Salt From the Sea

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 248, 21 October 1935, Page 11

Salt From the Sea

COMMERCE OF GRAND TURK BAHAMAS ISLANDS INDUSTRY NEARLY THREE CENTURIES OLD Tho recent sailing from Bermuda of two ships laden with fresh vegetables for the suffering inhabitants of Turks Islands, British West Indies, calls attention to this strange group of islands not far beyond tho Bahamas. Many deaths as a result of pellagra and malmutrition aro reported among tho inhabitants, and their plight is laid to the heavy import tax on foodstuffs and the 10 per cent export levy on salt, tho product on which tho islanders rely mainly for their income. At Grand Turk, tho chief city, a bushel of salt costs, at latest quotations, only 3d. You can get shiploads at this price, or better. You can buy salt there by the bushel, the barrel, tho ton or by tho cargo, but you cannot buy a pound of salt in Grand Turk. And a bushel—tho most frequently quoted measure —of salt is a varying unit. A bushel should be 70 pounds, with 32 bushel's to the long ton. But in practice the number of bushels ranges from 2S to 40 to the long ton. A bushel of salt is no moro exact as a measure in Grand Turk commerce than .the “pinch” of salt in seasoning. Salt is tho chief industry of Turks and the neighbouring Caicos Islands. Weather permitting, they produce 50,000 to 00,000 tons a year. The salt is evaporated from sea water by the sun, so the cost is largely labour and overhead. It is disastrous for the salt makers—almost the entire population of Grand Turk and Salt Cay—if it rains while tho salt crops is in the exaporating ponds. Rain means delay, if not ruin.

It takes from four to six weeks to produce a sea-salt crop. Tho process consists simply of the evaporation of the water and the depositing of solids. About 97 per cent of, the water is taken off by tho heat of the sun’s rays, leaving about 3 per cent solids, almost wholly salt. This product is surprisingly pure and far “saltier” than the ordinary refined article for table use, to which have been added various harmless drying agents so that the salt will run or pour more easily. ,

jurisdiction of Jamaica, more than 400 miles to the southwest. Grand Turk, largest of the group, has an area of ten square miles. Tho islands are seldom visited and aro little known except to seamen and those in tho salt trade.

' Strong, favoutablo irade winds . and normally a low annual rainfall make Grand Turk an' ideal spot for salt ponds, and it was a source of salt a hundred years before tho American Revolution. Besides, putting salt tho sea and heat in tho sun Nature has dono oho other thing for Grand Turk to make it a natural salt factory. Tides and waves have built up a sand bank or bar higher than part of tho island itself, so that it is conrparatively easy to run water from tho ocean to the island salt basins, which aro below sea level. Windmills are usod to pump the water from basin to basin as the evaporation process progresses. Some of the settling and evaporation ponds have been in uso sinco 1070. The annual rainfall for tho islands averages between 27 and 29 inches, the months from January to May, ■ inclusive, being normally the driest. Sometimes a whole month passes without rain. Seldom, during one of these five months, is there more than an inch of rain. Whatever the rainfall may be, it means that just 'so much more water has to be absorbed by the sun before the salt crop is made. . Early History.

The people of Bermuda are credited with first proving tho value of Turks Islands as a source of salt. Every year they took their sloops, manned with slave crews, to the islands to take salt, which they sold in parts of the American Colonics. This was more than 100 years before 1781, when the iirst royal regulations for the salt industry were promulgated. Thcso orders provided that one third of the crop should bo set- aside for the Government, that salaries of Ministers and officials of tlm Government be paid in salt and that each British subject on tho islands on February 10 receive a full share of the crop. Children, depending on their height, were given so many tenths of an adult’s share. Tho shares of slaves went to their masters.

Many of these old customs, in modified form, still prevail as the basis of the industry. A succession of bad seasons and depressed prices resulted, in 15(32, in a change from leasehold to freehold ownership, the Government retaining one tenth of tho valuo of the salt exported as a royalty in porpefci'ands and the nearby seven Caicos Is- uity.

In the Bahama Group.

Geographically, the nine Turks Is-

lands belong to the Bahamas. They a south of Bermuda, north of San Doi ingo and Haiti aud east of Nassau, ai aro the easternmost of the scatter Bahamas group. Governmcntally t islands are British and are under t

tiro j The salt-making process is primitive. )m- Sea water is let, by gravity, into large uni lakes. As the evaporation progresses red the water, at different stages, is let off the into lower ponds and basins. As the the ' drying continues the resultant salt is

raked into glistening white rows to drain and dry further until the process is completed, when the various grades of table, industrial and lish salt are separated. Tho finished product usually is warehoused to protect it from absorbing moisture during the following wetter months. Shipments are made throughout the year. I Conch fishing is still something of an industry, the dried meat from tho conch shell being exported chiefly to Haiti and San Domingo, where many consider ia a rare delicacy. But salt, mainstay of the islands,.is essential even in their fisheries,