554 



BOOK XII. 



the likeness of many objects, as for instance tablets. These tablets and 

 cones are kept in the higher part of the third room of the house, or else on 

 the flat bench of the same height, in order that they may dry better in the 

 warm air. In the manner I have described, a master and his helper continue 

 one after the other, alternately boiling the brine and moulding the salt, 

 day and night, with the exception only of the annual feast days. No caldron 

 is able to stand the fire for more than half a year. The master pours in water 

 and washes it out every week ; when it is washed out he puts straw under 

 it and pounds it ; new caldrons he washes three times in the first two 

 weeks, and afterward twice. In this manner the incrustations fall from 

 the bottom ; if they are not cleared off, the salt would have to be made 

 more slowly over a fiercer fire, which requires more brine and burns the 

 plates of the caldron. If any cracks make their appearance in the caldron 

 they are filled up with cement. The salt made during the first two weeks is 

 not so good, being usually stained by the rust at the bottom where incrusta- 

 tions have not yet adhered. 



Although salt made in this manner is prepared only from the brine of 



A— Pool. B— Pots. C— Ladle. D— Pans. E— Tongs. 



