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 afjitates the sui'face 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 Loxia 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 ConfervcB; and the embankment is covered with a species 

 of Cyperns, the roots of which are in contact with the water. 

 Close along the margin of the pool, I remarked the Arum 

 esculentum, Leersia thermalis, {Carm.) Dodoncea angustifolia, 

 Rhus angustifolium, and Aspidium teiiellum, (Carm.) Haifa 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. In a 

 ditch not far from the hot spring, I found the Isnardia 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 



