1822.] Dr. Davy*s Travels in Ceylon. 71 



mass is exposed to the sunshine to dry. Nothing further is 

 done to it; no attempt is ever made to granulate it, and it is 

 used in the state of a very coarse povi'der, or impalpable dust. 

 Considering the rudeness of the method, the gunpowder is better 

 than could be expected. Some specimens of it that have been 

 examined have inflamed readily, exploded very strongly, and 

 have left little residue. 



Common salt forms ill great quantities in certain lakes on the 

 sea-shore, but of rare occurrence indeed in the interior, except 

 in very minute quantity. Dr. " Davy has given a detailed 

 account of the manner in v^^hich salt is procured, and is deci- 

 dedly of opinion, that the sea is the source from which the salt 

 is derived, and that evaporation is the cause of its production or 

 forming. • 



Dr. Davy observes, that the importance of the subject is 

 greater than it may appear to a casual reader, the monopoly of 

 salt of the Megam-pattoo yielding government a revenue of at 

 least 10,000/. a year, and the w^hole island being almost entirely 

 dependent on this district for ihe supply of this necessary of 

 life. He adds : Were the salt lakes scientifically managed, they 

 might be made to yield not only any quantity of common salt to 

 supply all India, but almost any quantity of magnesia might 

 be extracted from the residual brine. 



Jewellery. — The Singalese work in gold and silver with consi- 

 derable dexterity and taste ; and, with means that appear very 

 inadequate, execute articles of jewellery that would be admired 

 certainly in this country, and not very easily imitated. The best 

 artist requires only the following apparatus and tools : — a low 

 earthen pot full of chaff or saw-dust, on which he makes a little 

 charcoal fire ; a small bamboo blowpipe, about six inches long, 

 with which he excites the fire ; a short earthen tube or nozle, 

 the extremity of which is placed at the bottom of the fire, and 

 through which the artist directs the blast of the blowpipe ; two 

 or three small crucibles made of the fine clay of ant-hills ; a pair 

 of tongs ; an anvil ; two or three small hammers ; a file ; and to 

 conclude the list, a few small bars of iron and brass, about two 

 inches long, differently pointed for different kinds of work. It 

 is astonishing what an intense little fire, more than sufficiently 

 strong to melt silver and gold, can be kindled in a few minutes in 

 the way just described. Such a simple portable forge deserves 

 to be better known : it is, perhaps, even deserving the attention 

 of the scientific experimenter, and may be useful to him when he 

 wishes to excite a small fire, larger than can be produced by the 

 common blow-pipe, and he has not a forge at command. The 

 success of the little Singalese forge depends a good deal on 

 the bed of the fire being composed of a combustible material, 

 and a very bad conductor of heat. 



It would be tedious to enumerate the variety of work a native 

 blacksmith is equal to; locks, and even gun-locks emd gun- 

 barrels, do not exceed his abifities. The workmanship is indeed 



