ding under its own
weight until it covers quite a large surface. The mud or clay is of
different colors. That in some of the springs is nearly as white as
white marble; in others it is of a lavender color; in others it is of a
rich pink, of different shades. I have taken specimens of each, which I
will have analyzed on my return home.[V] In close proximity to these are
springs discharging water nearly clear and apparently odorless, the
bottoms and sides of which, as well as of the channels of the streams
running from them, are covered with soft deposits of some substance they
contain in solution. These deposits and the hard incrustations around
the edges of the springs are of various colors, in some cases being dark
red, in others scarlet, in others yellow, and in still others green.

Along the shore of the lake are several boiling springs situated in the
top of incrusted craters, but which do not boil over, the sediment which
has been deposited around them forming a wall or embankment, holding
back the water.

But the most remarkable of all the springs at this point are six or
seven of a character differing from any of the rest. The water in them
is of a dark blue or ultra-marine hue, but it is wonderfully clear and
transparent. Two of these springs are quite large; the remaining five
are smaller, their diameters ranging from eight to fifteen feet. The
water in one of these latter is thrown up to the height of two feet.
The largest two of these springs are irregular in their general outline
of nearly an oval shape, the larger of the two being about twenty-five
feet wide by forty long, and the smaller about twenty by thirty feet.
The discharge from each of them is about one gallon per minute. The
sides of the springs are funnel-shaped, and converge until at the depth
of thirty feet, the opening is about eight feet in diameter. From the
surface or rim down to the lowest point of convergence where the opening
enlarges, the sides of the funnel (which are corrugated and very uneven
and irregular) are covered with a white deposit or incrustation which
contrasts vividly with the dark opening at its base, which is distinctly
visible at the depth of forty feet. These two springs are distant from
each other about twenty yards, and there is a difference of about four
feet in the elevation or level of the water. One peculiar feature of all
these springs is that they seem to have no connection with each other
beneath the surface.