t 



G 



MUD VOLCAXOS. 



[Ch. XXTII. 



a bluisli-black argillaceous i>aste rises in 



liufje 



bnbbl 



es. 



These bubbles on bursting throw the boiling mud to a height 

 of 15 feet and upwards, so that it 



accumulates in ledo-es 



round the crater or basin of the spring. 



Of 



Caspian. — The formation of a new mud 



]sro\' 



the peninsula of Abscheron, east of Balm. Flames blazed up 

 to an extraordinar}^ height, for a space of 3 hours, and con- 

 tinued for 20 hours more to rise about 3 feet above a crater, 

 from which mud was ejected. At another point in the same 

 district where flames issued, fragments of rock of large size 

 were hurled up into the air, and scattered around.^ 



Of Sicily. — At a place called Macaluba, near Girgenti in 

 Sicily, are several conical mounds from 10 to 30 feet in 



small 



mixed 



Bubbles 



of carbonic acid and carburetted hydrogen gas are also dis- 

 engaged from these springs, and at certain periods with such 

 violence, as to throw the mud to the height of 200 feet. 

 These ^air volcanos,' as thej are sometimes termed, are 

 known to have been in the same state of activity for the last 

 15 centuries; and Dr. Daubeny imagines that the gases 

 which escape may be generated by the slow combustion of 

 beds of sulphur, Avhich is actually in progress in the blue 

 clay, out of which the springs rise.f But as the gases are 

 similar to those disengaged in volcanic eruptions, and as they 

 have continued to stream out for so long a period, they may 

 perhaps be derived from a more deep-seated source. 



Of 



— In the district of Luss or Lus, south of 



NW 



Indus (see Map, fig. 



IOd 



K 



13. 98), numerous mud volcaiios 



are scattered over an area of x^robably not less tlian 1,000 

 square miles. Some of these liave been well described by 

 Captain Hart, and subsequently by Captain Eobertson, wlio 

 lias paid a visit to that region, and made sketches of them, 

 which he has kindly placed at my disposal. From one of 

 these the annexed vieAv has been selected. These conical 



• * Humboldt's Cosmos. 



t Daubeny, Voloanos, p. 267- 



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