12 INTRODUCTION. 



tures, decked out with all the accessories of buttress and turret, arched doorway and 

 clustered shaft, pinnacle, finial, and tapering spire. 



" One might almost imagine he was approaching some magnificent city of the 

 dead, where the labor and the genius of forgotten nations had left behind them a 

 multitude of monuments of art and skill. 



"On descending from the heights, however, and proceeding to thread this vast 

 labyrinth, and inspect in detail its deep intricate recesses, the realities of the scene 

 soon dissipate the delusions of the distance. The castellated forms which fancy 

 had conjured up have vanished; and on every side appears bleak and barren 

 desolation. 



" Then, too, if the exj^loration be made in summer, the scorching rays of the 

 sun, pouring down in the hundred defiles that conduct the wayfarer through this 

 pathless waste, are reflected back from the white or ash-colored walls, that rise 

 around unmitigated by a breath of air or the shelter of a solitary shrub. 



" The drooping spirits of the scorched geologist are not permitted, however, to 

 flag. The fossil treasures of the way, well repay its sultriness and fatigue. At 

 every step, objects of the highest interest present themselves. Embedded in the 

 debris, lie strewn, in the greatest profusion, relics of extinct animals. All speak of 

 a fresh-water deposit of the early Tertiary Period, and disclose the former exist- 

 ence of most remarkable races, that roamed about in bygone ages high up in the 

 valley of the Missouri, towards the sources of its western tributaries; where now 

 pasture the Big Horn ( Ovis montana) and the Buffalo (Bison americanus) ." 



Mr. Thaddeus A. Culbertson, who visited the Mauvaises Terres in 1850, under 

 the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, and made a good collection of its animal 

 remains, has given a description of this remarkable country closely corresponding 

 with that just detailed. In one part of his journal, he observes : " The road now lay 

 over hills which became more steep and frequent as we approached the Bad Lands. 

 These occasionally appeared in the distance, and never before did I see anything 

 that so resembled a large city; so complete was this deception that I could point 

 out the public buildings ; one appeared to have a large dome, which might be the 

 town hall ; another, with a large angular top, suggested the idea of a court-house, 

 or some other magnificent edifice for public purposes; and then appeared a row of 

 palaces, great in number and superb in all their arrangements. Indeed, the thought 

 frequently occurred as we rode along, that we were approaching a city of palaces; 

 with everything upon the grandest scale, and adapted for giants, who might have 

 ruled the huge animals, whose remains are there still, and not for pigmies, such as 

 now inhabit the earth. Again and again, as from different positions this region 

 was visible, thoughts of an immense city would arise in my mind, and I could 

 almost fancy its din and bustle were occasionally borne upon the wind to my ear."^ 



The structure of the columnar rocks of the Bad Lands, according to the report 

 of Dr. Evans, quoted in the work of Dr. Owen, before indicated, is as follows: — 



' Journal of an Expedition to the Mauvaises Terres and the Upper Missouri in 1850. Fifth An. Rep. 

 of the Smiths. Inst., p. S4. 



