CARBONATE OF SODA. Impure carbonate of soda, called Sajji or Sajji matti, occurs as an efflorescence in some part or other of almost every district in India. Muriato of soda and carbonate of lime exist in.the soil, and the patron is found on the surface of the moist earth,or, mud. .Near Gundycottah, on the banks of the Pennar, common salt is interstratified with the upper schistose strata of the argillaceous limestone on which the sandstone rests ; and on the surfaCe of the neigh bouring soil, natron, contaminated with much muriate of soda, is collected.
Barilla, an impure carbonate of soda, is prepared by burning plants of the Salsola and other species, and collecting the ashes, which melt into a coloured mass. Sajji Iota is a somewhat purer kind, but still contains an immense amount of organic and other foreign matter, such as the sulphates of soda and lime, chloride of sodium and potassium, sulphide of sodium, sulpho-cyanide and ferro cyanide of sodium, together with silica and clay.
The Kangan khar plant yields the best alkali. The pure sajji from this plant is called Iota sajji, and the residue mixed with ashes is called Kangan khar sajji. The other two plants yield only a dirty and inferior substance known as Bhutni sajji, devil's soda.' This is black in colour, and sold in pieces like lumps of ashes. The plant burned in the Panjab is termed Khar, or in Persian Ashkhar ; its scientific name is Caroxylon Griffithii. There are many square miles densely covered with this last, whereas the Khar is com paratively rare. Khar is applied to various herbs belonging to the natural order Chenopodiacem, particularly the Anabasis multiflora and the Caroxylon Gritlithii. The ashes, which fuse, run into a pot placed beneath the burning heap.— Powell ; Stewart.