102 GUIDE TO ICELAND. east, a river tributary to the great southern Hv'ita, which drains the glacier-covered mountains to the northward. The extent of the tract in which the thermal springs abound is about 700 yards in length by 300 in width. Burton says :—Here ‘ we may still study the seven forms of Geysir life. First, is the baby still sleeping in the bosom of Mother Earth, the airy wreath escaping from the hot clay ground; then comes the infant breathing strongly, and at times puking in the nurse’s lap; third, is the child simmering with impatience ; and fourth, is the youth whose occupation is to boil over. The full-grown man is represented by the “ Great Gusher” in the plentitude of its lusty power; old age, by the tranquil, sleepy “laug”; and second childhood and death, mostly from diphtheria or quinsy, in the empty red pits strewn about the dwarf plain.’ The Geysir lies towards the northern end of the ‘ dwarf plain,’ and its basin is at the summit of a mound built up to a height of about forty feet of silica, a mineral that the Geysir water holds in solution, and which is deposited in thin layers of a beautiful enamel from the water which is constantly overflowing. The mound is ever increasing in size from the continuous deposit of silica; and fragments of stone left on its slopes will in a short time be found attached to the surface by newly-formed layers of siliceous sinter, the name by which the enamel is known to mineralogists. The basin is nearly circular ; and except immediately after an eruption is full of water to the brim: four measurements taken twice on the surface of the water gave the average diameter at 66 feet. In the centre of the basin is a cylindrical well or tube 10 feet 4 inches in diameter, and 82 feet in depth. A recent writer made a curious discovery. He says, By standing with his back to the sun and looking into the basin, the spectator will see ‘ his face and head clear as in a mirror, surrounded by a halo of bright prismatic colours. The coloured rays extended round the head to the dis- tance of two or three feet, forming two-thirds to three-fourths of a circle, the lower portion wanting. The observer could only see his own likeness, not that of his neighbour.’ The author was not fortunate enough on his visit to witness an eruption of the Geysir, therefore not being able to describe one from personal observation, he begs permission to further quote the writer of the foregoing, premising that an eruption is preceded by a trembling of the earth and a noise like subterranean thunder: ‘ The water in the basin was as smooth as glass, the slight vapour rising being carried to the south-west, when suddenly in the centre

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