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Show 76 Aug. 1833. RIO NEGRO. f to five inches t hI.C k ' but towards thlef margin is from ou~ This lake was two and a ha centre its thickness mcre:sesOthers occur in the neighbourmiles long, and one broa . d 'th a floor of salt, two and three · 1 rger an Wl . hood many times a ' d ater during the wmter. . n when un er w . h feet in thickness, eve h' d level expanses, In t e b illi tl w Ite an One of these r an y- 1 1 · offers an extraordinary d deso ate P am, midst of the brown an . f It is annually drawn from A 1 ge quantity o sa . . h spectacle. ar . hundreu tons m weig t, . d eat piles some h the salma; an gr ' t' It is singular that t e . d for exporta wn. . d were lymg rea y ll' ed and appearing qmte pure, oes salt, although well crysta IZ '. meat as sea salt from the ll for preservmg 'l not answer so we Al h h the latter is necessan Y Cape de V erd Islands. lt ?ug ted and mixed with the . · stant y Impor much dearer, It IS con li A merchant at Buenos d f these sa nas. salt procure rom 'd _1 the Cape de Verd salt ld th t he consi ereu Ayres to me a h that from the Rio Negro. fif t more t an worth ty per cen . . the salinas forms the harvest of The season for workmg . t of the place depends. Patagones ; for on it, th~ prospen y s on the banks of the Nearly the whole population ~nca:~ n drawing out the salt river, and the people are emp oye 1 in bullock-waggons. . f d f mud. and in this nume- The border of the lake IS orme o f whi.ch are three inches t 1 of gypsum some o rous large crys a s h"l t ' the surface others of sulphate long, lie e~b~dded; w 1 s o:t The Gau~hos call the former of magnesia lie scattered abo 1. th "Madre". they state the " Padre del sal," and the atter e the' borders of that these progenitive salts alw~ys occur on The mud the salinas, when the water begms to evaporate. rst imais black, and has a fetid odour. I could not, ~t :that the . the cause of this, but I afterwards perceive ;::~, which the wind drifted on shore was coloured gre;n:h:: if by confervre: I attempted to carry home some t~e lake tter but from an accident failed. Parts of green rna ' dd' h colour f a short distance appeared of a re lS ' :~~nth~:,~erhaps, was owing to some infusorial ani~:~~ul~i The mud in many places was thrown up by num Aug. 1833. SALINAS. 77 some kind of worm, or annelidous animal. How surprising it is that any creatures should be 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 are sometimes found by the workmen, preserved in the salt. I saw several wading about in search of food,probably for the worms which burrow in the mud; and these latter, perhaps, feed on infusoria or confervre. Thus we have a little world within itself, adapted to these little inland seas of brine. t With respect to the geological position of the salinas, they occur either in the plains composed of shingle, and overlying various deposits, or within the grand calcareo-argillaceous 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, • Throughout South America, the flamingo appears singularly attached to salt lakes. I saw instances of this throughout Pata.gonia, in the Cordillera of Northern Chile, and at the Galapagos Islands. t In the Linnre~n Transactions, vol. xi., p. 205, a minute crustaceous animal is described, under the name of Cancer salinus. It is said to occur in countless numbers in the brine pans at Lymington ; but only in those in which the fluid has attained, from evaporation, considerable strength; namely, about a quarter of a pound of salt to a pint of water. This cancer is said, also, to inhabit the salt lakes of Siberia. Well may we affirm, that every part of the world is habitable! Whether lakes of brine, or those subterranean ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains-warm mineral springs ; the wide expanse and depths of the ocean; the upper regions of the atmosphere ; and even the surface of perpetual snow ;-all support organic beings. |