The Salt Itself, Prime Necessity As It Is, Has There To Be Extracted By Condensation From Saline Springs Of Great Depth, A Very Difficult Affair.

The operation consumes enormous quantities of fuel, and to this is partly due the denudation of the country".

Marco's somewhat rude description of the process, 'Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme,' points to the manufacture spoken of in this note. The cut which we give from M. Garnier's work illustrates the process, but the cakes are vastly greater than Marco's. Instead of a half pound they weigh a preul, i.e. 133-1/3 lbs. In Sze-ch'wan the brine wells are bored to a depth of 700 to 1000 feet, and the brine is drawn up in bamboo tubes by a gin. In Yun-nan the wells are much less deep, and a succession of hand pumps is used to raise the brine.

[Illustration: Salt pans in Yun-nan (From Garnier.)

"Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme."]

[Mr. Hosie has a chapter (Three Years in W. China, VII.) to which he has given the title of Through Caindu to Carajan, regarding salt he writes (p. 121). "The brine wells from which the salt is derived be at Pai yen ching, 14 miles to the south west of the city [of Yen yuan] ... [they] are only two in number, and comparatively shallow, being only 50 feet in depth.

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