The Sulphur Pits of Sekkwash Tloop

I had the good fortune to make a day trip to the Sulphur Pits of Sekkwash Tloop in the Vloovian Valley. Such a scene from another world I have rarely seen! The stench was almost overpowering, but I bore it well to see the huge colored land sprawl before me. The minerals in the quasi-magma like liquid color the rocks, eat at them, and cover them with a delicate shell of various kinds of stalagmites. The jagged edges which appear so prominently in this picture are actually very fragile shells that crush into a fine mineral powder when underfoot. The liquid was extremely hot and we often had to detour around a spewing and bubbling surface in our protected boat of three different kinds of hulls as we made our way through the ever-changing maze of rocks and sediments that jut out from beneath. Even the smoke and steam was scalding hot and we wore special protective clothing for the journey that nearly stifled me! Everything was colored before me and I quite frequently had to wipe down my lenses and protect them lest they become coated with a fine powder as well that would quite quickly eat through most materials and corrode them.

But what a wondrous scene! How majestic it seems. Nature in one of it's oddest and finest moments, displayed before me like a gorgeous canvas of colors and textures that the pen can barely describe! Ah! how I wished that people could live in such places with comfort. But, alas, after only a few hours, we had to quickly retreat, for staying in such places too long is dangerous for the health. If only I could have taken a part of it back with me. But this photograph will have to suffice.

- Traveling Uncle Nat. :)

02/05/00