PIRATES IN THE MOUNTAINS 65 



and scraped and scraped them. Each pocket 

 was full of wet rock flour. Inside, between my 

 underwear and my skin, must have been two or 

 three inches of mud. If this had hardened I 

 would have been in a plaster cast. I kept 

 scraping and cleaning off this mud. It would 

 have been useless to put my clothes in the mud- 

 filled water. When I was through I had a de- 

 posit of mud, that is soil, which would have grown 

 a square yard of wheat. 



Soil, after all, is mostly rocks ground fine 

 rock flour mixed with minerals and chemicals. 

 At one time the earth was solid rock, and soil was 

 formed by water washing, freezing, and acids 

 breaking and cutting the rocks to fineness. 



Rivers not only wear out their channels but 

 they wear off less rapidly all the land surface 

 between each two rivers. This means that every 

 bit of land on earth is washed and worn down by 

 running water, rain from the clouds. 



If Robert was right, and I believe he was, then 

 every stream is something of a land pirate and 

 is at all times grabbing pieces of the earth and 

 sending them away to the sea. Every drop of 

 water is a little pirate. It picks up a little grain 

 of sand and away it goes for the sea. It travels 

 day and night. It goes swiftly and goes slowly; 

 it runs against boulders, snags, and has a merry- 

 go-round in whirlpools. But it keeps going. 



