SALT RANGE, a range of Mountains between lat. 32° and 33° 20' N., and running east and west from the base of the Suliman Mountains to the river Jhelum, in the Shalipur and Bunnu districts of the Panjab. The Bunnu portion of the range runs north-westward towards the Indus. The main chain commences in the lofty hill of Chel, 3701 feet above the sea, which is formed by the convergence of three spurs rising up from the Jhelum river, and divided from the Himalayan outliers only by the interposition of the river valley.
The Salt Range of mountains seems to be the Mons Oromenus of Pliny and the Sanskrit Raumaka. The range occupies historic ground, —one extremity resting upon the Hydaspes or Jhelum, and the other upon the Indus or Aba-sin, while its eastern extension overlooks the battle field of Chillianwalla. It is one of the most interesting and important regions of Biitish India, chiefly on account of its highly fossiliferous rocks and enormous deposit of rock-salt, which, for extent :and purity, are unequalled in the whole world, and it is from this that the range is named.
The Salt Range proper lies entirely on the' eastern side of the Indus, forming a somewhat elevated border to the Rawal Piudi plateau (lying to the north) ; and throughout its whole length of about 150 miles, its steep declivities and lofty scarped cliffs, rising to an average height of 2200 feet, abut on the vast semi-desert plain which spreads southward to the Arabian Sea. Mr. Wynne considers that it is an error to speak of the range as extending across the Indus, and up to the Safed Koh in Afghanistan, as the salt there is believed to be of an entirely different age and position. In different parts of the range are to be found brine springs, hot springs (in the Bakh ravine), the water of which is covered by a thin film of gypsum, and deposits a black tenacious mud, used by the natives as a dye for cotton cloth. Petroleum springs have been found, and the range yields magnesian limestone, fire-clay, marble, lithographic stones, sandstone, coal, sul phur, gypsum, brown and-red iron-ore, copper ore, gold, and alum slate. The lower beds contain
no organic remains, but the upper abound in them. Sandstone abounds,with the exuvim of enor mous animals, either sauriaus or sauroid fishes. The hills at Kalabagh contain great quantities of aluminous slate, from which alum is manufactured. The slate, well sprinkled with water, is laid in alternate strata with wood, until the pile reaches a height of 25 to 30 feet ; it is then lighted, and the combustion continued for abont twelve hours, in which time the colour of the slate is converted frora greyish-black to dark-red. This change of colour indicating that the process has been carried to a sufficient extent, the mass is thrown into a tank holding as much water as it is computed the alum is competent to saturate. After three days, the water, which becomes of a dark-red colour, is drawn off, mixed with a due proportion of potash, and boiled down ; the residuum on cooling be coming a solid mass of alum. The coal occurs in oolitic strata at Kalabagh, and is employed as a fuel for the Indus steamers, and in tertiary strata between Jalalpur and Pind Dadan Khan. It is of inferior quality, consisting of a brown lignite, difficult to set on fire, and yielding a very large proportion. of ash. The principal beds of salt occur in the red marls and sandstones of the Salt Range. They are from 150 to 200 feet in thick ness, but masses of salt are also found interspersed among the marls, and detached from the main beds. There are three principal varieties of salt, viz. red, white and crystal salt. The red is pre ferred for mer'chandise, as it does not break up so readily as the others. The white variety not uu frequently passes into a grey or greenish and purplish colour. The Bahadur Kliel Trans Indus mine yields black salt, and this is shipped at Esa Kiwi for export, having specific uses of its own.