136 An ACCOUNT of 



Mr Baine, by a meafurement of the depth, the breadth and 

 the velocity of the ftream flowing from the little Geyzer, found 

 the quantity of water thrown up every minute by it to be 

 590.64 wine gallons, or 78.96 cubic feet. Mr Wright and 

 myfelf followed the ftream, to obferve how far any matter con- 

 tinued to be depofited by the water. We found fome little dill 

 depofited where it joined the river, a quarter of a mile at leaft 

 from its fource. At that place, it retained the heat of 83 de- 

 grees by Fahrenheit's thermometer. 



The vegetation on the banks of the ftream, and in the plea- 

 fant meadows through which it flows, is exceedingly luxuriant. 

 The farmer and his people were at this time employed in cutting 

 the hay in them, which, though not high, was thick, and re- 

 markably fweet. The plants which Mr Wright found in the 

 greateft perfection, were the fedum acre *, the veronica beca- 

 bunga f, the polygonum viviparum % t and the comarum pa- 

 luftre||. 



A little above, where the current from the little Geyzer 

 falls into the river, part of the lava, which has defcended 

 from the upper into the lower plain, has aflumed clofe to its 

 banks, for the fpace of fome yards, a regular columnar fhape. 

 The pillars are fhort, and have five or fix fides. I cannot be 

 very exact in my account of them, as they were on the oppo- 

 fite fide of the river. I fhould fuppofe they were nearly a foot 

 and an half in diameter. Some were horizontal, and others ver- 

 tical. We obferved the fame appearance in many of the tracts 

 of lava we traverfed on our journey, and, in one or two in- 

 ftances, in thofe which had flowed from the fides of Mount 

 Hecla, though the pillars there were lefs perfectly defined. 



So many ftreams of hot water fall into the river, that it re- 

 ceives from thence a very perceptible degree of heat. The 



thermometer, 



* Pepper ftone crop, % Snake weed. 



\ Brook lime. || Purple marfh ariquefoil. 



