270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



while pieces of rock from i to 100 lbs. weight were 

 hurled, as if from an exploded mine, over the adjacent 

 country." 



A little later still, the eruptions increased in frequency ; 

 and when I was there at least two occurred every day, 

 and were perhaps the most astonishing things which I 

 witnessed, though the actual rising column of water was 

 provokingly obscured by dense clouds of steam. It was 

 possible at times, and with caution, to approach within a 

 foot or two of the yawning chasm which forms the outlet 

 (there is no regular crater or nozzle here as in most of the 

 other geysirs) and catch an occasional glimpse of the 

 seething mass of water about 20 feet below, while far 

 overhead there rose such a vast cloud of mixed steam and 

 water as would do credit to Vesuvius itself. 



The whole place certainly deserves most thoroughly the 

 name of " Hell's half-acre," by which it is commonly 

 known. 



In striking contrast to this terrific display, there is, at a 

 distance of only about 50 yards, a circular pool about 150 

 feet in diameter, filled to the brim with perfectly 

 quiescent, though nearly boiling water of a most beautiful 

 blue tint. The depth of the pool it was impossible to 

 estimate, for as the thickness of the stratum of water 

 increases, the blue deepens to a dark indigo, so that the 

 actual bottom, if there be one, is practically invisible. 

 The sloping sides of this spring are covered with masses 

 of geysirite, showing the most curiously fantastic forms. 

 Gigantic cauliflowers, columnar stalactites, growths re- 

 sembling many known species of corals and sponges, all of 

 the purest white material, appear through the water tinged 

 with delicate shades of blue. 



The existence of this tranquil spring in such close 

 proximity to a violently-active geysir is only one instance 

 of a general law observed in groups of geysirs, — that each 

 individual acts quite independently of the rest, having its 



