198 THE GEYSERS. [Chap. V I . Chap. V I .] THE GEYSERS. 199
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Frenchman says, for two leagues, Avith scoriæ,
pumice-stone, cinders, and ashes. On reaching
-the summit, which was calculated, from the state of
a barometer made by Ramsden, to be iiA'e thousand
feet *, the cold Avas extremely severe, and the
party had their clothes covered Avith ice in such a
manner that, to use his oavu expression, “ our
clothes resembled buckram.” As there Avas nothing
to see, there Avas no object to induce them
to prolong their stay. Sir George Mackenzie
climbed up amidst fog and ashes ; got to the top,
Avhere he found a small crater filled with snow ;
looked round AA'hen the sky cleared up a little, and
then came down again. A ll things considered,
therefore, I may, perhaps, console myself for my
disappointment, Avith the reflection, that I have
lost but little pleasure, and escaped much fatigue;
but still it Avould have been something to say, “ I
haA'e been to the summit of Hecla ;” and it might
have furnished a few more pages to my book.
Having now given a brief description of Avhat
Ave saAV respecting the plain of the boiling fountains—
Avhich, to use the words of Professor Bergman,
are the most extraordinary Avhich have hitherto
been discovered in the known Avorld, or, as
Dr. Plolland expresses himself, “ the most remarkable
mineral-water in the Avorld is that of the
* Subsequent observations give the altitude at something less
than 4500 feet ; but the measurement made by Sir John Stanley
gave only 4300 feet.
most wonderful fountain the Great Geyser,”—
I shall proceed to make a few observations that
have occurred to me on this interesting subject.
There seems to be a prevalent notion that the impelling
force of the Great Geyser, be it Avhat it
may, (and no one Avill dispute what it is,) has been
for some years past on the wane. This is a point
not easily to be determined without more frequent
and closer observations than appear yet to have
been made and recorded. From the height of' the
jets no inference can be draAvn, as they are very
different on different days, and at different times
on the same day. A comparison, therefore, of the
number of times it may have played in a given
number of hours, or of the different heights to
which the column has been obser\'ed to ascend by
different spectators, Avould prove but little or nothing.
Were Ave to take these grounds as conclusive,
the inference to be draAvn from our late
experience, as compared with that of former travellers,
Avould be in favour of the opinion of its
diminished powers. And then with regard to the
height of a jet, no two persons, vicAving it at the
same time, Avill agree. It is, in fact, next to impossible
to estimate by the eye with anything like
accuracy the height of a fluid column in a constant
state of vacillation. All our party, it is
true, agreed upon one point, and that was,
that the strongest eruption of the Great Geyser,