creases toward the center of the black pool,…

chunk 1158 · paragraph 1925

r. Near the banks the water is ten feet deep and the temperature is 110 degrees. Ten yards from the shore the bottom is far beyond the reach of the explorer’s line. The heat in- ( 121 ) creases toward the center of the black pool, the thermometer registering 150 degrees. To the touch the water feels oily. To the taste it is warm, salty and bitter. In calm weather the surface of the water is covered from three to six inches with an ash-like sub- stance. Millions of bubbles agitate the center, and sometimes the boiling makes waves that break blackly against the shore. The black pig- ment in the water does not discolor the skin. Just a few yards from the north side of the lake are the streams of milk. Several springs of boiling water are there, and from two of them flow large streams of milky whiteness, which color the soil as they course along. A hasty examination indicated that lime in solu- tion colors the water. The survey was ended, but the wonders of the trip were not over, for Colonel Allen discovered a waterway hitherto unexplored in the delta of the Colorado, on which he trav- eled to within fifteen miles of Yuma without entering the main Colorado. He finally reached the main river by Carter’s river. The Cocopah country is waiting for a Clar- ence King and a Rider Haggard in composite to tell of its wonders.