THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



141 



Photograph by Robert F. Griggs 



FUMAROLES ALONG THE RIVER LETHE) 



Here is a place where one could easily cook his fish without taking it off the hook — if there 

 were any fish to catch. In places the steam actually bubbles up through the cold water. 



The appropriateness of this name is in- 

 creased not only by its course, which lies 

 through the center of Hades, but also be- 

 cause the uncanny waters, full of deep- 

 brown silt from the glaciers, have a most 

 weird aspect as they rush swirling down 

 the valley. 



WHERE YOU COULD COOK YOUR ElSH 

 WITHOUT TAKING IT OEE THE HOOK 



In many places the river cuts straight 

 across lines of volcanic activity, and here 

 we see how close the antagonistic ele- 

 ments — "fire" and water — may approach 

 one another without disturbance. The 

 mud, which lines the banks, is so perfect 

 a non-conductor that within a few inches 

 of the cold water the ground is boiling 

 hot. There are places where the steam 

 from small fumaroles actually boils up 

 through the water of the river! Several 

 good-sized vents are located on the very 

 banks of the river. 



Here one could catch a fish in the 



stream and cook it without taking it off 

 the hook — if only there were any fish, for 

 one can hardly imagine fish frequenting 

 this murky stream. There is, however, 

 no real reason why they might not occur ; 

 for, in spite of the fact that the very 

 banks are boiling hot, the waters main- 

 tain their glacial temperature of about 

 48 ° F. throughout the valley. 



The climax of activity in this wonder- 

 ful valley occurs in the northeast angle, 

 toward Mt. Katmai, where there are two 

 features of surpassing interest — Falling 

 Mountain (see page 136) and Novarupta 

 Volcano (see page 138). 



FALLING MOUNTAIN 



At first sight, Falling Mountain looks 

 no different from other lava mountains 

 near by, except that one face is a perfectly 

 fresh rock cliff without any covering of 

 ash. On account of the quantity of sur- 

 rounding steam, one is not apt to no- 

 tice that this rock face of the mountain 



