106 



a small stream of water; rising in a ravine but 

 not sunk more than fifteen feet below the plain. 

 It ran toward the North a very little wry, and 

 was lost by evaporation and absorption. Beyond 

 this, crossed a superficial clay ridge, strewn with 

 pebbles and fragments of obsidian ; near sun- 

 down, entered a sandy district, the horses sink- 

 ing fetlock deep each step ; after dark the buttes 

 being no longer visible, kept our course by the 

 stars. By-and-by the atmosphere became hazy, 

 and only occasional glimpses could be had of the 

 stars. Wandering from our course, we got into 

 loose, drifting sands, thrown by the winds into 

 ridges and hillocks, through which the animals 

 plunged and struggled, and finally we had to 

 dismount and lead them. Jose declared himself 

 lost, and refused to go any farther till morning. 

 There being no means of securing the horse--, in 

 case of a halt, we continued to toil on, and for- 

 tunatelv got off the sand banks in a little while. 

 Soon, a few sage bushes were encountered, and 

 selecting the stoutest, the animals were fastened 

 to await the coming of to-morrow. In attempt- 

 ing to make our beds, the burning temperature 

 of the earth required the interposition of saddle- 

 blankets and leathern covers of the saddles, and 

 still it seemed like submitting our limbs to the 

 process of baking. The restlessness of the horses 

 kept us in constant fear lest they might break 

 the insecure fastenings and leave us in a rather 

 unenviable predicament. It is useless to say the 

 night was not passed in refreshing slumbers, and 

 the dawn was never more welcome. 



"July 19. — At daylight it was found that we 

 had wandered last night too far to the North, and 

 had to turn to the South and East. The white 

 clouds of steam, shooting upward from the Salse, 

 soon became apparent at the distance of ten 

 miles. At sunrise the steam-jets presented an 

 imposing and singular appearance ; the cones 

 from which they issued were distinctly visible, 

 and the dull roar of the subterranean tumult 

 could occasionally be heard. The black buttes 

 that served as land marks yesterday lay on either 

 hand — that to the left less distant. It had the 

 appearance of a mass of lava heaped into a rough 

 and fantastically irregular hill, crowned with 

 sharp pinnacles and rude arches, as if the whole 

 had been hardened suddenly while in a state of 

 most violent agitation from boiling. The more 

 distant one to the right seemed a black, compact 

 mass, with a glittering, smooth surface common 

 to the granite and gnisease rocks bordering the 

 desert. If volcanic, the character was not so ap- 

 parent as in that to the left. 



••A little after 6 a. m., reached a point as near 

 the Salse as was deemed prudent, on horseback. 

 The gTound had become soft and muddy, and 

 the sulphurous scents and strange sounds fright- 

 ened the horses. Giving them in charge of Jose 

 Serano, we proceeded on foot about a quarter of 

 a mile to the scene of action. The scene pre- 

 senting itself is difficult of description. The ac- 

 companying engraving from a drawing made by 

 my son, on the spot, gives some idea of the ap- 

 pearance, but the effect can only be known by 

 one who has heard the wild rush of steam, the 

 rude hubbub of the mud explosions, and the 

 dull murmur of the boiling cauldrons of slime. 

 The space occupied by the Salse is a parallelo- 



gram, rive hundred yards long and three hundred 

 and fifty broad — a table of hardened bluish clay, 

 a little elevated above the surrounding plain. — 

 The adjacent ground is low and muddy, and 

 during the rains entirely covered with water. — 

 There is a gentle slope toward the North and 

 East, the mud and water of the Salse running off 

 slowly in that direction, where a lake of salt 

 water exists in the rainy season, but presenting 

 now a vast sheet of crystaline chloride of sodi- 

 um. Into this lake the arm of the Colorado, 

 known as New River, discharges itself. The 

 lake, having no outlet, would probably soon re- 

 gain its ancient area if the channel of New Riv- 

 er afforded a regular and more generous supply 

 of water. 



" The steam-jets of the Salse issue from con- 

 ical mounds of mud varying from three to fifteen 

 feet in height, the sides presenting various an- 

 gles, some being sharp and slender cones, others 

 dome-shaped mounds that seemed to have spread 

 and flattened out with their own weight, upon 

 the discontinuance of the action that formed 

 them. Out of some of the cones the steam 

 rushes in a continuous stream, with a roaring 

 or whizzing sound, as the orifices vary in diame- 

 ter or jets differ in velocity. In others the ac- 

 tion is intermittent, and each recurring rush of 

 steam is accompanied by a discharge of a shower 

 of hot mud, masses of which are thrown some- 

 times to the height of a hundred feet. These 

 discharges take place every few few minutes 

 from some of the mounds, while others seem to 

 have been quiet for weeks or months. During 

 our short stay we had specimens of the rapidity 

 with which a sharp, conical mound could be 

 built up and again tumbled down. In one place 

 a stream of hot water was thrown up from fifteen 

 to thirty feet, falling in a copious shower on 

 every side, forming a circle within which one 

 might stand without danger fron\ the scalding 

 drops, unless the wind chanced to drive them 

 from their regular course. It issued from a su- 

 perficial mound out of an opening about six 

 inches in diameter ; but the column of steam and 

 water immediately upon issuing expanded to a 

 much greater size. The orifice was lined -with 

 an incrustation of carbonate of lime, and around 

 it. and particularly on the south-east side, stood 

 a miniature grove of slender stalagmitic arbo- 

 rescent concretions of the same substance. They 

 were from half an inch to one and a-half inches 

 in diameter, and from four to eight inches in 

 height. Many of them were branched and the 

 tips colored red, contrasting beautifully with 

 the marble- whiten ess of the trunk, and resem- 

 bling much a corral grove. Some were hollow, 

 and delicate jets of steam issued from their sum- 

 mits, and this seemed to explain the mode of 

 their formation. Some were not hollow through- 

 out, being closed at the summit, but when de- 

 tached from their base, a small orifice in the cen- 

 tre suffered hot steam to pass, and some degTee 

 of caution was required to remove them without 

 scalded fingers. To approach the spot was a 

 feat of some difficulty, surrounded as it was by 

 a magic circle of hot rain. I retreated, scalded, 

 from the only attempt I dared to make ; but my 

 son, more adventurous or more attracted by the 

 beauty of the specimens, succeeded in bringing 



