128 
THE GEYSERS. 
mountains, with flat summits, rising from its 
bosom. It was my custom, during my stay 
in this place, to cook my provisions in one 
or other of the boiling springs; and, accord¬ 
ingly, a quarter of a sheep was this day put into 
the Geyser, and.Jacob left to watch it, holding 
it fastened to a piece of cord, so that, as often 
as it was thrown out by the force of the water, 
(which very frequently happened) he might readily 
drag it in again. The poor fellow, who was un¬ 
acquainted with the nature of these springs, 
was a good deal surprised, when, at the time he 
thought the meat nearly cooked sufficiently, he 
observed the water in an instant sink down, and 
entirely disappear; not rising again till towards 
evening. We were therefore obliged to have 
recourse to another spring, and found, that, in 
all, it required twenty minutes to perform the 
operation properly. It must be remembered, 
however, that the quarter of an Icelandic sheep 
is very small, pethaps not weighing more than 
six pounds, and is, moreover, extremely lean. 
I do not apprehend that longer time would 
have been necessary to have cooked it in an 
English kitchen; for the hot springs in Iceland, 
at least such of their waters as are exposed to 
the air, are never of a greater heat than 212° 
of Fahrenheit; so that when I hear travellers 
speaking of having boiled their eggs in two mi- 
5 
