., and continued for an
hour and a half, the latter part of which it emitted little else than
steam, rushing upward from its chambers below, of which, if controlled,
there was enough to run an engine of wonderful power. The waving to and
fro of such a gigantic fountain, when the column is at its height,

'Tinselled o'er in robes of varying hues,'

and glistening in the bright sunlight, which adorns it with the glowing
colors of many a gorgeous rainbow, affords a spectacle so wonderful
and grandly magnificent, so overwhelming to the mind, that the ablest
attempt at description gives the reader who has never witnessed such a
display but a feeble idea of its glory."

A DESCRIPTION OF THE GEYSER AT WORK

The only other geysers in this remarkable geyserland which we can spare
room to notice are those known as the Giantess, the Beehive, and the
Grand. The Giantess sends a column of water to the height of 250 feet.
An eruption is usually divided into three periods--two preliminary
efforts and a final one, divided from each other by intervals of between
one and two hours, while the intervals of discharge are very long.
Sometimes it does not play for several weeks. The Beehive, which is 400
feet from the Giantess, gets its name from the peculiar beehive-like
cone which it has formed. The eruption is also almost unique. It is
heralded by a slight escape of steam, which is followed by a column of
steam and water, shooting to the height of over 200 feet. The column
is somewhat fan-shaped, but it does not fall in rain, the spray being
evaporated and carried off as steam--if, indeed, there is not more steam
than water in the column. The duration of the discharge is between four
and five minutes, and the interval between two eruptions from twenty-one
to twenty-five hours.

The Grand is one of the most important in the Upper Geyser basin. Yet,
unlike the Grotto, the Giant, or the Old Faithful,--so called from its
frequent and regular eruptions--it has no raised cone or crater, and a
much less cavernous bowl than the Giantess and other geysers. The column
discharged ascends to the height of from eighty to two hundred feet, and
the eruptions last from fifteen minutes to three-quarters of an hour,
with intervals on an average of from seven to twenty hours. This
fountain is apparently very irregular in its action, though it is just
possible that when the Yellowstone geysers have been more consecutively
studied, it will be found th