GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEERITORIES. 



127 



.A 



4" 



trees what we thought at first was one of the arms of the Yellowstone 



Lake. It proved to be Lake Madison, a most beautiful sheet of water, 



set like a gem among the mountains, with the 



dense pine forests extending down to the very 



shores. A ridge or promontory extends into the 



lake on the west side for about half a mile, which 



gives it a heart-shaped form. It is about three 



miles from north to south, and two from east to 



west. The shores of the lake are paved with 



masses of trachyte and obsidian. 



Leaving Madison Lake, we crossed a second 

 high basaltic ridge, and descended into the drain- 

 age of the Yellowstone. Dense pine forests, with 

 here and there open grassy glades, deep gullies 

 which seemed to have no water except during the 

 melting of the snows in spring, occur everywhere. 

 Old hot-spring deposits occur here and there, cov- 

 ering limited areas. We camped at night on the 

 shore of a lake which seemed to have no outlet. 

 It is simply a depression Avhich receives the 

 drainage of the surrounding hills. It is marshy 

 around the shores, and the surface is covered 

 thickly with the leaves and flowers of a large 

 yellow lily. The wdter is not clear and cold like that 

 of the other mountain lakes, but more like rain- 

 water. The vegetation was very luxuriant all 

 over these lowlands, and the flowers were abun- 

 dant and varied. The lake was about two miles 

 long and one wide, and it is doubtful whether it 

 had ever been observed by human beings before. 



The following morning we reached our camp at 

 the hot springs, on the southwest arm of the Yel- 

 lowstone Lake. 



i 





I 



•fl 



u-^^^-^^^ 



^> 





NOTES TO CHAPTER VL 



As an appendix to this chapter, I quote a few 

 paragraphs from a remarkably interesting though 

 scarce volume, entitled " New Zealand : its Physi- 

 cal Geography, Geology, and Natural History," by 

 Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter. The hot springs 

 and geysers of New Zealand are so similar to 

 those in the Yellowstone Basin, and scarcely less 

 inferior in interest, that I gladly call attention to 

 this most interesting and instructive work. The 

 origin of these hot springs is undoubtedly the 

 same all over the world. Those in Iceland have 

 been studied by the ablest scientific men from all piV' 

 portions of the world. ~^' 



The second extract is from a very able work by 

 Professor Gustave Bischof, " Eesearches into the 

 •Internal Heat of the Globe," (page 225.) These ex- 

 tracts will serve to convey the opinions of eminent 

 scientific men who have made the subject of hot springs a special study. 



