54 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



splendid, majestic ! " Some venture near enough 

 to stroke the column with a stick, as if it were 

 a stone pillar or a tree, so firm and substantial 

 and permanent it seems. While tourists wait 

 around a large geyser, such as the Castle or the 

 Giant, there is a chatter of small talk in anything 

 but solemn mood; and during the intervals 

 between the preliminary splashes and upheavals 

 some adventurer occasionally looks down the 

 throat of the crater, admiring the silex forma- 

 tions and wondering whether Hades is as beauti- 

 ful. But when, with awful uproar as if ava- 

 lanches were falling and storms thundering in 

 the depths, the tremendous outburst begins, 

 all run away to a safe distance, and look on, 

 awe-stricken and silent, in devout, worshiping 

 wonder. 



The largest and one of the most wonderfully 

 beautiful of the springs is the Prismatic, which 

 the guide will be sure to show you. With a cir- 

 cumference of 300 yards, it is more like a lake 

 than a spring. The water is pure deep blue in 

 the centre, fading to green on the edges, and its 

 basin and the slightly terraced pavement about 

 it are astonishingly bright and varied in color. 

 This one of the multitude of Yellowstone foun- 

 tains is of itself object enough for a trip across 

 the continent. No wonder that so many fine 

 myths have originated in springs ; that so many 

 fountains were held sacred in the youth of the 



