At the top of this mound we found a pond of the shape of a saucer, lined with the most curious incrustations of spar, which exactly resembled the heads of cauliflowers. It was then about half full of the most beautiful hot water, as clear as crystal, which was just stirred in gentle waves by the steam that rose up from the opening at the bottom of the basin. We took advantage of this tranquil state of the spring, to examine this opening. We let down a line, with a weight at the end, to the depth of about eighty feet, and as nearly as we could judge, it went down perpendicularly. The hole was nearly round, and about nine feet in diameter, but it got gradually wider towards the top like a funnel. The inside showed the same kind of flinty incrustation as the hillock was composed of, worn as smooth as glass by the forcible passage of the water. The water was then at a temperature of two hundred degrees. The saucer-shaped reservoir was fifty feet across, and four feet deep. I ought to tell you that the waters of the Geysers have a petrifying property, and hence the ground all around them is covered with what was once grass, moss, and sticks, converted into stone, of which we brought away many beautiful specimens. It was very late in the evening when we had completed this examination, and fixed our tent where we intended to pass the night. The springs still continued quiet, and you may judge how impatient we were for something to be going on. However, as it was dark, and we were very tired, having had a great deal of fatigue during the day, we lay down in the tent and went to sleep. About midnight we were suddenly called up by one of our party, to witness the great Geyser in its full glory. It threw up several jets, should think of at least ninety feet high, and sent off vast clouds of steam. There was only just light enough for us to distinguish the water and steam; but the effect was very grand, and such as we shall never forget, though it did not leave much behind in our minds to talk about, as everything seemed indistinct and confused. The next morning, as soon as it was light, there was a beautiful eruption of the _New Geyser_, as it is called. The column of water was eight feet in diameter, and full sixty feet high, and the clouds of steam were prodigious. The sun was just then rising, and the effect of his rays through the water and stream, was exquisitely beautiful, producing many little rainbows. When the water had sunk down, its place was taken by a tremendous jet of spray and steam, rushing out with a deafening roar to nearly the same height as the water.