Page:Awful phenomena of nature (1).pdf/3

 which, the boiling of the water increased together with the stream, 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 roaring 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 succeeded, after which it immediately rushed down about threc-fonrthsthree-fourths [sic] of the way into the basin.

Describing one of thescthese [sic] jets which rose in a column of water not less than ninety feet in height, and about fifty-one feet in diameter, the traveller says—The bottom of it was a prodigious body of white foam; higher up, amidst the vast clouds of steam that had burst from the pipe, the water was seen mounting in a compact column, which, at a still greater elevation, burst into innumerable long and narrow streamlets of spray, that were either shot to a vast height in the air in a perpendicular direction, or thrown out from the side, diagonally, to a prodigious distance. The excessive transparency of the body of water, and the brilliancy of the drops as the sun shone through them, considerably added to the beauty of the spectacle. As soon as the fourth jet was thrown out, which was