CttAP. XVIJ.j 



M(ri> rOLCAXOES, 



251) 



uluil volcanoes, for which this place is celebrated, A 

 picturesque path among plautations and ravines, hrought 

 us to a beautiful circular basin about forty feet diameter, 

 bordered by a calcareous ledge, so unilbrm aud traly 

 curved that it looked like a work of art. It wa.s filled 

 with clear water very near the boiling point, and emitting 

 clouds of steam with a strong sulphureous od^lU^. It 

 overflows at one point and IVuiiis a little stream of hot 

 water, wliich at a hundred yards' distance is still tot» 

 hot to hold the hand in. A little further on, in a piecM 

 of rough wood, were two other springs not so regular 

 ill outline, but appearing to be much hotter, as they were 

 in a continual state of aetive ebullition. At intervals of 

 a few minutes a great escape of steam or gas took place, 

 throwing up a column of water three or four feet high. 



We then went to tlie mud-springs^ which are about a 

 mile off, and are still more curious. On a sloping tract ot 

 ground in a slight hollow is a small lake of liquid mud, in 

 patches of blue, red, or white, and in many places boding 

 and bubbling most furiously. All around on the indu- 

 rated clay, are small wells and craters full of boLhtig nmd. 

 These seem to be forming continually, a small hole appear- 

 ing first, which emits jets of steam and boiling mud, wliieh 

 on hardening, forms a little cone witli a crater in the 

 middle. The ground for some distance is very unsafe, as it 

 is evidently liquid at a small depth, and bends with pres- 

 sure like thin ice. At one of the smaller marginal jets 

 which I manjiged to approach, I held niy hand to see if it 

 was really as hot aa it looked, when a little drop of mud 

 that spmied on to my finger scalded like boding water. 

 A shoi-t distance off there was a flat bare surface of rock, 

 as smooth and hot as an oven floor, which was evidently 

 an old rnud-pool dried up and hardened. Fur hundreds of 

 yards round where there were banks of reddish and white 

 clay used for whitewash, it was still so hot close to the 

 surface that tlie hand could hardly bear to be held in 

 ei-acks a few inches deep, and from which arose a strong 

 sulphureous vapour. 1 was informed that some years 

 back a French gentleman who \'jsited these springs ven- 

 tured too near the liquid mud, when the crust gave way 

 and he was engulfed in the horrible caldron, 



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