CALIFORNIA ALKALINE AND BOBACIC LAKES. . 229 



for it the specific name Caladarimn, which is suggested by its place of 

 growth."* 



Twenty miles south from Owen's Lake across a sage-brush and grease- 

 wood waste, the surface of which is plentifully strewed with fragments of 

 lava, pumice, and basalt, is Little Lake. This sheet of water, which is of 

 comparatively small extent, is surrounded by huge masses of contorted 

 vesicular lava, and evidently occupies the cavity of an ancient volcanic 

 vent. The waters of this lake are considerably less alkaline than those of 

 Owen's Lake, but bubbles of carbonic acid make their way to its surface in 

 almost uninterrupted streams. 



Fifteen miles east from this point are numerous hot springs ; the path 

 for the greater portion of this distance lies over lava-flows, which render 

 traveling slow and fatiguing. A.t the principal group of springs the ground 

 is covered, over a large extent, by innumerable cones of plastic mud, vary- 

 in height from a few inches to several feet ; these rise above the surface of 

 a seething swamp, and give issue to steam and jets of boiling water. In 

 some cases the steam and gases, instead of issuing from cones as above de- 

 scribed, are evolved under the surface of water and mud contained in basin- 

 shaped reservoirs formed in the decomposed rock. By these means are 

 produced multitudes of boiling caldrons in which violent ebullition keeps 

 clay in a constant state of 'suspension ; this clay varies in color from bluish 

 gray to bright red. The waters of these springs are much employed by the 

 Indians as an embrocation for the cure of diseases of the eye; on examina- 

 tion they were found to contain forty-eight grains of solid matter to the 

 gallon, of which amount twenty-six grains are sulphate of aluminium ; in 

 addition they contain lime, soda, potash, and a little free sulphuric acid. 



Borates of sodium and calcium occur in various localities in North 

 America. The two borax-lakes are both situated near the shores of Clear 

 Lake in Lake County, California, seventy miles northwest of the port of 

 Suscol, and one hundred and ten from the city of San Francisco. 



The larger of these lakes is separated from Clear Lake by a low ridge of 

 volcanic materials loosely packed together, and consisting of scorise, obsidian 

 and pumice ; it has an average area of about three hundred acres. Its ex- 

 tent, however, varies considerably at diflPerent periods of the year, as its 

 waters cover a larger area in spring than during the autumnal months. No 

 stream flows into its basin, which derives its supply of water partly from 

 drainage from the surrounding hills, and partly from subterranean springs 

 discharging themselves into the bottom of the lake. In ordinary seasons 

 its depth thus varies from five feet in the month of April to two feet at the 

 end of October. 



The borax occurs in the form of crystals of various dimensions, imbedded 

 in the mud of the bottom, which is found to be most productive to a depth 

 of about three and a half feet, although a bore-hole which was sunk near 



t Silliman's Journal, vol.xlvi, 1868, p. 33. 



