34^ The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



Lisbon, Aveiro, and Algarve. The arrangement of the 

 salines at Setubal is very simple. They form a vast reser- 

 voir, divided into squares, separated from each other by 

 roads a little more than a yard wide, and all communicating 

 with a main reservoir, which stores up the sea water. The 

 water is admitted directly into these square tanks, where it 

 evaporates and deposits its salt without any previous con- 

 centration or purification. In autumn the water is allowed 

 to flow in so as to cover the entire salt marsh to the depth 

 of 50 or 60 centimetres. In spring this water evaporates, 

 and in the month of June the separation roads appear above 

 the surface. The tanks are then cleaned out, left to them- 

 selves, and recharged from time "to time with new supplies 

 of water. Under the influence of the north-east winds 

 which prevail at this season, the evaporation is very rapid, 

 and after about 20 days each tank is covered with a layer 

 of salt an inch and a half thick and almost dry. This is 

 the first crop. The salt is collected, sea water is intro- 

 duced anew into the reservoirs, and 20 days afterwards a 

 second crop is gathered. But this is not evaporated to 

 dryness, and the salt is covered with an inch or so of 

 mother liquor, which is left behind on gathering the salt. 

 If the season is favourable, a third crop is attempted, and 

 in September the marsh is flooded over for the winter. 



In India the salt manufacture is a Government mono- 

 poly, and the tax produces about ;£^6,25o,ooo annually. 

 The native production would appear to be hardly sufficient, 

 since duty amounting to ;£'2,23 5,000 was received on foreign 

 salt imported in 1876. The duty levied varies from \s. to 

 6s. 6d. per maund. The annual imports ol foreign salt 

 range from 600,000 to 900,000 tons. 



The quantity of salt imported and delivered from salt 

 works in the Bombay Presidency in the year ending March, 



