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Show -EAST AFRICA'S SODA LAKE. In British East frlca there Is a lody of water, known as Lake Ma-gadi, Ma-gadi, which is famous for Its vast deposits de-posits of soda. Heretofore Its shores have been islted by few travelers for it lies In the midst of a barren and waterless district, but now that an English company has nearly finished fin-ished s railway to transport the soda) to the boats, a way has been opened for those who so desire to reach this natural phenomenon. Ordinarily, this lake, acording to a wnti-r In tlio London IMi-h loo!.s a-: though It had been frozen and that snow had fallen upon it, partly thawed thaw-ed and again frozen The tempera ture. however, gives the lie to this appearance of roughened ice, for the heat Is extreme and at midday Is si-1 most unbearable. The soda burns the feet even through a boot, and the sharp, projecting pro-jecting spikes, which resemble hoar frost will pierce any except the thickest thick-est sole After the rains there Is a layer ol water over tho greater part of the lake, which turns a lovejy pink j color By moonlight tho scene Is I weirdly beautiful The l.t L, . contains at least 200,000,: 000 tons of crystalline substance, j composed almost equally of carbon-ate carbon-ate and bicarbonate of soda. Surface Sur-face and underground streams of sat-! urated soda liquor continually feed ! It. The present supply of soda is enormous, en-ormous, and as fa-st as It Is removed, a now surface, formed from tho "mother liquid" beneath replaces it : Natives have Collected soda from i the same spot year after year with-jout with-jout making the slightest difference in the abundance of the supply. The company intends to remove at least ICO, ooo tons each yoar. |