208 On the Method employed to remove the Vaulted Roof of [April, 



Brine Spring. — One of the most remarkable circumstances relating 

 to their country is the number of brine or salt springs in many parts 

 of it. 



At Burhath, on the river Disung, there are about 20 of these brine 

 springs, from most of which the Nagas are in the habit of making salt. 

 These wells are dug to a considerable depth, and the brine varies in 

 intensity, probably according to the access of fresh water from the 

 surface ; and being situated in a valley, and having no protection from 

 the rain, they are generally filled in the wet season. The consequence 

 is, that the manufacture is carried on only in the cold weather. 



Manufacture of Salt. — Some of the best of these wells give 10 sicca 

 weight of dry salt to the seer of water, and others, only three or four. 

 The process of evaporation is carried on by filling the joints of large 

 bambus with brine and suspending them in an earthen trough, filled 

 with water, which answer for the purpose of a boiler, and in this rude 

 way, the brine in the bambus is evaporated, till salt is formed. These 

 mud troughs are every season broken down, and being triturated with 

 water, afford a strong brine from which other salt is formed. 



So tedious and unskilful is the manufacture, that the salt made 

 from these wells cannot be made at less price than the same quantity 

 of salt transported from Bengal. 



II. — On the Method employed to remove the Vaulted Roof of St. Peter's 

 Church in Fort William, illustrated by a Section, (Plate V.J 



Works of engineering skill come peculiarly within the limits point- 

 ed out by the motto on our title page, as fitted for the Researches of a 

 Scientific Society or Journal : " The performances of man," of such 

 a class in this country, and under British rule, are, it is true, but rare 

 and trifling compared with the noble efforts of art, which grow up 

 from day to day under the eye of an observer in Europe. There, 

 letting alone tunnels and railways of gigantic enterprize, we hear 

 of half an elliptic arch sprung by the celebrated Brunel from a buttress 

 and carried to a semi-span of seventy feet, without centering, by the 

 mere adhesion of the cement ! — of an iron suspension bridge at Fribourg 

 in Switzerland thrown over a ravine of 170 feet deep, in a single bold 

 span of more than 900 feet from rock to rock, far surpassing the Menai 

 bridge, or even the designed bridge from St. Vincent's rocks at Clifton, 

 which latter we regret to hear has been abandoned, in consequence of 

 the riots in Bristol, and the destruction of that wealth which would 

 have been so well bestowed upon this noble work. 



