NO. 48. — 1897.] GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 



77 



The wastage caused by salt being stored in buildings such 

 as these, none of which had the necessary qualification of 

 being air-tight, was greatly diminished, if not altogether done 

 away with, by the contrivance of a form of store suggested 

 in 1886 by Dr. Modder of the Civil Medical Department, 

 then stationed at Puttalam, namely, a vaulted store 

 opening at one end only, and made as nearly air-tight as 

 possible.* 



The system in vogue is very crude and primitive, and is 

 capable of much improvement. As pointed out by Brodie, 

 inter alia : — 



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 imper- 

 vious 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 a very considerable 

 waste by filtration into the soil. Again, owing to a feeling of petty 

 parsimony, the salt when placed in heaps is in the majority of cases 

 left quite unprotected, 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. ° ° ° 



Lastly, it may be observed that the many valuable salts contained 

 in the ley after the deposit has been formed are either quite lost, or 

 are obtained intermingled with the wished-for product, which is 

 consequently found to be exceedingly liable to deliquescence ; but 

 probably the extraction of these would prove too complicated a 

 process to be conducted by the natives.f 



Considering the importance of the manufacture and the 

 large returns it yields to Government, it is to be regretted 

 that no person with a special scientific training should have 

 yet been appointed to supervise the work and introduce 

 improved methods such as are above indicated. 



* " Administration Report of the North- Western Province (Puttalam 

 District)," p. 57 A. 



f " On the Manufacture of Salt by Solar Evaporation, with special 

 reference to the methods adopted in the Chilaw and Puttalam Districts of 

 Ceylon," by A. O. Brodie. Journal, C.B.R.A.S., No. 3, 1847-48, p. 105. 



