262 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by E. C. Kolb 

 THE EAST EEAP IN THE DESCENT INTO 

 K AT MAI CANYON 



The canyon is 4,000 feet deep. The descent is 

 not so difficult or hazardous as might be sup- 

 posed from this picture. Before taking off, I took 

 good care to see that there was a way back. 



low, but reaching down farther than we 

 could see into the depths. 



From such openings issued enormous 

 volumes of superheated steam, forming 

 some of the greatest smokes of the val- 

 ley. For the most part, however, this 

 fissure was not open, but closed by an 



arched bridge of ash which in some 

 way had been stretched across it, 

 forming a span quite strong enough 

 to support the weight of a large party, 

 although when soaked up by a violent 

 rain it caved in in places, forming new 

 and impressive fumaroles as the hot 

 steam rushed forth from the new out- 

 lets thus formed. 



The cavern immediately beneath the 

 bridge was, of course, full of highly 

 heated gases pressing up to issue in 

 one of the fumaroles. Under these 

 circumstances every little crevice in 

 the arching bridge was the path for a 

 small seepage of steam, the tempera- 

 ture of which as it emerged depended 

 on the volume. 



The slow cookers were dug in places 

 with little seepage ; the hot spots had 

 close connection with the steam below-. 

 It was not always possible to tell by 

 looking at a hole how effective it 

 would prove as a cooker, for there was 

 little visible emanation from any of 

 those we used. 



BACON FRIED IN STEAM 



In the hottest of our "stove-holes" 

 the temperature was high enough to 

 fry bacon or bake bread with ease. 

 For some reason, the tastes of the 

 party centered on johnny-cake rather 

 than on white bread or biscuits, al- 

 though the latter were occasionally 

 made with equal success. The pro- 

 cedure was to put the batter inside one 

 of the covered aluminum cooking pots, 

 which was then simply set on the 

 ground in the proper place and al- 

 lowed to bake. 



Baking over the fumarole requires 

 somewhat the same sort of skill as it 

 does anywhere. It would not do to 

 go off and forget the corn bread, as 

 we did the oatmeal ; for if it was left 

 longer than the allotted hour, it was 

 burned up, just as it would have been 

 in any other oven ; but when taken off 

 at just the right time, it came out with 



beautiful, crispy brown crust, as fine 



corn bread as was ever seen anywhere 



(see page 273). 



For frying bacon we found it most 



convenient to repair to "Fumarole No. 



5," at a little distance from the camp. 



Here a column of very hot steam came 



