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NARRATIVE, 
markably clear blue sky from tlie rippled surface of 
the lake. The water, when looked through in shallow 
places on to a white sandy bottom, has, it is true, a 
light blue or rather greenish colour ; but the intense 
blue which the lake presents from a little distance, 
does not, I think, depend on the colour of the water 
itself The water of this lake, roughly analysed, was 
found to contain per gallon about 1000 grains of salts.* 
With the exception of a small crustacean (probably 
a Gammarus, as Mr. Etheridge, of the Eoyal School of 
Mines, informs me) not quite an inch in length, and 
resembling a small shrimp or sand-hopper, I doubt if 
there is any animal life in the western portion of the 
lake. The absence of gulls, terus, and other waterfowl, 
which were so abundant on the fresh-water rivulets 
running into the lake, strengthens this opinion. 
Many feet — in some places seventy feet — above the 
present surface-level of the water there are white 
deposits, consisting chiefly of lime, and containing 
spicula of sponges and fresh water shells. Mr. 
Etheridge, to whom I showed these shells, says they 
are all species of Limncea. These old beach marks, 
and the shells they contain, show that the lake has at 
one time been much larger and less salt than at pre- 
sent ; and before very long it will no doubt become a 
salt plain, like that which we had to traverse before 
reaching the Karakdsh valley. 
In addition to the shells, on the old beach marks, 
there is evidence to show that a large stream, issuing 
from the lake, at one time flowed down the Tdnkse 
* A complete analysis of the water is given in another part of this volume. 
