^o.Nl.-^Distrktofthe Bay of Baja. 9I 



heat given out by the steam, and to the want of evaporation 

 from the body, the air being in a state of saturation with mois- 

 ture. All the general phenomena experienced at the Stufe di 

 Tritoli are similar to those observed in the cases of artificial 

 experiment. The inflammation of the skin where exposed to 

 the steam is remarkable, and gives those who merely see the 

 guide return from the bottom a great idea of extreme tem- 

 perature. The streaming of condensed moisture from the body 

 has likewise the appearance of natural and excessive perspira- 

 tion, in which respect, however, as I have remarked, people 

 are very different. In my own case, the perspiration was con- 

 siderable, independent of condensed vapour. The extreme 

 narrowness of the passage, and the nearness of the approach 

 to the subterranean source of heat, preserve in these singular 

 and obscure grottos the most regular and intense tempera- 

 ture, so that it is more insupportably hot at the turn of the 

 last branch, sixty paces from the spring, than over the very 

 steam as it rises from the water itself. The water is brackish, 

 but seems wonderfully little mixed with adventitious matter. 

 Fish boiled in it has no disagreeable taste. I regret that I 

 have no analysis to give of its contents. According to the 

 custom of the place, the guide takes some water in a pail from 

 the spring and puts fresh eggs into it, and, carrying them to the 

 open air, notwithstanding this effectual cooling, they are in 

 four minutes very pleasantly boiled. On leaving the baths, I 

 felt not the slightest disagreeable effect from almost imme- 

 diate exposure to the open air between 50° and 60°, but, on 

 the contrary, on re-embarking at the foot of the hill, experi* 

 enced a delightful sense of warmth over my whole body. 

 After this simple statement, which may give some idea of 

 these baths, it will perhaps afford the reader some amusement 

 to quote the prevailing opinions expressed in tours and guide 

 books, about twenty of which, pretending to describe the spot, 

 I have consulted, of whose authors, it is evident that not above 

 two or three ever reached the thermal spring,* some proceed- 



* Of the following authors, Breisiak, Swinburne, Ferber, Eustace, La« 

 lande, Starke, Orloffj Jorio, Capaccio, Sarnelli, Ferrari, Hamilton, Roma- 

 nelli, Galanti, Soulavie, Reichard, Matthews, Tenore, Vasi, Giustiniani, 

 anil the authors of the " Voyage Fittoresque" only Breisiak, Sarnelli, (or 



