into a bason or funnel, measuring fifty-nine feet from one edge to the other.

The bason is circular, and the sides of it, as well as those of the pipe, are polished quite smooth by the continual friction of the water, and they are both formed with such mathematical truth, as to appear constructed by art. The declivity of the mound begins immediately from the borders of the bason. The incrustations are in some places worn smooth by the overflowing of the water; in most, however, they rise in numberless little tufts, which bear a resemblance to the heads of cauliflowers, except that they are rather more prominent, and are covered by the falling of the finer particles of spray, with a crystalline efflorescence so delicate as scarcely to bear the slightest touch. Unmolested the efflorescence gradually hardens, and although it loses its first delicacy, it still remains exceedingly beautiful.

When the guides first led our travellers to the Geyzer, the bason was filled to within a few feet of its edge. The water was transparent as crystal: a slight steam only arose from it, and the surface was ruffled but by a few bubbles, which now and then came from the bottom of the pipe. They waited with anxiety for several minutes, expecting at every instant some interruption to this tranquillity. On a sudden, another spring, immediately in front of the place on which they were standing, darted its waters above an hundred feet into the air, with the velocity of an arrow, and the jets succeeding this first eruption were still higher. This was the spring already mentioned under the name of the New Geyzer.

While gazing in silence and wonder at this unexpected and beautiful display, they were alarmed by a sudden shock of the ground under their feet, accompanied by a hollow noise, not unlike the distant firing of a cannon. Another shock soon followed, and they observed the water in the bason to be much agitated. The Icelanders hastily laid hold of them and forced them to retreat some yards. The water in the mean time boiled violently, and heaved as if some expansive power was labouring beneath its weight, and some of it was thrown up a few feet above the bason. Again there were two or three shocks of the ground, and a repetition of the same noise. In an instant the surrounding atmosphere was filled with volumes of steam rolling over each other as they ascended, in a manner inexpressibly

beautiful, and through which, columns of water shivering into foam, darted in rapid succession to heights which, at the moment, the spectators were but little qualified to estimate. Indeed, the novelty and splendour of such a scene had affected their imaginations so forcibly, that they believed the extreme height of the jet to be much greater than it 'was afterwards determined to be. In a subsequent eruption, a gentleman ascertained by means of a quadrant, the greatest elevation to which the jets of water were thrown, to be ninety-six feet.

Much of the water began to descend again at different heights, and was again projected by other columns, which met it as they arose. At last, having filled the bason, it rolled in great waves, and in numberless rills, made its way down the sides of the mound. Much was lost in vapour only, and still more fell to the ground in heavy showers of spray. The intervals at which the several jets succeded each other, were too short for the eye to distinguish them. As they rose out of the bason, they reflected by their density, the purest and most brilliant hue. In certain shades the colour was green like that of the sea; but in their further ascent, all distinction of colour was lost, and the jets broken into a thousand parts appeared as white as snow. Several of them were forced upwards perpendicularly; but many receiving a slight inclination as they burst from the bason, were projected in beautiful curves, and the spray which fell from them, caught by a succeeding jet, was hurried away still higher than it had been, perhaps, before.

The jets were made with inconceivable velocity, and those which escaped uninterrupted terminated in sharp points, and lost themselves in the air. The eruption, changing its form at every instant, continued for ten or twelve minutes; the water then subsided through the pipe, and disappeared. The eruptions of the Geyzer succeed each other with a degree of regularity, but they are not equally violent, or of equal duration. Some lasted eight or ten, while others continued, with unabated violence, fifteen or eighteen minutes. Between the great eruptions, while the pipe and bason were filling, the water burst several times into the air to a considerable height. These partial jets, however, seldom exceeded a minute, and sometimes not a few seconds in duration.

After the eruption of it had been violent, the water sank

into the subterraneous caverns, and left the pipe quite empty, If the eruption had been moderate, the subsidence of the water would have been proportionably less. The first time the pipe was perfectly emptied, they sounded its depth, and found it very rough and irregular. The pipe remains but a short time empty. After a few seconds, the water rushes into the pipe again with a bubbling noise, and during the time that it is rising, it is frequently darted suddenly into the air to different heights, sometimes to two or three, sometimes sixty feet above the sides of the bason. By a surprize of this kind, while our travellers were engaged measuring the diameter of the well, they had nearly been scalded, and although they were able to withdraw themselves from the great body of water as it ascended, yet they remained exposed to the falling spray, which fortunately was so much cooled in the air as to do them no mischief.

Of these jets they counted twenty in an hour and a half, during which the waters had filled the pipe, and part of the bason. It then seemed oftentimes agitated and boiled with great violence. The jets were more beautiful, and continued longer, as the quantity of water in the bason increased. The resistance being greater, their force was in some degree broken, and their form, more divided, produced a greater display of foam and vapour.

While the pipe was filling, they threw into it several stones of considerable size, and amidst these they rose and fell repeatedly. They were easily distinguished in the white foam, and contributed much to the novelty and beauty of this extraordinary phenomenon.

When the bason was nearly full these occasional eruptions were generally announced by shocks of the ground, similar to those preceding the great eruptions. Immediately after the shocks, the whole body of water heaved exceedingly ; a violent ebullition then took place, and large waves spread themselves in circles from the centre, through which the column forced its way.

When the water had been quiet in the bason for some time, the thermometer placed in it stood at 180° only, but immediately after an eruption, it rose to 200°. The party boiled a piece of salmon in it which was exceedingly well

tasted.