II 



THE DIVINE ABYSS 



IN making the journey to the great Southwest, — 

 Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, — if one 

 does not know his geology, he is pretty sure to wish 

 he did, there is so much geology scattered over all 

 these Southwestern landscapes, crying aloud to be 

 read. The book of earthly revelation, as shown by 

 the great science, lies wide open in that land, as it 

 does in few other places on the globe. Its leaves 

 fairly flutter in the wind, and the print is so large 

 that he who runs on the California Limited may 

 read it. Not being able to read it at all, or not taking 

 any interest in it, is like going to Rome or Egypt or 

 Jerusalem, knowing nothing of the history of those 

 lands. 



Of course, we have just as much geology in the 

 East and Middle West, but the books are closed 

 and sealed, as it were, by the enormous lapse of time 

 since these portions of the continent became dry 

 land. The eroding and degrading forces have ages 

 since passed the meridian of their day's work, and 

 grass and verdure hide their footsteps. But in the 

 great West and Southwest, the gods of erosion and 



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