‹‹‹ Vitr. 8.3.6 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 8.3.8 ›››
7There are, moreover, many other sorts of water, which have particular properties, as the Himera, in Sicily, which, when it departs from its source, is divided into two branches. That branch which flows towards Ætna, passing through a country of sweet humidity, is exceedingly soft; the other, its course being through land where salt is dug, has a salt taste. At Parætonium, also, and on the road to the temple of Ammon, and at Casium in Ægypt, there are marshy lakes containing so much salt, that it congeals on them. In many other places the springs, rivers and lakes, which run near salt-pits, are therefrom rendered salt.
7There are also many other kinds of water which have peculiar properties; for example, the river Himera in Sicily, which, after leaving its source, is divided into two branches. One flows in the direction of Etruria and has an exceedingly sweet taste on account of a sweet juice in the soil through which it runs; the other runs through a country where there are salt pits, and so it has a salt taste. At Paraetonium, and on the road to Ammon, and at Casius in Egypt there are marshy lakes which are so salt that they have a crust of salt on the surface. In many other places there are springs and rivers and lakes which are necessarily rendered salt because they run through salt pits.