and by the native hukeems as an anti-acid in dyspepsia. There is also an inferior description of puppree. Bhooskee is a white saline salt, left as a deposit on the margin of the lake, and is principally used in the manufacture of soap. Madkhar is an inferior kind of bhooskee, used by Dhobies in bleaching clothes. The purest salt is found close to the saline springs, and the other salts in their order, as entered above, are found on receding from that point towards the margin of the lake.

The salt is raised by divers who proceed towards the centre of the lake, in canoes (recently introduced by Major Johnston ) formed of single pieces of light wood, from 14 to 16 feet long and 2½ broad. The divers remain under water several seconds, and come up with their hands full of salt. When the lake was very shallow in 1836, the salt was scooped up by the iron pans or towas, on which natives bake their bread—no dredging instruments are used. The process of raising the salt is rude, tedious and insufficient. The salt thus raised is much prized, and finds a ready sale in both Berars, in Nagpore, Candeish and Poonah. It is purchased at the