252 I N A G U A 



to keep it from splashing. The bucket contained at least seven 

 gallons and must have weighed fifty pounds but Mary heaved 

 it to her head and then with superb posture and exquisite 

 balance swung down the trail without spilling a drop. While 

 engaged in this feat she picked up a dead stick in her toes, 

 which were as dexterous as fingers, transferred it to her hand 

 without tiltinof the bucket and in one stride went after Helen 

 who had strayed off the trail. Not bad for an old girl who must 

 have been close to half a century! 



The smooth barren rock altered to a fine layer of silt and 

 apparently at some not very distant date the great lake must 

 have expanded miles from its present shoreline, for in places 

 the ground was littered with the bodies of thousands of small 

 fishes which had become stranded. These had become segre- 

 gated in small ponds which had dried, leaving them in the hot 

 sun to die. Although the temperature was well above a hun- 

 dred and the sun glared directly on their corpses, the bodies 

 of these fishes had not decayed. The soil and the silt were so 

 impregnated with salt that they were pickled. Only the eyes 

 and soft bellies had caved away. At certain angles the shafts 

 of sunlight glinted brilliantly on their scales, giving the ground 

 the appearance of being carpeted with silver coins. 



Later in the day, close to sundown, we reached the edge of 

 the lake. It lay very quiet and still, for the wind had fallen 

 away to a calm, and it was of a pale green color, yet almost 

 not green, of a hue that lies midway between emerald and 

 light ultramarine. The lake gave the sensation of great expanse. 

 It seemed to sweep away into infinite distance, silent, unmov- 

 ing; the horizon was obscured by haze and the water appeared 

 to merge with the light blue of the boundless sky. One had the 

 feeling of being in a shallow liquid bowl without top or 

 border. 



Not far away were two diminutive islands, mere vestiges 



