Principal Depressions on the Surface of the Globe. 257 



gether to one side, and leaves large expanses of the bottom bare. At no 

 distant period the lake seems to have been many times its present size, 

 and to have covered the low lands around with its waters. It seems still 

 diminishing in size, the balance betwixt fall and evaporation not having 

 as yet been attained in a climate where little rain falls, and the atmo- 

 sphere is intensely dry. Amidst all its stern grandeur, the scene around 

 is one of dreary and oppressive desolation. There is no tree or plant to 

 relieve the eye ; the atmosphere feels hot and suffocating, and the slug- 

 gish waves scarcely ripple before the breeze. Along one side of the lake 

 the surface of the earth is covered with a sheet of solid salt of the most 

 dazzling whiteness ; this is converted into a muddy marsh by every shower 

 of rain. Various streams of fresh water flow into the lake from the neigh- 

 bouring mountains — the Jordan, Bear River, and Weber, being all of 

 considerable size ; and the banks of these before they enter the salt region 

 are covered with the richest vegetation. Hot springs and salt in masses 

 abound in the neighbourhood of the lake. Around its margin is a band 

 of soft, foetid, slimy mud, consisting entirely of the larvae of insects, or 

 other animal matter, emitting smells the most offensive that can be ima- 

 gined. All around are evidences of volcanic action, and thick cakes of 

 mud, six or eight inches in diameter, charged with sulphur, and erupted 

 in a semi-liquid form from small spiracles beneath, are found scattered 

 about. In the plain, at no great distance from the lake,* is a group of 

 volcanic cones and apertures covering several acres of ground, with steam 

 and mud issuing from at least half a dozen chimneys. The cones are 

 from four to six feet in elevation, terminating in a spiracle or vent, some 

 of which are hardened, and lined with crystals of sulphur and other sub- 

 stances. From one of these steam and water are thrown from ten to 

 fifteen feet into the air ; they rush out with a noise resembling the escape 

 of a steam engine; the water is hot and cold by turns, and is strongly 

 impregnated with sal-ammoniac. Some of the cauldrons are from teu 

 to twenty feet in diameter, filled to within three or four feet of the top 

 with boiling mud, which occasionally runs over. Besides the numerous 

 mud cones, there is one of lava, in the midst of a mass of volcanic rocks 

 within the valley. It is about 50 feet in height ; sheets of salt, strongly 

 impregnated with sal-ammoniac, surrounding its base. In the mountains, 

 not far off, are wells of petroleum and naphtha. 



If I have bestowed more space on the Great Salt Lake than I ought to 

 have done, or than time will allow to devote to other depressions of equal 

 interest, it is because it has but lately become known to us ; and I am not 

 aware of any single paper or work in which all the information that has 

 been collected regarding it is to be found in moderate compass. As already 

 mentioned, the latest of our physical atlases and physical geographies 

 fail to bring our information down to this point. I have no doubt it will 

 be treated with his usual care and ability by my friend Mr Keith John- 

 ston, in the new edition of his great work now preparing for the press. 



There are, besides the valley of the Great Salt Lake, whose mere mag- 

 nitude is the point of least interest about it, two depressions, or conti- 

 nental river basins of no discharge north of Mexico, on the highlands 

 betwixt the Gulf of California and Rio del Norte ; one of about 200 by 50 

 miles, betwixt the 29th and 33d parallels ; another about four times this 

 size, nearly under the tropics. Both contain salt lakes of some magnitude, 

 with fresh-water streams flowing into them. Beyond this, little is known 

 regarding them. The Rio Grande, about 300 miles in length, is the 

 largest river in this quarter swallowed up by evaporation ; and but for 



* American Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1852 ; Jameson's Journal, 

 No. 105, p. 180. 



