344 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



' as much as half the earth used. Then in order to get 

 ' good crystals, notwithstanding this brine showed a 

 ' crystal-formation, I made forthwith an ash-lye and 

 ' poured it on, boiled it, and on its congelation ob- 

 ' tained the finest and purest saltpetre-crystals. I 

 ' showed the inhabitants there the manner of making 

 1 saltpetre, and had the pleasure of seeing that many 

 ' tons were afterwards made, much of it indeed with- 

 ' out the help of ash-lye. To convince myself plainly 

 ' of this, I had brought from the mountains about I 

 ' and a half bushel of earth, which merely by leach- 

 1 ing and congelation gave 49 and three fourths pounds 

 ' of the very best and purest saltpetre, the same I had 

 ' the honor to show you." 



In the following month of December I had the 

 further pleasure of receiving information quite conso- 

 nant with this, from Mr. Riibsaamen in Virginia. A 

 great store of the richest saltpetre-earth is found in 

 sundry large caves in the mountains of Virginia, where 

 there is protection afforded from wind and rain. The 

 floor of some of these caves and clefts is made up to a 

 depth of many feet, wholly of saltpetre-earth ; no 

 attempt has been made to find how deep, because the 

 upper beds gave a sufficient profit. Mr. Riibsaamen 

 has not found any naturally crystallized saltpetre, but 

 the walls of these caves are often to be seen quite 

 covered with a white efflorescent deposit resembling a 

 thick salt-brine which has not had space to crystallize. 

 The rock in which these saltpetre-clefts were, is, (as 

 well as he can remember), a sort of coarse marl or 

 slatey limestone. The usage there, as commonly, was 

 to employ an ash-lye in the preparation of the salt- 

 petre. But from experiments of his own Mr. Riibsaa- 



