I ate some of it, but it made me intolerably thirsty.

This was the more distressing as the road, from some recent rain, was full of little puddles of clear water, yet not a drop was drinkable.

I had scarcely been twenty hours without water, and only part of the time under a hot sun, yet the thirst rendered me very weak.

How people survive two or three days under such circumstances, I cannot imagine: at the same time, I must confess that my guide did not suffer at all, and was astonished that one day's deprivation should be so troublesome to me.
I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground being incrusted with salt.

This phenomenon is quite different from that of the salinas, and more extraordinary.