OR
SULPHUR MOUNTAINS
as those in the valley, and are represented as being less active.
“Mr Seymour, who has spent many months at Krisuvik, tells me that the sulphur beds on this side have been submerged by the clays washed down by the winter rains, and are, for the most part, now completely overgrown with grass. On digging beneath the surface, however, the sulphur earth is found to be only a short distance down, and on analysis the percentage of sulphur in one bed, 116 yards long, running up the side of the mountain, was discovered to range between 64 and 65·5. Here the earth was completely cold, and all further deposition of sulphur appeared to have ceased.
“In the valley itself the springs are not always visible at the surface, being so completely covered by the earth that it is only by piercing through the crust of indurated sulphur earth, that their presence is discovered. Sometimes the explorer is made unpleasantly aware of the insecure nature of his footing by falling through, and thus opening up a fresh thermal spring. The late Sir William Hooker, when visiting this place, in endeavouring to escape a sudden gust of strongly odorous vapour, jumped into a mass of semi-liquid hot earth and sulphur—and but for his presence of mind, in throwing himself flat upon the ground, would have sunk to a considerable depth; as it was, the difficulty of extricating himself was very considerable.
“The surface of the ground is covered in many places with a crust of two to three feet in depth of almost pure sulphur; and in the valley, where the steam jets are protected from the extreme violence of the wind, the sulphur is deposited tolerably evenly over the whole surface. If it were not for the ever-varying direction of the wind, the sulphur would, Captain Forbes is of opinion, be precipitated in regular banks, but it hardly ever falls for twenty-four hours in one direction, the wind capriciously distributing the shower in every direction.
“It has been suggested by those who wish to utilise the immense sulphur-producing power of this wonderful locality, that chambers should be erected (Sir George Mackenzie), or walls built up (Dr Perkins), by which means the force of the wind being broken, the sulphur would be quietly floated to the ground, instead of being carried up the sides of the hills, and thus more widely distributed.
