292 Expedition to the 



the amygdaloidal cavities are sometimes empty, and some- 

 times contain very delicate stalactites. Hsematitic iron ore oc- 

 curs disseminated in every part; also extensive caverns some- 

 times filled with a bright red metallic oxide. Dr. Wilson, 

 who has been some time resident at the springs, informed 

 us, that the continued use of the water occasions salivation, 

 from which it has been commonly inferred that it contains 

 mercury in solution. 



The time of our visit to the springs being one of very un- 

 usual drought, the quantity of water was somewhat less, and 

 the temperature higher than ordinary. The time required to 

 boil eggs as much as they usually are for the table, was fif- 

 teen minutes. In the same time, a strong cup of coffee was 

 made, by immersing our kettle in one of the springs. 



A number of baths have been made, by forming excava- 

 tions in the rock, into which the hot water is constantly 

 flowing. By cutting off, or increasing the supply, the tem- 

 perature can be regulated at pleasure. Over some of these 

 are built small log cabins, and in the neighbourhood are 

 twenty or thirty huts, occupied at some seasons of" the year 

 by persons who resort hither for the benefit of the waters. 

 Three miles northeast from the Hot Springs is a large 

 fountain of water of the ordinary temperature, forming the 

 source of the small stream already mentioned, as flowing 

 down from that direction. It rises from the summit of a lit- 

 tle knoll six or eight feet in diameter, and divides into two 

 streams, one of which flows towards the east, the other to- 

 wa>^ds the west. Both, however, unite at the base of the 

 knoll, and the brook flows thence southwest, between two 

 petrosilicious hills, to its confluence with another from the 

 northwest, to form the Hot Spring creek. The quantity of 

 water discharged by this spring can scarcely be less than 

 from eighty to one hundred gallons per minute. Immediate- 

 ly on the south rises a considerable hill, and the elevation of 

 the spring itself, above the level of the highest of the ther- 



