212 SALT WATER BATHING — ANALYSIS OF THE LAKE WATER. 



that had been erected upon prominent headlands on the shore and 

 on the summits of the several islands. 



While engaged upon this duty, we frequently enjoyed the luxury 

 of bathing in the water of the lake. No one, without witnessing 

 it, can form any idea of the buoyant properties of this singular 

 water. A man may float, stretched at full length, upon his back, 

 having his head and neck, both his legs to the knee, and both 

 arms to the elbow, entirely out of water. If a sitting position be 

 assumed, with the arms extended to preserve the equilibrium, the 

 shoulders will remain above the surface. The water is nevertheless 

 extremely difficult to swim in, on account of the constant tendency 

 of the lower extremities to rise above it. The brine, too, is so 

 strong, that the least particle of it getting into the eyes produces 

 the most acute pain ; and if accidentally swallowed, rapid stran- 

 gulation must ensue. I doubt whether the most expert swimmer 

 could long preserve himself from drowning, if exposed to the 

 action of a rough sea. 



Upon one occasion a man of our party fell overboard, and, al- 

 though a good swimmer, the sudden immersion caused him to take 

 in some mouthfuls of water before rising to the surface. The effect 

 was a most violent paroxysm of strangling and vomiting, and the 

 man was unfit for duty for a day or two afterward. He would in- 

 evitably have been drowned had he not received immediate assist- 

 ance. After bathing, it is necessary to wash the skin with fresh 

 water, to prevent the deposite of salt arising from evaporation of 

 the brine. Yet a bath in this water is delightfully refreshing and 

 invigorating. 



The analysis of this water by Dr. Gale has shown that it con- 

 tains rather more than 20 per cent, of pure chloride of sodium, 

 and not more than 2 per cent, of other salts, forming <' one of the 

 purest and most concentrated brines known in the world." Its 

 specific gravity was 1.17, but this will slightly vary with the sea- 

 sons, being doubtless affected by the immense floods of fresh water 

 which come rushing down into it from the mountains, in the spring, 

 caused by the melting of the snows in the gorges. 



Thursday, July 16. — To-day we took a final leave of this sin- 

 gular lake. The difficulty of finding water fit for the ordinary 

 purposes of life — the necessity of transporting, by means totally 

 inadequate, every pound of provisions and every drop of water 

 needed iov the daily consumption of a large party of men — the un- 

 avoidable distance of our depot, and the barren, savage inhospi- 



