the passengers availed
themselves of every spring, with the exception of those just described,
that they fell in with on the route. We drank of every variety of water
excepting pure water--sometimes iron, sometimes sulphur; and, indeed,
every kind of chalybeate, for every rill was impregnated in some way or
another. At last, it occurred to me that there were such things as
chemical affinities, and that there was no saying what changes might
take place by the admixture of such a variety of metals and gases, so
drank no more. I did not like, however, to interfere with the happiness
of others, so I did not communicate my ideas to my fellow-passengers,
who continued drinking during the whole day; and as I afterwards found
out, did not sleep very well that night; they were, moreover, very
sparing in the use of them the next day.

There are a great variety of springs already discovered on these
mountains, and probably there will be a great many more. Already they
have the blue, the white, and the red sulphur springs; the sweet and the
salt; the warm and the hot, all of which have their several virtues; but
the greatest virtue of all these mineral springs is, as in England and
every where else, that they occasion people to live regularly, to be
moderate in the use of wine, and to dwell in a pure and wholesome air.
They always remind me of the eastern story of the Dervish, who, being
sent for by a king who had injured his health by continual indulgence,
gave him a racket-ball, which he informed the king possessed wonderful
medicinal virtues; with this ball his majesty was to play at racket two
or three hours every day with his courtiers. The exercise it induced,
which was the only medicinal virtue the ball possessed, restored the
king to health. So it is with all watering places; it is not so much
the use of the water, as the abstinence from what is pernicious,
together with exercise and early hours, which effect the majority of
cures.

We arrived first at the blue sulphur springs, and I remained there for
one day to get rid of the dust of travelling. They have a very
excellent hotel there, with a ball room, which is open till eleven
o'clock every night; the scenery is very pretty, and the company was
good--as indeed is the company at all these springs, for they are too
distant, and the travelling too expensive for every body to get there.
But the blue sulphur are not fashionable, and the consequence was, we
were not c