The California Geysers. Iolr 
bath-house, and refresh yourself with a bath of steam, “hot from 
Tartarus,’’ and a swim ina tank of lukewarm mineral water, 
heated in nature’s own kettle. 
The next morning you are up before the sun, and taking a bas- 
ket of breakfast on your arm you set out to explore the mysteri- 
ous canyon. At various intervals along your path are springs of 
cold or warm water, each one having its own peculiar taste ac- 
cording to the nature of the minerals which are held in solution. 
Sulphur compounds, soda and alum, with salts of iron and mag- 
nesium are the principal ingredients. From some of the springs 
the beverage is so hot that you must cool it before putting it to 
your lips, and in general you are satisfied to sample the water 
rather gingerly. The product of one spring is called ‘‘hot lem- 
onade,”’ and it flows forth in a copious stream from the subterra- 
nean mixing bowl. You acknowledge the ‘hor,’ but are in- 
clined after atrial to discredit the appropriateness of the latter 
name. You prefer the somewhat more technical term “An acid- 
ulated solution of the double sulphate of aluminium and potas- 
sium.” However some people like to drink it Hot springs 
and steaming banks abound over quite a large region, but the 
largest and most violent manifestations are found in the bed of a 
side canyon, which comes down from the north to Pluton river. 
It is a deep, V shaped gorge almost devoid of vegetation, and iis 
steep walls are covered with masses of mineral matter, mostly of 
brownish yellow color, though varying in hue from white to jet 
black. Along the bottom tumbles a stream of hot water, which 
receives accessions from each new spring. Various small hot 
springs attract your attention as you enter the canyon, but your 
‘nterest centers in the ‘Witches’ Cauldron,” about half way up the 
gulch. This is a basin some twenty feet square, partly filled with 
rocks and showing different degrees of activity on two of its sides. 
Next to the path, it is moderately quite, but near the bank it is 
in most violent commotion. A huge column of steam continually 
ascends from its surface somewhat obscuring the view, but as the 
wind shifts it a little, you get a view of the water, jumping, boil- 
ing, foaming, dashing, while from a cleft in the rocks at brief in- 
tervals spurts out a fountain of hot spray, which falls into and is 
mixed with the seething water below. The vastness and violence 
of the chemical changes which are going on underneath are no- 
where shown so clearly as at this point. The points of interest 
are numerous; one wishes to spend hours in examining these re- 
markable phenomena. Here is a kind of oven opening into the 
hill; you listen, and from within you hear the hoarse gurgle and 
groan of the imprisoned steam; here it comes whizzing out from 
beneath a rock, reminding you of the safety-valve of a locomotive; 
there on the bank is a gently steaming cleft, and around the out- 
let are the most delicate needle-shaped crystals of sulphur ar- 
ranged like frost work on a cold pane. In the water of one 
spring is a black, inky mud; in another are layers of rich brown, 
