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[ 258
ibme diiiance from die real ones; and
on the other llde is a ridge o f high
rocks, at the foot whereof boiling
water from time to time guilies forth ;
and further on a niarili extends of
about half a mile in circumference,
where are forty or fifty boiling fprings,
from which a vapour afcends to a
prodigious height.
Ill the mldft o f thefe is the greateil
fpring geyfer, that deferves- a more
exaét and particular account. In travelling
to the place, about a quarter
o f a mile from the hver, from where
the ridge o f rocks near it ilill divided
us, we heard aloud roaring noife, like
the milling o f a torrent, precipitating
itfelf from itupendous rocks. We
ailced our guide what it meant : he
aiifwered, it was geyfer roaring ; and
we foon faw with our eyes what before
appeared almoil incredible.
The depth o f the opening or pipe,
from which the water guflies, cannot
well be determined ; for fometimes the
water funk down feveral fathoms, and
fome féconds paifed before a ilone
that was thrown into the aperture
reached
[ 259 ]
reached the furface o f the water.
TJie openingitfelf wasperfeaiy round,
and nineteen .feet in diameter; it
ended above in a bafon that was
fifty-nine feet in diameter; both the
pipe and the bafon were covered with
a rough ilaladlitic cruil, that had
been formed by the force o f the water;
the uttermoil border o f the bafon
is nine feet and an inch higher than
the pipe itfelf.
The water here fpouted feveral
times a day, but always by ilarts,
and after certain intervals. The
people who lived in the neighbourhood
told us, that they rofe more high
in cold and bad weather than at other
times ; and Eggert Olafsen and feveral
others affirm, that it fpouted to
the height o f fixty fathoms. Moil
probably they only gueifed by the eye,
and on that account their calculation
may be a little exaggerated ; and indeed
I doubt that ever the water was
thrown up fo high, though I am much
inclined to believe, that it fometimes
mounts more high than when we obferved
it.
R 2 I w^ill