250 On the Manufacture of Salt in India. 



grained salts of Britain, for the purpose of packing provi- 

 sions is a prejudice, which it is to be hoped will one day be 

 abandoned, as injurious to the interest of an important branch 

 of British manufacture. The analysis of Dr. Henry, as the 

 results are exhibited in the Table above given, certainly 

 shew, that on whatever cause the superiority of foreign bay 

 salt depends, for the purpose of packing provisions intended 

 for warm climates, several of the English salts are more ex- 

 empt from impurities. 



Whatever be the natural facilities for the manufacture of 

 salt in India, the quality of the article, as vended in the dif- 

 ferent bazars, is very impure. In the hands of petty dealers 

 it is often seized under the suspicion of being adulterated with 

 nitre ; but as this article is five rupees, or five rupees eight 

 annas per maund, while the retail price of salt is from two 

 rupees to three rupees per maund, there can be no fear 

 of such adulteration.* There is, however, no salt to be had 

 in India sufficiently pure and large-grained for packing pro- 

 visions. 



This is owing as much to the practice of mixing all the 

 varieties of salt together in the first instance at the salt 

 works, instead of keeping them apart, as to the deteriora- 

 tion which the article undergoes in the hands of the retail 

 dealer. 



The following is, according to Mr. James Patton, Assistant 

 to the Salt Agent, the native method of making salt in the 

 Calcutta Agency. How far the same plan may prevail gene- 

 rally throughout India, I am unable to say : — 



The sea-water during spring tides is permitted to flow 

 over a portion of ground levelled for the purpose, to allow 

 the earth to be impregnated with* salt ; the three highest 

 tides are usually sufficient, and as soon as the ground has 



* The dirty and moist appearance of the common bazar salt, is owing 

 to its containing the muriates of lime and magnesia, which give to the 

 whole a deliquescent appearance. 



