'Not far from Apaneca and in the vicinity of the town of Ahuachapan, are some remarkable thermal springs, called _Ausoles_. They emit a dense white steam from a semi-fluid mass of mud and water in a state of ebullition, which continually throws off large and heavy bubbles. [The mud bubbles of the Witches' Caldron are quite as extraordinary.] They occupy a considerable space, the largest not less than one hundred yards in circumference. In this one the water is exceedingly turbid, of a light brown color, and boils furiously. The waters in the other caldrons vary in color, and form deposits of the finest clay of every shade. Steam ascends in a dense white cloud, shutting out the sun; the ground is all hot, soon becoming insupportable. In places a little jet of steam and smoke rises fiercely from a hole in the hills, while in others boiling water rushes out as if forced from a steam engine. The water possesses varying mineral qualities. 'All these springs are on the side of the volcano Apaneca, one of a cluster of which Izalco is the most active, and Santa Anna the mother volcano.' These accounts would be equally correct if applied to the Devil's Canon; but the following appears to surpass it in the power of the volcano below. It is condensed from a description by the same traveller, whose name cannot be ascertained: 'On the north side of the volcano of San Vicente (a water volcano occupying the geographical centre of San Salvador, seven thousand feet above the sea), at the head of a considerable ravine, and near the base of the mountain, is a place called 'El Infernillo.' 'For the space of several hundred yards, rills of hot water spring from the ground, which looks red and burned, and there are numerous orifices sending out spires of steam with a fierce vigor like the escape of a steam engine. The principal discharge is from an orifice thirty feet broad, opening beneath a ledge of igneous rocks, nearly on a level with the bottom of the ravine. Smoke, steam, and hot water are sent out with incredible velocity for a distance of forty yards, as if from a force pump, with a roar as of a furnace in full blast. The noise is intermittent (although never ceasing entirely) and as regular as respiration. All around are salts, crystallized sulphur, and deposits of clay of every shade. There is no vegetation in the vicinity, and the stream for a mile is too hot for the hand to bear.'