Among the most harmless kinds are those which inhabit the salt
lakes in the south of Ceylon. I have never beard of an accident
in these places, although hundreds of persons are employed
annually in collecting salt from the bottom.
These natural reservoirs are of great extent, some of them being
many miles in circumference. Those most productive are about
four miles round, and yield a supply in August, during the height
of the dry season.
Salt in Ceylon is a government monopoly; and it has hitherto been
the narrow policy of the government to keep up an immense price
upon this necessary of life, when the resources of the country
could produce any amount required for the island consumption.
These are now all but neglected, and the government simply
gathers the salt as the wild pig feeds upon the fruit which falls
from the tree in its season.
The government price of salt is now about three shillings per
bushel. This is very impure, being mixed with much dirt and
sand. The revenue obtained by the salt monopoly is about forty
thousand pounds per annum, two-thirds of which is an unfair
burden upon the population, as the price, according to the
supply obtainable, should never exceed one shilling per bushel.
Let us consider the capabilities of the locality from which it is
collected.
