[CHAPTER XIV]
THE MOUTH OF HADES
"The Volcanoes" is the name given to a most peculiar and terrifying region in the lower Colorado Desert. Its character is such as to lead certain of the Indians who inhabit the desert to believe it to be the gateway to the land of evil spirits. Indeed, it would seem to be the very gateway to Hades, and one is reminded, upon visiting the region, of John Bunyan's description of the "Valley of the Shadow of Death" through which Christian is forced to pass.
"About the midst of this valley I perceived the mouth of hell to be," he writes, "and it stood also hard by the wayside. And ever and anon the flame and smoke would come out in such abundance, with sparks and hideous noises."
One can almost imagine that Bunyan wrote those lines from the Colorado Desert, after viewing the "Volcanoes."
Over an area of more than a mile square are scattered hundreds of cone-like mounds, from one foot to one hundred feet in diameter and of various heights, all of which are busily engaged in spitting forth sulphurous vapors, black ooze, boiling mud and water, and other volcanic matter. Over the region eternally hang dense clouds of steam and hot vapors, and strange sounds emanate from this diabolical region. There are hissings, as of monster serpents; strange and ominous rumblings which come from the bowels of the earth; sharp explosions, singly or in multitudinous concert, like the running fire of armies engaged in battle; moaning noises, as of animals or human beings in distress; thuds and jars, as of heavy bodies falling,—all these and a multitude of other unusual and unnatural sounds are not reassuring to timid hearts.
The region is treeless and herbless. Sulphurous soil and sulphurous air have proven fatal to vegetable life. Not even the cactus or desert sage can survive the poisons of the soil. Animal life is equally scarce, and the very birds of the air avoid the locality.
There is a peculiar sensation experienced upon entering this volcanic region after hours of travel over the desert in the glare of the sun, which here ever shines from a cloudless sky. As one approaches the eruptive cones he passes into a shadow which is almost startling after the brightness so long experienced. The steam-clouds shut out the sun from this mile of gruesome region, but the heat from the numerous craters more than makes up for the absence of the fiery rays of the sun.