AND ITS APPLICATIONS. 371 



Tincal is a saline compound or combination of soda with boracic acid. 

 This acid is a compound of oxygen with an elementary substance, to which 

 the name of boron is applied. 



This mineral salt is met with in most extensive districts in Thibet, 

 the Thibetians carrying on a considerable trade in this article ; quantities 

 are dug out of the earth and crystallised, and a great many of the shepherds 

 of Thibet are engaged a large part of the day in collecting this substance. 

 The earth in some districts of Thibet, particularly in the neighbourhood of 

 Tasso Lumbo, is so impregnated with it, that as the dew falls it becomes 

 saturated with it, and the stunted vegetation is soon covered with this 

 crystalline salt. Large masses of it are obtained from Lake Pelta, a sheet 



of water near to the small village of D . The natives report a lake, 



100 miles from this spot, where still larger masses are found, which, when 

 broken, detach themselves in six-sided prisms of a very large size. This 

 lake is said to be surrounded by precipitous rocks, no rivulet having access 

 to it, and being supplied only by springs containing the tincal in solution. 

 The constant evaporation of the water causes the deposition of the tincal 

 in the bed of the lake, whence it is removed by the natives ; and not the 

 least curious fact connected with it is, that although thousands of tons 

 have been removed there is no apparent decrease in the quantity, so that 

 we have an almost unlimited supply. Rock-salt is also found in large 

 quantity in the bed of the lake : this is collected by the natives, and exported 

 to Nepaul, and thence to Bengal. 



Thibet exports very few articles of commerce to India ; tincal, musk, 

 rock-salt, gold-dust, and a little wool, being the most important. Many of 

 the natives are anxious to ascertain what such very large quantities of tincal 

 are used for : some of them know that the greater portion finds its way ulti- 

 mately to England, and some time back, when a few scientific gentlemen 

 were travelling in Thibet, a native inquired of one of them what such large 

 quantities of tincal were used for in England. Of course, the traveller 

 was one of those who had never heard of tincal, and was at a loss for a 

 reply. One of his companions, however, suggesting to him that it was 

 borax in its crude state, he sagely told the man that it was used for rub- 

 bing the mouths of babies. The Thibetian, very much astonished, said 

 that he had heard England was a most extraordinary country, but he had 

 no idea it was so productive of babies ! 



Hue, in his ' Travels in Tartary,' gives the following account of the 

 district : 



" On the 15th of November we quitted the magnificent plains of the 

 Kokou-Noor, and entered upon the territories of the Mongols of Tsaidam. 

 Immediately after crossing the river of that name, we found the aspect of 

 the country totally changed. Nature becomes all of a sudden savage and 

 sad ; the soil, arid and stony, produces with difficulty a few dry saltpetrous 

 bushes. The morose and melancholy tinge of these dismal regions seems to 

 have had its full influence upon the character of its inhabitants, who are all 

 evidently a prey to the spleen. They say very little, and their language is 



