250 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



■■''■- • - 



Photograph by R. F. Griggs 



SAND BLASTS HAVE STRIPPED THIS ALASKAN 

 WILLOW OP ITS BARK 



All of the season's growth has come from the buds on 

 the lee side of the twigs. 



ground squirrels, each with sev- 

 eral hundred individuals, like a 

 "town'' of prairie-dogs. To com- 

 plete the fauna were many short- 

 tailed mice, busy about their af 

 fairs as they worked along the 



ground with little herd fn tht 



ground with little heed to the 



footsteps of the 



plorer. 



_ 



footsteps of the approaching ex 



THE 



MARVELOUS COLORATION oP 

 THE VALLEY 



For the author, one of the most 

 interesting incidents connected 

 with the expedition was the won- 

 der of the new members of the 

 expedition when they saw for the 

 first time the marvels of which 

 they had read. While it was 

 generally agreed that the pictures 

 and descriptions had given them 

 a fair idea of the Smokes them- 

 selves, they were unanimous in 

 their opinion that the printed ac- 

 count conveyed no adequate con- 

 ception of the coloration of the 

 valley. 



The previous articles had, to 

 be sure, stated that the ground 

 was painted with "all the colors 

 of the rainbow," and that the 

 "fissures were baked bright red 

 for miles at a stretch" ; but 

 somehow it was imagined that 

 these must be wild exaggerations 

 rather than literal statements of 

 fact. 



In addition to the bears, which never 

 entirely deserted the region about the 

 devastated country, many other forms of 

 animal life are coming in. 



On one of the little ponds we found 

 not only several loons, but two or three 

 pairs of golden-eye ducks, geese, and 

 even a swan, which contributed an ele- 

 ment to our larder that had been sadly 

 lacking in former years ; for we were thus 

 permitted to enjoy swan cooked by the 

 steam of the fumaroles. Better meat was 

 never served at any table. 



On the hillside round about, ptarmigan 

 were nearly always to be found, while 

 there were a number of colonies of 



COLORS BRIGHTER THAN THOSE OP 

 THE GRAND CANYON 



No one was more impressed with the 

 colors than Kolb, who, having lived for 

 years on the brink of the Grand Canyon, 

 was not oversusceptible to striking colors. 

 Along with most people, he had supposed 

 that the canyon represented the climax 

 of nature's colorings and had never ex- 

 pected to see anything more brilliant. 



The color is, however, so altogether 

 different in character from that of the 

 canyon that the two cannot be properly 

 compared. In the canyon it is in the dis- 

 tance that the color is most remarkable. 

 In the valley it is in the foreground. 

 There are no bright and sharply contrast- 

 ing masses of rock in the walls of the 

 valley. On the contrary, the valley it- 



