Year: 1868

: laboratory, where she seems to manufac
, ture nearly all kinds of chemicals anC
! minerals, and the writer has seen, within
: circle of eight miles in diameter, salt


saltpetre, borax, sulphur, alum, iron
lead gold, silver, copper, glass, chalk, etc
Passing over an extinct volcano, tho
, sides of which are covered with lava anC


ashes, the writer and a companion went


up the crater, distant about a quarter OF


a mile from the trail. The mountain


seemed hollow, and filled with a liquid


mass Of matter which was constantly


bubbling and boiling, and the surface OF


this 'lake of fire was at least forty feet


below where we stood speeehless and


frightened. The ground shook and


trembled beneath our feet. The air was


hot and close, and there before our eyes


was the Internal "kettle of mush, which


in appearance it greatly resembles, boil


ing up in blisters, and, as the bubbles
burst, the smoke and vapOr, smelling


strongly of sulphur, would float up from


out the depths and hang in clouds above
and around us. As far as the eye could


reach the country was burned by fire and


rent and torn by earthquakes. There


were mountains as black as jet, and some


perfectly white, while here and there


were seen patches of blood-red earth.


Huge bould ders of rock, burnt white as


chalk, were scattered in every direction


and, as we stood spellbOund, the sun


sank slowly in the West, and we thought
it high time to leave while it was yet
light


We struck the trail and got down off
the mountain Just as the moon was
rising, and then we passed through a
narrow gorge, the walls Of which were |
white and smooth. Out of this gorge we !
came into a valley over which hung a |
cloud of vapor and the moon shining
through this cloud gave a soft mellow /
light, which took the rough edges off
the hills surrounding the valley, and
made everything look beautiful and
grand. But there was neither life nor
herbage along this valley, which was
about five miles wide and some ten or
fifteen miles long. The ground was
bare and crisp with ashes, and through
the center of this valley, and directly
across it, ran roaring, boiling stream
Of water, at least thirty yards wide
Over this stream crust had formed like
a cover to a kettle, and there were vent
holes in the crust through which the
steam escaped and hung in a dense cloud
over the valley. As we rode along
through this terrible place we thought
# Dante's description of He'll, and
wanted to go back to the narrow pass
nd write on its walls


"An who enter here leave hope behind"


Through the vent-holes in the crust a l
ind of slate-colored mud had been
brown up. Around each vent it had
and formed a column conform
ng TO the size of the hole. Some were 7
q large as a mans body and twenty feet r
length. There were thousands of o
hese columns, which, seen as we saw r
hem, by moonlight, seemed like so p
Many sentlnels guarding the gates of the P
lfernal regions, and the monstrous y
loud Of steam hoyeling over the valley, a
Ike the Arch Demon himself watching is
is subjects. ''Surely," said one com a.
anion, God was in anger when he ere Il
ted this country"


But the most curious feature in the $;
hole valley is this: The Indians have A
orn a trail over the crust, showing fl
here it is safe for a man to walk, and al
ght in the center of the stream is a "
ace ten feet in diameter where the ci
ASS is forever growing and green, and ia
the middle Of this grass plot is a cold G
ring of water, while all around is hot st
oj linz y,-atar Il