I pointed out to him that what he had heard was probably a legend arising from a tradition among the people which dated back to the time when one of the extinct parasitic volcanic cones was in activity. We saw several round the borders of the lake which had no doubt been working at a period long subsequent to the volcanic death of the central crater which now formed the bed of the lake itself. When it finally became extinct the people would imagine that the water from the lake had run down and put out the big fire below, more especially as there was no visible exit to it, though it was constantly fed by streams running from the snow-tipped peaks about.
The farther shore of the lake we found, on approaching it, to consist of a vast perpendicular wall of rock, which held the water without a
