I 



ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. Ill 



have convinced them that there is no longer the slightest 

 chance of rain. Even on the continent of Europe, (at Schoone- 

 beck near Magdeburg) operations are carried on in the open 

 air during about 258 days in the year, while at Putlam, 

 reckoning from the 25th June to the 15th September, only 81 

 are employed, although it appears from observations continued 

 during several years, that there is very seldom rain after the 

 middle of May, and that for some weeks before only occasional 

 showers occur. 



Again, the beneficial effect of the constant south-west 

 wind is almost entirely thrown away in consequence of the 

 paths and dams between the pans being raised to an unneces- 

 sary height. It is also to be remarked, that the beds are formed 

 either in a black silt or mud, or else, as at Sinne-Natchecally, 

 in a nearly pure sand ; either of these substances is very 

 easily disturbed and rendered uneven, which calls for renewed 

 levelling and drying ; were artificial beds of some more solid 

 impervious substance formed, there would be less leakage of 

 water, and less labour would be requisite; even firmly beaten 

 clay might prove useful, but has never been tried by the 

 natives, and this owing to a belief that in such pans the water 

 would evaporate very much more slowly; to me this appears 

 to prove that at present there is very considerable waste by 

 filtration into the soil. 



Again, owing to a feeling of pretty parsimony, the salt 

 when placed in heaps, is in the majority of cases left quite unr 

 protected, and thus becomes not only coated but also mixed with 

 sand and other impurities ; the kottoos are also by no means so 

 impervious as would be desirable. 



Again, the salt is in every instance removed from the pans 

 to the heaps, from these to the kottoos, and from these to the 

 stores in small baskets by labourers; a very simple system of 

 wooden tram-ways, would here prove economical, 



