46 Country Rambles. 



believe there is a nearly continuous bed or deposit of the 

 crystal. The "new red sandstone" rock in which these 

 deposits are embedded, is very porous and much jointed. 

 Water is constantly filtering into them from above; the 

 salt crystal, exposed to its action, slowly dissolves into 

 brine, which, as the height is at least a hundred feet 

 above the sea level, slowly drains away. Then the over- 

 lying strata gradually sink; depressions are caused, of 

 less or greater magnitude, and in course of time these 

 become basins of water. Mr. Edw. Hull, the distin- 

 guished geologist, considers that should the process go 

 on, the whole of the valley of the Weaver will some day 

 be submerged. Most of the salt sent from Cheshire is 

 prepared fr_om this natural brine. To extract the crystal 

 is not so cheap as to let the water do the mining, then to 

 pump up the solution, and evaporate it. 



