DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70303#0104
85 THE BOILING WATER-SPOUTS OF ICELAND.
so that the total number at this time was about two hun.~
dred. The water of the Geyser, is supposed to come from
the neighbouring mountains. There is a tiadition, that
before the present spring existed, there were other spouts
in the neighbourhood, which, from their singular violence,
were also called Geyser , but that an earthquake destroyed
these, and at the same time produced the water-spout now
known by that name.
The hot water of the Geyser converts the stalks of
plants and little pieces of wood into a hard and pale-
coloured stone. Even in the rock itself, from which the
spring issues, petrified stalks of plants maybe found, with
bones of sheep, horse-dung, ah transmuted ; and in a
petrifaction of the small leaves of the birch-tree, the fibres
were distinctly visible. Among the inferior water-spouts
near the great spring, some of them have remarkable qua-
lities. One of them named Sendery is called a dry spring,
because its tunnel contains no water, but emits a thick
smoke ; its heat is so intense, that the neighbours employ
it to dress their victuals, which they say is done with ease
and dispatch ; and that the food while doing, contracts no
strange or smoky’ taste. There is two hot-wells in the
neighbourhood, called Akrahver; in throwing the sound-
ing lead into onb of them, the water instantly sunk a foot
and a quarter, while trying the same experiment upon the
other, it overflowed on all sides. Several of the natives
affirmed that they had seen birds swimming in these hot-
wells, made like a mallard ; the body of a brown colour ;
the eye encircled with a white ring, very visible. In fact,
they even go so far as to say, that these birds have been
seen to dive in the hot water 1 In swimming, the legs and
bills of these birds, armed with a callous skin, might en-
duro the heat; but in diving, it would be impossible. It is
well known, that owing to the property of the blood, sea-
birds cannot dive j so that these birds, if they really pos-
sess
so that the total number at this time was about two hun.~
dred. The water of the Geyser, is supposed to come from
the neighbouring mountains. There is a tiadition, that
before the present spring existed, there were other spouts
in the neighbourhood, which, from their singular violence,
were also called Geyser , but that an earthquake destroyed
these, and at the same time produced the water-spout now
known by that name.
The hot water of the Geyser converts the stalks of
plants and little pieces of wood into a hard and pale-
coloured stone. Even in the rock itself, from which the
spring issues, petrified stalks of plants maybe found, with
bones of sheep, horse-dung, ah transmuted ; and in a
petrifaction of the small leaves of the birch-tree, the fibres
were distinctly visible. Among the inferior water-spouts
near the great spring, some of them have remarkable qua-
lities. One of them named Sendery is called a dry spring,
because its tunnel contains no water, but emits a thick
smoke ; its heat is so intense, that the neighbours employ
it to dress their victuals, which they say is done with ease
and dispatch ; and that the food while doing, contracts no
strange or smoky’ taste. There is two hot-wells in the
neighbourhood, called Akrahver; in throwing the sound-
ing lead into onb of them, the water instantly sunk a foot
and a quarter, while trying the same experiment upon the
other, it overflowed on all sides. Several of the natives
affirmed that they had seen birds swimming in these hot-
wells, made like a mallard ; the body of a brown colour ;
the eye encircled with a white ring, very visible. In fact,
they even go so far as to say, that these birds have been
seen to dive in the hot water 1 In swimming, the legs and
bills of these birds, armed with a callous skin, might en-
duro the heat; but in diving, it would be impossible. It is
well known, that owing to the property of the blood, sea-
birds cannot dive j so that these birds, if they really pos-
sess