LAGUNA DE ENCINILLAS. 8i 
to it so high a temperature, before breaking 
out in this fountain, would afford to the geolo- 
gist an interesting subject of inquiry. 
er fording the Rio Carmen, which, though 
usually without a drop of water in its chan- 
nel, we now found avery turbulent stream, we 
did not meet with any object particularly wor- 
thy of remark, until we reached the Laguna 
de Encinillas. « This lake is ten or twelve 
miles long by two or three in width, and seems 
to have no outlet even during the greatest 
freshets, though fed by several small constant- 
flowing streams from the surrounding moun- 
tains. The water of thislake during the dry sea- 
son is so strongly impregnated with nauseous 
and bitter salts, as to render it wholly unpala- 
table to man and beast. The most predomi- 
nant of these noxious substances is a species 
of alkali, known there by the title of teques- 
quite. It is often seen oozing out from the 
surface of marshy grounds, about the table 
plains of all Northern Mexico, forming a gray- 
ish crust, and is extensively used in the manu- 
facture of soap, and sometimes by the bakers 
even for raising bread. Here we had another 
evidence of the alarming effects of the recent 
flood, the road for several miles along the 
margin of the lake being completely inun- 
dated. It was, however, in the city of 
huahua itself that the disastrous Stniedquenses 
of the freshet were most severely felt. Some 
inferior houses of adobe were so much soak- 
ed by the rains, that they tumbled to the 
ground, occasioning the loss of several lives. 
