344 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



100,000 tons. This production might easily be doubled or 

 tripled, but it is limited for want of markets. About 

 540,000 tons pass into consumption, apportioned as fol- 

 lows : 370,000 tons for food purposes, 50,000 for chemical 

 industries, 60,000 for the fisheries, 60,000 tons for export, 

 and 7000 for salting fish under the surveillance of the 

 Customs. 



Salt is largely produced in California, mostly from sea 

 water. 



Marine salt was made in Austria in 1876 to the amount 

 of 344,862 metrical quintals. 



In the Portuguese possessions of St. Thomas's and 

 Prince's Island, Angola, Mossamedes, and the islands of 

 Cape Verd, salt is made. 



Marine salt, obtained on the coasts of the Gulf of 

 Pechihle, China, by spontaneous evaporation of the sea 

 water in the salt marshes, is, like saltpetre, the property of 

 the State, and subject to special laws. 



Salt is made in the Portuguese possession of Goa, in 

 India. 



The principal manufactories of salt from sea water in 

 the United States are along the shores of Cape Cod and at 

 Nantucket. 



In order to obtain salt by evaporation, the sea water is 

 pumped by windmills into shallow wooden pans ; or, in 

 countries where it can be done, it is allowed to flow over a 

 salt marsh, which has been previously prepared by removing 

 all vegetation from its surface. The salt water is first 

 secured in a large shallow reservoir, where it is allowed to 

 become moderately concentrated by the action of the sun's 

 heat and the winds. From this it is conducted, by a system 

 of sluiceways, into other reservoirs or evaporating basins 

 more carefully constructed, and in these it deposits the 



