HOT 1 SPRINGS in ICELAND. 151 



with great rapidity. Whatever we threw into the well was 

 hurled into the air with fuch fwiftnefs that the eye could fcarce- 

 ly difcern it *, and the divifion of the water at the extremity of 

 the column was fo minute, that the fhowers of fpray which 

 fell were cold. Towards the end of an eruption, when more 

 (team than water rufhed from the pipe, I ventured to hold my 

 hand near the edge of the column, in the way of fome of the 

 divided particles of water, and found them tepid only. You 

 may probably think this a ram experiment, and certainly it 

 was fo. But we had made our obfervations on the uniform di- 

 rection of the column, and confided our fafety in it. Once or 

 twice, however, we had reafon to think ourfelves more fortu- 

 nate in efcaping, than prudent in avoiding, the danger which 

 attended a too near approach to thefe eruptions of boiling wa- 

 ter. During ten or fifteen minutes, the water continued to be 

 thrown upwards with undiminifhed impetuofity. At the end 

 of that period, the quantity became lefs, and at length, ceafing 

 entirely, fleam alone afcended. In one inflance, the eruption 

 continued thirty minutes. It feldom however exceeded twenty 

 minutes, and fometimes was completed in fifteen minutes. The 

 force with which the fteam rifes abates as the water finks in the 

 pipe, and when this is exhaufted, that foon difappears. 



I have now, Sir, given you fuch a defcription of thefe ce- 

 lebrated fountains as was in my power. I hope that it will af- 

 ford you fome fatisfaclion, and I could wifh that it might ferve 

 as an inducement to fome curious enquirer into the hiflory of 

 nature to vifit them, who mail have all the knowledge requifite 

 for making fuch obfervations as are yet to be defired concern- 

 ing them. I cannot flatter myfelf, that the defcription I have 

 attempted of their eruptions will imprefs you with a juft idea 

 of their beauty. Sources of comparifon are wanting, by which 



the 



* Mr Baine meafured the height to which a ftone was thrown up by one of thefe. 

 jets, and found it 1 29 feet. Some others rofe confiderably higher. 



