344 VITI ISLANDS. 
shrubbery, cover the plain near the springs; and some distance to the 
right and left, large cocoanut groves throw some little beauty into a 
scene otherwise unattractive. A small streamlet runs out from among 
the bushes which mostly conceal its previous course, and flowing 
lazily along over a muddy bottom for a few hundred yards, passes 
near the boiling fountains, and then follows an oblique course to the 
bay. <A few yards above the hot springs, it receives some addition to 
its waters from a small source of cool water. 
The hot waters bubble up at several places along the shores, below 
high tide; but the principal springs are collected together in an irre- 
gular rectangular basin, near one hundred and fifty yards from the 
beach. The basin, according to Lieutenant Perry, measured sixty 
feet by forty, and was eight to ten feet deep. In this small area there 
were five springs: their gurgling noise announces the violent ebullition 
some distance before reaching the place. The natives, who use them 
for cooking, had thrown over the surface a layer of grass, and on re- 
moving it, the ebullition mostly ceased, owing, in part, to the contact 
of the cooling atmosphere, and also, beyond doubt, to the increased 
radiation of heat from the bottom, which was before cut off by this 
rude and simple contrivance. When the cover of grass was again 
thrown over, ebullition went on as before. The thermometer indi- 
cated a temperature of 200° to 210° F. ‘The water of the springs is 
clear, excepting one which throws up mud. ‘The surface of the basin 
consists of a brown and slate-coloured loam, hardened by the sun, and 
very much cracked as if by drying; it is, apparently, a deposit from 
the springs made when the region is inundated by freshets, probably 
a frequent occurrence. ‘The surface of the springs is about nine feet 
above high tide. 
The cool streamlet adjoining runs so near the largest hot spring, 
that one hand may be immersed in the former, while the other hand 
is in the latter. Below this, the streamlet becomes hot; running on 
to the sea, it gradually cools, and at its mouth forms a very agreeable 
warm bath, of which the natives often avail themselves. 
The springs below tide-water, occur at two places along the coast. 
One of them covers an area of forty yards or more. The hot water 
oozes up among the pebbles and sand, which are so warm as to be 
uncomfortable to the bare feet. ‘Three hundred yards nearer the 
mouth of the bay, on the same side, and rather more than a hundred 
yards from the shore, stands a knoll of basalt, measuring about thirty- 
feet by fifteen, which is covered with two feet of water at high tide. At 
