PART 3.] 
Theobald: SaU-spriugs of Pegu. 
67 
On the Salt-speings of Pegtt, by William Theobald, Geological Survey of India. 
Prior to the occupation of Pegu by the British, a considerable manufacture of salt was 
carried on inland, from the somewhat feeble brine springs, which are so plentifully distributed 
throughout a large portion of the valley of the Irrawadi, more particularly along the eastern 
shirts of the Arahan range in the districts of Myanoung and Henzadah. Of late years, this 
manufacture has to a great extent ceased, and is now merely practised on a very reduced 
scale at a few spots, to supply strictly local requirements. The decay of this industry arises 
from the abundant supply of the article, now procurable, manufactured in the delta* from 
sea-water; and we may expect this sea-salt entirely to supplant that manufactured from the 
springs, as the system of traffic and barter, by means of itinerant traders, enlarges more and 
more, and the facilities for obtaining the cheaper article become greater, and, therefore, more 
appreciated. Even now, many spots are. pointed out, from which salt was formerly obtained, 
but at which the precise locality of the wells, long since fallen in, has been forgotten, and 
every year makes it more difficult to gather information on this point, as the action of the 
seasons and the growth of vegetation combine to efface all traces of former workings. In 
some places skirting the hills, the plough now passes over ground where salt-wells formerly 
existed; and hence it is mainly in the localities where massive timbering was employed to 
support the sides of the wells that we can best judge of the number and importance of the 
old workings. 
The wells vary in shape, being either round or square, usually the latter, from the greater 
facility of timbering the sides; whilst some are little better than rude excavations or enlarge¬ 
ments of an original cavity, sufficient to permit the accumulation of the brine for conve¬ 
nient removal. Others again are sunk 10, 20, or 30 feet, and have their sides roughly, 
though effectively, supported by stout planks. In some instances (e. g., Hlahndcng and 
Kadeng-mah-ngo), these planked wells are sunk to a small depth in the bed of a. stream, and 
during the monsoon become filled with sand, gravel, and fresh-water, bnt on the season for 
active operations commencing in the cold weather or towards its close, it was customary to 
clear them out, when the brine would be found, occupying its own place, a short distance 
below the ordinary level of the bed of the stream. 
The strength of the brine is variable, being often only feebly saline. This probably 
depends on admixture with surface water, as the strongest noted was yielded by the 
Sadwingyee spring, which was also most copious, and consequently the least obnoxious to 
admixture with surface water, which may be supposed often to affect the more feeble and 
sluggish springs. I may here remark that, though usually spoken of as brino springs, 
these springs are, in the great majority of instances, hardly entitled to the designation, 
having scarcely any flow. In the case of Sadwingyee, there is a copious spring. In the 
case of Numiuayahn and Sahngyee there is a perceptible flow, and no more, accompanied by 
a somewhat copious evolution of marsh-gas, which keeps the pools turbid and in a state of 
constant ebullition. The more usual mode of occurrence of the brine, is among crushed or 
disturbed strata, especially harsh dark shales, in which the brine occupies cracks and pockets, 
and, on a well being sunk therein, trickles into it from the surrounding strata, but without 
causing an overflow. Mr. W. T. Blanford, in a memorandum on the salt-wells of the 
district of Henzadah (May 1st, 1861), points out thirteen different localities, the richest 
being that at Sadwingyee, which indeed may be regarded as the richest in the piovince, 
and of which I here quote his account. 
“ The appended list specifies thirtecnf different localities in the district of Henzadah 
at which salt is known to have been worked. Of these, only three were at work at the time 
* Imported Englissh salt is now competing 1 with the country-made article, 
t Nos. 63 to 69, 71 to 74, 79. 
