374 THE YOUTH'’S CABINET.

The Geysers.

 

BY PROF. ALDEN.

 

«] should think it would be one of the
most wonderful sights in the world.”

“Tt is so.”

“ Does it rise swiftly ?”

«Very swiftly. Sometimes large stones
are thrown up. Sometimes visitors throw
stones in the pipes, and they are thrown
out and up into the air, where the water
is thrown up, and sometimes they are kept
up in the air for four or five minutes by
the action of the water. There are 2
great many smaller Geysers in the vicinity
of this larger one. Mr. Henderson, who
visited them in 1814, thinks he discovered
the key of one of the largest of them.”

“The key! what did he mean ”

“They throw out the steam and water,
as I said, at intervals. After there have
been loud reports, and a shaking of the
earth, and an ejection of water and steam,
they will be quiet for some time, so that
the spectator may have to wait several
hours, perhaps, before he may see them in
operation again. Mr. Henderson found,
that, by throwing 4 quantity of large
stones into the opening, he could cause it
to make an irruption whenever he pleased.
At one time, when it had been excited to
action in this way, it threw up jets more
than two hundred feet high.”

“Tt seems as though he made it angry
by throwing stones into it.”

“When the sun was shining on these
jets, they presented a most brilliant ap-
pearance. The water appeared as white
as snow, and rainbows were seen all about
‘t. Besides the water-pipes, there are
great many steam-pipes in the vicinity—
that is, holes in the earth, out of which

+ nose Geysers are very wonderful
things,” said Mr. Horton, as he
closed a book he bad been read-
ing for an hour or two.

«What are they, papa?” said Willy ;
“ won't you please to tell me ?”

“They are fountains that throw vast
quantities of hot water and steam to a
great height into the air.”

“Tn what part of the world are they
found ?”

“In Iceland. One of them, which is
called the Great Geyser, is described as
presenting the appearance of a large
mound. You go up its sides, and you
find a large basin at the top. It is not
quite round, being fifty-six feet across in
one way, and forty-six the other, and
about four feet deep. In the centre there
is a hole or pipe going down into the
earth seventy-eight feet. This pipe is
about eight or ten feet in diameter, widen-
ing as it opens into the basin. The hot
water rises up through the pipe, and fills
the basin, and then runs off over the sides.
Every few hours there are heard loud re-
ports, like that of distant artillery, in the
eatth beneath the basin, and then water
is ejected from the pipe with great vio-
Jence and to a great height.”

“ How high does it rise %”

“Jt varies: sometimes the column of
water is thrown up twenty or thirty feet,
sometimes fifty feet, and sometimes as
high as seventy or eighty feet. Think of
a column of water eight or ten feet. in
diameter, thrown up seventy feet, with a
tremendous roar, and a cloud of steam
along with it ?”