AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
197 
improbably, be true, in particular states of the wind, but 
we did not distinguish any peculiar smell until we arrived 
on the edge of the fountain. Here, its peculiar character 
becomes very obvious. The water is covered with a thin 
layer of the petroleum or mineral oil, giving it a foul ap- 
pearance, as if coated with dirty molasses, having a yel- 
lowish brown colour. Every part of the water was cover- 
ed by this film, but it had no where the iridescence which 
I recollect to have observed at St. Catharine’s well, a pe- 
troleum fountain near Edinburgh, in Scotland; there the 
water was pellucid, and the hues, produced by the oil, 
were brilliant, giving the whole a beautiful appearance: 
the difference is, however, easily accounted for; St. Catha- 
rine’s well is a lively, flowing fountain, and the quantity 
of petroleum is only sufficient to cover it partially, while 
there is nothing to soil the stream; in the present instance, 
the stagnation of the water, the comparative abundance of 
the petroleum, and the mixture of leaves and sticks, and 
other productions of a dense forest, preclude any beautiful 
features. There are, however, upon this water, here and 
there, spots of what seems to be a purer petroleum, proba- 
bly recently risen, which is free from mixture, and which 
has a bright brownish yellow appearance, — lively and 
sparkling: were the fountain covered, entirely, with this 
purer production, it would be beautiful. 
We were informed, that when the fountain is frozen, 
there is always some air-holes left open, and that in these 
the petroleum collects in unusual abundance and purity, 
having, distinctly, the beautiful appearance which has just 
been mentioned as now occurring, here and there, upon 
the water. The cause of this is easily understood; the 
petroleum being then protected, by the ice, from the im- 
purities, which, at other times, fall into it, thus escapes 
contamination, and being directed to the air-boles, both 
by its levity and by the gas which mixes with it, it there 
collects in greater quantity and purity. All the sticks and 
leaves, and the ground itself around the fountain, are now 
rendered, more or less, adhesive, by the petroleum; and 
the rods and paddles which are used in the water, cannot 
be touched, without covering the hands with a tar-like 
coating. 
They collect the petroleum by skimming it, like cream 
from a milk pan; for this purpose, they use a broad flat 
board, made thin at one edge, like a knife; it is moved 
flat upon, and just under the surface of the water, and is 
soon covered by a coating of the petroleum, which is so 
thick and adhesive that it does not fall off, but is removed 
by scraping the instrument upon the lip of a cup. It has 
then a very foul appearance, like very dirty tar or molas- 
ses, but it is purified by heating it and straining it, while 
hot, through flannel or other woolen stuff. It is used, by 
D d d 
the people of the vicinity, for sprains and rheumatism, and 
for sores on their horses, it being, in both cases, rubbed 
upon the part. It is not monopolized by any one, but is 
carried away freely, by all who care to collect it, and for 
this purpose the Spring is frequently visited. I could not 
ascertain how much is annually obtained; the quantity 
must be considerable. It is said to rise more abundantly 
in hot weather than in cold. Gas is constantly escaping 
through the water, and appears in bubbles upon its 
surface; it becomes much more abundant and rises in 
large volumes whenever the mud at the bottom is stirred 
by a pole. We had no means of collecting or of firing it, 
but there can be no doubt that it is the carburetted hydro- 
gen — probably the lighter kind, but rendered heavier and 
more odorous by holding a portion of the petroleum in 
solution; whenever it is examined we should of course ex- 
pect to find carbonic acid gas mingled with it and not im- 
probably azote or nitrogen. We could not learn that any 
one had attempted to fire the gas, as it rises, or to kindle 
the film of petroleum upon the water: it might form a 
striking night experiment. 
We were told that an intoxicated Indian had fallen into 
the pool and been drowned, many years ago, and that his 
body had never been recovered; others doubted the truth 
of the story. Were it true, it would be a curious inquiry 
whether the antiseptic properties of the petroleum, (so 
well exemplified in the Egpytian mummies,) may not have 
preserved this body from putrefaction. 
The history of this Spring is not distinctly known: the 
Indians were well acquainted with it, and a square mile 
around it is still reserved for the Senecas. As to the seo- 
logical origin of the Spring, it can scarcely admit of a 
doubt, that it rises from beds of bituminous coal, below; 
at what depth we know not, but probably far down; the 
formation is doubtless connected with the bituminous coal 
of the neighbouring counties of Pennsylvania and of the 
west, rather than with the anthracite beds of the central 
parts of Pennsylvania. 
A branch of the Oil Creek, which flows into the Alle- 
gany River, a principal tributary of the Ohio, passes near 
this Spring, and we crossed the rivulet in going to it; thus 
we bad the pleasure of seeing water that was on its way to 
New Orleans and the. Gulf of Mexico; we had just passed 
the Genesee, which flows into Lake Ontario, and is thus 
seeking the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence; and a little 
east, rise waters which flow to the Susquehannah and 
the Chesapeake Bay, and thus this elevated land, (said to 
be one thousand five hundred feet above the ocean level,) 
is a grand rain shed, for the supply of rivers, seeking their 
exit through very remote and opposite parts of the con- 
tinent, 
