THE GEYSERS. 
119 
which it immediately rushed down about three- 
fourths of the way into the basin. This was the ’ 
only discharge of the Geyser that happened this 
evening. Some one or other of the springs near 
us was continualiy boiling; but none was suf¬ 
ficiently remarkable to take off* my attention from 
the Geyser, by the side of which I remained 
nearly the whole night, in anxious but vain ex¬ 
pectation of witnessing more eruptions. It was 
observed to us by an old woman, who lives in a 
cottage at a short distance from the hot springs, 
that the eruptions of the Geyser are much most 
frequent, when there is a clear and dry atmos¬ 
phere, which generally attends a northerly wind; 
and we had the good fortune of being enabled 
to ascertain the accuracy of her observation, 
the wind, which had hitherto continued to the 
south-west, having this evening veered about to 
the north. At twenty minutes past eleven on 
Friday, ^ ie following morning, I was apprised of 
July 14, an approaching eruption by subterraneous 
noises and shocks of the ground, similar to those 
which I had felt the preceding day; but the 
noises were repeated several times, and at un¬ 
certain, though quickly recurring intervals. I 
could only compare them to the distant firing 
from a fleet of ships on a rejoicing day, when 
the cannon are sometimes discharged singly, 
and sometimes two or three, almost at the same 
