Edward Gary 



delude of melted rock. From the 

 bottom of the sea sprang up those 

 fountains of lava whose cooled mate- 

 rial forms many of the islands of the 

 Pacific, and all along the coast of 

 America, like a system of answering 

 beacons, blazed up volcanic chimneys. 

 The rent mountains glowed with out- 

 pourings of molten stone. Sheets of 

 lava poured down the slopes of the 

 Sierra, covering an immense propor- 

 tion of its surface ; only the high 

 granites and metamorphic peaks 

 reaching above the deluge. Rivers 

 and lakes floated up in a cloud of 

 steam and were gone for ever. The 

 misty sky of these volcanic days 

 glowed with innumerable lurid reflec- 

 tions, and at intervals along the crest 

 of the range great cones arose, black- 

 ening the sky with their plumes of 

 mineral smoke. At length, having 

 exhausted themselves, the volcanoes 

 burned lower and lower, and at last 

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