Chap. II. HOT FOUNTAIN. 59 



to 4000 feet in height, and is about seven miles in length. 

 It is wooded up to the very top, and very beautiful. The 

 southern end, seen from a distance, has a fine gradual 

 slope, and looks as if it might be of easy ascent ; but the 

 side which faces the Shire is steep and rocky, especially in 

 the upper half. 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 



