Salt Springs of Moutiers. 223 



from the river Doron. When once in motion, the process goes on 

 and requires little farther attention, or manual labor, till it is comple- 

 ted. When^ the water is nearly saturated, it passes to a large build- 

 ing, where are the pans for boiling, and the salt is crystallized in the 

 usual method. That the reader may form an idea of the quantity 

 of water evaporated before it comes to the pans, I will state the re- 

 duction at each of the evaporating houses : 



8000 hogsheads, when received at Nos. 1. and 2., contain 



about 11 per cent, of salt ----- reduced to 4000 



4000 hogsheads, when received at No. 3., contain about 



3 per cent, of salt ------- reduced to 1000 



1000 hogsheads, when received at No. 4., contain about 



12 per cent, of salt ------- reduced to 550 



550 hogsheads, received at the pans, contain near 22 per cent, 

 of salt. "^ ' 



Thus, out of every eight thousand hogsheads, passing through the 

 Maisons d'Epines, seven thousand four hundred and fifty are evapo- 

 rated by the air in summer, and about seven thousand in winter ; 

 and only one-sixteenth part of the fuel is consumed, that would be 

 required for evaporating the whole quantity of water by fire. 



The faggots are changed at periods of from four to seven years. 

 Those in Nos. 1. and 2. where the saline impregnation is weak, will 

 decay sooner than in Nos. 3. and 4. In No. 3. all the twigs acquire 

 so thick a coating of selenite, that when broken off, they resemble 

 stems and branches of encrinites. 



The Maison de Cordes was invented by an ingenious Savoyard, 

 named Buttel. It is forty yards in length and eleven wide ; it is 

 much stronger than the Maison d'Epines, the roof being supported 

 by six arches of stone work ; the intermediate spaces on the sides 

 being left open. In every one of these divisions are twelve hundred 

 cords, in rows of twenty-four each, suspended from the roof, and 

 fixed tight at bottom. The cords are about sixteen feet in length. 

 The water is raised to a reservoir at the top of the building, ^and dis- 

 tributed into a number of small transverse canals, each row of twen- 

 ty-four cords having one of these canals over it, which is so pierced 

 as to admit the water to trickle down each separate cord, drop by 

 drop. The original intention of this building was to crystallize the 

 salt itself upon the cords, for which purpose the water was made use 

 of from the pans after it had deposited a quantity of salt in the first 

 boiling, to serve the expense of fuel in a second boiling ; the resi- 



