volcanoes, in many and distant parts of the world, either now or at some
recorded time in active operation, drives us irresistibly to the
inference that the so-called 'Geysers' are of similar origin, and only
another manifestation of the dormant energies of the interior of our
globe; now bursting out in lava flames, as on Hecla or Vesuvius, and now
mildly presenting us with a tepid bath.

As to the name of geyser being applied to the Californian phenomena, we
protest against it. A true geyser is a natural hydraulic machine of
magnificent power; it is a spring, to be sure, but a mineral spring is
not necessarily a geyser, and there is as much difference between the
'Geysers of California' and the Strokr or the 'Great Geyser,' as there
is between a squib and a musket-shot. Call the springs AUSOLES, if you
please, like their counterparts of Ahuachapan, or 'give the devil his
due,' and call the place as it was called by its discoverer.

THE DEVIL'S CANON is not a bad name for such a diabolical, sulphurous,
hot, and altogether infernal den.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Said the pleader to the judge, 'If there is any one thing which,
more than any other thing, proves the thing, this thing is that thing!'
'Which thing?' said the judge to the pleader.

[7] White Island is in the Bay of Plenty, not far from Auckland, the
government seat of New Zealand, on the more northerly of the two islands
forming the group. According to Mr. George French Angas, whose Travels
in New Zealand are quoted In Dicken's _Household Words_ for October 19,
1850, the neighboring mainland (if the word may be applied to the
principal inland) abounds in hot springs of volcanic origin.

Mr. Angas says:

'I visited the boiling springs which issue from the side of a steep
mountain, called Te Rapa. There were nearly one hundred of them; they
burst out, bubbling from little orifices in the ground, which are not
more than a few inches in diameter, the steam rushes out in clouds with
considerable force: the hillside is covered with them, and a river of
hot water runs down into the lake. The soil around is a red-and-white
clay, strongly impregnated with sulphur and hydrogen gas; pyrites also
occur. Several women were busy cooking baskets of potatoes over some of
the smaller orifices: leaves and ferns were laid over the holes, upon
which the food was placed. They were capitally done.

'About two miles from this place, on the edge of a great swampy flat, I
met with a