256 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND. 



In one strange land, 



And a long way from home, 



I heard a mighty rumbling, and I could n't tell where. 



Negro Melody, 



ALONG time ago fifty thousand years ago 

 perhaps, or it may have been twice fifty thou- 

 sand a strange thing took place in the heart 

 of the Great Mountains. It was in the middle of 

 the Pliocene epoch, a long, dull time that seemed 

 as if it would never come to an end. There was 

 then on the east side of the Great Divide a deep 

 rocky basin surrounded by high walls of granite 

 gashed to the base by the wash of many streams. 

 In this basin, we know not how, for the records 

 all are burned or buried, the crust of the earth 

 was broken, and a great outflow of melted lava 

 surged up from below. This was no ordinary 

 eruption, but a mighty outbreak of the earth's 

 imprisoned forces. The steady stream of lava 

 filled the whole mountain basin, and ran out over 

 its sides, covering all the country around so deeply 

 that it has never been seen since. More than 

 four thousand square miles of land lie buried 

 under melted rock. No one can tell how deep 

 the lava is, for no one has ever seen the bottom. 

 Within its bed are great clefts whose ragged walls 



