86 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



hearts were very sad and heavy. Truly, there was cause 

 for this feeling. Our provisions were nearly exhausted. 

 Our teams were almost dead with fatigue and looking 

 miserably poor. Before us were the Bad Lands, the worst 

 in America, and these we must cross. We were upheld by 

 the hope that, in spite of our doubts, we might find the 

 glittering gold that would prospect thirty cents to the pan, 

 and pay us liberally for our labor and hardships. 



We went in the direction of Rattlesnake Range and 

 passed the Owl Creek mountains ; it was next to impossi- 

 ble to cross the Bad Lands. There are different stories 

 told of the origin of these lands. Some think they have 

 been subject to volcanic eruptions, and some have other 

 theories wherewith to account for their present condition. 

 The lands looked to me as though they once might have 

 been covered with a great forest of trees and that this forest 

 had been burned down, smoldering deeply into the earth. 

 When you look at the rocks you must believe in the eruption 

 theory, for most of them stand on edge, and have the ap- 

 pearance of having been hurled hither and thither. Our ani- 

 mals sank almost to their knees in this treacherous ashbed. 

 Save here and there a few wild flowers of rare beauty, 

 there is no vegetation. 



