THE SALT LAKE. Lieut. Gunnison, of the Topographical Engineers, who has been employed for a long time past in the survey of the Great Basin in which the Salt Lake is situated, speaks of the lake as an object of the greatest curiosity. The water is about one-third salt, yielding that amount on boiling. Its density is considerably greater than that of the Dead Sea. One can hardly get his whole body below the sur-face. In a sitting position the head and shoulders will remain above water, such is the strength of the brine, and on coming to the shore the body is cov-ered over with an incrustation of salt, in fine crystals. The most surprising thing about it is the fact that during the summer season the lake throws on shore abundance of salt, while in the winter season it throws up glauber salt in large quantities. The reason of this is left to the scien-tific to judge, and also what becomes of the enor-mous amount of freshwater poured into it by three or four large rivers-Jordan, Bear, and Weber-as there is no visible outlet.
