12 INTRODUCTION. 
tures, decked out with all the accessories of buttress and turret, arched doorway and 
clustered shaft, pinnacle, finial, and tapering spire. 
“One might almost imagine he was approaching some magnificent city of the 
dead, where the labor and the genius of forgotten nations had left behind them a 
multitude of monuments of art and skill. 
“On descending from the heights, however, and proceeding to thread this vast 
labyrinth, and inspect in detail its deep intricate recesses, the realities of the scene 
soon dissipate the delusions of the distance. The castellated forms which fancy 
had conjured up have vanished; and on every side appears bleak and barren 
desolation. 
“Then, too, if the exploration be made in summer, the scorching rays of the 
sun, pouring down in the hundred defiles that conduct the wayfarer through this 
pathless waste, are reflected back from the white or ash-colored walls, that rise 
around unmitigated by a breath of air or the shelter of a solitary shrub. 
“The drooping spirits of the scorched geologist are not permitted, however, to 
flag. The fossil treasures of the way, well repay its sultriness and fatigue. At 
every step, objects of the highest interest present themselves. Embedded in the 
debris, lie strewn, in the greatest profusion, relics of extinct animals. All speak of 
a fresh-water deposit of the early Tertiary Period, and disclose the former exist- 
ence of most remarkable races, that roamed about in bygone ages high up in the 
valley of the Missouri, towards the sources of its western tributaries; where now 
pasture the Big Horn (Ovis montana) and the Buffalo (Bison americanus) .” 
Mr. Thaddeus A. Culbertson, who visited the Mauvaises Terres in 1850, under 
the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, and made a good collection of its animal 
remains, has given a description of this remarkable country closely corresponding 
with that just detailed. In one part of his journal, he observes: “‘ The road now lay 
over hills which became more steep and frequent as we approached the Bad Lands. 
These occasionally appeared in the distance, and never before did I see anything 
that so resembled a large city; so complete was this deception that I could point 
out the public buildings; one appeared to have a large dome, which might be the 
town hall; another, with a large angular top, suggested the idea of a court-house, 
or some other magnificent edifice for public purposes; and then appeared a row of 
palaces, great in number and superb in all their arrangements. Indeed, the thought 
frequently occurred as we rode along, that we were approaching a city of palaces; 
with everything upon the grandest scale, and adapted for giants, who might have 
ruled the huge animals, whose remains are there still, and not for pigmies, such as 
now inhabit the earth: Again and again, as from different positions this region 
was visible, thoughts of an immense city would arise in my mind, and I could 
almost fancy its din and bustle were occasionally borne upon the wind to my ear.” 
The structure of the columnar rocks of the Bad Lands, according to the report 
of Dr. Evans, quoted in the work of Dr. Owen, before indicated, is as follows :— 
* Journal of an Expedition to the Mauvaises Terres and the Upper Missouri in 1850. Fifth An. Rep. 
of the Smiths. Inst., p. 84. 
