45 but little vegetation to give token of the earth’s vitality. One of the principal objects in coming so far ' was to see the various geysers in eruption ; but, like many other travellers, our lonely vigil closed without seeing the Great Geyser perform, for it is necessary to wait its pleasure, and the chances of an eruption are very slight. In 1770 it is recorded that it spouted eleven times a day, and in 1814 every six hours, but now, of all unpunctual exhibitions, this is the most uncertain. Tourists have been known to wait a week, and there are legends of a wasted month. One quaint old historian gives an account of these springs about the year 1187. He says “ On an island in the midst of the wild sea there is a smoking fountain that turns everything its waters touch into stone. It is not to bo trifled with, for it lies in ambush to petrify all things. There are other fountains that burst into the air and disappear in the earth. There are springs that are of the most deadly poison, whilst others taste like ale.” Another writer in 1757 tells us :—“ There are two fountains, one a cold one, which immediately turned a cane into iron, weighing as heavy as that metal; the other a boiling one, in which could be seen a parcel of great animals as big as divers, frisking about and playing together, but if anyone approached, they immediately plunged down to the bottom of the boiling fountain, 300 feet deep.” Although we did not see these wonders, we saw much to astonish us, and many hours were spent in visiting the various springs, the smallest of which would arrest a traveller’s attention in any other country. The Great Geyser in the course of ages has formed out of the silica it deposits a mound about thirty feet high, which contains a circular basin about 200 feet in circumference; in the middle of this is a pipe with an opening some 16 feet in diameter, which has been probed to the depth of 80 feet. The sides are smoothly polished and so hard that it is not possible to strike off a piece with a hammer. The basin was filled to the brim with sea-green water, as pure as crystal, and of a temperature of 186 degrees. The second largest geyser is also surrounded by a deposit of light flinty grit and laminae. As we first looked down its tube fifty feet deep, we could see the water ten or twelve feet from the surface—boiling hard,

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