88 HOT FOUNTAIN. Chap. IV. 



A small village peeps out about halfway up the mountain ; 

 it has a pure and bracing atmosphere ; and is perched above 

 mosquito range. The people on the summit have a very 

 different climate and vegetation, from those of the plains ; 

 but they have to spend a great portion of their existence 

 amidst white fleecy clouds, which, in the rainy season, 

 rest daily on the top of their favourite mountain. We were 

 kindly treated by these mountaineers on our first ascent; 

 before our second they were nearly all swept away by 

 Mariano. Dr. Kirk found upwards of thirty species of ferns 

 on this and other mountains, and even good-sized tree-ferns ; 

 though scarcely a single kind is to be met with on the plains. 

 Lemon and orange trees grew wild, and pineapples had been 

 planted by the people. Many large hornbills, hawks, monkeys, 

 antelopes, and rhinoceroses found a home and food among the 

 great. trees round its base. A hot fountain boils up on the 

 plain near the north end. It bubbles out of the earth, clear 

 as crystal, at two points, or eyes, a few yards apart from each 

 other, and sends off a fine flowing stream of hot water. The 

 temperature was found to be 174° Fahr., and it boiled an egg- 

 in about the usual time. Our guide threw in a small branch 

 to show us how speedily the Madse-awira (boiling water) could 

 kill the leaves. Unlucky lizards and insects did not seem to 

 understand the nature of a hot-spring, as many of their 

 remains were lying at the bottom. A large beetle had 

 alighted on the water, and been killed before it had time to 

 fold its wings. An incrustation, smelling of sulphur, has 

 been deposited by the water on the stones. About a hundred- 

 feet from the eye of the fountain the mud is as hot as can be 

 borne by the body. In taking a bath there, it makes the 

 skin perfectly clean, and none of the mud adheres: it is 

 strange that the Portuguese do not resort to it for the 



