43 



great distances. They frequently communicate in every direction, forming 

 curious labyrinths; and, when the intervening masses are cut away at various 

 levels, or left standing, like monuments, we have the characteristic peculiari- 

 ties of "bad lands,'' or mauvaises terres. 



In portions of Kansas, tracts of this kind are scattered over the country 

 along the margins of the river and creek valleys and ravines. The upper 

 stratum of the rock is a yellow chalk, the lower bluish, and the brilliancy of 

 the color increases the picturesque effect. From elevated points, the plains 

 appear to be dotted with ruined villages and towns whose avenues are lined 

 with painted walls of fortifications, churches, and towers, while side-alleys 

 pass beneath natural bridges or expand into small pockets and caverns, 

 smoothed by the action of the wind carrying hard mineral particles. But 

 this is the least interesting of the peculiarities presented by these rocks. On 

 the level surfaces, denuded of soil, lie huge oyster-like shells, some opened 

 and others with both valves together, like remnants of a half-finished meal of 

 some titanic race, who had been frightened from the board never to return. 

 These shells are not as much thickened as many fossil oysters, but contained 

 an animal which would have served as a meal for a large party of men. One 

 of them measured twenty-six inches across. 



If the explorer searches the bottoms of the rain-washes and ravines, he 

 will doubtless come upon the fragment of a tootn or jaw, and will generally 

 find a line of such pieces leading to an elevated position on the bank or bluff 

 where lies the skeleton of some monster of the ancient sea. He may find 

 the vertebral column running far into the limestone that locks him in his last 

 prison ; or a paddle extended on the slope, as though entreating aid ; or a pair 

 of jaws lined with horrid teeth, which grin despair on enemies they are help- 

 less to resist ; or he may find a conic mound, on whose apex glisten in the sun 

 the bleached bones of one whose last office has been to preserve from destruc- 

 tion the friendly soil on which he reposed. Sometimes a pile of huge remains 

 will be discovered, which the dissolution of the rock has deposited on the 

 lower level; the force of rain and wash having been insufficient to carry them 

 away. 



But the reader inquires, What is the nature of these creatures thus left- 

 stranded a thousand miles from either ocean 1 How came they in the lime- 

 stones of Kansas, and were they denizens of land or sea? It may be replied 

 that our knowledge of this chapter of ancient history is only about five years 



