CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 123 



sprav as they rose, and were from twenty to thirty feet high. Vo- 

 lumes of steam or vapour ascended with them, and produced a 

 most magnificent effect, particularly if the dark hills, which almost 

 hung over the fountain, formed a back ground to the picture. The 

 jets are forced in rising to take an oblique direction, by two or 

 three large stones, which lie on the edge of the bason. Between 

 these and the hill, the ground (to a distance of eight or nine feet) is 

 remarkably hot, and entirely bare of vegetation. If the earth is 

 stirred, a steam instantly rises- and in some places it was covered 

 with a thin coat of sujphur, or rather, I should say, some loose stones 

 only were covered with flakes of it. In one place, there was a 

 slight efilorescence on the surface of the soil, which by the taste, 

 seemed to be allum. 



The spray fell towards the valley, and in that direction covered 

 the ground with a thick incrustation of matter which it deposited. 

 Close to this, and in one spot very near the well itself, the grass 

 grows with great luxuriance. 



Where the soil was heated, it was gradually (as on the mounds) 

 changing into a clay. But it was here more beautiful than in any 

 other place. The colours were more varied and bright, and the 

 veins were marked with more delicacy. The transition likewise 

 from one substance into the other, was more evident and satis- 

 factory. 



To the depth of a few inches, 'the ground consisted of loose 

 lavas, broken and pounded together, of blue, red and yellow 

 colours. The blue lava was hardest ; and several pieces of it re- 

 mained firm and unaltered, while the rest were reduced to a dust. 

 The colours became brighter as the decomposition of the substances 

 advanced, and they were changed at thr depth of nine or tea 

 inches into a clay; excepting, however, the pieces of dark blue 

 lava, which still ratained sufficient hardness to resist the pressure of 

 the finger. Round these which appeared insulated in the midst of 

 the red and yellow clay), several veins or circles were formed of 

 various shades and colours. A few inches deeper, these also be- 

 came part of the chiy, but still appearing distinct, by their circles, 

 from the surrounding muss. The whole of this variegated sub- 

 stance rested on a thick bed of dark blue clay, which had evi- 

 dently been formed in the same manner from some large fragment 

 of blue lava, or stratum of it, broken into pieces. 



