222 DYEING IN ASSAM book iii
is
found in stagnant water, such as ducks and frogs eat. This is dried and
burnt, and the ashes derived from it being boiled and strained as is
described below, serve as salt. The other method, which is that most
commonly followed, is to take some of those large leaves of the kind of
fig tree which we call Adam's fig,1 they are dried in the
same manner and burnt, and the ashes from them consist of a kind of
salt which is so pungent that it is impossible to eat it unless it is
softened, this being done in the following way. The ashes are put into
water, where they are stirred about for ten or twelve hours, then this
water is strained three times through a cloth and boiled. As it boils
the sediment thickens, and when the water is all evaporated, the salt,
which is white and fairly good, is found at the bottom of the pot.
From
the ashes of fig leaves in this country the lye is made to boil silk,
which becomes as white as snow, and if the people of Assam had more
figs than they have, they would make all their silks white, because
white silk is much more valuable than the other, but they have not
sufficient to bleach half the silks which are produced in the country.
Kemmerouf 2
is the name of the town where the King of Assam resides, twenty-five or
thirty days' journey from the former capital of the Kingdom and it bore
the same name. The King takes no tribute from his people, but all the
mines of gold, silver, lead, steel, and iron belong to him, and to
avoid oppressing his subjects, he employs only the slaves
burning. Imported salt is now largely used in Assam. (See Economic Geology of India, p. 491.) The manufacture of salt is now confined to some hill tribes (Watt, Diet. Economic Products, vi, part 2, 400).
1 This manufacture of salt from the leaves of the plantain is mentioned by Muhammad Kazim, I.e., p.
224. (See ante, p. 3.) The pungency is probably due to the presence of
potash salts. The ashes of the leaves are, as Ta vernier says, still
used for dyeing in Bengal (Watt, op. cit., v.296).
2
Kamrup, now known as the name of a District in Assam of which Gauhati
is the chief town. It is certain that Mir Jumla was defeated by the
Ahams here, and this was the seat of the Aham Viceroy, but the King of
Assam's capital was at Nazira or Garhgaon (Karganv) in the Sibsagar
District. (See Jadunath Sarkar, iii. 183 ff.; Imperial Gazetteer, xix. i f.) The palace is described in Robinson's Descriptive Account of Assam. According to Muhammad Kazim, who also describes it, its circuit was 1 kos and 14 chains (= 840 yards).
