Geyser is situated about two days jour ney from Mount Hecla, near a farm call ed Haukadal. Here, says Dr. Von Troll, a poet would have an opportunity of paint. ing a picture of whatever nature has of beautiful and terrible united, by delineat ing one of its most uncommon phenome na; it would be a subject worthy the pen of a Thomson, to transport the reader, by poetical imagery, to the spot which is here presented to the eye. A spacious plain, on one side by very dis tant mountains, covered with ice, and their summits enveloped in clouds, which frequently changing their position, de scend to their bases, leaving the pointed crags as if resting upon them, are the least interesting part of the wild and chill ing wonders surrounding Geyser. Ueda, frowning with volcanic majesty, and ex hibiting three vast pyramids encrusted with ice, towering far above the clouds, sends forth enormous volumes of smoke, which, floating away in the direction of the wind, and uniting with them, forms another portion of this horrid circle, which is completed by a ridge of high rocks, wetted by the steams exhaling from springs gushing in a state of ebullition at their feet, and a marsh half a mile in cir cumference, whence the vapours of fifty others ascend to an amazing height. In the centre is Geyser, the approach to which is perceived at a considerable dis tance by the rushing noise it occasions, resembling the fall of a cataract over pre cipices. The aperture whence the wa-' ter proceeds is nineteen feet in diameter; but the basin or excavation made by the descent of the fluid is fifty-nine feet in breadth, each is covered with a rough stalactic crust, and the latter is nine feet higher than the aperture.
The water has not been known to as cend regularly in a continued stream, but in sudden impulses, after rather long in tervals of quiet. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood assert, that the ascent is higher in cold bad weather than at other times, and they, and other observ ers, affirm that it is elevated sixty fa thoms, though without any means of de ciding beyond mere conjecture; indeed, the method adopted by Dr. Von Trail and his friends, to ascertain the height to which the water ascended on the 21st of September, 1772, was equally fallible ; they supposed the greatest elevation to be only sixty feet. The gentleman allud ed to mentions, at thirty-five minutes after twelve they heard three distinct noises, like the discharge of cannons, in the subterraneous caverns whence the spring issues, which were followed by a trembling of the earth and an immediate rise and fall of the water in the basin. At eight minutes after two the water flowed over the border of the basin ; at fifteen minutes after three several subter raneous noises were heard, but not so loud as the first ; at forty-three minutes after four the water rushed violently over the edge of the basin for about a minute : at forty-nine minutes after the last named hour, many loud explosions were heard, as if near the source of the spring, and the ridges of rocks in the vicinity ; after this great effort the water became compa ratively quiet.
The impelling power within the earth is very great at Geyser, and is sufficient ly so to prevent stones from sinking that are thrown into the aperture ; on the con trary, the force of the water carries them up with it to a considerable height. We shall conclude our account of these Ice landic springs in the words of the Doctor. " When the basin was full of water, we placed ourselves before the sun in such a manner, that we could see our shadows in the water ; every one observed round the shadow of his own head, though not round the heads of others, a circle of al most the same colours which compose the rainbow, and round this another bright circle : this most probably proceeded from the vapours exhaling from the wa ter. I remember to have seen something • similar to it when travelling in the sum mer, particularly in the meadows. Not far from this place, another spring, at the foot of the neighbouring ridge of rocks, spouted water to the height of one or two yards each time." The gentle men present thought it possible to close the mouth of this truer with stones, and made the experiment, but the water re moved the whole from the aperture, and threw them in a circle round it, after , wards gushing forth with its original free dom.
' The waters of these large springs were ' violently heated, and seemed slightly im pregnated with sulphur, though perfect clear and pure in other respects ; some others, less considerable,near them, were thick and turgid, as if mixed with clay. A third class presented the fluid as white as milk, and a few force their way through the earth, heated to a red glow. Near most of the springs are baths, frequented by the natives, some of which are dry, and for sweating. The vapour is collect ed into those through fissures in the earth, and the thermometer rote from 57 to 93 on introducing it into the open hut used for this purpose.
As it is not our present intention to no tice those heated springs which are im pregnated with mineral substances, we shall refer to itlisanat WATEUS for an ac, count of them. The Island of Ceylon furnishes an instance of hot springs, under the class of the liners of Iceland, except that no volcanic cause exists sufficiently' near them to force the water out of the earth with violence. At Cannia, about six
miles north-west of Trincomallee, are six wells, built of stone and mortar, in square and circular forms, generally about four feet deep, and less than two in circum ference, which are inclosed by a stone wall six feet high, and contain the supe rior springs, though there are others in the neighbourhood in their natural state. In each the water is refreshing and plea sant to the taste, and air is continually ri sing to the surface in bubbles, accompa 'nied by steam. The natives of the island, and of the adjacent coast of India, delight to bathe in this water, and seating them selves by the sides of the wells, they lade the warm fluid in earthern or brazen ves sels, and pour it over their heads for hours tog-ether: Either imagination, or the in herent qualities of the water, produce benefit to those who use it in cases of strains, bruises, or rheumatisms; or pos sibly the warm bath may accomplish the cure, as it appears from the following ana lysis, made by Thomas Christie, Esq. surgeon of the 80th regiment, that there are very few proofs of the incorporation of mineral substances with the water, which was inserted in the Madras Ga zette, 1799, and subsequently in Mr. Cordiner's description of Ceylon, whence the above account of the springs was de rived. " The hot-wells of Cannia are of different degrees of heat ; they, howe ver, evidently communicate, for the wa ter in all of them is at an equal distance from the surface of the ground, and a bo dy immersed in one raises the height of the water in the others. As the water also from the six wells exhibit the same chemical phenomena, there can be little doubt that they all proceed from the same spring. On examining the heat of the different wells with great attention, it was found that they varied from 98° to 1061 of Fahrenheit's thermometer, nearly in proportion to their different depths. Bab bles of air are seen to rise from the bot tom of the wells, and it was therefore conceived that the water might be acidu lous, and impregnated with fixed air. It was found, however, that the water did not sparkle in a glass more than common water, nor did it turn a vegetable colour red ; and on filling a large case bottle with the water, and tying an empty wet blad der to the mouth of it, it was found, af ter shaking a long time, that no air was disengaged. It would therefore appear that the water is not impregnated with any uncommon quantity of air ; but that the bubbles are merely common air dis engaged from the water by the heat. As the air, however, might be collected with a proper apparatus, its quality may be easily ascertained. The water has r,r thing peculiar in its colour, smell, or taste. It is not crude or hard, for it dis solves soap easily and perfectly. It con tains no sulphurous principle, for a piece of polished silver, when immersed in it, contracted no' rust nor dark colour. It contains no acid or Alkali in a disengaged state, for on mixing a delicate vegetable colour with it, no change to a green or red colour was perceptible. The water does not contain any selenite, or earthy or alkaline matter, combined with vitri olic acid, for, on adding a solution of mer cury in nitrous acid to it, no sediment was deposited ; nor does it contain any earthy matter in combination with marine acid, nor any copper, nor zinc ; for, on mixing mineral and volatile alkalies with thowater, no precipitate was formed. On mixture with a decoction of galls, the wa ter acquired a blackish tinge, which shows it to be slightly impregnated with iron. On a mixture with a solution of sil ver in nitrous acid, some •precipitate of tuna cornea was produced ; this shows it to contain a very small portion of sea-salt, but not more than the common water of Trincomallee, upon which the solution of silver had the same effect, with. this difference, that the precipitate from the water of the hot-wells was blackest, pro bably from the impregnation of iron. These experiments were made at the wells, with water from those of the high estand of the lowest temperature, on the 4th of July, 1T98,' when the heat of the atmosphere was at 91 degrees. They were also repeated upon the water after it was brought to Trincomal lee, with the same effect. From them it appear that the hot-wells of Cannia possess few •mineral qualities, or indeed any virtue besides their heat, which is of a tempera ture not unfavourable for hot bathing. For many complaints also, the drinking of hot water is recommended, and for this purpose, as well as for bathing, a hot, spring is preferable to water heated arti ficially, because it is always of a fixed de. gre e of temperature." It is extremely probable that an analy sis of the water from the huers of Iceland would produce nearly the same result, whence it may be safely concluded, that the water is suddenly heated in its pas sage through the fissures or caverns of the earth by its approach to volcanic fires, and that its properties are exactly the same with those of the springs which flow from the bases of hills in a perfectly cold state.