sir," he replied, as coolly as if it were the
commonest thing in the world to see the famous Geysers of Iceland.

"The Geysers! That little thing the Geysers?"

"Yes, sir."

"Dear me! who would ever have thought it?"

I may as well confess at once that I was sadly disappointed. It was a
pleasure, of course, to see what I had read of and pictured to my
mind, from early boyhood; but this contemptible little affair looked
very much like a humbug. A vague idea had taken possession of my mind
that I would see a whole district of country shooting up hot water and
sulphurous vapors--a kind of hell upon earth; but that thing ahead of
us--that little curl of smoke on the horizon looked so peaceful, so
inadequate a result of great subterranean fires, that I could not but
feel some resentment toward the travelers who had preceded me, and
whose glowing accounts of the Geysers had deceived me. At this point
of view it was not at all equal to the Geysers of California. I had a
distinct recollection of the great canyon between Russian River Valley
and Clear Lake, the magnificent hills on the route, the first glimpse
of the infernal scene far down in the bed of the canyon, the boiling,
hissing waters, and clouds of vapor whirling up among the rocks, the
towering crags on the opposite side, and the noble forests of oak and
pine that spread "a boundless contiguity of shade" over the wearied
traveler, and I must say a patriotic pride took possession of my soul.
We had beaten the world in the production of gold; our fruits were
finer and our vegetables larger than any ever produced in other
countries; our men taller and stronger, our women prettier and more
prolific, our lawsuits more extensive, our fights the best ever gotten
up, our towns the most rapidly built and rapidly burned--in short,
every thing was on a grand, wide, broad, tall, fast, overwhelming
scale, that bid defiance to competition, and now I was satisfied we
could even beat old Iceland in the matters of Geysers. I really felt
a contempt for that little streak of smoke. Perhaps something in the
expression of my eye may have betrayed my thoughts, for Zoega, as if
he felt a natural pride in the wonders of Iceland and wished them to
be properly appreciated, hastily added, "But you must not judge of the
Geysers by what you now see, sir! That is only the little Geyser. He
don't blow up much. The others are behind the first rise of ground."

"That may be, Zoega. I have no dou