An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

4 06 TIBET.of heat sufficiently Intense for such purposes.Thus situated, the mostvaluable discovery for them, would be that of a coal mine. In someparts of China bordering on Thibet, coal isfound, and used as fuel.Tincal, the nature and production of which, we have only, hitherto,been able to guess at, is now well known, and Thibet, from whencewe are supplied, contains it in inexhaustible quantities. It is a fossil,brought to market in the state in which it is dug out of the lake, andafterwards refined into borax by ourselves.Rock-salt is likewise foundin great abundance in Thibet.The lake, from whence tincal and rock-salt are collected, is aboutfifteen days journey from Tissoolumboo, and to the northward of it.Itis encompassed on all sides by rocky hills, without any brooks orrivulets near at hand ; but its waters are supplied by springs, whichbeing saltish to the taste, are not used by the natives. The tincal isdeposited or formed in the bed of the lake, and those who go to collectit, dig it up in large masses, which they afterwards break into smallpieces, for the convenience of carriage, exposing it to the air to dry.Although tincal has been collected from this lake for a great length oftime, the quantity is not perceptibly diminished; and as the cavitiesmade by digging it, soon wear out, or fill up, it is an opinion with thepeople, tiiat the formation of fresh tincal is going on. They havenever yet met it in dry ground, or high situations, but it is found inthe shallowest depths, and the borders of the lake, which, deepeninggradually from the edges towards the centre, contains too much waterto admit of their searching for the tincal conveniently; but from thedeepest parts they bring rock-salt, which is not to be found in shallows.