SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 43 



man of Egypt we find a European race more or less mixed 

 with the Negro. He says that there are 9,000 years' unbroken 

 chains of events in Egyptian history, and yet we are far from 

 the beginning. There are traces that civilization must have 

 come in from another country with copper and fine Avork in 

 flint and stone, and good pottery. 



In the earliest graves, figures of a race of the Bushmen 

 type were found similar to those found both in France and 

 Malta, suggesting that the race may have extended over Africa 

 into Europe. There were figures of captive women of the 

 earlier race which were Paleolithic. 



Aside from all tradition it would seem that the portion of 

 the earth's surface now occupied by the South Pacific ocean 

 was once dry land, of which portions of Australasia and some 

 of the islands represent all that now remains of a once immense 

 continent which has been destroyed by volcanic action, which 

 is still at work with diminished force. 



The researches of geologists have shov^^n that extensive 

 areas of the dry land of the present have been, and still are, 

 covered by volcanic matter, the source of which cannot be sat- 

 isfactorily accounted for. The known extinct and active vol- 

 canoes are sufficient to account for but a small proportion of 

 the great number and extent of ancient overflows. 



The great lava flow of the northwestern portion of the 

 American continent covers Northern California, part of Ne- 

 vada, Oregon, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and far into Mon- 

 tana and British Columbia. It is said to cover not less than 

 150,000 square miles, and in some places more than thirty suc- 

 cessive layers are shown, extending in some places to a depth of 

 perhaps 3,000 feet. In India 200,000 square miles are covered 

 from 2,000 to 6,000 feet thick without a visible volcano from 

 which the lava could have come. 



Where there are great eruptions of melted matter from 

 the interior of the earth there must result corresponding cav- 

 ernous chambers beneath the surface, which upon the ingress 

 of the waters of the ocean are, by contact with the incandes- 

 cent heat, changed into superheated steam, with incalculable 

 explosive power sufficient to destroy islands and portions of 

 continents. 



Many such instances have occurred within historic times 

 and* where the earth's crust is thus displaced the water of the 

 ocean fills the depression. 



An instance of remarkable volcanic energy in historic 

 times is presented by the blowing off of a volcanic cone called 

 Papandayang in the Island of Java, by which it is estimated 

 that about thirty billion cubic feet of material was thrown into 

 the atmosphere in a single night, the mountain was reduced 



