53 
flocks of wild geese and ducks, herons, snipes, hammerkops, 
sand-larks, and pipers. It is fed by a stream of tepid water 
that issues from the base of a low rugged mountain, branch- 
ing from the great chain already mentioned. The water 
oozes out imperceptibly through a clear sandy bottom, 
twenty yards by ten in diameter, and converted, by an artifi- 
cial embankment, into a pool two feet deep, from which it 
escapes in a rapid stream, of sufficient volume to turn the 
largest mill. In a thermometer plunged into the pool, the 
mercury stood at 143°, The water is entirely void of colour, 
taste, or smell, and, when cooled, is not distinguishable from 
the purest spring water. It dissolves soap, and is used by 
the family settled in the vicinity for all culinary purposes. 
Along with the water, a vast quantity of gas is discharged, 
which ascends in large bubbles, and agitates the surface of 
the pool as if it was in a state of ebullition. Whether it is 
merely atmospheric air, or a gas of still greater purity, I 
had not the means of ascertaining; but it may be inferred 
that it possesses no deleterious quality, from the number of 
nests of the Lozia sulphurata which we saw suspended from 
the lower branches of some White Poplars stretched over the 
pool, and constantly enveloped in its steam. 
* Vegetation is nowhere more luxuriant than on the 
border of this spring. Even the bottom of the pool is tufted 
with Conferve; and the embankment is covered with a species 
of Cyperus, the roots of which are in contact with the water. 
Close along the margin of the pool, I remarked the drum 
esculentum, Leersia thermalis, (Carm.) Dodonea angustifolia, 
Rhus angustifolium, and Aspidium tenellum, (Carm.) Half a mile 
from the source, and at the temperature of 102°, the Menyan- 
thes indica, Typha angustifolia, and various species of Scirpus, 
Juncus, and Cyperus, grow in the midst of the stream. Ina 
ditch not far from the hot spring, I found the /snardia pa- 
lustris, a plant hitherto unknown as a native of Africa.— 
Sportsmen must be on their guard in approaching this 
spot, to which they are allured by the quantity of snipes 
that harbour in the marsh. We lost one of our best 
pointers the very evening we arrived. In attempting to 
