1883.] 245 [Sharpies. 



which is provided with suitable gates to admit the water at high 

 tide and prevent its outflow at low tide. The water stays in this 

 reservoir some weeks, evaporation continually going on by the 

 action of the sun and wind. When it reaches 60° or more as 

 shown by the salinometer — salt water from the ocean indicating 

 from 10° to 12° — it is fit to be turned into the pans, which is done 

 either by water- wheels worked by hand or by wind-mills. 



Daring this preliminary evaporation, the water deposits the 

 main part of the sulphate and carbonate of lime, which it contains, 

 and also some of its organic impurities. 



The pans vary in size, but are generally from one-eighth to 

 three-fourths of an acre in area. These pans are so laid out that 

 a constant circulation can be maintained through them. They 

 are also arranged so that any one pan can be emptied into the 

 adjoining ones, when for any purpose it becomes necessary. The 

 walls between the pans serve as Convenient foot-paths, some of 

 them being wide enough for roads. They generally have two or 

 even three seasons each year during which they make salt. 

 Between the seasons the pans are cleaned and relined, if they 

 need it. The lining is formed from fine coral mud. 



The brine seldom commences to crystallize unless there has 

 been a month's absence of rain. It becomes a saturated solution 

 at 96° and commences to crystallize at 110° as measured by the 

 salinometer. 



The depth of the water in the pans varies from twelve to eigh- 

 teen inches ; the deep pans produce the best salt, but they make 

 it much more slowly. When a pan is ready to rake it presents 

 a beautiful appearance, the crystals of salt being sharp and well 

 defined and of dazzling whiteness. When it has acquired a suf- 

 ficient thickness it is broken up and raked into rows on the bot- 

 tom of the pan, where it is allowed to drain. After this it is 

 carted into the piles on the storage ground near the beach. 

 Some of these piles contain as much as ten thousand bushels. 

 The pans yield from five to eight thousand bushels per acre per 

 annum. 



The storage of salt as practised here is very wasteful, since it 

 receives no protection from the rain, and may lie on the beach a 

 year before shipment, and lose as much as one-fourth during 

 that time. The heaps are built as high as a man can conven- 



