the sides of the mountaih on which we stood,
vast bodies of smoke rising to a great height
from the then concealed sources. Our fatigue
in descending to the marsh was scarcely less
than we had experienced in climbing the
opposite ascent; but when we reached the
foot and looked to the more elevated parts
of the hill, another picture presented itself.
The mountains in the range which we had
just crossed, for a considerable length of
way were black and rugged beyond conception,
and jagged upon the upper parts into
the strangest figures that can be imagined.
Columns of steam were ascending from various
places on their sides, especially in the
gulleys; some rising near the base of the
hills, others almost adjoining the very summit;
and the apertures, that gave birth to
these columns, also poured out a bolus of
different colors, but more especially white,
which was conveyed away by the streams of
water, and either streaked the hills with
party-colored lines, as it descended with
them in their devious courses to the plain
below, or formed large patches by a deposition
of its substance in the hollows of
the rock. As our guide was not sufficiently
5
acquainted with the country, to be able
to point out the particular objects that
were most deserving of our attention, we
thought it better to procure ourselves a
cicerone to these places from among the
inhabitants of a solitary hut, at about two or
three miles distance; but*still we could not
resist the present temptation of alighting
from our horses, to visit one of the sulphur-
springs that lay in our route. It was situated
in a valley, at the foot of the precipice; on
entering which, we crossed, with cautious
steps, some heaps of bolus, intermixed with
incrustations of sulphur, and arrived at the
edge of the fountain, where, in addition to
a whitish and turbid water that was thrown
out to the height of two or three feet from
an aperture of no small dimensions, we
found a muddy paste oozing from other
orifices at various distances. All of these
sent forth great clouds of steam, which, together
with the sulphureous exhalation that
was wafted about by the wind in different
directions, frequently obliged us to shift
our situations. It was in endeavoring to
avoid one of these unpleasant gusts, which
threatened to annoy me while I was gather