158     BORAX  LAKE  AND  SULPHUR  BANKS  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
rax  Company,  but  cattle  are  browsing  on  the  salt  meadows  ad- 
jacent to  the  lake,  and  on  its  borders  are  swine  feasting  on  the 
larvae  of  a  fly,  which  is  found  on  the  margin,  forming  an  or- 
ganized belt  a  yard  or  more  wide,  and  about  a  foot  in  depth. 
The  only  other  inhabitant  of  those  waters  is  a  leech.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  specific  gravity  of  the  lake  ren- 
ders it  impossible  that  a  man  should  be  drowned  in  its  healing 
waters — healing  the  ulcers  of  animals  that  are  driven  in  for  that 
purpose. 
The  sulphur  banks  are  on  the  margin  of  Clear  Lake  ;  an  ex- 
tensive deposit — -the  deposition  being  still  in  progress.  Exten- 
sive works  for  sublimating  the  element  have  been  just  com- 
pleted. Sulphur  is  poured  out  from  retorts  in  constant  streams 
into  boxes  holding  two  hundred  pounds  each,  affording  to  the 
borax  company,  at  a  trifling  expense,  a  daily  supply  of  a  hun- 
dred such  boxes,  if  they  see  fit  to  draw  on  their  brimstone  bank 
to  that  extent. 
SODA. 
Here  we  may  have  an  insight  into  one  section  of  Nature's 
laboratory.  Would  you  learn  how  bicarbonate  of  soda  is  formed 
in  Borax  Lake  ?  Scoop  out  of  this  pool  some  of  its  water, 
which  is  charged  with  carbonic  gas ;  first  quaff  some  of  the 
delectable  fluid,  and  pour  it  into  yonder  pool  of  boracic  acid — 
a  pleasant  palatable  liquid — and  mark  the  effervescence !  The 
brisk  action  now  going  on  is  due  to  the  fact  that  boracic  acid 
has  a  strong  appetite  for  soda,  while  carbonic  acid  is  only  too 
ready  to  get  rid  of  that  alkali ;  two  portions  of  boracic  acid' 
seize  the  forsaken  soda  and  form  borax,  while  divorced  car- 
bonic acid  bubbles  up  as  if  rejoicing  in  its  emancipation.  That 
is  what  causes  the  commotion  in  the  pool,  and  that  is  pre- 
cisely the  operation  which  is  taking  place  in  Borax  Lake. 
CRYSTALS. 
Walk  into  one  of  the  trenches  that  have  been  dug  in  the 
bank  of  sulphur,  and  you  may  watch  the  formation  of  beautiful 
circular  crystals  of  sulphur  from  the  condensation  of  the  stifling 
vapors  around  you.  These  crystals  fill  little  crevices,  wherein 
you  will  discover  cinnabar  and  opal.    You  are  admonished  not 
