194 LIFE OP AUDUBON. 



" This spring presents a circular basin, having a diameter of 

 about sixty feet, from the centre of which the water is thrown 

 up with great force, although it does not rise to a height of more 

 than a few inches above the general level. A kind of whirl- 

 pool is formed, on the edges of which are deposited vast quan- 

 tities of shells, with pieces of wood, gravel, and other substances, 

 which have coalesced into solid masses, having a very curious 

 appearance. The water is quite transparent, although of a dark 

 colour, but so impregnated with sulphur, that it emits an odour 

 which to me was very disagreeable, and highly nauseous. Its 

 surface lies fifteen or twenty feet below the level of the wood- 

 land lakes in the neighbourhood, and its depth in the autumnal 

 months is about seventeen feet when the water is lowest. In 

 all the lakes the same species of shells as are thrown up by the. 

 spring occur in abundance ; and it seems more than probable 

 that it is formed of the water collected from them by iniil- 

 tration, or forms the subterranean outlet of some of them. 

 The lakes themselves are merely reservoirs containing the 

 residue of the waters which fall during the rainy seasons, and 

 contributing to supply the waters of the St. John's Eiver, with 

 which they communicate by similar means. This spring pours 

 its waters into ' Eees' Lake,' through a deep and broad channel 

 called Spring Garden Creek. This channel is said to be in some 

 places fully sixty feet deep, but it becomes more shallow as you 

 advance towards the entrance of the lalce, at which you are 

 surprised to find yourself on a mud flat covered only by about 

 fifteen inches of water, under which the depositions from the 

 spring lie to a depth of four or five feet in the form of the 

 softest mud, while under this again is a bed of fine white sand. 

 When this mud is stirred up by the oars of your boat or other- 

 wise, it appears of a dark-green colour, and smells strongly of 

 sulphur. At all times it sends up numerous bubbles of air, 

 which probably comes of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The 

 mouth of this curious spring is calculated to be two and a half 

 feet square, and the velocity of its waters during the rainy 

 season is three feet per second. This would render the discharge 

 per hour about 499-500 gallons. 



" Colonel Kees showed us the remains of another spring of the 

 same kind, which had dried up from some natural cause. 



