1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



529 



that at which man first began to inhabit the earth ; 

 80 that the guana;s or cormorants, and other allied 

 birds, which deposit guano, must have existed 

 thousands of years before man, seeing that the 

 lower layer of guano is sometimes fifteen or twen- 

 ty yards in depth, while the old alluvial crust 

 above it has a thickness of upward of three yards. 



GREAT SALT LAKE. 



From an interesting description of the Great 

 Salt Lake, which we find in the Philadelphia 

 Ledger, we make the following extracts : 



Away out in the Western wilds, some three 

 hundred miles beyond the Rocky Mountains, and 

 amidst other and loftier mountains still, there ex- 

 ists one of the most remarkable natural curiosi- 

 ties in the world — the Great Salt Lake. 



All the streams and rivers which run into Salt 

 Lake have their sources in the Great Basin, and 

 what is remarkable, none of them find their way 

 out of it. There are no outlets to the great lake ; 

 it receives the waters of several large rivers, swol- 

 len annually by their mountain tributaries, but 

 in no very extensive degree are the waters of the 

 lake increased during the seasons of the most co- 

 pious flowing of these rivers. What becomes of 

 the water is a question solvable only by the uni- 

 versal laws of nature, which keep the waters with- 

 in these circumscribed limits in equilibrium, as 

 the same is done on an immeasurably grander 

 scale with the waters of the great oceans of the 

 world. Great Salt Lake, according to the United 

 States government survey, which was completed 

 in 18o0, is two hundred and ninety-one miles in 

 circumference on the shore line. The storm line, 

 as it is called, would make it much more exten- 

 sive. This storm line is the extent to which the 

 waters of the lake are driven by the frequent and 

 violent winds which sweep over its surface, chas- 

 ing the waters in rolling waves far out upon the 

 salt marshes and sandy plains. The lake is ob- 

 long, being about twice as long north and south, 

 as it is wide. There are several islands in the 

 lake, which obstruct the view of its whole surface. 

 Of these, Antelope Island is the largest. It is 

 sixteen miles long, and five miles across in its wi- 

 dest part, and it rises three thousand feet above 

 the level of the lake. These islands are all sim- 

 ilar in appearance, being long, rocky, barren moun- 

 tains, ranging north, and south ; the same being 

 the general course of all the mountains in that 

 region. On some of the mountain islands are 

 found innumerable quantities of wild water fowl, 

 such as gulls, ducks, white brant, blue herons, 

 cormorants and pelicans, and the eggs are some- 

 times found so thick upon the ground in favorite 

 spots, that it is impossible to walk without tram- 

 ping upon them ; these fowls find their food in 

 the rivers and streams which flow into the lake. 

 No living thing of any kind exists in the waters 

 of the lake. A deep dark colored substance is 

 washed to the shore, which on the shore somewhat 

 resembles very small dried leaves, and in the wa- 

 ter looks like mud ; this has been proved to be 

 the larvce of insects, and when disturbed it emits 

 a most nauseating smell. Where they come from, 

 is a question which has never been solved ; per- 

 haps they were winged insects and fell into the 

 lake. The water of the lake is salter than any 

 other upon the face of the earth. Per. ons en- 



gaged in boiling salt on the shores of the lake, 

 say that three buckets of the water dipped out of 

 the lake and boiled in an open wooden trough, 

 with a sheet iron bottom, will yield one bucket of 

 salt ; or, in other words, that it is one third salt. 

 The analysis of the water made under the United 

 States Survey in 1850, says that the water con- 

 tains more than twenty per cent, of pure chloride 

 of sodium, and about two per cent, of other salts, 

 making one of the purest and most concentrated 

 brines known to the world. The specific gravity 

 of the water is very great ; this in the same an- 

 alysis is given at 1.170, water being 1000. The 

 water is so heavy or buoyant, that a person bath- 

 ing in it can sit upright, with head, shoulders and 

 arms out of the water, like sitting on a rocking 

 chair ; and a person can lie on the surface with 

 head, hands and feet out of the water. In the 

 lake the color of the water is a very deep dark 

 blue, much more so than the ocean, but when ta- 

 ken in the hand it is transparent. The water in 

 the lake is generally very shallow for long distan- 

 ces from the shore, and though it is deeper farther 

 out, yet it cannot be said to be a deep lake. Its 

 rapid changes, receding from one place and roll- 

 ing out upon another, caused by the frequent and 

 violent storms, which come sometimes suddenly 

 without any premonition, sweeping over it with 

 the resistless fury of tornadoes, render it very un- 

 safe for navigation in boats ; indeed, it is not 

 considered navigable. This great salt lake is 

 only used at present for boiling a little salt upon 

 its dreary, desolate shores. 



DOUBLE USE OP RAIMENT. 



"If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to 

 pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the 

 sun goeth down ; for that is his covering only; it 

 is his raiment for his skin ; wherein shall he 

 sleep ? And it shall come to pass, when he cri- 

 eth unto me, that I will hear ; for I am gracious." 

 Exod. 22 : 26, 27. 



In all parts of Southern Africa the skin-cloak is 

 the covering of males and females by day, and 

 that in which they sleep by night. They have no 

 other bed-clothes. The Hottentot cloak is com- 

 posed of sheep's skins, retaining the wool on the 

 inside ; in which he sleeps comfortably, under a 

 bush or tree, wherever he goes. Deprive him of 

 that covering, and he would find himself most 

 uncomfortably placed. It would be a cruel act. 

 The nations farther in the interior have cloaks 

 made from the hides of oxen or cows, which they 

 have a method of making soft and pliable, and 

 use exactly for the same purposes as the others — 

 namely, for clothing and sleeping in. — Campbell's 

 African Light. 



Flax Cottox. — The Providence Journal says 

 flax cotton is already becoming an article of com- 

 merce. Considerable quantities of it are prepared 

 and find a ready market for various purposes, 

 chiefly for mixture with cotton and wool. Al- 

 though inferior to cotton for most purposes, it is 

 equal to it for many and superior to it for some. 

 It has fairly taken its place among the textile raw 

 materials, and it will grow more important as the 

 supply increases, as the processes for its prepara- 

 tion improve, and the uses for it develop. 



