118 
THE GEYSERS. 
a hollow subterraneous noise, which was thrice 
repeated in the course of a few moments; the 
two last reports following each other more quick¬ 
ly than the first and second had done. It exactly 
resembled the distant firing of cannon, and was 
accompanied each time with a perceptible, though 
very slight, shaking of the earth; almost im¬ 
mediately after which, the boiling of the water 
increased together with the steam, and the whole 
was violently agitated. At first, the water only 
rolled without much noise over the edge of the 
basin, but this was almost instantly followed by 
a jet which did not rise above ten or twelve 
feet, and merely forced up the water in the centre 
of the basin, but was attended with a loud roar¬ 
ing explosion: this jet fell as soon as it had 
reached its greatest height, and then the water 
flowed over the margin still more than before, 
and in less than half a minute a second jet was 
thrown up in a similar manner to the former. 
Another overflowing of the water succeded, after 
* I have followed Sir John Stanley in using the word jet 
for this sudden shooting of the water into the air, which 
continues but a few seconds, because I do not know that 
we have any term more applicable in our language. The 
French employ the word elancement in the same sense, which 
seems to convey a better idea of the thing, but cannot well 
be made into English. 
