GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITOEIES. 



127 



trees what we tliouglit 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 i^ine 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 i 

 shore of a lake which seemed to have no outlet. I 

 It is simply a depression which receives the ' 

 drainage of the surrounding hills. It is marshy I 

 around the shores, and the surface is covered ; 

 thickly with the leaves and flowers of a large j 

 yellow lily. The water is not clear and cold like that , 



of the other mountain lakes, but more like raui- 

 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. 



m I I 



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NOTES TO CHAPTEE VL 







1/ 



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/ 

 / 



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 simih^r to 



those in the Yellowstone Basin, and scarcely less 

 inferior in interest, that I gladly call attention to 

 this most interesting and instructive work. Tlie 

 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 

 portions of the world. 



The second extract is from a very able work by 

 Professor Gustave Bischof, '^ Eesearches into the 

 Internal ITcat of the Globe," (page -JL^a.) These ex- 

 tracts will serve to convey the oi)ini{)iis of eminent 

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



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