AFRICA. 225 
thing, however, had fhewn me, without being 
^ chemift, the fame immenfe quantity of com- 
i^^on fait here which HafTelquift obfcrved in 
Egyp^> I thought even that I began tq 
find alfo natron. 
In advancing from the Cape, I had conftantly 
remarked, that the water, which at firft was a 
little brackifli, became more and more impreg- 
nated with fait as I approached towards the 
equator. Nothing was fo uncommon as wa- 
ter perf^dily fweet ; for even the torrepts were 
cpnfiderably faltifh. Scarcely had a pool been 
heated by the fun, when I faw formed upon it 
a cruft of hard cryftallized fait. Every thing 
was fait, the plants not excepted ; and accord- 
ing as the ftrudure of their fibres was more 
ov lefs" favourable to the infiltration of fait, 
each of them was more or lefs acrid. 
Among the falfuginous plants of Egypt, 
Haffelquift reckons fait- wort, and particu- 
larly feveral kinds of chenopodium* ?.nd me- 
fembryanthemum f ; and thefe vegetables are 
indigenous alfo in the fouthern part of Africa, 
* Coefe-foot. f Fig-marygold. 
and 
