292 _ Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
this lake the arm of the Colorado, known as New river, discharges itself. 
The lake, having no outlet, would probably soon regain its ancient area if 
the channel of New river afforded a regular and more generous supply of 
“The steam-jets of the Salse issue from conical mounds of mud vary- 
ing from three to fifteen feet in height, the sides presenting various angles, — 
some being sharp and slender cones, others aped mounds that 
se have spread and flattened out with their own weight, upon 
discontinuance of the action that formed them. Out of some of the cones 
rushes in a continuous stream, with a roaring or whizzing sound, 
as the orifices vary in diameter or the jets differ in velocity. In others 
the action is intermittent, and each recurring rush of steam is accompanied 
by a discharge of a shower of hot mud, masses of which are thrown some- 
times to the height of a hundred feet. These discharges take place every 
few minutes from some of the mounds, while others seem to have been 
quiet for weeks or months. During our short stay we had specimens of 
the rapidity with which a sharp, conical mound could be built up and 
again tumbled down. In one place a stream of hot water was thrown UP 
rom fifteen to thirty feet, falling in a copious shower on every side, form- 
ing a circle within which one might stand without danger from the scald- 
ing drops, unless the wind chanced to drive them from their regular 
course. It issued from a superficial mound out of an opening about six 
inches in diameter; but the column of steam and water, immediately no 
issuing, expanded to a much greater size. The orifice was lined 
concretions of the same substance. They were from half an inch to one 
and a half inches in diameter, and from four to eight inches in heig * 
Many of them were branched and the tips colored red, contrasting beat 
tifully with the marble-whiteness of the trunk, and resembling ere 
