Official classified and descriptive catalogue of the contributions from India to the London Exhibition of 1862 : forwarded through the Central Committee for Bengal, compiled under the authority of the government of India / by A.M. Dowleans.

Dowleans, A. M., active 1851-1862.

Date:: 1862

Credit: Official classified and descriptive catalogue of the contributions from India to the London Exhibition of 1862 : forwarded through the Central Committee for Bengal, compiled under the authority of the government of India / by A.M. Dowleans. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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$SECTION I.—RAW MATERIALS.—{Continued.) General Number. Invoice Number. Scientific or English Name. Provincial Name. Locality where produced. Bemabks. 41-4 415 416 417 418 419 420 3221 3222 6192 1344 1343 1345 1346 421 & 422 3219 & 3220 Saltpetre, 1st qua- lity Ditto, 2iid ditto... Ditto Nitrate of Potash Sal-ammoniac Nitrate of Potash Ditto Saltpetre Shorah Rausadar Ulwar Ditto Jhansi Lucknow Ditto Shorah Ditto Ditto Ditto Shahabad Presented by His Highness the Maharajah of Ulwar. No information. For gunpowder and frigorific mixtures; 2 seers per Eupee ; made in various parts of Oudh. This is purified nitre, and is the kind only used for making gunpowder.— Central Com- mittee, Lucknow. For tinning and frigorific mixture ; 12 annas per seer ; made in various parts of Oude. It is manufactured from the contents of cesspools, and is iised for tinning copper pots and pans ; mixed with common salts, nitre, &c., forms a frigorific mix- ture.— Central Committee, Lucknow. For frigorific mixtures for gunpowder ; 3 seers per Rupee ; made in various parts of Oude. This is nitre of the first crys- tallization ; nitre is found in the earth of old buildings and ruins, which has been long exposed to the air ; water is filtered through this earth, and then boiled and concentrated. This kind is only used for frigorific mixtures.— Central Committee, Lucknow. For frigorific mixtures and giinpovrder ; 2 seers per Eupee ; made in various parts of Oude. This is nitre of the second crystallization, and is only used for frigorific mixtures.—Central Committee, Lucknow. Saltpetre and salt are produced abundantly in some parts of Shahabad, but crude saltpetre is prepared at from 6 to 7 Rupees per local maund by the Nooneahs ; this in its crude state would be ill5 to .£18 per ton, while the salt produced with the salt- petre is of a coarse kind, and only sold to the poorest of the commimity, under the name of Kharree Nimuck. It can, how- ever, easily be purified by boiling, and then is a good and pure salt. I may here notice the important and singular fact, that the strata both on the north, east, and south faces, (where the face of the plateau towards the plains is invariably precipitous) has a considerable dip inwards, varyiug from 5 to 45 degrees. This circumstance prevents any springs making their appear- ance on the face, which would have the effect of leaving the table lands dry, and would render them a desert. This fortu- nate dip has a contrary effect, retaining the moisture as in a basin, and water in consequence may be had in most places on the table lands at a moderate depth, while in several localities springs of pure and limpid water flow above the surface all round the year, consequently nunib&rs of villages shed the table lands, and I am of opinion that ^-njot many years more will elapse before large tracts are brought, into a more profitably cultivation of coffee, cot^^, and oil seeds, by European ener- gy and skill. The finest rice produced in the district is already grown in their shallow valleys, and, when the soil has been sub- jected to the jilough, proves by its abundant crops what it might produce under a proper cultivation.—R. W. Bingham, Esq. «$