copal lees in Iceland, a moil extraordinary
large fpouting fountain is to be
feen, with which the celebrated waterworks
atMarley and St. Cloud, and at
Caifel, and Herrenhaufen near Hanover,
can hardly be compared. One
fees here, within the circumference of
half a mile *, 40 or 50 boiling fprings
together, which, I believe, all proceed
from one and the fame refervoir. In
fome the water is perfeilly clear, in
others thick and clayey ; in fome,
where it paifes through a fine ochre,
it is tinged red as fcarlet; and in
others, where it flows over a paler
clay, it is white as milk.
The water fpouts up from all, from
fome continually, from others only at
intervals. The largefl fpring, which
is in the middle, particularly engaged
our attention the whole day that we
fpent here, from fix in the morning till
feven at night. The aperture through
which the water arofe, and the depth
of which I cannot determine, was i 9
feet in diameter ; round the top o f it
xYbout three Engliib miles.
IS
is a bafon, which, together with the
pipe, has the form o f a cauldron ; the
margin of the bafon is upwards of nine
feet one inch higher than the conduit,
and its diameter is of fifty-fix feet.
Here the water does not fpout continually,
hut only by intervals feveral
times a day ; and as I was informed
by the people in the neighbourhood,
in bad rainy weather, higher than at
other times.
On the day that we were there, the
water fpouted at ten different times,
from fix in the morning till eleven
A. M. each time, to the height of between
five and ten fathoms ; till then
the water had not rifen above the margin
of the pipe, but now it began by
degrees to fill the upper bafon, and at
laft ran over. The people who were
with us told us, that the water would
foon fpout up much higher than it had
done till then, and this appeared very
credible to us. To determine its height
therefore, with the utmoft accuracy.
Dr. Lind, who had accompanied us
on this voyage in the capacity of an
aftronomer, fet up his quadrant.
Soon