26 
AMERICA THE OLD WORLD. 
by supposing that the heated materials within 
the earth’s crust poured out frequently, meeting 
little resistance, — that they then scattered and 
were precipitated in the ocean around, settling 
in successive strata at its bottom, — that through 
such strata the heated masses within continued 
to pour again and again, forming for themselves 
the chimney-like outlets above mentioned. 
Such, then, was the earliest American land, — 
a long, narrow island, almost continental in its 
proportions, since it stretched from the eastern 
borders of Canada nearly to the point where now 
the base of the Rocky Mountains meets the plain 
of the Mississippi Valley. We may still walk 
along its ridge and know that we tread upon the 
ancient granite that first divided the waters into 
a northern and southern ocean ; and if our im- 
aginations will carry us so far, we may look down 
toward its base and fancy how the sea washed 
against this earliest shore of a lifeless world. 
This is no romance, but the bald, simple truth ; 
for the fact that this granite band was lifted out 
of the waters so early in the history of the world, 
and has not since been submerged, has, of course, 
prevented any subsequent deposits from forming 
above it. And this is true of all the northern 
part of the United States. It has been lifted 
gradually, the beds deposited in one period being 
subsequently raised, and forming a shore along 
