GEYSERS AND HOW THEY ARE EXPLAINED. 411 



posit from the hot geyser-waters. The surface of the mound-like, 

 chimney-like, and hive-like elevations, immediately surrounding the 

 vents, is, in some cases, ornamanted in the most exquisite manner by 

 deposits of the same, in the form of scalloped embroidery set with 

 pearly tubercles ; in others, the siliceous deposits take the most fan- 



Fig. 5. Beehive Geyser (from a Drawing by Holmes). 



tastic forms (Figs. 1, 2, 3). In some places the silica is deposited in 

 large quantities, three or four inches deep, in a gelatinous condition 

 like starch-paste. Trunks and branches of trees immersed in these 

 waters are speedily petrified. 



We can only mention a few of the grandest of these geysers : 



1. The " Grand Geyser," according to Hayden, throws up a col- 



