1 68 In the United States vi 



higher and higher, just Hke a fountain beginning to 

 play, till at last it gets as high as a church steeple, 

 a glorious, great, white, glittering column, roaring 

 and rushing and deluging everything around with 

 torrents of hot water, which run in great streams 

 round your feet as you stand looking on — on the 

 windward side ; if you are to lee'ard you must bolt 

 or be boiled— the steam, meanwhile, floating up and 

 far away in lovely clouds. There are a great many 

 of them, all together, and they are always hissing 

 and steaming, filling the valley with vapour ; there 

 are so many that one in action is always in view. 

 They are of all heights, from miniature ones only a 

 few inches high to the grand giantess who throws 

 boiling water and spray upwards of three hundred 

 feet, and plays for more than an hour with uproar un- 

 describable. I threw great logs and big stones into 

 one, and they bounced out again as if shot from a 

 cannon. I fancy that they beat the Icelanders 

 hollow, they certainly do the New Zealanders, 

 though the terraces there are far more beautiful 

 than any that I saw in Montana. A great deal of 

 the scenery is dull and tame, particularly near the 

 geysers. 



' I can't tell you all that we've done since I 

 wrote last. We have been reduced to trout more 

 than once ; and though they are very fine and 

 beautiful to look at, the trout in these parts are 

 precious poor eating. . . . 



' We talk of going straight east to Quebec to 



