X, A, 6 Cox and Dar Juan: Salt Industry and Resources 377 



of the oldest of Roman roads, which was built to accommodate the 

 salt trade." 



China is one of the oldest salt-producing countries of the 

 Orient. In former times the salt trade in China was so highly 

 esteemed that at the annual opening of the salt works princes 

 were present in person and took an active interest in the first 

 salt boiling.^^ 



In many of these countries the production of salt is a state 

 monopoly, or is under government control. The salterns, or salt 

 farms, are either leased to private companies, or are administered 

 directly by the officials of the government. A good example of 

 this is China, where taxation of salt commenced as far back as 

 the seventh century before Christ, It is said that the great 

 Emperor Yu, 2205 to 2197 before Christ, ordered Chingchou 

 Province to supply the court, among other things, with salt. 

 During the Chow dynasty, 1122 to 249 before Christ, officers were 

 appointed for the administration of salt matters. At the present 

 time the revenue derived from salt is the Chinese Government 

 security for the reorganization loan of 25,000,000 pounds 

 sterling.^- 



Since American occupation all restrictions on the manufacture 

 of salt in the Philippines have been withdrawn. 



Solar evaporation must be carried on in general where it is 

 hot and where evaporation greatly exceeds the rainfall — that 

 is, where there is a pronounced dry season. Fig. 1 shows that 

 there are two definite and different types of rainfall in the 

 Philippines. The eastern half of the Archipelago has a rainfall 

 more or less equitably distributed throughout the year; hence 

 the principal salt works are confined to the western portion of 

 the Islands, where there is a definite dry season." 



The degree of difference in the two types is shown in figs. 2 

 and 3, where the mean of the values ^* for the two groups is 

 graphically represented. The normal evaporation from 1885 

 to 1907 for Manila is also shown in fig. 4. 



"Bull. La. Geol. Surv. (1907), 7, 168. 



"Far East. Rev. (1912), 9, 295. 



"Ibid. (1912), 9, 295. 



" The differentiation of rainfall into the eastern and western types 

 may not be complete; for example, there is but one weather station in 

 Mindoro, and while it and probably the remainder of the low portions 

 of the island fall in with the western type, it is believed that the rainfall 

 in the high mountains is very heavy, due to the fact that the narrow neck 

 of Luzon in Tayabas allows the rain clouds to pass over and precipitation 

 to take place in the high altitudes of Mindoro. 



" Cox, Alvin J., This Journal, Sec. A (1911), 6, 288-91. 



