442 
SALT. 
lowing description : “ July l6, 1724, we came to 
Soowar to view the celebrated salt- work, which fur- 
nishes the finest salt of the whole kingdom. Hav- 
ing communicated our intention to an officer of the 
salt-work, and asked his leave to go into the cuts, 
he gave us two guards for guides. We first de- 
scended about forty fathoms into the well by a 
rope, seated on what they call leathern dogs ; after 
which we again descended one hundred fathoms by 
holding ourselves against the wall and sides of the 
wells; and so continuing our journey under ground 
we found ourselves at last in the cuts, and saw all 
the alleys cut in the finest rock-salt. They draw it 
up by a rope and put it into a reservoir, where they 
cleanse it with salt water. They boil it afterwards 
with the same water until it becomes of the con- 
sistence of crystal, and then put it into vessels con- 
taining about 268 pounds weight each, which they 
send into Silesia and other countries. There is in 
this mine one very remarkable thing, and that is a 
chapel, which can easily contain a hundred people, 
with an altar, a pulpit, sacristy, chairs, and forms, 
all cut in the salt-rock. In this chapel they cele- 
brate divine service once every year, the week after 
Epiphany, for the officers of the excise and the 
miners.” 
The salt-mines near Halle, a town on the hanks 
pf the Inn, are on the top of a very high moun- 
tain. The salt is formed in irregular masses, in- 
plosed in the fissures, and between the laminae of 
the upper part of the mountain, which is of a 
