Exploration of West Valley 



explosions of the volcano, but they were gradually 

 diminishing in frequency and violence, the crisis having 

 evidently occurred on the night before we left Three 

 Forks, and we began to fear that we had lost our chance 

 of witnessing the eruption. The sounds, however, con- 

 tinued at intervals throughout the next day, and did not 

 appear to diminish any further, while the sky was still 

 illumined at night. 



Arrived at a fork in the stream where the two 

 branches appeared to run at right angles to each other, 

 we were undecided which was most likely to lead us to 

 our destination. To the north of the fork was a rounded, 

 dome-shaped mountain of gneiss, rising some two thou- 

 sand feet above the river, and we ascended this on the 

 chance that we might be able to see the volcano from 

 its summit. 



Leaving our porters in charge of the baggage, we 

 started off at daybreak, carrying only field-glasses and 

 a prismatic compass. We arrived at the summit at 

 10 am., and saw before us to the east and north-east 

 respectively two enormous volcanic cones, the larger one 

 apparently extinct or dormant, and of a dull-grey, almost 

 black colour ; the other, emitting a light fleecy cloud 

 of steam, which was drifting slowly northward on the 

 morning breeze, was snow-white, and glittered in the 

 sun as though it were covered with snow. 



Everything appeared perfectly tranquil, the only sign 

 of activity being the cloud of steam above the lesser 

 cone. It was evident that we had arrived too late to 

 witness the eruption, which must have been a fine 

 spectacle from this elevated viewpoint. While on the 

 summit we took the opportunity of taking the bearings 



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