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CEYLON BRANCH 



iiership. The whole process may be thus described. 



About the end of June the natives proceed to put the pans 

 in order, repair the roads, dams, &c, render the bed of the 

 large reservoir C. tolerably level, and throw into it from the 

 canal B. water to a depth of eight or nine inches. The small 

 beds are during this period levelled by means of the instru- 

 ment termed Ooppoo*-palagai (see fig. B.,) stamped with the feet 

 and beaten with a board; water from the reservoir is introduced 

 into them, and after a few days again thrown out, they are 

 then again beaten and allowed to dry. When this has taken 

 place, (that is about the beginning of August) the water is 

 allowed to flow back into them, filling them to a depth of 

 about three inches, and. is left till crystallisation occurs. 



It is to be observed, that these various processes go on 

 simultaneously, and that therefore the water only remains two 

 or three days in the large bed before distribution, during which 

 time it has deposited a considerable quantity of sediment, and 

 become somewhat concentrated. The object of forming the 

 small dam K. which divides the set into two tolerably equal 

 portions, is to economise water which has already to a certain 

 extent been subject to evaporation, this is, during the prepara* 

 tion of the pans, thrown from one side of the bank to the other 

 as circumstances may require, the upper and lower portions of 

 the Aveikal being alternately filled and dried. 



If the weather be favourable, a layer of salt, varying from 

 quarter of an inch to one and a half inch in thickness, will 

 be deposited in the small beds, within eight days of the water 

 being introduced. This crust is then carefully raised from the 

 mud below by means of the Ooppoo-palagai, scraped to one 

 corner and placed in heaps along the road F.F., where it is 

 left for a few days to dry, and then carried in baskets to the 

 Kottoos II. II. After this first crop (as it is termed) has been 



