STATE OF ITS SHORES. 
Ill 
or islands turned out to be only very small lumps of 
dirt or clay lying in the bed of the lake, and in- 
creased in magnitude by refraction. 
I penetrated into the basin of the lake for about 
six miles, and found it so far without surface water. 
On entering at first, the horses sunk a little in a stiff 
mud, after breaking through a white crust of salt, 
which everywhere coated the surface and was about 
one eighth of an inch in thickness, as we advanced 
the mud became much softer and greatly mixed 
with salt water below the surface, until at last we 
found it impossible to advance a step further, as the 
horses had already sunk up to their bellies in the bog, 
and I was afraid we should never be able to extri- 
cate them, and get them safely back to the shore. 
Could we have gone on for some distance, I have 
no doubt that we should have found the bed of the 
lake occupied by water, as there was every appear- 
ance of a large body of it at a few miles to the west. 
As we advanced a great alteration had taken place, 
in the aspect of the western shores. The bluff rocky 
banks were no longer visible, but a low level country 
appeared to the view at seemingly about fifteen 
or twenty miles distance. From the extraordinary 
and deceptive appearances, caused by mirage and 
refraction, however, it was impossible to tell what 
to make of sensible objects, or what to believe on the 
evidence of vision, for upon turning back to retrace 
our steps to the eastward, a vast sheet of water ap- 
peared to intervene between us and the shore, whilst 
