The Lower End Of The Lake Is Bordered By Swamps And
Marshes Of Considerable Extent, But A Little Further On,
The hills
come down to the water's edge and give it very much the
appearance of a greet river, the
Width being about two miles.
At the upper end is the village of Kakas, where I dined with the
head man in a good house like those I have already described;
and then went on to Langówan, four miles distant over a level
plain. This was the place where I had been recommended to stay,
and I accordingly unpacked my baggage and made myself comfortable
in the large house devoted to visitors. I obtained a man to shoot
for me, and another to accompany me the next day to the forest,
where I was in hopes of finding a good collecting ground.
In the morning after breakfast I started off, but found I had
four miles to walk over a wearisome straight road through coffee
plantations before I could get to the forest, and as soon as I
did so ,it came on to rain heavily and did not cease until night.
This distance to walk everyday was too far for any profitable
work, especially when the weather was so uncertain. I therefore
decided at once that I must go further on, until I found someplace
close to or in a forest country. In the afternoon my friend
Mr. Bensneider arrived, together with the Controlleur of the next
district, called Belang, from whom I learned that six miles
further on there was a village called Panghu, which had been
recently formed and had a good deal of forest close to it; and
he promised me the use of a small house if I liked to go there.
The next morning I went to see the hot-springs and mud volcanoes,
for which this place is celebrated. A picturesque path among
plantations and ravines brought us to a beautiful circular basin
about forty feet in diameter, bordered by a calcareous ledge, so
uniform and truly curved, that it looked like a work of art. It
was filled with clear water very near the boiling point, and
emitted clouds of steam with a strong sulphureous odour. It
overflows at one point and forms a little stream of hot water,
which at a hundred yards' distance is still too hot to hold the
hand in. A little further on, in a piece of rough wood, were two
other springs not so regular in outline, but appearing to be much
hotter, as they were in a continual state of active ebullition.
At intervals of a few minutes, a great escape of steam or gas took
place, throwing up a column of water three or four feet high.
We then went to the mud-springs, which are about a mile off, and
are still more curious. On a sloping tract of ground in a slight
hollow is a small lake of liquid mud, with patches of blue, red, or
white, and in many places boiling and bubbling most furiously.
All around on the indurated clay are small wells and craters
full of boiling mud.
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