BOILING FOUNTAINS
IN ICELAND.
The valley of Regham, in Iceland, is richly cultivated and watered by a fertile stream ; it is remarkable for containing several hot springs or boiling fountains, which throw up water to an
immense height, and so hot that no person can touch it without being scalded. The principal of these springs, called the Geyser, issues from a circular mound of silicious earth; at the top of which is a large circular basin, about forty feet diameter, from the centre of which the water issues. A modern traveller gives the following account of a visit to this famous spring:-
At nine o’clock I heard a hollow subterraneous noise which was thrice repeated in the course of a few moments;—the two last reports followed each other more quickly than the first and second had done. It exactly resembled the distant firing of cannon, and was accompanied each time with a perceptible, though very slight shaking of the earth, almost immediately after
