CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 107 



pose of preserving fish &c. Such a state of things is highly 

 desirable; cultivation and trade would, on the one hand, be en- 

 couraged, while, on the other, the coolies engaged in the interior 

 would procure a cheap and nutritious article of diet in lieu of 

 the semiputrid fish now prepared in large quantities on the sea 

 coasts by being partially cleaned, and then rubbed over with mud 

 ?:nd sand from the beach. 



The whole possible consumption of the island being, however, 

 very small, any great increase in the sale must be provided for 

 hy other countries, which circumstance renders the removal of 

 the monopoly doubly hazardous ; but the political bearings of 

 the question are foreign to the subject of this paper, and need 

 be no further insisted upon. For a great portion of the infor- 

 mation contained in this sketch, I am indebted to John Casie 

 Chitty, Esq., the intelligent Modliar of the Calpentyn and 

 Putlam districts. I am at present engaged in a series of ob- 

 servations regarding the temperature, chemical composition, spe- 

 cific gravity, and rapidity of evaporation of the water in the va- 

 rious portions of the salt pans ; should I be able to carry these 

 out, and should the results prove interesting, I shall have much 

 pleasure in communicating them to the Societyi 



In conclusion, I would only state, that although many persons 

 may consider it as an altogether superfluous task to describe so 

 simple a process as that of evaporating sea- water, it must yet 

 be borne in mind, that it is chiefly by the collection of what 

 may appear trifling and familiar facts, that great theories and 

 great improvements can be safely framed ; and that in Nature 

 and in Science no fact can well be called little or trifling. Its 

 real importance may at present be hid, but may yet at some fu- 

 ture period exhibit itself, and in any case, circumstantial de- 

 tails of any process may act as a warning if not as an exam- 

 ple to those who are engaged in similar pursuits* 

 A. Tfce Marawei u^nss^ea 01 wooden mamottie, employed 

 in raising the dams &c. &c, 



9 



