356 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
several small quarries, which have afforded the 
sandstone that is used for flags in laying pave¬ 
ments, and occasionally in building, at Ava and 
Sagaing, The Re-ka lake appeared, and the 
villagers represented that the water did not fall 
much below its present level, about three quar¬ 
ters of a mile long, and half a mile broad. Cliffs 
of blue limestone formed its banks in several 
places. The water was a salt brine, but by no 
means a strong one: it contained, however, a 
sufficient quantity of the muriate of soda to 
afford common salt for culinary purposes. At 
each end of it there are two villages, the inha¬ 
bitants of which are wholly occupied in the ma¬ 
nufacture of this article. The following is the 
mode of preparing it. The soil on the borders 
of the lake is scraped together, and conveyed in 
carts to the villages : it is there placed in large 
square troughs raised on posts, the bottoms of 
which are lined with straw laid over a few cross 
sticks. Underneath the troughs, and attached 
to either side, are two frames of bamboo and 
straw, which meet at the bottom, acting as a 
kind of funnel. Over the earth, placed in the 
troughs, there is poured a quantity of water, ob¬ 
tained either from the lake or from wells close to 
the manufacture, but, I think, most generally 
from the latter. We tasted the water from the 
