268 PROCEEDINGS OE THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



reservoirs below, carrying with them, of course, any 

 articles which may be undergoing the process of cleansing 

 at the time. It is true that the basin is certain to be filled 

 again with scalding water almost as, suddenly as it was 

 emptied, but there is not as absolute a certainty that all 

 the abstracted articles will re-appear with it. 



At no great distance from these springs there is a group 

 of pools which present the greatest possible contrast to 

 them. I approached them over a plain consisting entirely 

 of white geysirite, which formed a crust not by any means 

 thicker than was required for safe walking. In several 

 places there were holes with steam issuing from them, 

 showing where a horse's foot had broken through, and I 

 had carefully to follow the wheel tracks of a cart in order 

 to minimise the risk of falling into unknown caverns 

 below, containing boiling water, or worse. x'\fter about 

 two miles of this, I came to one of the greatest curiosities 

 (I cannot call them "beauties") of this wonderful region, 

 a group of pools varying in diameter from four feet to 

 eighty feet, and filled, not with clear blue water, but with 

 gray or pink mud, having about the same consistency as 

 thick paint or porridge. Through this semi-liquid mass 

 numerous jets of steam were constantly forcing their way, 

 raising the surface into bubbles about a foot or more in 

 diameter, which just at the time of i)ursting had precisely 

 the appearance of miniature volcanoes. It is hard to con- 

 ceive a more lively and boisterous scene than the one 

 presented by these "Devil's Paint-pots," as they are 

 rudely but picturesquely termed ; the whole surface 

 spluttering and boiling up fike pea-soup in a saucepan, 

 each bubble bursting with a slight explosion, and throwing 

 splashes of scalding mud several feet into the air. The 

 material is a mixture of clay and geysirite, and when 

 dried becomes a very friable white powder, otherwise I 

 should have tried to transport one of these model volcanic 

 cones to some museum in England. 



