3i5 TRAVELS IN 
doubt It. But, as I had not in my power 
the means of analyfmg it chemically, I could 
judge of its nature by the tafte only : a very 
uncertain mode, and fometimes the more apt 
to deceive, becaufe, in comparing a new fenfa- 
tion with old and known ones, it is eafy to 
confound them, and think them the fame. 
Befide thefe brine-fprings, Africa contains 
feveral lakes, of greater or lefs extent, that are 
likewife fait or brackifh. Thefe being fed by 
rain-water alone, it is probable they owe their 
faltnefs merely^ to the faline earth wafhed by 
this water. 
Kolben, as dogmatic as Ignorant, will not 
admit this fimple and natural caufe. Reafon- 
ing after his own way, he announces a per- 
fedtly new fyftem on this fubjeft, and of which 
no one before, as he fays, ever thought. 
, To eftablilh his hypothefis, which indeed Is 
new and will long remain fo, he employs the 
fucceffiOn of the wet and dry feafons, the 
north w^ind, and the fouth wind, ice, and 
thunder. With thefe ingredients, he wants 
nothing more : a page of his book is the ma- 
gician*s wand. According to him, the CQn- 
fli£t of the feafons forms in the air a large 
quantity 
