of twenty or thirty feet in a perfectly regular manner, and as if it were pushed up by a force beneath, which suddenly exploded with a loud noise, and scattered about a volume of black mud in every direction.  After an interval of two or three, or sometimes four or five seconds, the hemispherical body of mud rose and exploded again.  In the manner stated this volcanic ebullition goes on without interruption, throwing up a globular body of mud, and dispersing it with violence through the neighboring plain.  The spot where the ebullition occurs is nearly circular, and perfectly level.  It is covered only with the earthy particles, impregnated with salt water, which are thrown up from below.  The circumference may be estimated at about half an English mile.  In order to conduct the salt water to the circumference, small passages or gutters are made in the loose muddy earth, which lead to the borders, where it is collected in holes dug in the ground for the purpose of evaporation.”

The mud has a strong, pungent, sulphurous smell, resembling that of mineral oil, and is hotter than the surrounding atmosphere.  During the rainy season the explosions increase in violence.

There are submarine mud volcanoes as well as those of igneous kind.  In 1814 one of this character broke out in the Sea of Azof, beginning with flame and black smoke, accompanied by earth and stones, which were flung to a great height.  Ten of these explosions occurred, and, after a period of rest, others were heard during the night.  The next morning there was visible above the water an island of mud some ten feet high.  A very similar occurrence took place in 1827, near Baku, in the Caspian sea.  This began with a flaming display and the ejection of great fragments of rock.  An eruption of mud succeeded.  A set of small volcanoes discovered by Humboldt in Turbaco, in South America, confined their emissions almost wholly to gases, chiefly nitrogen.

There is a close connection in character between mud volcanoes and those intermittent boiling springs named geysers.  A good many of the mud volcanoes throw out jets of boiling water along with the mud; but in the case of the geysers, the boiling water is ejected alone, without any visible impregnation, though some mineral in solution, as silica, carbonate of lime, or sulphur, is usually present.

THE GEYSER IS A WATER VOLCANO

The phenomenon of the geyser serves in a measure to support the theory that steam is an important agent in volcanic action.  A geyser, in fact, may be designated as a water volcano, since it throws up water only.  It comprises a cone or mound, usually only a few feet high.  In the middle of this is a crater-like opening with a passage leading down into the earth.  As in the case of the volcano, the geyser cone is built up by its own action.  In the boiling water which is ejected there is dissolved a certain amount of silica.  As the water falls and cools this mineral is deposited, gradually building up a cup-like elevation.  The basin of the geyser is generally full of clear water, with a little steam rising from its surface; but at intervals an eruption takes place, sometimes at regular periods, but more often at irregular intervals.