300 VOLCANOES OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS 
which were fringed all round with beautiful pure white stalactites, 
formed by deposits of silica, with which the hot water was strongly 
impregnated. At various stages below the principal spring were 
several others, that contributed to feed the lake at the bottom, in 
the centre of which was a small island. Minute bubbles contin- 
ually escaped from the surface of the water with a hissing sound, 
and the sand all round the lake was at a high temperature. If a 
stick was thrust into it, very hot vapors would ascend from the hole. 
Not far from this lake were several small basins filled with tepid 
water, which was very clear, and of a blue color. 
The conditions here were of a kind with those to which are 
due the great geysers of Iceland and the Yellowstone Park, but» 
different in the fact that instead of being intermittent and throw- 
ing up jets at intervals, the springs allowed the water to flow from 
them in a continuous stream. 
THE PINK AND WHITE TERRACES 
The silicious incrustations left by the overflow from the large 
pool had made aseries of terraces, two to six feet high, with the 
appearance of being hewn from white or pink marble; each of the 
basins containing a similar azure water. These terraces covered 
an area of about three acres, and looked like a series of cataracts 
changed into stone, each edge being fringed with a festoon of deli- 
cate stalactites. The water contained about eighty-five per cent. of 
silica, with one or two per cent. of iron alumina, and a little 
alkali. 
There were no more beautiful products of nature upon the 
earth than those “pink and white terraces,” as they were called. 
The hot springs of the Yellowstone have produced formations 
resembling them, but not their equal in fairy-like charm. One 
See ee en 
  
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epee soir 
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