the Water of the Lake Elton, 87 



Mr Rose remarks, that this analysis seems to indicate that a 

 part of the magnesia perhaps exists in the water of the Caspian 

 Sea in the state of sulphate of magnesia ; but, in my analysis, I 

 have admitted the combination of the magnesLi with the carbonic 

 acid, and that of the lime with the sulphuric acid, because it is 

 impossible to determine, by the conclusions derived from analy- 

 sis, what proportion of the two earths is combined with each of 

 these two acids. 



The water of that part of the Caspian which is nearest the 

 mouth of the Volga is then comparatively free from solid con- 

 tents. The excess of the specific gravity of the water of the 

 Baltic, even where it is least salt, over that of pure water, is five 

 times, and between the islands Laland and Femern more than 

 seven times as great as the corresponding excess of the water 

 which was analyzed from the Caspian Sea. 



Eichwald also, in the account of his voyage on the Caspian, 

 informs us, that the water, at the distance of four miles from the 

 island formerly alluded to, was still so slightly brackish, that the 

 vessel in which he sailed could there fill its water-casks. Accord- 

 ing to him, it is only in a lower latitude than 45°8' N., where the 

 water of this sea becomes deeper, that it becomes salt by degrees, 

 and begins to assume the green colour peculiar to sea water ; and, 

 at the mouths of the great rivers, such as Terek and Ssoulak, it 

 is found soiled, muddy, and scarcely salt. 



The Caspian, not only to the north and north-east, but round 

 all its banks, is surrounded with salt lakes. The water which 

 these contain is so concentrated, that, as in lake Elton, the salt is 

 deposited, simply by evaporation, in thick beds, which are easily 

 broken up with iron bars. These lakes are very numerous upon 

 the western side, especially upon the peninsula of Abscheron, 

 near Bakou, where, according to Eichwald, they give out an 

 odour like that of violets, and also upon the eastern side, espe- 

 cially round the Gulf of Balchau, upon the peninsula of Dardcha^ 

 and on the island of Tchelekan. 



