For several days they continued their voyage down the river, till by the fields of millet seed, pulse, and turnips, the numerous mud hovels, the shoals of small boats, and the thousands of starving men, women, and children, who were paddling about the fields, and the very city of huge salt stacks upon the banks, they saw that they were approaching the town of Tien-sin, at which place, in consequence of the number of vessels which had arrived that day laden with timber, they were delayed for some time before the captain could unload his vessel and take in a cargo of salt. As in our own manufacturing counties many thousands of poor mechanics and artisans make little livings for themselves and great fortunes for their employers, so in Tien-sin, the most miserably poor and shrivelled portion of the vast population in China produce a commodity which places their masters, the salt dealers, among the most wealthy merchants in the Empire. While the captain is unloading his cargo I will tell you how these people produce this common edible. In addition to the pits of salt, which, like coal, are found in many of the provinces, there are many places where it is discovered by scattered spots of gray earth. To obtain this salt, they level the surface of the earth as smooth as glass and in a sloping direction so that the water will run off. When dried by the sun, and the white particles of salt are seen, they first raise it in small heaps, like haycocks, then spread it upon sloping tables with ledges, and pour soft water upon it, which, as it soaks in, extracts the salt and runs into an earthen vessel by means of a small channel. The earth thus drained is not wasted, but laid aside, so that after a few days, when dry, they reduce it to a fine powder, and replace it in the spot from whence it was taken, when, after six days, it is again mixed with particles of salt, which are again extracted as before, so that not one atom becomes lost. While the men are thus engaged in the fields, the women and children are employed in huts, in boiling the salt water in large iron basins, which they place over an earthen stove, with holes made in such a manner that the fire heats all the basins alike. When the salt water has boiled some time, it becomes thick, and changes slowly into a very white salt, which is stirred with an iron spatula till it becomes quite dry.