34 THE GREAT BASIN. 



and picturesque promontories ; other mountains stood 

 out as islands. The sublime Sierra rose from its western 

 side, and volcanoes rose from its islands or stood near 

 its shores. There were mineral springs also, and some 

 of these have left their traces in more ways than I can 

 describe. I show you a few views of tufas taken about 

 Pyramid Lake, and of crystals that were formed in 

 another of these ancient lakes, and of tufa formations 

 from about Lake Mono, but any representation of them 

 conveys but an inadequate idea of their present aspect, 

 as the traveler sees them standing now in the inhospit- 

 able desert or rising from the waters of some dead and 

 salt sea. 



The volcanos erupted enormous quantities of ashes, 

 which fell in the lake and were distributed in strata on 

 their bottoms which have since been laid bare by evap- 

 oration. Microscopic examination shows that these 

 ancient volcano ashes were much like those which were 

 erupted from Krakatoa, in the great explosive eruption 

 of three years ago. The old lake beds formed of this 

 volcanic dust, are now dry sage brush plains. Lake 

 Lahontan was fresh. If it had an outlet it has not yet 

 been found. It probably flowed northward and found 

 its way to the Pacific through the Columbia River. 



Southward from this was another series of lakes. The 

 present Mono Lake is a saturated solution of salt, lying 

 in the desert at an elevation of more than 6,000 feet. Mt. 

 Dana rises from its western shore 7,000 feet higher, its 

 top streaked with eternal snows, the lake itself sur- 

 rounded by hot, inhospitable deserts. The water is a 

 saturated solution of salt, borax and soda. There are 

 volcanic islands in the lake, with hot springs upon them, 

 the home in the spring time of great flocks of gulls, 

 which come from the distant Pacific to nest there amid 

 these solitudes. I visited these islands with an Indian, 

 who used to go over there to collect eggs, which he 



