margin is from four to live inches thick, but towards the
centre its thickness increases. This lake was two and a half
miles long, and one broad. Others occur in the neighbourhood
many times larger, and with a floor of salt, two and three
feet in thickness, even when under water during the winter.
One of these brilliantly-white and level expanses, in the
midst of the brown and desolate plain, offers an extraordinary
spectacle. A large quantity of salt is annually drawn from
the salina; and great piles, some hundred tons in weight,
were lying ready for exportation. It is singular that the
salt, although well crystallized, and appearing quite pure, does
not answer so well for preserving meat as sea salt from the
Cape de Verd Islands. Although the latter is necessarily
much dearer, it is constantly imported and mixed with the
salt procured from these salinas. A merchant at Buenos
Ayres told me that he considered the Cape de Verd salt
worth fifty per cent, more than that from the llio Negro.
The season for working the salinas forms the harvest of
Patagones; for on it, the prosperity of the place depends.
Nearly the whole population encamps on the banks of the
river, and the people are employed in drawing out the salt
in bullock-waggons.
The border of the lake is formed of mud; and in this numerous
large crystals of gypsum, some of which are three inches
long, lie embedded; whilst on the surface, others of sulphate
of magnesia lie scattered about. The Gauchos call the former
the “ Padre del sal,” and the latter the “ Madre” ; they state
that these progenitive salts always occur on the borders of
the salinas, when the water begins to evaporate. The mud
is black, and has a fetid odour. I could not, at first, imagine
the cause of this, but I afterwards perceived that the
froth, which the wind drifted on shore was coloured green, as
if by conferva;: I attempted to carry home some of this
green matter, but from an accident failed. Parts of the lake
seen from a short distance appeared of a reddish colour,
and this, perhaps, was owing to some infusorial animalcula.
The mud in many places was thrown up by luunijcrs of
some kind of worm, or annclidous animal. How surprising
it is that any creatures should bo able to exist in a fluid, saturated
with brine, and that they should be crawling among
crystals of sulphate of soda and lime ! And what becomes of
these worms when, during a long summer, the surface at
least is hardened into a solid layer of salt ? Flamingoes* in
considerable numbers inhabit this lake ; they breed here, and
their bodies arc sometimes found by the workmen, preserved
in the salt. I saw several wading about in search of food,—
probably for the worms which liurrow in the mud ; and these
latter, perhaps, feed on infusoria or confervoe. Thus we
have a little world within itself, adapted to these little inland
seas of hrine.t
With respect to the geological position of the salinas, they
occur either in the plains composed of shingle, and over-
lying various deposits, or within the grand calcareo-argilla-
ceous formation of the Pampas. The only rule I can discover,
is, that they do not occur where the substratum is
granitic, as in Brazil and Banda Oriental. I know of their
occasional existence over the immense territory extending
from lat. 23°, near the Rio Vermejo, to 50° south. The
climate may generally be considered as rather dry ; at least,
such is the case in Patagonia, where the salinas are most
numerous. Those which I saw occurred in depressions,
• T h r o u g h o u t S o u th A m e ric a , th e flam in g o a p p e a r s s in g u la rly a tta c h e d
to s a lt la k e s . I saw in s ta n c e s o f th is th ro u g h o u t P a ta g o n ia , in th e C o r d
ille r a o f N o r th e r n C h ile , a n d a t th e G a la p ag o s I sla n d s .
f I n th e L in n æ a n T ra n sa c tio n s , v o l. x i., p . 2 0 5 , a m in u te c ru s ta c o o u s
a n im a l is d e scrib ed , u n d e r th e n am e o f Cancer salinus. I t is s a id to o c c u r
in c o u n tle s s n um b e r s in th e b r in e p a n s a t L ym in g to n ; b u t o n ly in th o s e
in w h ic h th e flu id h a s a tta in e d , from e v a p o ra tio n , c o n s id e r a b le s tr e n g th ;
n am e ly , a b o u t a q u a r t e r o f a p o u n d o f s a lt to a p in t o f w a te r. T liis c a n c e r
is s a id , a lso , to in h a b it th e s a lt la k e s o f S ib e ria . W e l l m ay w e affirm,
t h a t e v e ry p a r t o f th e w o rld is h a b ita b le ! W h e th e r la k e s o f b r in e , o r th o s e
s u b te r r a n e a n o n e s h id d e n b e n e a th v o lc a n ic m o u n ta in s— w a rm m in e r a l
s p rin g s ; th e wid e e x p a n se a n d d e p th s o f t h e o c e an ; tlie u p p e r re g io n s o f
th e a tm o s jih e re ; a n d ev en th e su rfa c e o f p e rp e tu a l sn ow ;— a ll s u p p o r t
o rg an ic b e in g s.
1 If?
I y