and density from time to time, as often as
the ebullition was more violent. At nine
o’clock I heard a hollow subterraneous noise,
which was thrice repeated in the course of a
few moments; the two last reports following
each other more quickly than the first and
second had done. It exactly resembled the
distant firing of cannon, and was accompanied
each time with a perceptible, though very
slight, shaking of the earth; immediately
after which, the boiling of the water increased
together with the steam, and the whole was
violently agitated. At first, the water only
rolled without much noise over the edge of
the basin, but this was almost instantly
followed by a jet*, which did not rise above
ten or twelve feet, and merely forced up the
water in the centre of the basin, but was
attended with a loud roaring explosion: this
jet fell as soon as it had reached its greatest
* I have followed Sir John Stanley in using the word
je t for this sudden shooting of the water into the air,
which continues but a few seconds, because I do not
know that we have any term more applicable in our language.
The French employ the word élancement in the
same sense, which seems to convey a better idea of the
thing, but cannot well be rendered in English.
height, and then the water flowed over the
margin still more than before, and in less
than half a minute a second jet was thrown
up in a similar manner to the former.
Another overflowing of the water succeeded,
after which it immediately rushed down
about three-fourths of the way into the basin.
This was the only discharge of the Geyser
that happened this evening. Some one or
other of the springs near us was continually
boiling; but none was sufficiently remarkable
to take off my attention from the Geyser,
by the side of which I remained nearly
the whole night, in anxious but vain expectation
of witnessing more eruptions. It was
observed to us by an old woman, who lives
in a cottage at a short distance from the hot-
springs, that the eruptions of the Geyser are
much most frequent, when there is a clear
and dry atmosphere, which generally attends
a northerly wind; and we now congratulated
ourselves upon the prospect of being enabled
to ascertain the accuracy of her observation,
the wind, which had hitherto continued to the
south-west, having this evening veered about
to the north. At twenty minutes past eleven
VOL. i . l