iui
C H A P T E R VI.
T H E G EY SER S .
The Plain of Boilin;; Fountains—P lan of the Ground— Description
of the Great G e y s e r— Its Mound, Basin, and Tube— Deposite of
the Water Delicate Incrustations— Temperature of the Water
The Roaring Geyser—The S trockr—The L ittle Strockr E x plosion
of the Great Geyser— Difficulty o f making a correct
representation of— Comparison o f the J e ts— Maximum height
o f_P r o x im a te cause of these Fountains— Inquiry after Lord
Stuart de Rothsay’s horse, supposed to have fallen into the
Geyser— Mr. F arad ay’s Analysis of the Geyser Water—Return
towards R e ik ia v ik -S le e p in Mii/i/a/r Church— Apparent poverty
of the Priest—Arrival at Reikiavik.
O n e of the earliest and most clear, distinct, and
intelligible accounts of the Geysers we were about
to visit, is that which was published in “ The Philosophical
Transactions” of Edinburgh, as a letter
from Mr. (now Sir John) Stanley to Dr. Black.
In speaking of these boiling springs of Iceland,
he says that the descriptions given by Dr. Von
Troil, Archbishop of Upsal, are so accurate, that it
will not be in his power to give much new information.
The same observation may with more
propriety be applied to my own case. It would,
indeed, he idle to flatter myself that I had much