HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
23 
in the neighbourhood. He soon mentioned a place where 
he described the ground as overspread with salt, and the 
springs as having a saltish taste. On the following morn¬ 
ing we visited the spot, and found, within a space of forty 
or fifty yards, several springs, the united waters of which 
might produce five or six gallons per minute. The water 
had an agreeably acidulous taste, apparently highly inr- 
pregnated with carbonic acid gas, which speedily separated 
from the water, adhering in small globules to the sides of 
the glass with which we took up some of the water. The 
same gas appeared rising in globules from all the springs. 
Where the ground was damp it was covered with an 
effloresence, as were also the stones which were moistened 
by the stream as it flowed from the springs into an adjoin¬ 
ing brook. 
“ The people of the neighbourhood informed us that 
they drive their cattle to the place to drink the water and 
lick up the salt, which they say has a remarkable tendency 
to promote their fattening for slaughter; but we could not 
learn that the people themselves used, for any purpose 
whatever, either the water of the spring, or the salt. The 
cattle, daily driven to the spot, had gradually worn away 
much of the earth, and exposed several masses of granite, 
and also a thin layer of limestone, six or eight inches 
thick, which in some places presented the appearance of 
marble. The layer, however, did not consist of calcareous 
matter alone, but had embedded or enclosed within it 
pieces of basalt, quartz, and, apparently, feldspar, all of 
which extraneous substances seemed to have been sub¬ 
jected to considerable friction, for they were round and 
smooth, like the stones found in rapidly-flowing rivers. 
There were also many pieces of decayed wood enclosed in 
the limestone, some as thick as a man’s finger, others of a 
