HEALING THE SICK. 203 
urged a return, at all hazards, to the medicinal springs; others held that 
the angry demon of the gorge had sent the pestilence upon them. At last 
a gray-haired seer whose hand was skilled in all cunning craft was per- 
suaded to try to appease the spirit by making a graven image near the 
Witches’ Caldron. Enough of the idolatrous traditions of their ancestors 
were remembered to enable them to have faith in this strange attempt at 
propitiation. Day after day the good old sculptor went all alone to the 
cafion, and chiseled away the rock until the semblance of a human face 
appeared. As the work neared completion, he often lingered later, in his 
anxiety to finish the statue. It was believed that when the task was entirely 
ended the demon would retire, and let the people be healed. A few more 
days and the finishing strokes would be made on the figure. Every one 
was full of hope The old man was working at the dawn, and when the 
evening came and the twilight shadows stole down the mountain and up 
the ravine he had not returned. Suddenly a weird, hollow moan seemed 
to tremble on the shuddering air, and at the next instant the earth shook 
so violently that the cliffs toppled from their base. The terrible shocks 
were felt several times during the night, and when the sun arose the old 
seer was gone from earth. The cold, stony face of the image alone 
remained. Not the slightest trace was ever discovered of the faithful sculp- 
tor, yet during the night new springs had burst forth three-quarters of a 
mile down the river. Here the sick were brought, and from that day to 
the present time the Indians used only the lower springs. Scaffolds are 
raised above the steam-jets -three or four feet, and willows and brush are 
laid across. On these the sick are placed, and the mineral vapors encircle 
and heal them. 
Years after, the white men came to the great valley of the Russian 
River, and in due time were guided to the springs. The Indian guides 
would not go farther than the lower springs, but the pale-faces found the 
image still guarding the ravine. Enterprise and love of gain have built_a 
beautiful hotel across from the Geysers, and hundreds of tourists annually 
flock thither. 
The Indians, however, firmly believe that the wrathful demon still holds 
sway, and they can never be induced to approach the gorge of the main 
Geysers. 
