THE COLORADO DESERT 349 



of the lake spurted jets of hissing steam, and little sti'eanis t)f liot 

 water escaped from the fissures. Tiny monticules of mud were every- 

 where. At the edge of the water were four or five mud craters, 8 to 12 

 feet in diameter, filled with hot water, in which was a constant cl>ulli- 

 tion and escaping of gas. The hank was covered with l)lack earthy 

 dejiosits, and a curious reed grass grew at the edge of the water. The 

 moist ground was everywhere hot and the tiny rivulets scalding. 

 The retiring of the shores of the lake after the overflow has ceased 

 leaves most of this ground th-y during the greater part of the year. A 

 small j)Ool is left, however, whose waters assume a deep wine color, 

 due, I should suppose, to deposits of peat derived iVom old growths 

 of the reed grass. It is called the Laguna Prieta, or Ink Lake. At 

 this })lace I noted that the retiring waters, trickling through a small 

 basin, twent}' feet across, had left it full of a beautiful deposit of 

 sodium chloride, gleaming white and apparently pure. 



The real center of activity is a quarter of a mile south of this i^oint 

 and on considerably higher ground. Barren sand-hills covered witli 

 broken pieces of lava girt a small amphitheater on the west, and low 

 mounds of soft eru})tive rock lie between it and the lake. The whole 

 of the mud floor between is hard-dried and rough, gleaming white 

 with salt incrustations and dotted with these mud-volcanoes. Some 

 of the craters are beautifully shaped, running up to perfect cones, like 

 mud beehives or gigantic swallows' nests. I counted some 70 in this 

 plain. JNIau}^ were quiescent, silent or nearly so. Aljout 15 were very 

 active, filled with l)oiling mud, wdiich was thrown up to a height 

 of 10 feet. On all sides there was the hiss of esca[)ing gas, the explo- 

 sive pant of steam l^lown oft' through countless orifices, and the rumple 

 and s[)lash of the surging mud. Except for the persecuting "stock 

 flies" and the flocks of water-fowl that tlap|)ed and shrieked along 

 the shallow nuirgins of the lake, the whole region seemed absolutely 

 devoifl of living things. The print of an Indian's bare foot across the 

 jilain startled me with the sudden anuizement of a llohinson Crusoe. 

 In the midst of the sa/se^' was a deep pool of warm water, on the edge 

 of which had l)een ])uilt a rude booth of reeds and a pole ladder that 

 led down into the hole. I tried the l)ath. It seemed scalding hot, 

 but ]»roved only 118° Fahr. Near l»y was another clear |)ool — hot, 

 salty, and nauseating to the taste. 



For at least oO 3'ears, and we know not how niiich longer before 

 Major II eintzel man's discovery, these ndhcs have been boiling and 

 €*jecting, and the heat tiiat lies beneath them and gives them rise will 



