ething caldron is ten feet. Both caldron and basin, on the
occasion of Madame Pfeiffer's visit, were full to the brim with crystal-
clear water in a state of slight ebullition. At irregular intervals a
column of water is shot perpendicularly upwards from the centre of the
caldron, the explosion being always preceded by a low rumbling; but she
was not so fortunate as to witness one of these eruptions. Lord
Dufferin, however, after three days' watch, was rewarded for his
patience. The usual underground thunder having been heard, he and his
friends rushed to the spot. A violent agitation was convulsing the
centre of the pool. Suddenly a crystal dome lifted itself up to the
height of eight or ten feet, and then fell; immediately after which, a
shining liquid column, or rather a sheaf of columns, wreathed in robes of
vapour, sprang into the air, and in a succession of jerking leaps, each
higher than its predecessor, flung their silver crests against the sky.
For a few minutes the fountain held its own, then all at once appeared to
lose its ascending power. The unstable waters faltered, drooped, fell,
"like a broken purpose," back upon themselves, and were immediately
absorbed in the depths of the subterranean shaft.

About one hundred and forty yards distant is the Strokkr, or "churn,"
with a basin about seven feet wide in its outer, and eighteen feet in its
inner diameter. A funnel or inverted cone in shape, whereas the Great
Geysir is a mound and a cylinder, it gives the popular idea of a crater.
Its surface is "an ugly area of spluttering and ever boiling water." It
frequently "erupts," and throws a spout into the air, sometimes as high
as forty or fifty feet, the outbursts lasting from ten to thirty minutes.
Madame Pfeiffer had not the luck to see it in its grandest moods; the
highest eruption she saw did not rise above thirty feet, nor last more
than fifteen minutes. An eruption can be produced by throwing into the
caldron a sufficient quantity of turf or stones.

Two remarkable springs lie directly above the Geysirs, in openings
separated by a barrier of rock--which, however, rise nowhere above the
level of the ground. Their waters boil very gently, with an equable and
almost rhythmic flow. The charm of these springs lies in their wonderful
transparency and clearness. All the prominent points and corners, the
varied outlines of the cavities, and the different recesses, can be
distinguished far within the d