It was mid-afternoon (1) __________ they reached Naaskard. The rocky slopes of the mountain (2) __________ colored brown, red, orange, yellow and white (3) __________ the geothermal activity beneath. Below the eastern flank of the mountain lay (4) __________ area of sulphur pits and pools of bubbling mud. Jets of super-heated steam erupted (5) __________ events in the ground. “Phew!” Ganying wrinkled her nose at the overpowering (6) __________, “It’s just (7) __________ rotten eggs!” “Hydrogen sulphide gas, actually. Mind (8) __________ camera!” Alan warned, seizing her arm and drawing her (9) __________ as she ventured too (10) __________ to the hissing steam. “That vapor (11) __________ hydrochloric acid, among (12) __________ things.” Ganying clutched her camera tightly. They crouched (13) __________ beside one of the largest mud pools. It was to meters across, with a meter-high rim formed (14) __________ the splattering mud. The liquid mud slurped noisily as large bubbles of gas burst. Ganying quickly took (15) __________ her camera. Ganying got two marvelous shots. (16) __________ was of a meter-wide bubble rising into a dome. The other was (17) __________ a circle of droplets hanging in mid-air. She walked (18) __________ towards a cream-colored cone (19) __________ which steam was billowing like a mini-volcano. The smell was terrible, and the mouth of the cone was stained yellow (20) __________ the powdered sulphur.