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Show 110 • HELD OF SALT- WELCOME RIXIEF. to have been an ancient crater, forming three- fourths of an inverted cone; open to the north- west, around which were sections of shales and sandstones, very much' contorted, and dipping in ' opposite directions on opposite sides. The lower part of> the cofie was filled with cl& ystone. No volcanic rocks were found at. the point Where we crossed these islands, but decomposed conglomerate and alabaster occurred in considerable quantities. v • * The first part of the plain' consisted simply of dried mud, with small crystals of salt scattered thickly over the surface. Crossing' this, we, came upon another portion of it, three miles m width, where the ground was entirely covered irith a thin layer of salt in a state of deliquesencce, and of so soft a consistence that the fe6t of our mutes sank at every step into the mud beneath. But We soon came upon a portion of the plain where the salt lay in a solid state, in one unbroken dheet, extending, apparently to its western border. So firm and strong wto this unique and snowy floor, that it sustained the weight of our entire train, without in the least giving way or Qracking beneath the pressure. Our mules walked upon it as upoh a sheet of solid ice. The whole field was Crossed by a network' of little ridges, projecting about half an inch, as if . the salt had expanded in the process of crystallization. I estimated this field to be at least seven miles' wide And ten miles in length. How much-farther it extended northward I could not tell; but if it Covered the plain in that direction as it did where we crossed, its exteht must have been very much greater. The* salt, which was very pure and white, averaged from one- half to three* fourths of tin inch in thickness, and was equal in alt respects to our finest specimens for table use. - Assuming these data, the quantity that here lay upon the ground in one body, exclusive of that in a deliquescent state, amounted to over four and a- half millions of cubic yards, or about' one hundred millions of bushels. At two o'clock in the afternoon we reached the western < » dge of- the plain, when to our infinite joy we beheld a small prairie or meadow, opvered with a ' profusion of good green grass, through which•' meandered a small stream of pure fresh running water, among clumps of Willows and wild roses, artemisia and rushes' It was a most timely and? welcome relief tor* our poor famished animals, who had now beteji deprived of almost all* sustenance for more than sixty hours, during the greater part of which tinie they had been in constant motion. It was, indeed, nearly as great a relief to me as to them, for Iliad, been doubtful |