Oct. 1835. 



SALT LAKE. 



459 



trees. I measured several which were two feet in dia- 

 meter, and some even two feet nine inches. The upper 

 region being kept damp, from the moisture of the con- 

 densed clouds, supports a green and flourishing vege- 

 tation. So damp was the ground, that there were large 

 beds of a coarse carex, in which great numbers of a very 

 small water-rail lived and bred. While staying in this 

 upper region, we lived entirely upon tortoise-meat. The 

 breastplate roasted (as the Gauchos do came con cuero), 

 with the flesh attached to it, is very good ; and the young 

 tortoises make excellent soup ; but otherwise the meat to 

 my taste is very indifferent. 



During another day we accompanied a party of the 

 Spaniards in their whale-boat to a salina, or lake from 

 which salt is procured. After landing, we had a very rough 

 walk over a rugged field of recent lava, which has almost 

 surrounded a sandstone crater, at the bottom of which the 

 salt-lake is situated. The water was only three or four 

 inches deep, and rested on a layer of beautifully crystal- 

 lized white salt. The lake was quite circular, and fringed 

 with a border of brightly green succulent plants : the pre- 

 cipitous walls of the crater were also clothed with wood^ 

 so that the scene was both picturesque and curious, A 

 few years since, the sailors belonging to a sealing-vessel 

 murdered their captain in this quiet spot; and we saw 

 his skull lying among the bushes. 



During the greater part of our week on shore, the sky was 

 cloudless, and if the trade-wind failed for an hour, the heat 

 became very oppressive. On two days, the thermometer 

 within the tent stood for some hours at 93°; but in the 

 open air, in the wind and sun, at only 85°, The sand 

 was extremely hot; the thermometer placed in some of a 

 brown colour immediately rose to 137°, and how much 

 higher it would have risen, I do not know, for it was not 

 graduated above that number. The black sand felt much 

 hotter, so that even in thick boots it was disagreeable^ on 

 this account, to walk over it. 



