Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/514

500 highly civilized nations, physical events that do not have an immediate effect upon their worldly interests are received with indifference or apathy. Pliny, we know, gives a circumstantial account of the eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, but does not mention the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii. It is probable that the Iceland geysers originated in prehistoric times. Geyser, geysar, geiser, or geisir, as it is variously spelled, is an old Icelandic word, meaning gusher, or rager, and is derived from the verb geysa, or gjosa, to gush, to rage, or to burst forth, to be impelled. In Iceland, in native usage, it is a proper name, being applied not only to the Great Geyser, but also to another fountain at Reykium. The word, however, has become an appellative or common name for the whole class of boiling fountains that spout hot water intermittently, just as the term volcano is derived from the name of one of the vents in the Lipari Islands.

The geysers of New Zealand are found on the North Island, scattered through the area which extends from Tongariro (a semi-active volcanic cone), in about the center of the island, to the Bay of Plenty. They have long been known to the natives, who have no traditions as to their age, but from time immemorial have used the quiet hot springs to warm their huts and to cook their food. Every hut has its boiler close to the door; bread is baked on large slabs of stone, placed over the hottest portions of the ground; and on others, not quite so hot, the lazy recline, wrapped in blankets, enjoying Vulcan's heat. In these respects the Maoris have the advantage over our North American Indians, who have always avoided the Yellowstone region on account of their superstitious fears.

The first white man who ever visited what is now the Yellowstone Park was undoubtedly John Colter, who was a member of Lewis and Clarke's celebrated expedition, and returned to the Upper Missouri country in 1807, and passed around Yellowstone Lake, or, as it was then called. Lake Eustis. His tales of the region were so wonderful that it was derisively called "Colter's Hell." As far back as 1844, James Bridger and Robert Meldrum, two noted Western trappers and guides, were said to have described some of the springs and geysers of the region, but their stories were so marvelous that they were not believed. The first printed description ever published was probably that given in a Mormon paper, called "The Wasp," published at Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1847. The unknown writer of this article undoubtedly visited the Lower Geyser Basin of Firehole River. Authentic information of the region was also derived from a prospecting party who visited the Lower Geyser Basin in 1863, under the leadership of Captain W. W. De Lacey. In 1869 Messrs. Cook and David E. Folsom, with another prospecting party, visited what is now the park, and the latter wrote an account of its wonders which was published in the "Western, or Lakeside Monthly," for July, 1870, where it was wrongly credited to Mr. Cook. The Washburn expedition of 1870 followed, the results