265 



of salt, that is owing solely to the waters of the 

 sea. The natives estimate it at a sixth of the 

 total produce. The evaporation is extremely 

 strong, and favoured by the constant motion of 

 the air; so that the salt is collected in eighteen 

 or twenty days after the pits are filled. We 

 found* the temperature of the salt water in the 

 pits 32*5°, while the air in the shade was 27*2°, 

 and the sand on the coast at six inches depth, 

 42*5°. We were surprised to see, that the ther- 

 mometer plunged into the sea rose only to 23* 1°. 

 This low temperature -J? is owing perhaps to the 

 shoals, which surround the peninsula of Araya, 

 and the island of Margaretta, and on the edges 

 of which the lower strata of water mix with the 

 waters of the surface. 



Though the muriat of soda is manufactured 

 with less care in the peninsula of Araya than at 

 the salt works of Europe, it is nevertheless purer, 

 and contains less of earthy muriats and sulphats. 

 We are ignorant whether this purity may be 

 attributed to the part of the salt which is fur- 

 nished by the sea ; for though it is extremely 

 probable, that the quantity of the salt dissolved 

 in the waters of the ocean is nearly the same % 



* The 19th of August, 1799, at three in the morning. 

 + See above, page 144. 



J With the exception of the Mediterranean seas, and the 

 regions where the polar ices are formed. See above, p. 129, 

 130 ; and vol. i, p. 64. This equality in the saltness of the 



