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The National Geographic Magazine 



locally known as Blue River, and it emp- 

 ties into the Unuk River in the first 

 canyon. This canyon has been formed by 

 a lava flow which came down the Blue 

 River valley and forced the Unuk stream 

 over against the foot of the mountain on 

 the south bank. This flow is compara- 

 tively recent, but occurred long enough 

 ago for large trees to have grown up over 

 its surface. A still more recent flow, 

 which probably occurred within less than 

 fifty years, has swept down the Blue 

 River valley, destroying all the vegeta- 

 tion in its path. This flow stopped within 

 about 200 or 300 yards of the river, and 

 the charred and blackened trunks of trees 

 overwhelmed by it are still visible at its 

 termination. Since the flow ceased there 

 has been time for only a few mosses and 

 lichens to gain a foothold on the lava 

 masses. The floor of the Blue River val- 

 ley, as formed by this lava, is exceedingly 

 rough and broken up, and it is very diffi- 

 cult to travel over it. It was stated to us 

 that, owing to the extreme difficulty of 

 crossing the lava, the farthest point ever 

 reached up the valley is seven miles, 

 which distance was once made by a pros- 

 pector in three days' travel. In a letter 

 sent Mr Tittmann after the report, Mr 

 Morse adds : 



"I judge the lava flow had its source in 

 the region north from 6,200, say within 

 10 miles of that peak. The ruggedest 

 mountains in the vicinity are there and 

 look as if they are volcanic. Looking in 

 that direction from 6,200, there is seen a 

 glacier whose entire front is black with 

 cinders. The glacier on the north side of 

 6,200, which has its lower extremity at 

 an altitude of about 3,500 feet, is still dis- 

 charging cinders that probably fell dur- 

 ing the last eruption. So also the ledges 

 that are exposed during the summer 

 above 3,500 feet have cinders scattered 

 over them, and that too in exposed places 

 where it seems improbable that the cin- 

 ders could rest many years without being 

 blown away by winds or washed away by 

 rains. At present there is no sign of an 



active volcano in that region. Mr Wright, 

 of the Geological Survey, who made a 

 trip up the Unuk River in August, made 

 the ascent of 6,200 to see the surrounding 

 country; but it was a cloudy day and he 

 did not get the view which I have men- 

 tioned. He suggested that a lava flow 

 does not necessarily imply a volcano, but 

 may come from a fissure, and that just in 

 that region is the line between the coast 

 granites and the interior rocks. How- 

 ever that may be, it is certain that there 

 were lively times around the Blue River 

 valley not many years ago. 



"The second canyon of the Unuk was 

 formed in precisely the same way as the 

 first, and by a lava flow which had its 

 origin in about the same locality, but 

 which, instead of flowing down the Blue 

 River, broke out and flowed down the 

 other side of the range on which 6,200 is 

 located. All this flow is clad with timber 

 and occurred long ago." 



THE WONDERFUL STRIDES OF 

 AFRICA 



THE article on "Morocco" published 

 in this number is the first of a 

 series of articles on different parts of 

 Africa which will appear in The: Na- 

 tional, Geographic Magazine at inter- 

 vals during 1906. The following papers, 

 all of which will be illustrated, have been 

 arranged : "Africa from Sea to Center," 

 by Herbert L. Bridgman, being an ac- 

 count of the development of Egypt and 

 more particularly of the Sudan, of Khar- 

 toum, and the upper reaches of the Nile ; 

 "Capetown, the Transvaal and Rhodesia," 

 by William M. Davis, professor of geol- 

 ogy in Harvard University, who will tell 

 of the amazing progress of South Africa 

 since the war and of the labor and race 

 problems there, which are far more com- 

 plicated than our own similar problems; 

 "Northern Nigeria," by Mr Douglas 

 Hume, a member of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, who for three years past 

 has been in Northern Nigeria ; this paper 

 will describe the peaceful annexation and 



