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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wealth of the World's Waste Places and
+Oceania, by Jewett Castello Gilson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania
+
+
+Author: Jewett Castello Gilson
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007  [eBook #23546]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+AND OCEANIA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 23546-h.htm or 23546-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h/23546-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+Redway's Geographical Readers
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA
+
+by
+
+JEWETT C. GILSON
+Former Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, California
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: From the National Geographic Magazine, copyright 1911:
+The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah]
+
+
+
+Charles Scribner's Sons
+New York 1913
+
+Copyright, 1913,
+by Jewett C. Gilson
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Although the term "Waste Places" carries an implied meaning of
+"worthless," yet, interpreted in the light of Nature's methods, each
+region described, useless as it may apparently seem, possesses a
+definite relation to the rest of the world, and therefore to the
+well-being of man. The Sahara is the track of the winds whose moisture
+fertilizes the flood-plains of the Nile. The Himalaya Mountains condense
+the rain that gives life to India. From the inhospitable polar regions
+come the winds and currents that temper the heat of the tropics.
+
+Nature has secreted many of her most useful treasures in most forbidding
+places. The nitrates which fertilize so much of Europe are drawn from
+the fiercest of South American deserts, and the gold which measures
+American commerce is mined in the arctic wilds of Alaska or in the
+almost inaccessible scarps of the western highlands. The description of
+these regions and the portrayal of their relation to the rest of the
+world is the purpose of Part I of this book.
+
+Part II of the book deals with Oceania--more especially with our island
+possessions in the Pacific Ocean. It presents the salient features of
+the ocean grand division in the light of most recent knowledge.
+
+The author wishes to give credit to Mr. Jacques W. Redway, F.R.G.S., for
+suggesting the subject of Part I and for the inspiration he received
+from the distinguished geographer in developing the subject.
+
+J. C. G.
+
+Oakland, California,
+December 25, 1912.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+PART I--WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                           1
+
+    CHAPTER
+         I. THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST                           4
+        II. THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO                          27
+       III. YELLOWSTONE PARK                                          35
+        IV. TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES
+            AND GIANT TREES                                           51
+         V. DEATH VALLEY                                              58
+        VI. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES                           67
+       VII. THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN                                 82
+      VIII. THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA                              97
+        IX. THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN                           105
+         X. THE SAHARA                                               115
+        XI. POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC                128
+       XII. POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA                                147
+      XIII. ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH                           160
+       XIV. GREENLAND                                                170
+        XV. WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET                          175
+       XVI. RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS                                183
+      XVII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES                 190
+     XVIII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA    195
+       XIX. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR                       199
+        XX. THE BAKU OIL FIELDS                                      206
+       XXI. THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS                         211
+
+PART II--OCEANIA
+
+      XXII. THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC                               226
+     XXIII. AUSTRALIA                                                233
+      XXIV. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF                                   244
+       XXV. THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA                             250
+      XXVI. TASMANIA                                                 258
+     XXVII. NEW ZEALAND                                              262
+    XXVIII. SAMOA AND FIJI                                           270
+      XXIX. THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS                                     277
+       XXX. GUAM                                                     285
+      XXXI. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS                                   289
+     XXXII. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--JAVA                              301
+    XXXIII. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES               311
+     XXXIV. BORNEO AND PAPUA                                         319
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah        Frontispiece
+
+                                                                 PAGE
+
+Map of Islands of the Pacific                                   Facing 1
+
+Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost                             6
+
+Gila monsters                                                          9
+
+A giant cactus in Arizona                                             12
+
+The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway         17
+
+Shoshone Project, Wyoming                                             25
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Colorado                                      29
+
+Grand View Trail                                                      33
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, looking down canyon
+from Grand Point                                                      37
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Mammoth Hot Springs,
+Summit Pools                                                          45
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Beehive Geyser                47
+
+The Brontosaurus                                                      53
+
+The Allosaurus                                                        55
+
+Twenty-mule borax team                                                61
+
+The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road           73
+
+Llamas resting                                                        77
+
+Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru,
+13,600 feet high                                                      79
+
+Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River. Catching the
+material for caviare                                                  83
+
+Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River                         87
+
+Driving over the tundra in winter                                     91
+
+Train on the steppes of Russia                                        95
+
+Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India                               99
+
+Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India                                   107
+
+On the sands of the desert                                           117
+
+The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but furnishes milk,
+butter, and meat                                                     103
+
+A group of Arabs with their dromedaries                              111
+
+A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa                   125
+
+Peary's ship, the _Roosevelt_                                        137
+
+Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on the
+_Roosevelt_                                                          141
+
+Musk ox                                                              144
+
+An antarctic summer scene                                            149
+
+The penguin defies the cold                                          153
+
+Street in Reykjavik, Iceland                                         163
+
+North Cape, Iceland                                                  167
+
+Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland                         171
+
+A large iceberg                                                      173
+
+A group of Eskimos in south Greenland                                174
+
+The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end       177
+
+Fuegians                                                             179
+
+The Everglades of Florida                                            184
+
+Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida               187
+
+The Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah                                191
+
+Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah                                  193
+
+This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the
+city nestling at its base, Gibraltar                                 201
+
+Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea                        209
+
+Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley                         219
+
+Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine                    223
+
+A Malay girl                                                         229
+
+A Malay boy                                                          231
+
+A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference                          235
+
+A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket                237
+
+An Australian emeu                                                   239
+
+Homestead and station in Young district, Australia                   243
+
+The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal
+structure in the world                                               247
+
+Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains nearly half a
+million people                                                       257
+
+Maori pa, or village                                                 263
+
+The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand                                   265
+
+Native canoe, Fiji Islands                                           275
+
+General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii                       279
+
+A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of Mauna-Loá, Hawaii    281
+
+Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find rice-farms as
+skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China                      287
+
+The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles along            291
+
+The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila             295
+
+Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands             297
+
+Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country                     299
+
+A breadfruit tree in Java                                            303
+
+Coffee-drying in Java                                                309
+
+Natives in the jungle, Sumatra                                       313
+
+A jungle, scene in Sumatra                                           316
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA
+
+[Illustration: Islands of the Pacific.]
+
+PART I
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+There is a great wealth of literature about what we call the world's
+productive lands--that is, the densely peopled lands that yield grain,
+meat, sugar, fruit, and all the various foodstuffs. In any well-equipped
+library we may find great numbers of useful books that will tell us all
+about the places where cotton, wool, and silk are grown, or where coal
+and iron are mined. All these lands are the dwelling places of many
+people. Networks of railways connect the various cities and villages,
+and probably a majority of the people living in them have travelled in
+and about much of the area of these lands.
+
+A large part of the earth's surface is commonly called "unproductive."
+As a rule this is only another way of saying that such parts of the
+world produce little foodstuffs. We must not take the word
+"unproductive" either too literally or too seriously, however, for Dame
+Nature has a way of secreting some of her choice treasures in places so
+forbidding and so desolate that only the most resolute and daring men
+even search for them. For instance, the mineral once much used by the
+makers of carbonated or "soda" water comes from a part of Greenland that
+is so bleak, cold, and inhospitable that no human beings can long exist
+there unless food and fuel are brought them from afar off. The famous
+"nitrates" of Chile are obtained in the fiercest part of the Andean
+desert. Not only the food but the water consumed must be carried to the
+miners, who are but little better than slaves. Most of the gold and
+silver is obtained in regions that are unfit for human habitation. The
+largest diamond fields in the world are in a region that will not
+produce even grass without irrigation--a region that would not be
+inhabited were there no diamonds. From the most inhospitable highlands
+of Asia comes a very considerable part of the precious mineral, jade.
+Death Valley, in the southern part of the United States, on account of
+its terrific heat, is perhaps the most unhabitable region in the world,
+but the borax which it produces is used in every civilized country. And
+so we might name regions by the score that are practically unhabitable,
+which nevertheless produce things necessary to civilized man.
+
+We call them "waste places," but this is far from true. For the greater
+part they are quite as necessary as the places we call fertile. Of
+foodstuffs, for instance, the greater part of the Rocky Mountain
+highland produces not much more than the State of New York. Yet the
+presence of this great mountain wall diverts the moist warm air from the
+Gulf of Mexico northward, making the Mississippi basin one of the
+foremost granaries of the world. The absence of rain in the west slope
+of the Peruvian Andes makes much of the western part of Chile and Peru a
+desert. But that same absence of rain makes the nitrate beds possible;
+for had there been yearly rains, the nitrates long since would have been
+leached out. So, the lands the nitrates now fertilize are far greater in
+area than that of the region of the nitrates.
+
+Then, perhaps, we turn our eyes oceanward. What! wealth in these great
+wastes? Most certainly, and indispensable wealth at that. Let us forget
+for a moment that the oceans produce about as much meatstuffs as the
+land; this is really the least important feature about them. The oceans
+produce one thing that is absolutely necessary for every living thing
+almost every hour of the day, and that is fresh water. Every drop of
+fresh water that falls on the land is born of the ocean. Even the cold,
+polar oceans are indispensable to life, for their waters are constantly
+flowing out into the warmer oceans, thereby tempering the water of the
+latter and preventing it from being too warm for living things.
+
+Thus we see that, after all, Dame Nature is not very unkind to her
+subjects. Compensation is her great law; if her supplies are "short" in
+one direction they are "long" in another. And when we take the broader
+view we must conclude that there are no waste places. It is only when we
+take the extreme and narrow view that we voice the persiflage of the
+poet Pope:
+
+    "While man exclaims: 'See all things for my use'--
+    'See man for mine,' replies a pampered goose."
+
+Now, these waste places are of various kinds and in pretty nearly every
+locality. Some are deserts pure and simple; some are very dry and, to
+avoid hurting our national feelings, we politely refer to them as "arid
+regions"; some are so rugged and inaccessible that nothing short of
+dirigible balloons and aeroplanes could open a general communication
+with them; still others are in polar regions and too bleak and desolate
+to produce foodstuffs or support human life. The purpose of these
+chapters is to present the characteristics of these waste places. Most
+of them have been conquered by man, and their resources have been opened
+wide to the world. Possibly others yet remain to be conquered, but "what
+man has done, man can do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST
+
+
+Years ago the maps of the United States depicted a vast region west of
+the Missouri River stippled with dots, which were supposed to imitate
+sand, and marked with the portentous legend, "Great American Desert." As
+sturdy pioneers pushed their settlements farther and farther westward,
+the great American desert began to shrink in size until the roseate
+descriptions of prospectors and land speculators led one to believe that
+this whole region needed only a touch of the plough and the harrow to
+produce the most bountiful crops grown anywhere in the world.
+
+Nevertheless, the great domain extending from the
+twenty-five-hundred-foot level to the crest of the Sierra Nevada
+Mountains is a region so deficient in rainfall that, for the greater
+part, ordinary foodstuffs will not grow without irrigation; so farming
+must be confined mainly to the flood-plains of the rivers. Here and
+there considerable areas have been made fertile by capturing rivers,
+damming their streams so as to create great reservoirs, and then
+measuring out the waters to the farm lands below. The Salt River dam in
+Arizona, recently completed, will supply water to two thousand square
+miles, or about twenty-five thousand fifty-acre farms.
+
+But in spite of all that man has done and can do to make this region
+fruitful, not far from half a million square miles will ever remain
+barren so far as the production of foodstuffs is concerned. Now this
+whole region, irrigated lands included, does not produce more wealth
+than the State of New York alone--possibly it does not produce so much.
+
+Indirectly, however, it is worth more than two thousand million dollars
+yearly to the rest of the United States; for it is a great highland
+whose rims, the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountain ranges, are about
+two miles high. Now, these lofty ranges wring almost every drop of
+moisture from the rain-bearing winds of the Pacific Ocean, leaving them
+too dry to shed any moisture over the eastern half of the United States.
+Because of this great mountain barrier, the winds that bring rain and
+bountiful crops to the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic slope, follow
+an easier passage, flowing directly from the Gulf of Mexico and the
+Caribbean Sea. And the copious rains are the chief wealth of this
+midland region.
+
+But the arid western highland possesses a great wealth of its own--a
+wealth whose influence is world-wide, for it is one of the world's chief
+storehouses of gold, silver, and copper. Gold and silver are the mediums
+of commercial transactions, and copper is the chief medium for the
+transmission of electric power. These metals, therefore, are quite as
+necessary as are iron and steel. Moreover, this great waste, a seeming
+incubus on the face of the earth, is each year disclosing more and more
+of its mineral and agricultural wealth.
+
+Gold is the most widely disseminated of all metals, and is said to be
+where you find it. That this statement is true has been demonstrated
+many times, especially during the last few decades. In the north it has
+been found in the frozen ground of Alaska and Siberia, in the south in
+the sands on the surf-beaten shores of Tierra del Fuego and in the reefs
+of the Transvaal, while it is found in numerous places lying between
+these extremes.
+
+The vast tract of land in the western part of the United States whence
+most of these metals are obtained has been the scene of many tragedies.
+It is an inhospitable region, scanty in both animal and vegetable life,
+where climatic conditions call for heroic daring on the part of those
+who would search out its hidden mysteries; it is a land of death-dealing
+mirages, yet containing untold wealth for the miner, and likewise for
+the husbandman who can irrigate the fallow parched surface.
+
+[Illustration: Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost]
+
+The bold prospector has unearthed in many places of southern Nevada
+gold-bearing rock assaying thousands of dollars to the ton, the result
+being the building up of cities and towns and the construction of
+connecting railroads to meet the demands of the growing commerce. Until
+recently, silver was the principal metal sought and found in the State
+of Nevada; but now gold is king, and his throne has been shifted from
+one desert camp to another, each laying claim to his abundant presence,
+while new claimants are ever bringing new treasures into light.
+
+The two most valuable deposits of the precious metals now known in
+Nevada are at Tonopah and Goldfield, the discovery of the first having
+been made in 1901 and of the latter in the following year. Some of the
+Goldfield ore has assayed as high as thirty thousand dollars per ton,
+and so rich were many of its ores that they were sacked and carefully
+guarded until landed at the reduction works. In one year and a half from
+the discovery of gold at Goldfield the output reached four million
+dollars.
+
+These mines of the Nevada deserts excel in the richness and abundance of
+their ores, while in the future these camps bid fair to outrival in
+development all other sections of the United States. A few years ago the
+southern part of the Silver State was considered utterly worthless and a
+region to be shunned like a charnel-house, on account of its barren and
+dangerous character. Now it is the Mecca of the gold-seeker.
+
+These mines have already made many a poor man wealthy and many a wealthy
+man a millionaire. Each hillock, ledge, or ravine holds a possible
+fortune, and no hardship and peril is too great for the prospector lured
+by the hope of a rich find. The prosperous desert mining town, first
+built of canvas and rough lumber, is soon replaced by a better class of
+buildings, and water is brought through long miles of pipe from the
+nearest available source. Anon, electric-lighting and other modern
+conveniences are added, thereby making life more tolerable in a fierce
+climate of heat and cold, of fiercer winds and blinding dust.
+
+Not only is gold found in these desert wastes, but borax, nitre,
+sulphur, silver, salt, soda, opals, garnets, turquoises, onyx, and
+marble form a part of its resources. Rich gold mines have built the
+towns of Randsburg and Johannesburg in the midst of the Mohave desert,
+while finds of rich ore made elsewhere are of frequent occurrence. It is
+thought that in the near future sufficient nitre can be obtained from
+the deserts of California and Nevada to render the United States
+independent of Chile, from whose desert, Atacama, the world's chief
+supply of this mineral is now obtained.
+
+Perhaps there is no part of the United States more healthy and at the
+same time more deadly than the southeastern part of California, embraced
+in those indefinite areas called the Mohave and Colorado deserts. That
+life and death should lay claim to the same regions with equal strength
+seems somewhat of a riddle, but a careful investigation of the
+conditions will make good the claims of both. Here are regions rivalling
+the Sahara in heat, lack of water, and barrenness, and in many parts as
+difficult to traverse; regions full of surprises in deceptive mirages,
+peculiar vegetation, strange animal life, occasional cloud-bursts, purity
+and exhilarating effects of atmosphere, charm of ever-changing colors
+reflected from the mountains, wealth of floral display in early spring,
+and marvellous fertility of soil when touched by the magic wand of
+water. All these and a certain weirdness of beauty difficult to define
+give these great wastes a peculiar attraction of their own which only
+those who have spent much time there can understand and appreciate.
+
+For the dread white plague in its early stages there is no medicine and
+no other climate that can equal the pure, healing atmosphere of these
+deserts. A new lease of life may be gained by the nerve-racked man or
+woman who will lay aside all home worries and spend a few months at some
+congenial home on one or another of these deserts.
+
+[Illustration: Gila monsters]
+
+Among the animal life found on the desert are the wildcat, coyote,
+rabbit, deer, rat, tortoise, scorpion, centipede, tarantula, Gila
+monster, chuck-walla, desert rattlesnake, side-winder, humming-bird,
+eagle, quail, and road-runner. Wild horses and wild donkeys, or
+"burros," frequent these great wastes, cropping the vegetation that
+grows on the oases.
+
+One of the most interesting of these animals is the desert-rat, whose
+habits, seemingly intelligent and equally curious, enable him to
+maintain a home amid surroundings most unfavorable to his survival. He
+is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always
+leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often
+called the trade rat. Night-time is his "busy day."
+
+The house that he builds for himself is a veritable fortified castle
+built in up-to-date desert-rat style, under a protecting bush or rock,
+or beside a cactus--preferably a prickly pear. This stronghold, from
+four to five feet long and three feet high, is made of sticks interwoven
+with pieces of prickly cactus, thorny twigs, and odd bits in
+general--great care being taken to have most of the thorns project
+outward. His private quarters consist of a shallow hole burrowed under
+the centre of this thorn-woven pile. Access to the interior is gained by
+a winding passage.
+
+The only enemy that might try to thread the mazy hallway is the rattler,
+who by an ingenious device is deterred from even making the attempt. To
+keep his snakeship from intruding on domestic privacy Mr. Rat takes
+several strips of spiny cactus and lays them flatways across the
+passageway leading to his retreat.
+
+It is well known that a rattlesnake will not crawl over a prickly
+substance; hence a traveller when camping out at night in rattlesnake
+regions often surrounds his sleeping place with a horsehair rope as a
+safeguard against such an unwelcome intruder. Even the hungry, prowling
+coyote, who would make short work of the rat could he but get at him,
+fights shy of lacerating his paws by attempting to tear down the
+formidable pile.
+
+The desert-rat has a morbid desire to carry to his home any small
+article which he may chance to find lying around, as many a desert miner
+has found to his discomfiture, but he always leaves something in its
+place, such as a strip of cactus or a stick.
+
+For downright strategy no creature inhabiting the desert surpasses the
+road-runner, sometimes called the ground-cuckoo or snake-killer. Though
+omnivorous, this bird lives chiefly on reptiles and mollusks. It is
+decked in a gay plumage of coppery green, with streaks of white on the
+sides and a topknot of deep blue. In fleetness of foot it is said to
+equal the horse. Many stories are told of its surrounding a coiled
+sleeping rattlesnake with strips of cactus and then tantalizing its
+victim until, baffled in every attempt to get away, the snake finally
+inflicts a deadly bite on itself. Then the road-runner leisurely
+proceeds to devour the suicide.
+
+The characteristic plants of these deserts are sage, mesquite,
+greasewood, and a great variety of cacti. Of the cactus family, the most
+conspicuous is the _saguaro_, or giant cactus, which frequently attains
+the height of fifty feet. All the cacti are leafless and abundantly
+supplied with sharp, needle-like spines which protect them from
+herbivorous animals. The bark or outer covering has a firm, close
+texture that prevents the sap from evaporating during the long, dry
+season. In traversing the deserts during May and June, one is amazed at
+the display of beautiful blossoms of white, yellow, purple, pink, and
+scarlet issuing from their thorny stalks.
+
+The plant most welcome to the thirsty traveller, and which has saved the
+lives of many a wandering prospector, is the "well of the desert," a
+barrel-shaped cactus thickly studded with sharp spines. When one cuts
+out the centre of the plant in a bowl-like form, the cavity soon fills
+up with a watery liquid that is most refreshing.
+
+[Illustration: A giant cactus in Arizona]
+
+Hot and forbidding as are these terrible wastes, they are the dwelling
+places of several tribes of Indians. The desert cactus furnishes them a
+large part of their food, and the fibre is woven into cloth to provide
+them with clothing. These Indians have been acclimated to the desert for
+centuries and are well versed in all of its moods and mysteries. They
+know of no better abode; neither can they be induced to leave it for a
+more congenial climate and fertile soil. Travellers and prospectors have
+told many stories about their experiences in these deserts. But perhaps
+no story has possessed a greater fascination than that of the lost
+Pegleg Mine.
+
+The story of this lost mine has been told and retold with many
+variations for the past seventy years, and more than a score of persons
+have lost their lives in attempting to rediscover it. In 1836, according
+to the traditional story, a man named Smith, distinguished from the rest
+of the Smith family by the possession of a wooden leg, was journeying
+with several companions from Yuma over the Colorado desert. On account
+of his wooden stump he was dubbed "Pegleg" by his fellow-travellers.
+
+After having been out several days and not finding any springs or water
+holes, the prospectors became greatly alarmed and hastened toward three
+small buttes which they saw standing out in the desert, in the hope of
+finding water in the dry wash leading from their bases. On arriving at
+the foot of the hills they were sadly disappointed; diligent search
+revealed no signs of water. He of the wooden leg climbed to the top of
+one of the buttes to get a better view of the country, and to the
+northward saw a high mountain; but before descending, he observed some
+black stones under his feet and on picking one up found it heavy and
+filled with a brassy-colored metal. He then picked up several of the
+stones and put them into his pockets, but being desirous of reaching
+water as soon as possible, he gave little thought to his find.
+
+He told his companions of the mountain seen to the north and advised all
+possible haste to reach it, saying that he believed that they would
+there find water. The next day at nightfall they succeeded in reaching
+the base of the mountain in an exhausted condition and found a spring of
+cool, clear water. They were thus barely saved from a lingering death by
+thirst. The mountain was named Smith Mountain.
+
+At San Bernardino, Smith showed his ore to an expert, who pronounced it
+nearly pure gold. The real importance of the discovery did not seem to
+dawn on the one-legged man, however, until thirteen years afterward;
+then, in 1849, it was heralded to the world that wonderful discoveries
+of gold had been made in several parts of California and that a man
+could dig out of the ground a fortune in a few days or weeks. Smith
+became enthusiastic and organized an expedition in San Francisco to seek
+for his desert mine where gold could be had for the picking up.
+
+The expedition started out from Los Angeles. One night, just before
+reaching Smith Mountain, the Indians who had been taken along to pack
+the supplies secretly decamped with the provisions, thus compelling the
+prospectors to return as speedily as possible to save their lives. Smith
+felt discouraged and left the company at San Bernardino. Whether he
+perished in again trying to find his mine or left the country is not
+known. At any rate, he was never heard of afterward.
+
+In 1860 a man named McGuire deposited in one of the San Francisco banks
+several thousand dollars in gold nuggets which he said he obtained near
+Smith Mountain. He organized a party of six to hunt for the Pegleg Mine.
+What they found, however, will never be known, for they all perished,
+and their bleached bones were found on the desert a long time afterward.
+They were not alone in disaster, however, for very many others in trying
+to find the legacy of Smith have met the same fate.
+
+But the hidden wealth of this great region, so long known as the "Great
+American Desert," is by no means confined to its storehouses of gold,
+silver, and copper. Here, there, and almost everywhere are areas that
+lack but one element to make them the most productive regions of the
+world, and that one element is water.
+
+The conquest of the Colorado desert is not the first instance of desert
+land reclamation in the United States, but it is certainly one of the
+marvels of the world's history. A more pronounced and inhospitable
+desert never existed; and, in proportion to the area reclaimed, it is
+doubtful if one can find greater productivity than the lands that
+constitute Imperial Valley. Let us take a glance at nature's work in
+this region.
+
+Long before the Mississippi was born the Colorado was an ancient river
+and it formerly flowed through a fertile valley. During countless ages
+it has stripped from the plateau and carried into the Gulf of California
+a deposit of rock waste from the land surface of its basin many feet
+deep, and abraded billions of tons of material from its channel. All
+this silt and detritus have served to fill up the northern part of the
+gulf, the result of the deposit being an immense land area. At length a
+great bar was formed across the northern part of the gulf, making a sort
+of inland sea. Then the hot climate caused the water to evaporate, while
+from time to time the Colorado overflowed its banks, spreading a rich
+sediment over the former sea-bed.
+
+Various parts of this depression, which, like Palestine, lie below the
+sea-level, are known as Salton, Coahuilla, and Imperial Valleys. The
+lowest part, now filled with water, is usually called the Salton Sea.
+The whole of this region is comprehended under the name of Colorado
+Desert. In 1900 a company was formed to reclaim that part of the desert
+included in Imperial Valley, by taking water out of the Colorado River a
+few miles below the boundary between California and Mexico.
+
+A main canal, called the Imperial Canal, one hundred miles long, seventy
+feet wide, and eight feet deep carries water from the Colorado to
+Imperial Valley, where it is distributed by hundreds of smaller canals.
+The irrigation facilities are already sufficient to water more than one
+hundred thousand acres.
+
+This region, rightly named the hot-house of America, produces marvellous
+crops of hay, grain, and fruits; it is an ideal place for raising
+live-stock and poultry as well. Some of this land already brings into
+its owners from three hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars yearly
+income per acre, and because of its wonderful fertility it is likened to
+the valley of the Nile.
+
+In 1904 the Imperial Canal was filled with silt for some distance, thus
+preventing the flow of the proper amount of water needed for irrigation.
+To remedy the defect a temporary canal was cut around the head-gate.
+This expedient had been tried and then the gap had been closed up before
+high water. At this particular time high water came earlier than usual,
+and a great flood tore out the channel of the temporary canal to such an
+extent that before it could be prevented the whole Colorado River was
+flowing through the breach, leaving its own bed perfectly dry to the
+Gulf of California, filling up the Salton Valley, burying up the Salton
+salt-works, and making an inland sea such as formerly existed there.
+After most strenuous efforts, and at the enormous expense of upward of a
+million dollars, the gap was at length repaired and the Colorado made to
+flow in its own bed.
+
+One should remember that in the development of these deserts the
+prospector owes a deep debt of gratitude to that patient, faithful
+little beast, the donkey, or "burro," as it is commonly known; without
+the service of this animal many a man would have suffered a lingering
+death. As a matter of fact, it is unsafe to venture far out into the
+desert unaccompanied by this oft-maligned creature--about the only
+animal fitted to carry supplies.
+
+[Illustration: _Built by the U. S. Reclamation Service_ The Roosevelt
+Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway]
+
+But the use of dams and canals to conserve and supply water for
+irrigation prevailed even in most ancient times. Extensive irrigation
+works were built in Egypt three thousand years ago, and in India, China,
+Persia, and the countries bordering on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers
+irrigation dates back centuries before the Christian era.
+
+The Romans introduced irrigation into southern Europe. When Pizarro
+conquered the empire of the Incas he found the people possessed of
+wonderful systems for irrigation. Likewise, Cortez found the Aztecs
+making extensive canals. Remains of great irrigation works are found
+to-day in Arizona and New Mexico, where our modern engineers wisely
+adopt the canal routes which were established by a race now extinct.
+
+At the present time India is irrigating twenty-five million acres of
+land, the United States thirteen million, Egypt seven million, and Italy
+three million. It is estimated that the United States has left one
+hundred and eighty million acres of arid and semi-arid land available
+for reclamation and four times as much that is incapable of being
+reclaimed.
+
+No other question of to-day is of such vital and far-reaching importance
+as that of the reclamation of the millions of acres of sleeping arid
+lands in the western part of our country. Mines may be exhausted,
+forests slain, and cities annihilated, but wastes made fruitful through
+the potency of water will remain everlasting sources of wealth to the
+nation.
+
+During the last few years our government has been very active in
+promoting irrigation by building impounding dams and constructing canals
+and tunnels for the delivery of water. In connection with the various
+irrigation works the government has already established five
+hydro-electric plants which furnish water, motive power, and light as
+may be required. From the big Roosevelt Dam and the drops of the level
+in the canal connected therewith, twenty-six thousand horse-power will
+be developed incidental to the reclamation of two hundred thousand acres
+of land.
+
+The miracle-working agent, water, has already reclaimed thirteen million
+acres of our domain, and these areas now produce two hundred and sixty
+million dollars annually; moreover, they furnish homes to more than
+three hundred thousand people. Prosperous rural communities with
+thousands of happy, rosy-cheeked children, blooming orchards, broad,
+fertile fields prolific beyond comparison, and flourishing cities
+replace wastes of sand and sage-brush.
+
+The United States Government alone has spent already sixty millions of
+dollars under the Reclamation Act which went into effect in 1902, and
+the end is not yet, for as the vista of human achievements in this line
+broadens still greater works will be inaugurated and successfully
+consummated. In Arizona, California, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana,
+New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming the United States
+Government already is working on or has completed twenty-six important
+irrigation projects.
+
+The most wonderful work combining the highest engineering skill and
+daring is found in the western part of Colorado, where from Black
+Canyon, an almost inaccessible gorge three thousand feet deep, the whole
+Gunnison River has been diverted to the Uncompahgre Valley. To take the
+water out of the river it was necessary to bore a tunnel six miles long
+through a mountain from the canyon to the valley.
+
+To determine the feasibility of diverting the course of the river, it
+was first necessary to make an exploration of the canyon. No one before
+had ever had the hardihood to even make the attempt, on account of the
+extreme danger of a journey between the narrow black walls of this
+gloomy abyss.
+
+In 1853 Captain Gunnison discovered the river which bears his name. He
+traced its course to where it plunged into a chasm so deep and dangerous
+that he feared to follow it farther and named the gorge Black Canyon.
+Some twenty years later Professor Hayden of the United States Geological
+Survey, looking over the brink of the abyss, declared it inaccessible.
+
+The State of Colorado, desiring to find some way of utilizing the waters
+of the Gunnison River for irrigating the arid land adjacent, in 1900
+called for volunteers to explore the canyon. Five men responded.
+
+Provided with boats, life-lines, and other accessories, the men started
+from Cimarron on their perilous trip. On the third day their provisions
+gave out, and later they were obliged to abandon their boats and nearly
+everything else except their blankets, which were protected in rubber
+bags. They knew it was impossible to retrace their steps and that their
+only salvation lay in going on. At night they rolled themselves up in
+their blankets and tried to encourage one another. They travelled
+fourteen miles between granite walls from two thousand to three thousand
+feet high; and for sixteen days they were almost without food. Then they
+came to a cleft in their prison walls which seemed to offer a means of
+escape.
+
+At their feet the water plunged over a precipice down to an unknown
+depth. To go on meant almost instant death. They were dying of
+starvation. Should they go on? They had not accomplished their task.
+Life was sweet and there were loved ones dependent upon them for
+support.
+
+So they decided to attempt escape while they had strength. Wearily they
+climbed the steep and rugged path that led them to freedom. Starting
+early in the morning, they reached the summit, two thousand five hundred
+feet above the raging torrent, at nine o'clock at night. They were ready
+to drop in their tracks, yet hope inspired them to renewed exertions.
+They struggled on fifteen miles more ere they staggered into a
+farm-house on the verge of collapse.
+
+In the following year, 1901, the United States Government, becoming
+interested in diverting the waters of the Gunnison, sent out one of its
+engineers, Professor Fellows, to look into the practicability of the
+project. After looking over the field, the government engineer succeeded
+in enlisting in his service Mr. Torrence, who was a member of the first
+expedition. They planned to accomplish the feat which the former
+explorers failed to accomplish, namely, to go entirely through Black
+Canyon.
+
+Profiting by the previous trip, they provided for themselves a complete
+equipment, consisting of a rubber raft, two long life-lines, rubber bags
+for food and clothing, a camera, hunting-knives, and belts. Until they
+reached the water-falls where the previous expedition had left the
+canyon, the "Fall of Sorrow," the first part of their trip possesses
+little of interest beyond what had been experienced before. But from
+this point on unknown dangers menaced them.
+
+The roar of the plunging water from below rose upward with a deafening
+sound as they gazed into the seething current. The rising mists obscured
+the tree tops on either side far below. Should they press on or retreat,
+as those before them had done? Yes, they must go forward whatever the
+hazard. They clasped hands, bidding each other good-by. Torrence threw
+himself into the water first and Fellows followed. A few seconds later
+both clambered upon a bowlder in the pool below. The narrow cleft by
+which the former company effected their escape was passed and no
+alternative but to go forward was left to them.
+
+They encountered many other perilous adventures in their thirty-mile
+trip. Before they escaped from the canyon their provisions gave out.
+Death by starvation stared them in the face once more. Weakened by
+hunger and about to give up, they spied at the base of a cliff two
+mountain sheep.
+
+Now, mountain sheep, which roam among the rugged crags, are exceedingly
+difficult to catch. One of the sheep darted into a cleft. With a quick
+movement born of desperation Torrence rushed before the opening, but
+scarcely had he reached the spot before the frightened sheep, in
+attempting to escape, jumped into his arms.
+
+Realizing that his life and that of his companion depended upon securing
+the animal, he succeeded in killing it with his knife after a fierce
+struggle. The meat obtained saved their lives and sustained them until
+they reached a ranch fourteen miles from the place from which they
+emerged from the end of the canyon. In making the perilous journey they
+had swum across the river seventy-four times.
+
+Although their instruments and most of the other articles which they had
+taken were lost, yet the valuable data, sought for and recorded in the
+engineering book, were safely brought out and contained enough
+encouraging information to lead the government to take up the project of
+diverting the waters of the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley.
+
+Salt River Valley, one of the most fertile sections of Arizona, has been
+settled for many years, but the lack of a sufficient supply of water for
+extended irrigation has caused a large portion of this rich desert land
+to remain dormant. To meet the demand for more water in this valley the
+United States Government has just completed one of the greatest water
+impounding reservoirs in the world, the construction of which called for
+the greatest engineering skill and cost nearly nine million dollars.
+
+Salt River enters the valley after a tumultuous passage through a deep
+and rugged canyon forty miles long. It derives its name from the
+saltness of its waters, which results from the discharge of salt springs
+into the main stream as it courses through the gorge.
+
+Though unsuited for drinking purposes the water does not contain enough
+salt to make it detrimental for irrigation, and the soil, stimulated by
+the water, produces marvellous crops. Here extensive farming can be
+carried on with the greatest success. Six crops of alfalfa, averaging
+eight tons per acre, are harvested yearly. The oranges, dates, figs,
+lemons, grape fruit, olives, and peaches grown upon these lands are of
+superior quality and flavor and yield abundantly. The climate during
+eight months of the year is unsurpassed.
+
+Ostrich farming here is becoming an important industry. There are at the
+present time in the valley about eight thousand birds, and the number is
+rapidly increasing. The value of the feathers plucked yearly from each
+full-grown bird is from thirty dollars to forty dollars. Indications are
+that in the near future Arizona will lead the world in ostrich farming
+and the production of ostrich feathers.
+
+The history of this remarkable reservoir is full of human and natural
+interest. It is located in a land whose civilization was old when Rome
+was founded, a land of lost races, perpetual sunshine, forbidding
+deserts, and picturesque wonders. Strange vegetation and scenes that are
+novel are reflected in soft, changing tints from plain and mountain.
+From dawn to dark they possess an indescribable charm.
+
+The government engineers, in looking over the ground, found an ideal
+spot for a reservoir formed by two valleys hedged in among the mountains
+at the head of the canyon. It was necessary only to build a dam across
+the narrow cleft where the river enters the gorge in order to impound
+the water.
+
+The place being practically inaccessible, much preliminary work had to
+be done before commencing construction on the dam. A road forty miles
+long was made through the rugged mountains by which to transport
+provisions, machinery, and other supplies. A greater part of the road
+was cut out of the solid rock; other portions were constructed of
+masonry. At places on this wonderful highway, a stone dropped over the
+edge of the road will fall almost a thousand feet without stopping. The
+scenery along the whole route is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
+
+The question of supplying cement for constructing the dam was for a
+while a difficult one; the price asked by the manufacturers was nine
+dollars per barrel delivered. The engineer then summoned to his aid the
+government geologists, and they discovered near at hand limestone rock
+suitable for making good cement. But in order to convert the limestone
+into cement, it was necessary to have a mill and motive power to run it.
+Coal mines were five hundred miles away and such fuel would be too
+costly. The engineer said, "Why not use as a power electricity generated
+by the river itself?"
+
+Accordingly a canal extending twenty miles up the river was constructed;
+with a two-hundred-and-twenty-foot drop it was capable of delivering
+water enough to generate four thousand two hundred horse-power. A mill
+was built and an electric plant installed which ran the mill and machine
+shops besides furnishing power for laying the heavy stones, lighting the
+works and town, and leaving a large surplus amount for pumping water
+from numerous wells in the Salt River Valley fifty miles away. By the
+economy of self-manufacturing, the cost of the cement to the government
+was but two dollars per barrel, thereby making a saving of nearly half a
+million dollars.
+
+[Illustration: Shoshone Project, Wyoming Shoshone Canyon, looking
+upstream toward the dam. Dam, 328.4 feet high; storage capacity, 456,000
+acre-feet]
+
+To provide proper accommodations for all of the employees and their
+families, a regular town was built on the floor of the reservoir, to be
+submerged when the works should be completed and the flood gates closed.
+The town, which was christened Roosevelt, contained a population of
+upward of two thousand, and bore the reputation of being the best
+behaved in all Arizona.
+
+The dam, also named after Colonel Roosevelt, then President of the
+United States, floods two valleys, one twelve and the other fifteen
+miles long and each from one to three miles wide. The reservoir is
+nearly two hundred feet deep on the average. It is two hundred and
+eighty feet high, and the thickness of the dam ranges from one hundred
+and seventy-five feet at the bottom to twenty feet at the top, where its
+length is one thousand and eighty feet. Massive iron gates weighing
+sixty thousand pounds guard the outlet of the flood. To do the
+preliminary work and construct the dam nearly eight years were required,
+and during a part of this time a thousand men were employed both night
+and day, several hundred of whom were Apache Indians.
+
+This region was previously the haunt of Chief Geronimo and his murderous
+band of Apaches. Near by are two groups of cliff dwellings formerly
+occupied by a race now extinct.
+
+The capacity of this immense reservoir exceeds that of the Nile pent up
+by the Assouan dam, and the water would be sufficient to fill a canal
+two hundred feet wide and twenty feet deep, extending entirely across
+the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When full there is
+sufficient water to submerge the city of Washington to the depth of
+thirty-four feet.
+
+Among the other many important irrigation works may be mentioned the
+Shoshone and Rio Grande Dams. The Shoshone Dam in Wyoming impounds
+sufficient water to irrigate one hundred and fifty thousand acres in
+the valley below. This dam was completed January 10, 1910, and is the
+highest in the world, its height being three hundred and eighty-four
+feet. Twelve miles below the dam proper a diversion dam was built across
+the river which turns the stream into a tunnel connected at the other
+end with a canal, which delivers water upon one hundred thousand acres
+of fertile land.
+
+The Rio Grande Dam involving the construction of a storage dam opposite
+Eagle, New Mexico, across the Rio Grande River will irrigate one hundred
+and eighty thousand acres of land in New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO
+
+
+Nowhere else on the face of the globe is one so vividly impressed by the
+vastness of the work of corrasion as in the northwestern part of
+Arizona. Here the mutilated breast of Mother Earth discloses a chasm
+from three thousand feet to seven thousand feet deep, cut through
+horizontal strata of sandstone, shale, limestone, and granite, chiefly
+by the agency of water.
+
+This stupendous chasm is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. It is
+more than two hundred miles long; and from rim to rim its walls measure
+in places twenty miles across. It is not a clean-cut open channel from
+wall to wall, but, on the contrary, it is filled with castellated peaks,
+buttes, pinnacles, ridges, seams, and lesser canyons. Down deep in its
+lowest part, hurrying onward with impetuous speed, is the river itself.
+
+Geologists tell us that this stream was an ancient river before the
+Mississippi was born and that it formerly watered a valley as fertile.
+
+Ages ago when Time was young the river found its channel closed by an
+obstruction--just how, or where, or by what, no one knows. So it spread
+out into a great lake, or, perhaps, into an inland sea several thousand
+feet deep. The rock waste carried into its basin hardened into
+sandstone--red, pink, and white of many shades.
+
+After this great inland sea had become dry the Colorado River was
+born--just how, or when, or because of what, one can only guess. But
+when it was born it began to undo what its predecessor had done. It cut
+a channel in the surface of the sandstone and then began business in
+earnest. It loosened little pieces of sharp flint from the sandstone and
+swept them along with such force that each became a tiny mallet and
+chisel combined to cut and carry away other rock. And so it kept on
+until it had carved a passage not only to the original granite bed rock
+but in places a thousand feet or more into it. A few localities
+excepted, the canyon does not form a single gash; nor has it the usual
+V-shape of canyons in regions of plentiful rainfall. On the contrary,
+its cross-section takes the form of a succession of steps and terraces,
+as though the river cut the channels successively in decreasing widths.
+And because the region through which it flows is one of very slight
+rainfall, all the landscape outlines are bold and sharply angular.
+
+All told, an area comprising two hundred thousand square miles has been
+denuded to the depth of six hundred feet, and the material borne
+southward by the Colorado and its tributaries, while the land through
+which they flow has been literally drained to death. Even the
+tributaries have formed deep lateral canyons that meet the level of the
+main stream. It staggers the mind to try to grasp the time expressed in
+countless eons since the youth of this now senile river.
+
+[Illustration: The Grand Canyon of the Colorado]
+
+As early as 1540 Spanish explorers made known to the world the fact that
+a deep and impassable gorge existed in one part of the Colorado River,
+and again in 1776 a Spanish priest revived a knowledge of its existence.
+
+Then, for many years afterward, the canyon claimed but little attention
+because it was so difficult of access, and so little was known of its
+colossal dimensions and the marvellous carvings within its walls.
+
+Just above the Grand Canyon and continuous with it is Marble Canyon, so
+called because of the immense beds of marble that form a part of its
+walls. In both canyons the limestone sometimes takes the form of marble,
+or gypsum, or alabaster--crystallized forms of limestone which take a
+fine polish.
+
+This remarkable river with its canyons was first explored by Major
+Powell in 1869. With nine men and four boats he started from a landing
+on Green River in Utah, floated down Green River to its junction with
+the Grand, and thence down the Colorado below the mouth of the Virgin to
+the Grand Wash. There he landed after having passed through the entire
+length of the canyon.
+
+The time spent in this voyage was ninety-eight days, and the distance
+travelled was upward of one thousand miles. Four of his men left him
+when the voyage was but partly finished, being frightened by the perils
+that beset them. They were killed by Indians. The others, after many
+accidents and hair-breadth escapes, succeeded in getting through in
+safety.
+
+In addition to the rapidity of the current the river has many rapids and
+water-falls with jagged projecting rocks which make boating extremely
+hazardous. All these perils were conjectured but unknown to Major
+Powell's party, and every new bend of the river was liable to disclose
+a cataract more dangerous than any encountered before. Then the
+reverberating sound of the roaring river as it struck the sides of its
+lofty prison walls together with the deep gloom of the mighty abyss was
+calculated to terrify the bravest. Thus, facing death at every turn of
+the stream, the men were kept constantly in a tense state of excitement.
+
+A wealth of adjectives has been expended in attempting properly to
+describe the immensity of this great handiwork of nature, and scores of
+persons have produced fascinating word-paintings of its awe-inspiring
+grandeur.
+
+Leading back from the river the canyon walls are made up in part of
+shelving rocks and terraces. These, with peaks, buttes, and myriads of
+other structures arising from the great gulf, show plainly the different
+strata of rocks of which they are composed. Many of these rocks are
+richly colored; the tints as a rule result from the salts of iron and
+other mineral matter disseminated through them. In some instances the
+coloring material of the upper strata has been washed down by the storms
+and has stained the rock of the walls below. This is the case in the
+Grand Canyon, where the limestone wall is colored red by the iron in an
+overlying stratum.
+
+When the gigantic forms partly filling the chasm, yet standing apart
+from each other, are seen near sunrise or sunset with their shifting
+shadows, they leave on the mind remembrances that will never fade.
+
+To appreciate properly the magnitude and height of these towering masses
+one should examine them not only by travelling along the brink, but by
+descending to the river level in order to examine them from below. Then
+only will the awful grandeur and immensity of this monumental
+architecture of nature begin to dawn upon the understanding.
+
+To the geologist this chasm is an intensely interesting book which
+reveals much of the history of the past in world-building.
+
+Some years ago a company was formed in New York to build a scenic
+railroad through Marble and Grand Canyons. Engineers were sent out not
+only to make a careful survey of the canyons but also to make a series
+of photographs which should form a continuous panoramic view of the
+proposed route. A large sum of money was spent in making the surveys;
+then the project was abandoned. Possibly at some future time the scheme
+may be revived and a road be built, using as its motive power
+electricity generated by the river itself.
+
+The Grand Canyon is now easily reached by the Santa Fé Railway system.
+From the main line at Williams a branch road extends to El Tovar, Grand
+Canyon station, which is located near the edge of the canyon. The
+descent to the bottom of the canyon can be made by several trails. Those
+noted for easy descent and the best views are Grand View and Red Canyon
+Trails from Grand View, Bright Angel Trail from El Tovar, and Bass Trail
+from Bass Camp. Each has its own special charms, and for one limited as
+to time it is difficult to make a choice.
+
+The course of the Colorado and its tributary, Green River, presents some
+interesting problems. The latter has cut its channel directly across the
+Uinta Mountains, and the Colorado has sawed its channel to the base
+level of a series of plateaus, sometimes called the Sierra Abajo. And
+the interesting problem is--how was the sawing process accomplished? It
+needs only a moment's thought to understand that the river could not
+flow against the base of a mountain range and bore a passage through it,
+much less clear out an open passage miles in width.
+
+[Illustration: Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic
+Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado]
+
+Major Powell has shown how this mighty work of mountain cutting was
+accomplished; the sawing process was begun, not at the base of the
+range, but at its top. It is merely a question of age. The Colorado and
+its chief tributaries are older than the mountain uplifts which they
+have severed. Moreover, the level of their channels is much the same now
+as it was before the mountains were born.
+
+The mountain levels, however, have been changing ever since their uplift
+began. And when the rock layers of which they are composed began to be
+pushed upward the uplift was so slow that the rivers cut downward just
+as rapidly. In time the ranges were pushed upward to their present
+height; but when the uplift was completed, in each case it was sawed to
+the bottom by the river. It is in very much the same manner that a huge
+log is cut in twain as it is pushed against the saw. The mountain range,
+as it is pushed upward, represents the log; the river, which is
+stationary, represents the saw.
+
+One might look a long way to find the wealth created by this muddy
+torrent. But the wealth is there, though it is certainly a long way from
+the canyon; moreover, the rock waste itself is the wealth, and great
+wealth it is. The water of the river is very muddy. Dip up a bucket
+filled to the brim and allow it to stand for ten or twelve hours. There
+is an inch or two of clear water at the top, while at the bottom there
+is a thick, muddy paste of sand, clay, and red earth. All this rock
+waste the current is sweeping along to the Gulf of California.
+
+Every overflow along the banks of its lower course spreads this rich,
+nutritious rock waste over the flood plain. Imperial Valley is filled
+with it; and this, together with the flood plain above and below,
+constitutes an area of productive land about as large as the State of
+Illinois. Moreover, the area is constantly increasing, because of the
+enormous amount of rock waste which the river daily bears to the Gulf
+of California. In time, a long time as years are measured, the gulf will
+be entirely filled--and what a valley of prairie land there will be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YELLOWSTONE PARK
+
+
+In the northwestern part of Wyoming, at the summit of the continent, is
+a tract of land containing more than three thousand square miles. It is
+a region which attracts thousands of sightseers every year; yet
+inconceivable as it may now seem, this marvellous region was unknown to
+the world until 1870. Being difficult of access, because flanked by high
+mountains on all sides, and possessing no mineral deposits of value,
+there was but little inducement for any one but a hunter or a trapper to
+penetrate it.
+
+John Coulter, a frontiersman, was probably the first white man to set
+foot within its territory. He was a member of the Lewis and Clark
+Expedition and, having observed that there were many beavers in the
+headwaters of the Missouri River, desired to try trapping there. Having
+obtained permission to leave the expedition before its return to St.
+Louis, he forthwith set out to hunt and trap in that region. This was in
+1807.
+
+While following his favorite employment he met with many strange and
+exciting adventures with both Indians and wild beasts. And during his
+wanderings he beheld sights so marvellous as to tax the credulity of
+even his own senses; among them a glass mountain, geysers sending up
+great volumes of water hundreds of feet high into the air, boiling hot
+springs, deep and gorgeously painted canyons, stupendous water-falls,
+curiously colored rock formations, and a mountain lake filled with the
+finest of fish.
+
+So well versed was he in woodcraft that he could travel through pathless
+forests and over rugged mountains as unerringly as by well-beaten
+trails. A love for wild nature and adventure had become his ruling
+passion. After hunting and trapping for several years he returned to St.
+Louis. Here he told his friends the marvels that he had seen and his
+adventures with Indians and wild beasts; but his hearers being doubting
+Thomases, listened with incredulity to his astonishing stories.
+
+He related his experiences and what he had seen to an editor of a St.
+Louis paper, who, after listening patiently to the narrative, informed
+Coulter that his wonderful adventures, glass mountain, and boiling
+springs among the snows were falsehoods and could find no place for
+publication. Coulter gave interviews to many other persons, and stuck so
+persistently to his statements that the region which he had so minutely
+described was derisively dubbed "Coulter's Hell."
+
+Coulter's experiences certainly were marvellous. On one occasion, when
+he and a companion were trapping along the Madison Fork of the Missouri
+River, they were surprised by a company of Blackfeet Indians who killed
+his friend but spared his life for the time being. After the Indians had
+consulted for some time in regard to what should be done with Coulter,
+the chief asked him if he could run fast. Coulter replied that he could
+not. He was in reality the fleetest runner among the western hunters,
+but he told the Indians that he could not run fast, since he concluded
+that there was a chance of saving his life by running should he be given
+the opportunity.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Looking down
+canyon from Grand Point]
+
+He was stripped naked and taken several miles away to give the Indians
+some sport before killing him. Then the chief commanded his followers to
+remain back while he led the captive some three hundred yards in front
+of them. At a given signal he told Coulter to save himself if he could.
+At once the war whoop resounded and six hundred demons were on the track
+of the fugitive. Coulter strained every nerve to outdistance his
+murderous pursuers. His great exertions caused the blood to spirt from
+his nostrils and smear the front of his body.
+
+After running a while he heard footsteps, and turning saw an Indian with
+a spear but a few yards behind him. Being exhausted, and fearing that at
+any moment the spear might be hurled at him, he concluded to surprise
+the Indian. Stopping suddenly he wheeled about and presented his bloody
+body and outstretched arms to the Indian.
+
+The red man, greatly astonished, in attempting to stop quickly stumbled
+and fell, breaking his spear. Before the prostrate runner could recover
+himself Coulter seized the head of the shaft and quickly pinioned his
+foe to the ground.
+
+Then the fleeing hunter ran at his topmost speed toward the river, about
+a mile distant. Arriving there a little ahead of his pursuers, he
+plunged into the water and swam as fast as he could. Observing a raft of
+drift-wood that had lodged against a small island, he dived under the
+débris, and thrusting his head up between the tree-trunks of the
+heterogeneous mass succeeded in getting into a position where he could
+breathe and yet be concealed.
+
+No sooner had he hidden himself than the yelling savages appeared on the
+river's bank. They looked in all directions for their missing captive,
+but in vain. They even went on the island and climbed over the
+drift-wood, scanning every possible place of concealment. Seeing no
+trace of their white prisoner they reluctantly returned to the mainland.
+Coulter remained under the raft in dreadful suspense until night, when,
+hearing nothing of his foes, he silently slipped from under the raft
+and swam down stream a long distance before landing.
+
+His situation was now indeed a desperate one; his feet had become filled
+with thorns from the prickly pear while running across the prairie; he
+was also naked, hungry, and without means to kill the wild game for
+food; moreover, the distance to the nearest fort was at least a
+seven-days' journey. But he was in excellent physical condition and,
+being inured to hardships and skilled in traversing the pathless
+wilderness, he at length reached the fort, having subsisted in the
+meantime chiefly on roots whose nutritious value he had learned from the
+Indians.
+
+John Bridger, a famous hunter, was familiar with the region now known as
+Yellowstone Park as early as 1830, and he endeavored to have his
+descriptions of it published, but he could find no periodical or
+newspaper willing to print his statements. In Bridger's case, however,
+there was ground for doubt, inasmuch as he had a reputation for
+exaggeration, and the facts that he related about the wonders of the
+Yellowstone were considered mere fabrications.
+
+One of his most astounding stories concerned an elk. He claimed that
+while hunting he espied an elk that seemed to be only a short distance
+away; taking a good aim he fired, but the animal was unmoved by the
+shot. He again fired with more deliberation, yet with the same result as
+before. Having fired twice more with no effect he seized his rifle by
+the barrel and rushed toward the antlered monarch; but all at once he
+ran up against what seemed to be a high vertical wall. On investigation
+the wall proved to be a mountain of perfectly transparent glass. And
+still the elk kept on grazing quietly!
+
+The strangest thing about the mountain he said was that its curved form
+made it a perfect telescopic lens of great power. On going around to
+the other side of the mountain he caught sight of the elk, which he
+judged must have been at least twenty-five miles away when he first saw
+it by the powerful glass-lens mountain!
+
+In 1860-61 gold was discovered in Montana, and prospectors began to
+extend their search for the precious metal into adjoining territory. The
+Indians were troublesome; nevertheless many prospectors ventured into
+the region of the Upper Yellowstone during the years succeeding, and
+reported seeing wonderful volcanic agencies at work.
+
+To settle the many flying accounts about volcanic wonders in the
+Yellowstone section, two expeditions headed by prominent citizens of
+Montana were formed to ascertain the truth concerning these statements.
+The expeditions set out during the consecutive years 1869 and 1870. On
+their return excellent descriptions of what they had seen were published
+in the Montana papers, and these accounts were copied by the leading
+papers of the country.
+
+The second, or Washburn-Doane, expedition of 1870 was the most
+successful in its explorations, since it was provided with a military
+escort. One of the members of this expedition wrote up a series of
+excellent articles which were published in _Scribner's Magazine_, thus
+giving further authenticity and wide publicity to the discovery.
+
+In 1871 interest awakened by the last expedition caused the United
+States Government to send out a special expedition of geological and
+engineering men to collect exact data, take photographs, and make a
+survey of the Yellowstone region. The geological section was under the
+direction of Dr. P. V. Hayden. Mainly through Hayden's influence and
+foresight Congress withdrew the tract now comprising Yellowstone
+National Park from occupancy or sale, and dedicated and set it apart as
+a public park or pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the
+people. The bill was signed by the president March 1, 1872. In 1872 two
+United States geological surveying parties were sent out and detailed
+explorations were made during the next ten years.
+
+The park is now under the management of a military commander as acting
+superintendent, aided by a detachment of United States troops, who
+maintain order, prevent acts of vandalism, and see that the rules and
+regulations of the park are obeyed. No one except the troops is allowed
+to bring firearms into the park, and the wild animals, now carefully
+protected by law, have greatly multiplied. Through subsequent acts of
+Congress two forest reserves have been added to the park proper, the
+Madison Forest Reserve in 1902 and the Yellowstone Forest Reserve in
+1903. These additions make the total area reserved from settlement about
+seventeen thousand six hundred square miles.
+
+The only living beings that are permitted to fell as many trees as they
+wish are the beavers, which use them in constructing their dams. The
+grizzly and the black bear flourish in the park and have become quite
+tame. In the neighborhood of the camps and hotels they have become an
+intolerable nuisance because of their propensity to break into tents and
+buildings in search of food.
+
+The lordly elk nourishes here and numbers of them may be seen at almost
+any time of day. A herd of buffaloes is jealously protected, and food
+and shelter are provided for them during the winter when necessary.
+These animals are increasing in numbers. Many antelope, deer, and
+mountain sheep are seen in the park.
+
+The mountain lion and the coyote are two animals that the authorities of
+the park feel justified in killing in order to preserve the other game,
+but the wild ruggedness of the territory, which affords these pests
+ample opportunity to multiply unmolested, prevents their extinction.
+
+During the fall of the year wild geese and ducks frequent the park in
+great numbers; some of the latter remain all winter long in places where
+the hot springs keep the water of the streams from freezing. The United
+States Fish Commission has taken special care in stocking the fishless
+streams with trout, and now the Yellowstone Park furnishes the finest
+trout-fishing in the whole world. Visitors to the park are granted full
+license to fish, but they must use only hook and line.
+
+About one-fifth of the reservation consists of tracts suited for
+grazing, but for agricultural purposes the park is worthless, since
+frosts occur every month of the year.
+
+The forests consist of a variety of trees, but only one kind, the
+Douglas spruce, is suitable for good lumber. The quaking aspen is the
+only deciduous tree that is abundant. Elk and deer browse about these
+trees and keep them trimmed at a uniform distance from the ground.
+
+During the long rainless season the distant hills and mountains are
+bathed in an atmosphere of soft purple and blue in ever-varying
+intensity, while later in the season Jack Frost with his magic brush
+paints the mountain-sides with the most varied and gorgeous colors, and
+the aspen changes to rich autumnal tints.
+
+At the proper season Yellowstone Park is a vast garden of wild flowers
+which are dense and rich in colors even up to the snow line. Several
+varieties of the lupine and the larkspur clothe the hillsides with every
+shade of color, while the modest violet seeks secluded spots in which to
+bloom. Forget-me-nots, geraniums, harebells, primroses, asters,
+sunflowers, anemones, roses, and many other plants are abundant.
+
+The climate puts new life and energy into the visitor. Contrary to the
+general opinion, the climatic conditions in the park are not extreme,
+notwithstanding its high elevation. The average temperature at the
+Mammoth Hot Springs in January, the coldest month, is 18° F., and in
+July, the hottest month, 61°. In the plateau regions, averaging fifteen
+hundred feet higher, the temperature is 8° in January and 51° in July.
+
+Good roads have been constructed throughout the park connecting all
+points of interest, and in many instances these roads have been built at
+an enormous expense. The United States Government has already expended
+upward of one million dollars in road-making and bridge-building. There
+are now over sixty bridges and five hundred culverts to supplement the
+five hundred miles of roads within the park proper and the forest
+reserves.
+
+We enter the park from the north and then proceed to visit a few of the
+most interesting places. Our tour embraces Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris
+Geyser Basin, Firehole Geyser Basins, Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand
+Canyon of Yellowstone River.
+
+Leaving the Northern Pacific train at Gardiner, the entrance station to
+the park, we take a coach for Mammoth Hot Springs, five miles distant,
+and ride along the foaming, dashing Gardiner River through a canyon
+bearing the same name. Portions of the way unfold bold, picturesque
+scenery, giving a fitting introduction to the marvels and greater scenic
+beauty that are in store for us. We cross the river four times on steel
+bridges within one mile.
+
+Just after crossing the last bridge we see an immense stream of hot
+water issuing from an opening in the rocks and discharging directly into
+the Gardiner River. This stream, the Boiling River, we are told, comes
+through subterranean channels from the famous Mammoth Hot Springs a mile
+and a half away.
+
+Arriving at the springs, we find here a large, well-equipped hotel,
+where are also the administration head-quarters of the park. After
+resting a short time, we visit the world-renowned Hot Springs.
+
+The Mammoth Hot Springs rise from the summit of a hill of limestone
+formation three hundred feet high, built by the deposit of mineral
+matter held in solution by the hot water that issues from them. The
+terraces, containing upward of two hundred acres, are delicately tinted
+in beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, and purple. Those
+over which the water is still flowing present the most attractive
+appearance, the colors being fresh and rich; the others have dull, ashen
+colors.
+
+Calcareous deposits are rapidly building up these terraces in various
+beautiful forms, the edges of many being supported by delicate columns,
+some of which resemble organ pipes. Different names are given to the
+terraces according to form or fancy, as Pulpit Terrace, Jupiter Terrace,
+Narrow Gauge Terrace, Minerva Terrace, etc.
+
+The overhanging bowls built up by these deposits are exquisite specimens
+of Nature's work and are filled with water of wonderful transparency;
+while the variety of forms of these receptacles and their charming
+colors fascinate the beholder.
+
+Scattered over the formation in all directions are numberless
+curiosities, such as the Devil's Kitchen, Cupid's Cave, and the Stygian
+Cave. In many of these caves there is an accumulation of carbonic-acid
+gas sufficient to destroy animal life. This is especially true of the
+latter cave.
+
+We now journey by coach to Norris Geyser Basin. On the route we pass by
+Obsidian Cliff, sometimes called Obsidian Mountain, which is an immense
+mass of black volcanic glass. This mineral was used by the Indians for
+making arrow-heads and spear-heads.
+
+In constructing a road around the base of the cliff, great difficulty
+was encountered on account of the hardness of the obsidian. The
+superintendent in charge of the work hit upon a happy device by which to
+quarry it. Log fires were built along the base, and when the volcanic
+glass was hot cold water was thrown upon it. This method cracked the
+material into fragments which were easily removed.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot
+Springs. Summit Pools]
+
+Opposite the base of Obsidian Cliff is Beaver Lake, the home of numerous
+beavers and a great resort for waterfowl during a part of the year.
+After passing Obsidian Cliff, hot springs become more numerous until we
+reach Norris Geyser Basin. In this locality the odor of sulphur is
+strong and unpleasant. A little farther on a loud roar startles us, and
+a few moments later we see the cause of the explosion; it is a powerful
+steam jet issuing from the summit of Roaring Mountain. When Dame Nature
+"turns on steam" there is no nonsense about it.
+
+Norris Basin seems to be of more recent volcanic development, since some
+of the steam vents in other basins have ceased action during the past
+few years; moreover, several new ones have opened, one of which rivals
+Roaring Mountain. Constant and Minute-Man Geysers, though small, are
+frequent and vigorous in action. In passing through this section the
+road-bed is hot for some distance, showing that the subterranean rocks
+which heat the water cannot be very deep down in the earth.
+
+In going to the Firehole Basins we follow Gibbon River to within four
+miles of its mouth, then, crossing a point of land to the Firehole, we
+ascend the right bank of the stream to Lower Basin. On the road we pass
+many springs; the most conspicuous of which, Beryl Spring, lies close to
+the road. It discharges a large volume of boiling water and the rising
+steam frequently obscures the road.
+
+In one locality outside the beaten track of tourists there is a
+veritable Hades on earth. Here, as we walk over ground that is very hot,
+we are nearly suffocated by the fumes of sulphur. All around us are
+hundreds of seething, boiling vats of water, and the whole area is
+cracked and filled with holes from which noxious vapors rise.
+
+Soon after we leave this infernal region we hear a constant roar like
+that coming from a large steamer about to leave its moorings. We follow
+in the direction from which the sound proceeds and at length discover
+the cause.
+
+On approaching the source of the sound we see a large volume of steam
+rushing with immense velocity from an opening in the ground, while the
+rock around the orifice is black as jet. The guide tells us that this
+huge steam vent is called the Black Growler, and that it continues
+vigorously active summer and winter, year in and year out. Its roar can
+be heard four miles away.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive Geyser]
+
+The chief wonder of Lower Firehole Basin is the Great Fountain Geyser.
+Its formation is unique. At first sight one is led to believe that the
+broad circular structure which he sees is artificial. On close
+inspection numerous pools, moulded and nicely ornamented, are seen sunk
+in this stone table, while in the centre there is a large and deep pool
+filled with hot water, but looking like a beautiful spring. At the time
+of eruption this central pool of water is shot up to the height of one
+hundred feet or more. Near the Great Fountain Geyser is a small valley
+in the upper part of which is a large hot spring called the Firehole.
+
+When this spring is visited on a windless day, a light-colored flame
+seems to be constantly issuing from the bottom, flickering back and
+forth like a torch, and the visitor feels sure he is gazing at the
+hidden fires beneath that heat the water. It is the illusion caused by
+superheated steam escaping through a fissure in the rock and dividing
+the water. The reflection from the surface thus formed and a black
+background formed by the sides and bottom of the pool account for the
+phenomenon.
+
+Surprise Pool is found near the Great Fountain; it will make good its
+name should you throw into it a handful of dirt. Excelsior Geyser, not
+far away, is really a winter volcano, its crater being a seething
+caldron near the Firehole River, into which it sends six million gallons
+of water each day, even when not in eruption.
+
+At times it sends up a column of water, fifty feet in diameter, to the
+height of two hundred and fifty feet. The eruptions take place at long
+intervals--seven to ten years. On account of the great depth and extent
+of this geyser it has sometimes been denominated "Hell's Half-Acre."
+
+Following along Firehole River we pass into the Upper Basin, a section
+the most popular with the majority of tourists. Among the geysers in
+this basin we shall find Grotto, Castle, Giant, Giantess, Bee Hive,
+Splendid, Grand, and Old Faithful. Each of them has an interest
+peculiarly its own, but Old Faithful is always true to its name and is
+perhaps best appreciated by visitors.
+
+The opening through which Old Faithful disgorges its water is at the
+summit of a mound built up by its own exertions. The wrinkles on its
+face tell of long-continued service. Every seventy minutes this faithful
+worker sends up a column of water to the height of one hundred and
+eighty feet, and at each eruption more than one million gallons of water
+are thrown out.
+
+We now pass through a section noted for its wild and picturesque scenery
+and considered the pleasantest on the trip. In leaving the Upper Basin
+we follow along Firehole River to the mouth of Spring Creek, then along
+this creek to the Continental Divide. From there, travelling a few miles
+along the Pacific slope, we cross the Divide and descend the mountains
+into the valley of the Yellowstone.
+
+Near the central part of the park, encircled by a forest and elevated
+nearly eight thousand feet above the sea-level, lies a remarkable body
+of water supplied by ice-cold streams formed by the melting snow on the
+surrounding mountains. This body of water, of which the Yellowstone
+River is the outlet, is the famous Yellowstone Lake, thirty miles long
+and twenty miles wide; it is filled with trout.
+
+Here the fisherman can catch hundreds of trout in a short time, but
+unfortunately most of them are afflicted with a parasitic disease,
+rendering them unfit for food. Researches have been made seeking the
+cause of the disease in order, if possible, to apply a remedy, but so
+far to no purpose. It is conjectured that the superabundance of fish
+together with a dearth of suitable food lowers their vitality, thus
+rendering them liable to disease.
+
+Yellowstone stands next to Lake Titicaca as the highest large body of
+water in the world. The sunrise and sunset effects on the lake are most
+beautiful. A steamer plies on the lake carrying mail and passengers. The
+bird life on this body of water and its shores is represented by swans,
+geese, ducks, cranes, pelicans, curlews, herons, plovers, and snipe.
+
+For beauty and grandeur the lower falls and canyon of the Yellowstone
+River are unsurpassed. A body of water seventy feet wide rushes forward
+with impetuous speed and joyously takes a leap of more than three
+hundred feet to the rocks below, where, breaking into millions of
+particles, it forms a great cloud of spray. The water then dashes on
+with renewed vitality between the walls of a canyon fourteen hundred
+feet deep, and most gorgeously painted by nature in such a variety and
+lavishness of tints that they defy the most skilful artist to reproduce
+them.
+
+As one gazes from the edge of the chasm into and along the depths below,
+he attempts in vain to measure the fulness and beauty of this handiwork
+of nature. He is too amazed for utterance and remains spellbound,
+communing only with himself and nature regarding the unfathomable
+significance of such marvels. When the famous painter, Thomas Moran,
+desired to reproduce in colors on canvas this masterpiece of nature, he
+gathered his inspiration from Artist Point, and after he had finished
+the celebrated painting which now adorns the Capitol at Washington, he
+acknowledged that the beautiful tints of the canyon were beyond the
+reach of human art.
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone has no equal on the face of the
+globe. With a breadth equal to its depth, this richly decorated canyon
+stands out unique among the world's wonders. Its beautiful panorama of
+stained walls, down which trickle streams of water which brighten the
+tints in some places and soften them in others, extends for a distance
+of three miles. The entire canyon is fifteen miles in length.
+
+A most interesting place to visit, but outside the itinerary of most
+tourists, is the Fossil, or Petrified, Forest. This section, especially
+attractive to the scientist, lies in the northeastern part of the park
+just north of Amethyst Mountain.
+
+To one who can read Nature's books, a wondrous volume is open,
+disclosing in its strata the hidden secrets of many by-gone geological
+ages. Here on the north flank of the mountain are two thousand feet of
+stratifications. On the ledges, tier above tier and story above story,
+are seen the opal and agate stumps and trunks of twenty ancient forests,
+some of the trunks being ten feet in diameter.
+
+What wonderful stories do they tell of life and death, of flood and
+volcanic fire, ranging through the eons of the past! So perfect are
+these petrifactions that the annual rings can be easily counted and even
+the grain of the wood is plainly visible.
+
+As one traverses this wonderland he is impressed by the evidence of the
+stupendous forces that lie smouldering beneath the crust of the earth.
+It is not improbable that at some future time, by the further wrinkling
+or sinking of the surface of this part of the American continent, the
+slumbering volcanic fires may be awakened to new life and activity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES AND GIANT TREES
+
+
+Although reptiles appeared first in the period known as the
+Carboniferous Age, or age of plant life, they did not attain their
+greatest development until Jurassic and Cretaceous times, when many were
+of prodigious size and ruled the world. The gigantic ichthyosaurs,
+mesosaurs, and dinosaurs held dominion over the sea and land, and the
+monster flying reptile, the pterodactyl, over the air.
+
+Ages ago a great inland sea embracing Wyoming and the surrounding region
+occupied the area east of the Rocky Mountains. For many years students
+of geology had found this section a fertile field for the study of rock
+formations and the collection of fossils; but not until 1898 was the
+geological wonderland of central-south Wyoming discovered.
+
+This discovery proved to be a graveyard of prehistoric monsters dating
+back probably several millions of years ago. Entombed in the rocks of
+the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, many lizard-like animals of
+gigantic size called saurians were found. Several fossil skeletons of
+these animals have been chiselled out of the solid rocks and mounted in
+museums, the work entailing a vast amount of labor and expense. The
+discovery was made by Mr. Walter Granger, who had been sent out by the
+American Museum of Natural History, of New York, to hunt for fossils.
+
+In the desert section near Medicine Bow River, Wyoming, he found what
+seemed to be a number of dark-brown bowlders. On a critical examination
+they proved to be ponderous fossils that had been washed out of a great
+bed of reptilian remains. The fossil graveyard in question was found to
+be two hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness. Near by was a Mexican
+sheep-herder's cabin, the foundations of which were constructed of huge
+fossils. The vicinity was christened Bone Cabin Quarry. Ten miles south
+of the Bone Cabin Quarry, in the Como Bluffs, another bed containing the
+remains of huge dinosaurs was discovered. From these remarkable
+cemeteries many fossils have been obtained.
+
+The term saurian means "lizard," and it has many prefixes to indicate
+the different genera and species. The prefixes generally express to a
+certain extent the characteristic appearance or habits of the different
+kinds of saurians. Some were flesh-eaters; others were herbivorous. Some
+lived on land; others, in the shallow waters and lagoons, fed on
+succulent aquatic plants; still others frequented the deeper waters and
+lived on fish.
+
+[Illustration: _Property of the American Museum of Natural History_
+The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)]
+
+The name dinosaur, meaning terrible lizard, represents an order of
+fossil reptiles. They are allied to the crocodile, but, like the
+kangaroo, their hind legs were much longer than their front ones. The
+neck and tail were very long and the body short but of immense size.
+These monsters were from twenty to eighty feet in length and weighed
+from thirty to one hundred tons. The long, slender neck supported a
+small head that contained a correspondingly small brain, from which it
+is thought that the creature possessed a low order of intelligence. The
+tail was much thicker than the neck and in some species was flattened.
+When rising on its hind legs and resting on its tail it could look into
+the window of a four-story building. Some of these strange animals had
+bills like those of a duck; some possessed teeth for grinding and others
+sharp teeth for tearing. These were by far the largest land animals that
+ever lived. The different species often waged titanic battles with one
+another for the supremacy of the earth.
+
+It is conjectured that their disappearance was due to violent upheavals
+of the earth, to the draining of the water, to changes of climate, and
+to deprivation of suitable food.
+
+The mounted brontosaur in the American Museum of Natural History, New
+York, will enable one better to appreciate the size of these giants of
+the ancient world. This typical specimen, though not the largest found,
+is sixty-seven feet long and stands fifteen and one-half feet high. Its
+neck measures thirty feet in length and its tail eighteen. The body
+weighed about ninety tons. This huge fossil, enclosed in its stone
+matrix, was sent from the quarry to the museum. After it had been
+received two men were employed constantly for nearly two and one-half
+years in removing the matrix, repairing, and mounting the fossil.
+
+Let us turn now to the burying ground of a giant forest. Long, long
+years ago, before man appeared on the earth, an inland sea occupied what
+is now the northeastern part of Arizona. It was a sea bordered with
+sandstone and surrounded by coniferous forests, where stately trees
+nodded in the breezes.
+
+At length there came a great change. The rim of the basin gave way, and
+the great volume of water, freed from restraint, overwhelmed the forest
+with earthy material, prostrating and burying it deep beneath the flood
+of sand.
+
+In time the woody structure disappeared, and was replaced by beautifully
+stained opal and agate. Again, in the lapse of time the old forest bed
+was once more lifted above its former level, forming a mesa, or plateau,
+of considerable extent. During subsequent ages, the elements scarred and
+furrowed the plateau, forming canyons, gulches, valleys, and buttes,
+thus revealing in part this ancient forest. Could these dead trees but
+talk, how interesting would be their story! We can read their history
+but imperfectly by examining the mutilated breast of Mother Earth, in
+and on which lie these mute stone trees, dead yet made more beautiful
+through their transformation.
+
+[Illustration: _Property of the American Museum of Natural History_
+The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)]
+
+This region is called the "Petrified Forest," or "Chalcedony Park." It
+is about one hundred square miles in extent, and is visited annually by
+thousands of people from all parts of the world. On account of its
+strange geological character it is of special interest to the scientist.
+
+Let us make a brief trip to this wonderful stone forest. We take light
+hand-baggage and board a Santa Fé train. The railway passes near the
+most interesting part of the forest, and we change cars before entering
+Arizona in order to take this line. The railway officials have made a
+station at Adamana, six miles from the edge of the forest, in order to
+accommodate the travelling public. We leave the train here and procure a
+team to carry us to the forest.
+
+Unless informed of what is to be seen one is apt to be greatly
+disappointed. One's idea of a forest is usually that of a timber-covered
+area in which the trees stand erect, with outspreading branches; but we
+look in vain for a standing tree, or even a stump that is erect.
+
+All are branchless trunks, prostrate on the ground, many wholly or
+partly buried; moreover, they are lying in all sorts of positions, some
+entire and others broken into sections; some are massed closely
+together; others lie apart; and millions of pieces of all sizes are
+scattered around. At places we can travel a long distance by stepping
+from one log to another.
+
+But what is that pile of variegated disk-like objects looking like the
+primitive Mexican ox-cart wheels? They are cross-sections of stone logs,
+some large and some small, seemingly thrown together carelessly. It is a
+characteristic of petrified trunks to break into cross-sections or
+blocks, varying from a few inches to several feet in length; and this
+tendency prevails here.
+
+We are told that the trees of this forest antedate those of the
+Yellowstone Park by a long period of time. How the loftiest flights of
+the imagination are piqued as we contemplate the marvellous changes
+since this primeval forest depended on the soil and sun for their
+life-giving elements! As we wander through this wonderful forest our
+feet seem to be treading on the rarest gems. And well may it seem so,
+because when polished these pieces display a beauty of coloring and a
+lustre that rivals the glint of precious stones. There is no other
+petrified forest in the world in which the mineralized wood assumes so
+many varied and interesting forms and colors.
+
+Many years ago a firm at Sioux Falls undertook to manufacture table
+tops, mantels, pedestals, and various decorative articles out of
+sections of this agatized wood by cutting them into the desired forms
+and polishing them. Tiffany and Company, the famous jewellers, also used
+this material for the base of the beautiful silver testimonial presented
+to the French sculptor, Bartholdi.
+
+At a later date, an abrasive company of Denver conceived the plan of
+grinding up these trunks to make emery because of their extreme
+hardness; in fact, a plant was shipped to Adamana station for that
+purpose. Fortunately for the public, however, it was not put into
+operation because the company learned that a Canadian firm had put on
+the market an article at such a reduced price that to grind up these
+beautiful logs would be unprofitable.
+
+Fragments, branches, and trunks of all sorts and sizes are found lying
+around, many of them richly colored, forming chalcedony, opal, and
+agate; some approach the condition of jasper and onyx.
+
+Before the Petrified Forest was set aside as a national park by
+Congress, many acts of vandalism were committed, to say nothing about
+the quantities of mineral carried away by manufacturing firms and
+curiosity-hunters. Keepers now have charge of the park, and no one is
+permitted to take away specimens for commercial use. Previously many of
+the finest logs were destroyed by blasting in order to procure the
+beautiful crystals which are found in the centre of many of them.
+
+One object of special interest in the park is the National Bridge, a
+petrified trunk which spans a chasm thirty feet wide and twenty feet
+deep. The part of the trunk crossing the gulch lies diagonally and is
+forty-four feet long. The length of the trunk exposed by erosion is one
+hundred and eleven feet; a fraction still remains embedded in the
+sandstone.
+
+The ruins of several ancient Indian pueblos are scattered about the
+park, nearly all of them built of logs of this richly colored, agatized
+wood. The forest was a storehouse for ages, whence primitive men
+obtained material from which to make agate hammers, arrow-heads, and
+knives, as is shown by implements found hundreds of miles distant from
+these quarries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DEATH VALLEY
+
+
+Death Valley, or the Arroyo del Muerte, as the Spanish called it, is in
+the western part of southern California, near the oblique boundary of
+Nevada, a little way north of Nevada's vanishing point. Nowadays one may
+ride almost into the valley in a Pullman coach. From Daggett, a forsaken
+station of the Santa Fé Railroad, a "jerkwater" road, as it is called,
+extends northward to Goldfield and Tonopah, and this road takes one
+almost as the crow flies to the edge of the valley of the ominous name.
+
+Even in a Pullman coach the trip is trying to both body and soul. But
+forty years ago?--well, that is a different story. Then there was no
+Santa Fé Railway, and no Daggett--just a wide stretch of desert dotted
+with yucca and Spanish bayonet. Prospectors and pack-trains had left
+trails here and there. One of these, now a wagon-road, lay southward to
+San Bernardino; northward it lost itself in the desert toward
+Candelaria.
+
+The region possesses some names that are a trifle paradoxical. For
+instances, there are the Black Mountains, the grayish red color of which
+belies their name. Then there is Funeral Range, which, far from being
+sombre in aspect, is most brilliantly colored. To the southward is
+Paradise Valley, a plain desert strewn with greasewood and chamiso; and
+down in the floor of Death Valley is, or rather was, Greenland. But
+Greenland is not a waste of icebound coldness; on the contrary, it is
+averred by the laborers in the borax fields to be several degrees hotter
+than any other place on earth. The surplus water of the spring is
+employed to produce verdure there, and it is apparently equal to the
+task, for the forty or more acres so irrigated produce wonderful crops;
+hence it is "Greenland."
+
+Even twenty years ago the trip to Death Valley was a trying one to the
+experienced desert traveller in summer; to the tenderfoot without a
+guide it was almost certain death. The best equipment for the trip was a
+pair of mules, or else cayuse ponies, and a light buckboard with broad
+tires--tires so wide that they would not sink in the loose, wind-blown
+rock waste. The equipment might possibly be found in Daggett; more
+likely it must be purchased in San Bernardino.
+
+At all events, Daggett was the real starting point, and the first
+"trick" in the journey was the crossing of Mohave River. The river was
+pretty sure to be deep--not with water but with sand. Whoever saw water
+in the channel, or "wash," of the Mohave? Perhaps the oldest settler may
+have seen it; at any rate he will so claim, for the oldest settler is
+always boastful; indeed, fairy-story telling is his inherent, bounden
+right. To make good his assertion he points to the bridge, and certainly
+the bridge is there; but as for the river, it may be on hand one
+day--perhaps an hour or so--in ten, twenty, or thirty years!
+
+Beyond the river a wide expanse of desert is before us, and then a
+beautiful lake comes into view. Real water, is it?--no; just the desert
+mirage, but it seems real enough to quench a genuine thirst. But the
+illusion is lessened by the surroundings, for we are approaching a dry
+sink--an old lake-bed that was filled with brackish water once when a
+cloud-burst that occurred in Calico Mountains had its busy day.
+
+Back of us are Calico Mountains, a picturesque clump of buttes, and the
+glimpse of them we get from the north explains why they were so named.
+And such colors! Their brilliant hues change like kaleidoscopic patterns
+with the sun's motion. On our right a trail diverges to Coyote Holes,
+made grewsome by one of many tragedies that have occurred in the region.
+This time it was a hold-up. A desert waif out of luck and ready cash
+waylaid the paymaster of Calico mines and relieved him of the money
+intended for the miners. The robber was soon trailed and he quickly
+discovered that his only safety lay in hiding. But where could he hide
+in that desolate flat?
+
+At Coyote Holes there is a spring and a small marsh. The robber buried
+himself in the mud till all but his face was covered and lay there while
+the posse searched. But the keen vision of an Indian scout did not fail.
+When the robber saw that he was surrounded, he put up a brave fight and
+went down, riddled with rifle-balls. The money was recovered.
+
+A little farther on is Garlic Springs. It is a common camping-place and
+like other camps is plentifully strewn with the evidence of the
+prospector's outfit--hundreds and hundreds of empty tin cans. In time we
+camp at Cave Springs in a little cove of the Avawatz Buttes. Once there
+came along a man who all said was half-witted. Perhaps he was, but his
+intelligence was keen enough to prompt him to claim the springs. By
+selling the water for quenching thirst at the rate of "four bits" a head
+for stock and "two bits" apiece for men, his spring proved the best gold
+mine in the district.
+
+There is no water ahead until we reach Saratoga Springs, a dozen miles
+beyond, and it is well that we take a small supply along, as the water
+there is unfit for either man or beast. There is a difference between
+Saratoga Springs, New York, and the springs bearing this high-sounding
+name in the Amargosa sink.
+
+[Illustration: Twenty-mule borax team]
+
+Boiling Springs are a night's ride--perhaps twenty miles--beyond. We
+give our team three hours of rest and start therefor, stopping in the
+mean time for a midnight feed, where most unexpectedly we find some
+excellent grazing for our horses. By daylight we are at the Springs and
+in a locality much like the Bad Lands of South Dakota. But the "boiling"
+industry apparently is taking a vacation, for the water is not too warm
+for one's hands and face--and certainly it is refreshing.
+
+We are in a "sink," or the dry bed of a lake, and the cliffs of clay
+have been sculptured into existence by the Amargosa River. Sometimes,
+when a dissipated cloud tumbles its contents into the region, the
+Amargosa is filled bank full with water; but few prospectors have seen
+more than a trickling stream flowing in its bed.
+
+We turn our way out of the wagon-trail toward Funeral Range to find the
+canyon of Furnace Creek, and in time we are clambering up a narrow gulch
+between the multicolored strata of clay buttes. Not a vestige of life,
+not even the horned-toad or the trail of the kangaroo-rat is to be seen.
+Half a dozen graves marked each by a wooden cross or a rock monument are
+in sight. Who are they? Ask the simoom that sweeps like a cruel furnace
+blast over this forsaken region. To be lost in this desert means
+horrible suffering, phantom-seeing, and then death. The bodies of these
+unfortunates were merely found and buried--lost!--dead!
+
+We cross the mesa which forms part of the Funeral Range. Telescope and
+Sentinel Peaks beyond Death Valley in the Panamint Mountains loom above
+the horizon; we descend the canyon of Furnace Creek and are in Death
+Valley.
+
+We are in a strange and weird depression of the earth's crust about
+fifty miles long and ten wide, the deepest part of which is more than
+two hundred and fifty feet below sea level. Once upon a time, it is
+thought, the Gulf of California reached so far inland that it included
+this gash. Then the never-ceasing winds bridged it with loose rock
+waste. Thus, Death Valley was born. In time it became a salt lake, a
+marsh, and then a dry sink.
+
+It is here that the deadly side-winder travels by night instead of day
+to avoid the excessive heat, and rivers flow with their bottoms up as if
+to hide from the burning rays of the sun; where Death by name and by
+nature gives forth no warning note, and even a mountain range on the
+east side of the valley signifies the service held to commemorate the
+last resting-place of the unfortunates who have perished here.
+
+The valley is hemmed in on the east by the precipitous side of the
+gorgeous-colored Funeral Range, and on the west by the Panamint
+Mountains, which rise to the height of ten thousand feet. The climate is
+cool and salubrious in winter, but is a fiery furnace in summer, when
+the mercury in the thermometer sometimes climbs to one hundred and forty
+degrees in the shade.
+
+Death Valley gained its name from a terrible tragedy that occurred
+during the early days of the gold excitement in California. Emigrants
+bound for California overland were wont to follow the same general route
+as far as Salt Lake City. From here there were two routes, one westerly
+along the route over which the Central Pacific Railway was afterward
+built, the other southerly into southern California.
+
+Late in the season of 1849 one of the emigrant parties reached Salt Lake
+City. Rather than winter there, however, they determined to push forward
+at all hazards by the southern route. After travelling through Utah and
+some distance in Nevada, they left the regular trail and decided to turn
+southwesterly and cross a fairly level mesa. The region was unknown to
+them, but they believed that by thus changing the route they would be
+able to reach their destination more quickly. They also thought that
+they would find better grazing for their stock. After they had crossed
+the mesa, the route became more rugged and more precipitous, so, in
+order to lighten the wagon-loads, one by one many articles of furniture
+were left behind.
+
+When the company reached the head of Amargosa Valley they began to
+separate. At length one party found looming up before it the streaked
+and many-colored Funeral Range of mountains. Nothing daunted, they
+laboriously toiled up to the crest with their teams. On looking down
+their hearts sank within them as they beheld a precipitous descent to a
+long, deep, and narrow valley almost destitute of vegetation. This
+depression was to be christened Death Valley.
+
+It was now too late to turn back; so, unyoking the oxen, they proceeded
+to lower the wagons down into the valley by hand, using chains and
+ropes. By the time they had finished the task darkness had shut down
+and, gathering sufficient greasewood brush to make a fire, they cooked
+their evening meal with a scanty supply of water and vainly searched for
+more. The food was eaten in gloomy silence, for they were lost and knew
+not where they were nor how to reach the nearest settlement.
+
+It was apparent to all, however, that they must hasten to leave this
+kiln-dried desert valley as soon as possible. Abandoning their wagons
+and nearly all of the surviving oxen to their fate, after incredible
+hardships from lack of both food and water, about one-half of the
+company of thirty souls that crossed the Funeral Range reached the
+settlements alive. Succumbing to their sufferings, the others dropped,
+one by one, by the wayside unknelled and uncoffined. The skeletons of
+several of these unfortunate emigrants were found years afterward by
+exploring parties and prospectors.
+
+Among those who escaped was a man named Bennett, who, on reaching the
+nearest town, reported that he had found a ledge of pure silver. The
+reputed discovery occurred in this way. As he was wending his course
+along one of the canyons he came across a spring, and, being both
+thirsty and tired, after taking a drink sat down to rest. While sitting
+there he carelessly broke off a piece of a rock jutting out near him,
+and perceiving that it was very heavy and thinking it might be of some
+value, placed a small part of it in his pocket.
+
+After he had reached San Bernardino he happened to purchase a gun
+lacking a front sight. Bennett therefore sought a gunsmith, whom he
+requested to make a sight out of the metallic rock which he had found
+that he might have a souvenir which would not be easily lost.
+
+To the astonishment of all who learned the facts, the metal proved to
+be pure silver. This circumstance gave rise to the celebrated "Gunsight
+Lead," a phantom that was chased in every direction from Death Valley;
+but, like the mirage of the desert, the lead was never found.
+
+In summer the valley is said to be the hottest place on the face of the
+earth, and persons deprived of water even for an hour become insane. Men
+who have attempted to cross it at mid-day have been known to fall dead,
+and birds flying across have been killed by the fierce heat.
+
+Cloud-bursts occur occasionally on the adjoining mountains, when
+torrents pour down the declivities, filling the canyons with streams of
+water sometimes many feet deep, which sweep everything before them. A
+cloud-burst may change the whole face of the mountain. Cloud-bursts come
+usually in the hottest weather and almost with the suddenness of an
+explosion. A swiftly moving black cloud tipped with fiery streaks and
+growing rapidly appears above the crest of the mountains. Then it sinks
+like a monster balloon turned sidewise until it strikes a ridge or peak;
+the flood is then let loose and destruction follows.
+
+Many stories are told of persons barely escaping with their lives by
+hastily climbing up the side of the canyons, beyond the reach of the
+roaring waters, and of others being overwhelmed and drowned. Such a
+flood, caused by a cloud-burst, may have buried the alleged Gunsight
+Lead and have changed the conformation of the canyon beyond recognition.
+
+No one without experience in travelling over deserts in the summer
+season can realize the hardships attending travel in the region of Death
+Valley nor the sombre sameness of the arid stretches of sand. When the
+sun has set and the full moon rising makes the silhouettes of the
+mountains look darker, a vague, indescribable sensation comes over
+one--an awe-inspiring feeling of insignificance and helplessness amidst
+scenes of majestic desolation. If religiously inclined, one is prone to
+utter the words of the wandering Arab of the Sahara, "Nothing exists
+here but Allah! _Allah hu Akbar!_--God is greater than all his created
+witnesses." In summer, the air being almost entirely destitute of
+moisture, evaporation is exceedingly rapid, and so hot is the sun at
+this season that metal objects lying out-of-doors burn the hand if
+touched.
+
+Many years ago valuable borax deposits were discovered in the Death
+Valley and thousands of tons of borax have been freighted out by huge
+wagons drawn by mules; indeed, "twenty-mule-team borax" has become
+almost a household term. Borax is still mined here, but not so
+extensively as formerly, more accessible borax deposits having been
+found in Nevada and elsewhere--and the twenty-mule team is now a
+motor-truck!
+
+Nearly one-third of all of the borax of the world comes from the deserts
+of California and Nevada. When borax was first discovered in California
+the wholesale price in New York was about fifty cents a pound; now it is
+about six cents.
+
+The various applications of borax to industrial and domestic uses have
+kept pace with its enormous production during the last twenty-five
+years, until now it is used for more than fifty different purposes. The
+meat-packers of the United States alone use several million pounds as a
+preservative. It is also used with excellent results as an antiseptic in
+dressing wounds and sores.
+
+Furnace Creek enters the valley on the eastern side of Death Valley, but
+its waters soon sink out of sight. The creek is used to irrigate a tract
+of alfalfa, a small garden, and a few trees; and the small ranch, a
+veritable oasis in a desert, is rightly called Greenland. A few men are
+kept employed here by the borax company. Now and then, however, the
+whole crowd, tiring of the extreme heat, desert in a body.
+
+This region is now robbed of some of its terrors by the completion of
+the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, which touches Death Valley at the
+old Amargosa Borax Works.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES
+
+
+At this period of the world's progress, when so many marvellous
+inventions are taking place, one can scarcely realize the intense
+interest that was awakened by the first discoveries made in the New
+World. So great was the excitement that the most improbable stories were
+readily believed.
+
+There were fountains of perpetual youth, Amazonian warriors, mighty
+giants, and rivers whose beds sparkled with gems and golden pebbles. The
+reports of every returning adventurer, whatever had been his luck, were
+tinged with the marvellous. In fact, a world of romance was now open to
+all and the opportunities to achieve fame and fortune were numberless.
+The first in the field stood the best chance to win the choicest prizes.
+Stories that outrivalled the Arabian Nights clouded the realm of reason.
+
+So extraordinary were the accounts that many of the cities of Spain were
+depleted of their most energetic men. Every craft that could sail the
+seas was called into use, and the building of new vessels was hastened
+to completion in order to provide for the needs of adventurous
+prospectors and would-be explorers.
+
+The conquest of the Aztec Empire, with its millions of treasure, by
+Cortez had already proved the valiancy of Spanish cavaliers. To add to
+this, the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro and his followers was
+regarded a miracle of divine interposition.
+
+As a result, Spanish galleons laden with treasure from the conquered
+countries ploughed the seas, and untold wealth poured into private and
+royal coffers. Spanish ambition and greed for gold knew no bounds.
+Cunning and cruelty were employed by the Spaniards to secure their ends.
+No trials, no hardships were too great for them to endure. No perils
+daunted them. Western South America, ruled by viceroys for nearly three
+centuries, brought to Spain its greatest wealth. One-fifth of all the
+wealth and treasure acquired was reserved for the crown.
+
+When Pizarro first visited the interior of Peru he found an empire well
+advanced in the arts of civilization. Its temples within and without
+were richly decorated with gold. There were thousands of miles of
+excellent roads, of which two were used for military purposes. One of
+these extended along the lowlands; the other traversed the grand
+plateau. These roads crossed ravines bridged with solid masonry and were
+pierced by tunnels cut through solid rock. The construction of these
+great roads was a more wonderful achievement than the building of the
+Egyptian pyramids.
+
+The government was systematically organized and to a certain extent it
+was both paternal and communal. Agriculture was skilfully carried on by
+means of fertilization and irrigation.
+
+The sun was the chief deity and object of worship of its people. Their
+most beautifully adorned and renowned sanctuary was the Temple of the
+Sun at Cuzco. Besides this sacred edifice there were several hundred
+inferior temples and places of worship scattered through the empire, all
+plentifully ornamented with gold and silver. Every Inca ruler was
+regarded as a descendant of the sun and therefore a sacred person.
+
+According to the popular belief, gold consisted of tears wept by the sun
+and was therefore a sacred metal suitable for beautifying the palaces of
+the Incas and temples of worship. Not only were the edifices themselves
+richly adorned with this precious metal, but the sacred vessels and many
+of the articles of furniture were made of the same material. Silver,
+also, was much used, but was not considered sacred. So great was the
+amount of the precious metals used that each royal palace and temple was
+a veritable mine.
+
+From 1520 to 1525 reports of a rich empire at the south were circulated
+among the adventurers congregated at Panama. At length they were
+confirmed in a great measure by travellers who had voyaged southward
+along the coast. Francisco Pizarro, a restless spirit who had been
+associated with Balboa and others in discovery and exploration,
+determining to test the truth of these reports, made several voyages
+south.
+
+Finally, he landed on the shores of Peru with an army of followers who
+numbered less than two hundred. He met with but little opposition from
+the natives while marching toward the interior, and although he
+plundered some of the places through which he passed, the people
+received him with marks of friendship.
+
+In some instances towns of several thousand population were deserted on
+the approach of the Spaniards, so great was the terror inspired by the
+white men, especially by those on horseback. At first it was the policy
+of the invaders to treat the natives with kindness in order to
+accomplish their purpose, namely, to conquer the Peruvian Empire in the
+same manner that Cortez had conquered the Aztecs. They were accompanied
+by two of the natives who previously had been taken to Spain and taught
+the Spanish language. By this means the Spaniards were able to
+communicate with the people.
+
+Learning that the Inca ruler, Atahuallpa, was encamped with his army
+among the mountains, Pizarro sent an embassy to request a meeting with
+him. It was agreed that they meet at Caxamalca, a strongly fortified
+city among the sierras. On arriving at the city, the Spaniards found it
+evacuated. Soon after taking up their quarters there, Atahuallpa arrived
+and established his camp a short distance outside the city.
+
+Pizarro at once sent word to Atahuallpa to come into the city and sup
+with him, but asked that, in order to show his faith in the white men
+and his own good intentions, he should leave all weapons behind. After
+much persuasion Atahuallpa accepted the invitation and entered the city,
+with several thousand of his followers, unarmed.
+
+When fairly within the enclosure, a priest approaching the Inca ruler
+made a harangue about Christianity and demanded that he should submit to
+the authority of the Spanish king.
+
+"By what authority do you demand such submission?" replied the monarch
+with flashing eye.
+
+"By this holy book which I hold in my hand," answered the priest.
+
+Then snatching the volume from the hand of the priest, Atahuallpa
+scornfully threw it on the ground, saying, "What right have you in my
+country? I will call you and your companions to an account for the
+indignities heaped upon me."
+
+Picking up the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported
+the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At
+them at once; I absolve you."
+
+Immediately Pizarro raised his handkerchief for the preconcerted
+signal, the firing of a gun. Thereupon his soldiers, infantry and
+cavalry, rushed from their places of concealment upon the defenceless
+Indians, slaughtering them unmercifully right and left.
+
+The discharge of the arquebuses and cannon, with their smoke, and the
+charge of the cavalry paralyzed the unsuspecting natives, and the attack
+became a horrible massacre. Not until thousands of the Indians had been
+killed and the Inca ruler had been captured did darkness cause the
+Spaniards to desist from their bloody work. So sudden and terrible had
+been the onslaught that the haughty monarch himself seemed stunned by
+the effect.
+
+Realizing the irresistible power of the white men with their wonderful
+weapons and horses, the natives gave up for a time all thoughts of
+resistance. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings
+endowed with preternatural gifts.
+
+When the ruler had been kept a prisoner several months, he desired to
+regain his freedom. By this time he realized the Spaniards' thirst for
+gold, and therefore promised to fill the room in which he was confined
+with it as high as he could reach, and twice to fill an adjoining room
+with silver, if they would release him.
+
+Pizarro agreed to this proposal; Atahuallpa thereupon sent out
+messengers to all parts of his empire requesting that the metals in the
+shape of utensils and ornaments be collected from the royal palaces,
+temples, and elsewhere and brought to Caxamalca.
+
+On account of the difficulty of transportation, since all the treasure
+had to be carried on the backs of the natives, many months elapsed
+before the collections could be made.
+
+When fifteen and one-half million dollars' worth of gold and a large
+amount of silver had been delivered at Caxamalca, Pizarro excused the
+imprisoned ruler from further contributions. At this juncture of
+affairs Almagro, a co-partner in the Peruvian expedition, arrived on the
+scene with a strong reinforcement.
+
+On learning of the immense amount of gold and silver collected, the
+followers of both leaders loudly clamored for its distribution among
+them, and, taking out the royal fifth part, the remainder was divided
+according to the rank and service rendered. Then came rumors of an
+uprising among the natives and of the collection of an army to drive out
+the invaders, but on investigation these reports were found to be false.
+
+The question then uppermost in the minds of the Spanish leaders was the
+disposition of the royal prisoner. It was thought that, were he released
+according to promise, the natives might rally around him and demand the
+expulsion of the intruders. So it was decided to make charges against
+him and to have at least the form of a trial in order to give an
+appearance of justice to the proceedings.
+
+Twelve charges were made against Atahuallpa, nearly all of which were
+far-fetched and absolutely false. He was found guilty and condemned to
+death by burning; but at the last moment, when he was chained to a stake
+and the torch was ready to be applied, the priest in attendance promised
+that the sentence should be commuted to the easier death by the garrote
+if he would renounce his idolatry and embrace Christianity. He assented
+to the proposal, and immediately the modified sentence was carried out.
+It is not necessary to add that the execution of the Peruvian monarch
+was the darkest stain on the pages of Spanish colonial history. From
+this time on the conduct of the Spanish invaders was marked by a most
+inhuman cruelty toward the natives.
+
+[Illustration: The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the
+road]
+
+Thinking that he could more easily govern the empire through a native
+ruler subservient to himself, Pizarro placed Manco, the true heir, on
+the Peruvian throne. In the meantime, however, parts of the empire
+rebelled against the new ruler and the Spanish usurpers. Then, when the
+rebellious tribes had been brought back to their former allegiance, the
+Spanish leaders quarrelled and fought among themselves.
+
+It was not long before the arrogant and cruel conduct of the Spaniards
+alienated all friendship on the part of both ruler and his subjects.
+Manco broke from his masters and, aided by his people, raised the
+standard of rebellion, determining to make a last supreme effort to rid
+his subjects of the incubus that was sapping the life of the country.
+
+After many bloody encounters in which both sides sustained severe
+losses, Manco was killed and the Spanish yoke was firmly fixed on the
+neck of the people, who for the greater part were consigned to a most
+inhuman slavery. Thousands perished by the brutal treatment inflicted
+upon them in the silver mines.
+
+In the course of time Indian slavery was abolished in a great measure by
+royal proclamation; nevertheless, Spain continued to rule this land for
+three hundred years before the oppressive yoke was cast off by a
+successful uprising. It is a pleasure to know that many of the Spanish
+leaders who were guilty of this heartless cruelty suffered violent
+deaths in quarrels among themselves or in rebellion against the crown of
+Spain.
+
+During the period of Spanish rule an immense revenue accrued from
+working the rich silver mines. Those that filled the Spanish treasure
+ships so eagerly sought by buccaneers were the mines of Potosi. These
+silver lodes, extensively worked through Indian slave labor by Hernando
+and Gonzalo Pizarro, brothers of Francisco Pizarro, were discovered in
+1546.
+
+So rich did the lodes prove to be that the city of Potosi sprang up near
+them and was supported by them, although the site was far from being
+desirable. Its altitude is about thirteen thousand feet, and it is,
+therefore, the highest city in the world. It is situated on the bleak
+side of the Andes, from whose snow-clad peaks cold, piercing winds sweep
+down over the city. Towering above it is a mountain, honeycombed with
+shafts, tunnels, and drifts, from which has been taken silver to the
+value of two billion dollars.
+
+At first it was thought that a location so high above sea level would be
+unhabitable, but the immense wealth of the silver lodes required many
+workmen for their development, and these laborers had to be housed and
+fed.
+
+At the zenith of its prosperity Potosi possessed one hundred seventy
+thousand inhabitants, and had the distinction of being the largest city
+in the New World during the first two centuries of its existence. A mint
+built in 1562, at the expense of over a million dollars, is long since
+unused. A splendid granite cathedral ornamented with beautiful statuary
+still attests to the former grandeur of the city.
+
+Some of the richest veins of silver ore in the Potosi mines have been
+worked out and many mines have been allowed to become filled with water.
+These conditions, coupled with the low price of silver for many years,
+have caused the population of the city to dwindle until now there are
+scarcely more than ten thousand inhabitants and very many of the
+buildings are in ruins. These mines have produced twenty-seven thousand
+tons of silver since their discovery, and at the present day many of
+them are yielding large returns.
+
+The Bolivian plateau is one vast mineral bed abounding in rich mines of
+copper, tin, silver, and gold. In Bolivia alone there are upward of two
+thousand silver mines; while some of the richest tin mines in the world
+are found here. Lodes of pure tin several feet in width have been
+followed down six hundred feet. Tin mines were recently discovered among
+the mountains thirteen thousand five hundred feet above the level of
+the sea, near the shores of Lake Titicaca.
+
+Two railroads now reach this high plateau, one from the seaport town of
+Antofagasta, Chile, to Oruro, Bolivia; the other from Molendo, Peru, to
+Puno, on Lake Titicaca. The most wonderful railroad in the world and the
+most costly in its construction, the Oroya Railroad is about one hundred
+fifty miles long. It begins at Callao, Peru, and ends at Oroya. The
+highest point reached by it in crossing the Andes is fifteen thousand
+six hundred and sixty-five feet. It is said that seven thousand lives
+were lost in its construction. Much of the road-bed was blasted through
+solid rock on the sides of the mountains. The cost of construction was
+about three hundred thousand dollars per mile. It has seventy-eight
+tunnels, the longest being the Gallera tunnel, which pierces Mount
+Meiggs at the altitude of fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-five
+feet. This is the highest place in the world where steam is used as a
+motive power. Ultimately the road is to be extended to the celebrated
+mines of Cerro de Pasco, fifty-one miles beyond its present terminus,
+Oroya.
+
+The chief business of these railroads extending into the Andes is
+carrying ore, bullion, and wool. Their construction marks the acme of
+engineering skill; the scenery along them surpasses that of all other
+regions in its wild ruggedness, grandeur, and sublimity.
+
+In ascending to such great heights quickly one not accustomed to high
+elevations is apt to experience dizziness, headache, and nausea. At
+first even the effort to talk on reaching these lofty places by train is
+laborious. Dogs taken from the lowlands to these elevations are unable
+to run with speed for a long time, but those which are born and reared
+in this region easily pursue wild animals.
+
+When the New World was discovered the llama was the only animal used
+there as a beast of burden. Thousands of these diminutive creatures are
+still used for transporting ore and bullion in the Andes. Each animal
+can carry a load of seventy-five pounds or more. This sure-footed animal
+can travel with its load about fourteen miles a day.
+
+[Illustration: Llamas resting]
+
+Lake Titicaca is one of the famous lakes of the world. Its name means
+tin-stone and was doubtless derived from the tin ore found in the
+vicinity. The lake has an elevation of twelve thousand five hundred and
+fifty feet, and although nine streams run into it, only one, the
+Desaguadero, flows out, carrying its waters to Lake Poopo, a small body
+of salt water nearly three hundred miles south. Lake Titicaca has the
+same surface level both summer and winter. The outflow never reaches the
+sea; it is lost by evaporation mainly in Lake Poopo, but the latter
+frequently overflows into the salt marshes lying to the southward.
+
+Though thin ice may be found in the quiet bays and inlets nearly every
+morning during the year, the expanse of the lake is never frozen even in
+the severest weather. A peculiarity about the lake is that not only will
+iron not rust when left in its waters, but that which was before rusted
+soon loses its scales of rust after being immersed a few days.
+
+Several steamers ply on the lake carrying chiefly ore and wool. Some of
+the islands in the lake are inhabited by Indians who eke out a
+precarious living.
+
+A civilization antedating that of the Incas formerly occupied the region
+about the lake, as is proved by the remarkable ruins along the shores
+concerning which the natives told the early Spaniards that they had no
+record. Three square miles are covered by these ruins, whose walls were
+made of immense blocks of stone most accurately fitted together, thus
+giving evidence of the great skill in stone-cutting possessed by the
+pre-Inca people.
+
+The Inca rulers had beautiful palaces and other edifices on some of the
+islands. Titicaca Island was regarded as sacred, and at the time of the
+Spanish conquest was the site of a large temple richly ornamented with
+gold and silver.
+
+Prospecting in the Andes is attended with great hardships. Few wild
+animals can be found to furnish food. Food and utensils must be carried
+on the backs of men, and the greatest difficulty is experienced in
+traversing the almost inaccessible steeps and deep ravines.
+
+Coal of inferior quality has been found near the shores of Lake Titicaca
+and is used by the steamers sailing on its waters. Many rich mineral
+lodes yet remain undiscovered, and a vast number of valuable mines
+languish for lack of capital to develop them. Frequent revolutions and
+the insecurity of private property prevent the investment of foreign
+capital.
+
+The Andes will continue to be a great storehouse of minerals for many
+years to come.
+
+[Illustration: Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya
+Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high]
+
+Muffling the feet of the Peruvian Andes is a long narrow strip--drifting
+dunes of rock waste--known as the Atacama Desert. In comparison with
+this awful desert, the Sahara is said to be a botanical garden. Here
+during a part of the year a fierce, relentless sun pours down its
+burning rays on the shifting sands, keeping the air at a scorching heat
+both day and night. Formerly the region belonged to Bolivia, but it was
+annexed to Chile as a result of the war of 1881.
+
+For miles and miles not a blade of grass, not a tree, not a shrub is to
+be seen. All around is a bleak, barren waste destitute of water. Yet
+underneath these sands lie concealed immense deposits of "nitrates" of
+untold wealth.
+
+Although small quantities of the nitrates had been sent to Europe for
+chemical purposes--chiefly the manufacture of gunpowder--no considerable
+amount was exported until a fortuitous discovery was made by a Scotchman
+named George Smith. After wandering over the world for some time Smith
+settled down in a little village near Iquique, where he had a small
+garden containing fruit-trees and flowers. In one part of his garden he
+noticed that the plants grew best where the soil contained a white
+substance.
+
+He then proceeded to gather a quantity of the material and to experiment
+with it. To his surprise he found that a mere handful of it greatly
+stimulated the growth of plants. He told a member of his family in
+Scotland who was engaged in fruit-growing about the wonderful effects of
+the material as a fertilizer. As a result several bags of nitrates were
+distributed among Scottish farmers and fruit-growers. So satisfactory
+did the fertilizer prove that an immediate call was made for more of it.
+Thus began a business which now yields the owners of the beds one
+hundred million dollars yearly.
+
+It was soon found out that the nitrate in its raw state contained
+properties that were injurious to plants and that these should be first
+eliminated. Forthwith reduction works were established to extract the
+deleterious substances. These substances were mainly iodine and bromine,
+two chemical elements that are of greater value than the nitrates
+themselves. Within a few years railroads were built to transport the
+nitrates from the beds to the various ports where the reduction
+factories were erected.
+
+Many men who had large interests in the nitrate beds became immensely
+wealthy in a short time. The great value of the deposits caused towns
+and cities to spring up along the coast in the most inhospitable places,
+to some of which water was piped a distance of more than two hundred
+miles and at the cost of many millions of dollars.
+
+The principal nitrate beds are in a shallow valley, four or five
+thousand feet above sea level, lying between a long range of hills and
+the base of the Andes. Just how these mineral deposits were formed it is
+difficult to explain, the most plausible theory being that this desert
+was once the bottom of an inland sea having vast quantities of seaweed
+covered with sand. In the gradual decay of this substance the nitrate of
+soda, or "Chile saltpetre," was formed.
+
+To obtain the nitrates it is necessary first to remove the top layer of
+sand and then a layer of clay. Underneath this is found a layer of soft,
+whitish material called "nitrate." The crude nitrate is sent to the
+nitrate ports to be crushed and boiled in sea-water. After boiling, the
+solution is drawn off into shallow vessels and exposed to the heat of
+the sun to evaporate.
+
+When nearly all has been evaporated and the remaining liquid drawn off,
+the bottom and sides of the vessels are found to be covered with
+sparkling white crystals. This is the saltpetre of commerce, the highest
+grade of which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, the second grade
+for chemical purposes, and the third grade, the great bulk, for
+fertilizing the exhausted soils of Europe.
+
+The liquid drawn off is crystallized by chemical treatment and further
+evaporation, and from it is obtained iodine, an ounce of which is worth
+as much as one hundred pounds of saltpetre. From eighty to one hundred
+million dollars' worth of these nitrates are dug out and sold each year.
+Great Britain takes about one-third of the entire product and Germany
+one-fifth.
+
+Iquique has the largest shipping trade. From this port about fifty
+million dollars' worth of nitrates and three million dollars' worth of
+iodine are exported yearly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN
+
+
+No other parts of the globe have been subject to so many kaleidoscopic
+changes by migrations during the past eight centuries as northern Asia
+and eastern Europe. In comparison both India and China have remained
+stable for many centuries.
+
+Before the Christian era, Mongol tribes of northeastern Asia began their
+westward march, tarrying a few centuries along the way in the most
+fertile places and gathering force by multiplication until the
+thirteenth century. Then like a mighty flood they poured into eastern
+Europe, carrying everywhere in their pathway subjugation, devastation,
+and slaughter. During the early part of these migrations, the great
+Roman Empire trembled as she beheld the irresistible moving hosts, and
+her downfall was hastened by the ponderous blows dealt her by these
+barbarians.
+
+In the early part of the thirteenth century, after the Mongol ruler
+Genghis Khan had overrun southern Russia, he turned northward and
+captured the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan, putting to death
+many of the inhabitants by the most fiendish methods of torture.
+Thousands were slaughtered merely to wreak vengeance for the strong
+resistance offered by the besieged before surrendering. Hundreds of
+thousands of the Russians both high and low were made slaves. Wives of
+the nobles who had been richly clad and adorned with jewels became
+servants of their conquerors.
+
+[Illustration: Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River.
+Catching the material for caviare]
+
+In 1272 most of the Tartars became Muhammadans and henceforth became
+more intolerant of the Christians, thousands of whom they burned alive
+or tortured. This oppressive yoke was borne for nearly three hundred
+years. Then Ivan III succeeded in breaking the Tartar rule forever.
+Mongol tribes, however, remained a disturbing element on the border for
+two hundred years thereafter.
+
+In the early part of the fourteenth century Othman, a Mongol, founded
+the Ottoman empire, which then consisted of only the western part of
+Asia Minor. His son and successor conquered Gallipoli in 1354, thereby
+gaining a foothold in Europe, and during the next two centuries
+successive Turkish rulers made large additions to the empire until it
+embraced vast areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For a time, indeed, it
+threatened to absorb all Christendom. Adrianople was conquered in 1361
+and made the capital of the Turkish Empire. Then, in 1453, after a
+memorable siege, Constantinople was captured by the Muhammadans, and
+made the capital of the empire.
+
+Orkhan was the first to exact as tribute the strongest and healthiest
+male children of all Christian peoples whom he conquered. These youths,
+reared as Muhammadans and trained under strict military discipline,
+became that efficient body of troops called the Janizaries. For a long
+time they were the bulwark of the empire, but at length they became so
+dictatorial and powerful that the sultan began to fear them more than he
+feared his foreign enemies. In 1825, when the army was reorganized on
+the European plan, the Janizaries broke out in open revolt. Then the
+reigning sultan unfurled the flag of the Prophet and called upon the
+faithful to suppress the rebellious corps. In the contest that ensued it
+is estimated that twenty-five thousand of the rebels were put to death,
+twenty thousand were banished, and the others disbanded. This was the
+end of an epoch of blood-shedding and the beginning of an era of
+commerce.
+
+The Russians have always been noted for their love of furs; as a result
+a small, fur-bearing animal, the sable, led to the conquest of that vast
+realm now known as Siberia.
+
+About the middle of the sixteenth century a rich Russian merchant named
+Strogonoff, residing at Kazan, established salt works on the banks of
+the Kama, a tributary of the Volga River, and began trading with the
+natives. One day, having noticed some strangely dressed travellers and
+learning that they came from a country beyond the Ural Mountains, called
+Sibir, he despatched some of his agents into that land. On returning,
+the employees brought with them the finest sable skins that the
+merchant had ever seen. They had been secured for a trifling sum.
+
+Strogonoff began at once to extend the area of his trafficking, and
+informed the government of the lucrative commerce that he had opened up.
+Valuable concessions were then granted him. A few years afterward a
+Cossack officer named Yermak, who had been declared an outlaw by Ivan
+the Terrible, gathered together a force of less than one thousand men.
+The band was composed of adventurers, freebooters, and criminals, and
+the expedition was armed and provisioned by Strogonoff, who expected to
+profit by opening up the new region. Permission having been obtained
+from the government, in 1579 Yermak set forth with his followers for the
+unknown country.
+
+So great were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forest
+offered, together with the severity of the climate and hostility of the
+natives, that his force was reduced by death, sickness, and desertion to
+the number of five hundred when he lined up his men before the large
+army of the powerful Kutchum Khan. Like Cortez and Pizarro, Yermak had
+unbounded confidence in his ability to cope with his enemies, who were
+rudely armed with bows and arrows, regardless of their numbers; for his
+own men were supplied with matchlocks, and with these--in the language
+of the natives--they could manufacture thunder and lightning.
+
+A terrible battle ensued, and for some time success seemed evenly
+balanced. At length the fierce attacks of the Cossacks forced the
+barbarous hordes to give way and the retreat became a stampede. Kutchum
+Khan's camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
+Yermak at once sent part of his force to occupy the Tartar capital,
+which was found to be evacuated, so great was the terror inspired by the
+Russians.
+
+The success achieved by the handful of Cossacks led several neighboring
+tribes to offer voluntarily an annual tribute of sable skins. When
+Yermak had collected several thousand of these skins, he sent a special
+envoy to Moscow to present them along with the conquered country to the
+czar. So greatly pleased was Ivan with the offerings that he forgave
+Yermak for his past ill deeds and made him governor and
+commander-in-chief of all the countries which he might conquer. Then,
+knowing that it would be difficult for the Cossacks to hold the
+conquered territory very long with their diminished numbers, the czar
+forthwith sent reinforcements.
+
+Soon after the arrival of the additional troops, Yermak audaciously
+started out to make further conquests. One dark and rainy night he
+encamped with his force on a small island in the Irtish River. Relying
+on the terror which his name had inspired, and the stormy weather, he
+deemed it unnecessary to post sentinels. Wearied with their long march,
+soon all of the Russians were buried in slumber.
+
+But Kutchum, smarting under his humiliating defeat, had spies constantly
+watching his foes, intending, if possible, to take them by surprise.
+When the spies reported to him the lack of vigilance on the part of the
+enemy, he stealthily crossed to the island with his force and fell upon
+the sleeping camp. All the Russians but two were killed, and these,
+escaping, reported the disaster at Sibir. When Yermak saw the
+annihilation of his troops, he cut his way through the Tartars and
+attempted to swim the stream, but was dragged to the bottom by his heavy
+armor and drowned.
+
+When news of the crushing disaster reached Sibir the Russians, losing
+heart at the death of their leader, evacuated the place and returned
+home. The czar, nevertheless, had no idea of permitting a land so
+promising to slip from his grasp. It was not long before he sent a
+larger army across the Ural Mountains, which not only reconquered the
+lost territory but also the rest of western Siberia.
+
+[Illustration: Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River]
+
+Gradually the Cossacks moved eastward, conquering tribe after tribe. As
+they advanced they built strong wooden forts by which to hold their
+vantage ground. Tomsk was founded in 1604; by 1630 the tide of conquest
+had reached the banks of the Lena; and within eighty years from their
+first conquest the Russians had reached the Pacific.
+
+Years afterward a suitable monument was erected to Yermak in the city of
+Tobolsk, which was built on the battle-field where he gained his first
+decisive victory over the Tartar ruler. His real monument is all
+Siberia, whose conquest he inaugurated.
+
+In 1847 the Amur River section was annexed by Russia regardless of the
+protests of the Chinese Government. Quarrels ensued over the boundaries
+and, finding resistance hopeless, the Chinese ceded to Russia all the
+land on the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri and
+on both its banks below that river.
+
+The sable gradually led the Russian hunters to Kamtchatka, while the
+more valuable sea-otter beckoned them across the sea to the Aleutian
+Islands and that part of the American continent now Alaska Territory.
+The chief incentive in all of these conquests was the securing of
+valuable furs. The sable is even yet found along the streams in both
+open and forested sections from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific; but
+so relentless has been the pursuit of this valuable fur-bearing animal
+that it is now nearly exterminated. Besides the sable and the sea-otter,
+there are found in Siberia the ermine, bear, arctic fox, common fox,
+deer, wolf, antelope, elk, hare, and squirrel.
+
+To avoid entering into conflict with the more powerful people at the
+south, the Russians chose to advance eastward along higher latitudes
+toward the Pacific. But within a few years after the Muscovite empire
+had acquired central and northern Siberia, there were loud complaints
+that the tribes on the south were making raids on them, robbing them of
+their property and carrying their people into slavery. So, from time to
+time, Cossack forces were sent to chastise the offenders; and in many
+instances they were punished and their territories were annexed to
+Siberia.
+
+In these raids the Turkomans were the most active. During the forty
+years previous to 1878 it is estimated that eighty thousand Russian
+subjects and two hundred thousand Persians were made captives and sold
+into slavery. In 1873 the Russians captured Khiva and liberated thirty
+thousand Persian slaves.
+
+Notwithstanding these lessons, some of the Turkoman tribes still went on
+marauding expeditions, robbing, killing, and enslaving their neighbors.
+So, in 1878, another strong force of the Cossacks was sent against the
+pillaging tribes, who were made to release all slaves and abolish
+slavery. Little by little all Turkistan became Russian territory.
+Bokhara and Khiva alone keep their old forms of government, but they are
+practically Russian states and pay Russia annually a stipulated tribute.
+
+It is thought that once upon a time Siberia had a much larger population
+than it has now and the peoples who lived there dwelt farther north. The
+first colonists lived in the stone age and were contemporaneous with the
+mammoth, whose remains are found scattered all over the northern part of
+Siberia and the adjacent islands.
+
+In the interior these remains are found imbedded in thick strata of pure
+blue ice, which is covered by the river gravels of streams that do not
+now exist. So thick are these layers of ice that they may be likened to
+the rocks found in lower latitudes. Several of these animals have been
+found imbedded in the ice in an almost perfect state of preservation,
+and quantities of their tusks are obtained annually along the northern
+rivers where the spring freshets have worn away the banks of the
+streams.
+
+Whenever the ivory-tusk hunter sees the end of a tusk sticking out of
+the river bank, he is soon able to remove it from its resting place with
+pick and shovel. Great quantities of this fossil ivory are also obtained
+from the islands to the north of the mainland.
+
+As in arctic America, the ground of northern Siberia is frozen solid to
+the depth of many feet, and even during the hottest summer it thaws down
+only a few inches. The climate is continental in character, being marked
+by fierce winds and great extremes both in temperature and moisture. In
+midsummer the temperature may reach one hundred and ten degrees, while
+in midwinter it has been known to reach ninety degrees below zero.
+
+Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three longitudinal belts:
+first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several
+hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred
+miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern
+part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, grassy plains, and a few
+broken forests.
+
+The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen
+waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here
+nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring
+struggle with cold and hunger.
+
+In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw,
+thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear,
+enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp
+September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their
+tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy
+plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.
+
+One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the
+sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many
+animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for
+thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be
+brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate
+the history of their age and generation!
+
+The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the
+forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of
+islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To
+reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels
+of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their
+return south the natives station themselves at these places and
+slaughter them in large numbers.
+
+All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the breeding places
+of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such
+dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.
+
+Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory
+is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
+Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
+the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
+gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
+worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
+early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.
+
+[Illustration: Driving over the tundra in winter]
+
+Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
+archæologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
+There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
+thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
+from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
+collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in
+an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
+This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
+the bronze age in the world.
+
+The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
+shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
+forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
+pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
+square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
+neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
+dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
+so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
+steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
+supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
+they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
+or hearing either bird or beast.
+
+At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
+that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
+The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
+number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
+by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
+miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
+portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
+be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
+coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.
+
+Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most
+numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy
+several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the
+Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where
+the temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three
+degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and
+the children sport naked in the snow.
+
+The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and
+extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of
+Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly
+spined forms of the cactus family.
+
+A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants
+on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the
+northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in
+Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine
+nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and
+settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially
+in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed
+from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward
+of three million pounds.
+
+The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the
+Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It
+is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along
+frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.
+
+The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central
+Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is
+widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The
+word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes
+from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the
+mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires
+before it can be worked.
+
+The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful
+transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and
+other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was
+practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and
+seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment,
+double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the
+first cost.
+
+The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line
+across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now
+called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur
+is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five
+hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too
+light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and
+the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.
+
+The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges
+from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as
+one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class
+one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds
+on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the
+luxury of a bath.
+
+Since the completion of the road the government has done everything
+possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle
+and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in
+Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line
+during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand
+annually.
+
+To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives
+each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock
+and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of
+interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be
+bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million
+five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant
+farmers.
+
+Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
+additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the
+growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers
+during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the
+Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice
+obstructions.
+
+[Illustration: Train on the steppes of Russia]
+
+Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before
+the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the
+government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the
+principal places schools have been established in which the best methods
+of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are
+practically unknown.
+
+The fine quality of the grasses, together with the improved methods of
+manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian butter
+to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
+products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
+quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
+Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
+Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
+pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
+fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
+only in its infancy.
+
+In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
+black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
+sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
+of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
+timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
+capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.
+
+Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
+concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
+have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
+been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
+be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
+criminals are sent to Siberia.
+
+Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
+political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
+of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
+family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.
+
+Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
+hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
+deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
+species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
+found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
+this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
+species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
+industries.
+
+In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
+made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
+one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
+to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends
+around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not
+attempted when the ice is thick.
+
+Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to
+the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than
+six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States,
+including Alaska.
+
+Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts,
+irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the
+agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond
+computation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA
+
+
+The statement that "one half the world does not know how the other half
+lives, nor how it is influenced," applies with double force to the
+peoples living on the high plateau of Tibet beyond the titanic
+Himalayas. Here is a vast region only one-twentieth of which is covered
+with vegetation. Chains of mountains with snow-capped peaks encircle it,
+and spurs from the main ranges, together with lesser ridges and isolated
+elevations, diversify its surface.
+
+Amidst these desolate wastes are fertile valleys which are capable of
+producing excellent crops; in many other sections good crops are
+produced by very primitive methods of irrigation. As a whole the plateau
+may be classed among the infertile regions of the earth.
+
+On account of its great elevation, Tibet is often called the roof of the
+world. Starting from its borders several large rivers break through its
+rocky ramparts, among them the Indus, Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Hoang.
+Some of the plains of the great plateau range from fifteen to eighteen
+thousand feet above sea level. Scattered over these are single lakes and
+chains of lakes, many of which are salt. These vast areas, storm-swept
+in winter and baked by heat in summer, are frequented by bandits and
+nomads. They live in tents made of the almost black hair of the yak, and
+move from place to place with their flocks and herds to seek food for
+their animals. The stable population resides chiefly in the few cities
+and villages.
+
+For nearly a thousand years a veil of religious mystery has shrouded
+this section of the world; and the sacred city of Lasa with its holy
+places has been doubly guarded against the visits of foreigners.
+
+This mysterious land has been able to maintain its position of isolated
+seclusion because of the high mountain barriers that are massed in a
+series of gigantic walls on all sides. It is approachable only through
+narrow passes that are constantly guarded.
+
+Our knowledge of the "forbidden land," as it is called, has been
+obtained chiefly from adventurers who have travelled through it in
+disguise, and from a few others who took more desperate chances by
+forcing their way in. Among these may be mentioned Bower, Thorald, the
+Littledales, Rockhill, Captain Deasy, Sven Hedin, and Walter Savage
+Landor. Landor was taken prisoner by the Tibetans and suffered at their
+hands horrible tortures, from the effects of which he will never
+recover.
+
+[Illustration: Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India]
+
+Because the Tibetans for many years had insulted the government of India
+and had seized territory claimed by it, English troops under Colonel
+Younghusband were sent against the invaders in 1903, and after several
+severe battles reached the forbidden city of Lasa, where a forced treaty
+was negotiated and signed. But on the withdrawal of the English troops
+the policy of exclusion was immediately resumed. Russia to-day has much
+greater influence in Tibet than has England.
+
+The present condition of Tibet resembles in many respects that of Europe
+during the Middle Ages. The country is under the suzerainty of China,
+which has a representative called an amaban and several thousand troops
+at Lasa to maintain its claim.
+
+Though an extremely trying climate prevails on these highlands, the
+hermit-like, priest-ridden people know no better home and are contented
+with their lot. Of its three and one-half million inhabitants, one in
+seven belongs to the priestly class called lamas.
+
+At the head of this priesthood, as well as at the head of the state, are
+two leaders, the chief one, the Dalai Lama, or "ocean of learning," and
+the other the Bogodo Lama, or "precious teacher." With their
+subordinates, these two are supposed to have power not only over life
+and death, but over the reincarnation of the soul and entrance to the
+regions beyond rebirth.
+
+This isolated table-land is the seat of a former Buddhism better known
+by the name of Lamaism. A deep but crude religious feeling tainted with
+the grossest superstitions pervades the whole people, whose ignorance of
+other learning is appalling.
+
+When a person dies a lama must be present to see that the soul is
+properly separated from the body and to direct the spirit on its journey
+to paradise; the lama must also influence its rebirth in a happy
+existence and provide for its entrance upon Nirvana, or eternal rest.
+
+Many a mountain contains hollowed-out cells in which hermit monks spend
+their lives in silent meditation. On an island in one of the lakes,
+where they can be reached only when the lake freezes, reside twenty
+monks. In the midst of this wild and majestic scenery each rock and
+stream has its deity and saint, together with its appropriate legend.
+
+Although the Buddhist monks do not believe in God as a creator, their
+religion demands audible and written prayers; indeed, prayer-wheels are
+frequently used to facilitate the repetition of prayers. Prayers
+numbering hundreds and even thousands are carefully written and placed,
+rolled up, in drum-wheels, which are revolved by wind, water, or hand
+power. Each revolution of a wheel is supposed to say all the prayers
+enclosed in it.
+
+Many prayer-wheels, each with appropriate prayers, are mounted on axles
+and placed convenient to frequented paths so that they may be whirled
+around by those who pass by. Others provided with suitable fans are
+placed where they may be revolved by the wind. Sometimes water power is
+made to turn the wheels, but most of them are made of a size convenient
+to be carried about and operated by hand.
+
+The capital of Tibet and seat of the Dalai Lama is Lasa, situated in a
+plain nearly twelve thousand feet above sea level. The city is
+surrounded by a marsh and is reached by a causeway raised above the
+morass. It has wide and regular streets, the principal buildings being
+made of stone, but the majority of the structures are adobe and
+sun-dried brick.
+
+This interesting city contains forty-five thousand inhabitants,
+two-thirds of whom are monks. Streams formed by the melting snow course
+down the surrounding mountains, flooding the plain. At a distance the
+city presents an imposing appearance with the adjacent Potala as the
+crowning glory.
+
+In the centre of the city stands a cathedral, called the Jo-Kang, which
+contains one of the most renowned statues of Buddha. This image, of life
+size, is an object of the greatest reverence and adoration. It is made
+of a composition of metals, gold and silver predominating. Priests are
+always in attendance and lamps are constantly burning before it. The
+roof of the temple is gilded and the interior is richly furnished.
+
+Situated in the suburbs, on a rocky elevation above the plain which
+overlooks the city, is a wonderful group of buildings forming the
+Potala, or palace of the Dalai Lama. This huge, conglomerate structure
+of granite rising story above story to an immense height fascinates the
+beholder, who marvels at the skill and patience of the builders.
+
+As though to heighten its beauty, the Potala is separated from the city
+by a park of grass and trees about a mile wide, making the stately
+edifice look like a huge diamond encircled with emeralds. Nothing but a
+blind religious zeal could have brought to completion such a series of
+connected edifices with their miles of halls, courts, corridors, and
+labyrinthine passageways.
+
+Scattered throughout Tibet are upward of three thousand monasteries, or
+lamaseries. Some of them are built in remote and inaccessible places and
+contain as many as seven thousand monks. Each lamasery has set apart for
+its use the best land in that vicinity, the cultivation of which is done
+by the common people, who are little better than serfs, or peons.
+
+It is a notable fact that in this strange land there are many more men
+than women, although the reverse would be expected. The support of the
+hordes of lazy monks is a great incubus and retards the development of
+the country.
+
+[Illustration: The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but
+furnishes milk, butter, and meat]
+
+The use of water for cleansing purposes seems to be no part of the
+religion of the people; they never bathe their bodies and seldom wash
+the face and hands. To protect themselves from the biting cold they
+smear their faces with rancid butter, which, catching the smoke and
+dust, adds to the effectiveness as well as the strength of the odor.
+Their homes and places of worship reek with dirt and filth; small-pox,
+ailments of the eyes, and other contagious diseases are prevalent.
+Harelip, in a great measure due to lack of proper nutrition, is a very
+common ailment.
+
+In leather and inlaid work the Tibetans show great skill, much of the
+decorative work on the handles of their swords and daggers being very
+artistic. The common people live in constant terror of evil spirits in
+this world and of terrible punishments in the hereafter; the educated
+classes believe they can drive off or propitiate all evil influences in
+this world, but fear they may be changed in a future rebirth to some
+vile form of being. In general, the people are treacherous and cowardly.
+For weapons of defence they use matchlocks; in firing them, the weapon
+is held directly in front of the nose.
+
+Of domestic animals the yak is one of the most useful, since it not only
+serves as a beast of burden but furnishes rich milk, butter, and meat.
+The long hair of the animal is used for making ropes, tents, and cloth.
+
+The yak resembles the ox in body, head, and legs; but it is covered with
+long, silky hair which hangs like the fleece of an Angora goat. The
+long, flowing hair of the tail reaches nearly to the ground. Thousands
+of these tails find their way to India where they are used for various
+household purposes.
+
+Wild yaks are found in considerable numbers near the limits of perpetual
+snow, but at the approach of winter they descend to the wooded valleys
+just below the snow line. During the summer they pasture on the higher
+elevations. In their wild state yaks are fierce and dangerous. Being
+accustomed to high elevations, they fall sick and die when removed to
+the lowlands.
+
+Milk is obtained not only from the yaks but from the sheep and goats.
+The sheep, being of large size, are frequently used to bear small loads.
+Many horses are raised, but they are used chiefly for riding.
+
+Tibet is rich in gold, and for thousands of years the precious metal has
+been washed out of its surface by the crudest of methods. In fact, gold
+is washed from every river which has its sources in the Tibetan plateau.
+Most of it in time finds its way to China. Silver, copper, iron, lead,
+and mercury abound in the southeastern part and considerable quantities
+are mined.
+
+Traffic is carried on by means of caravans, the most common pack animal
+being the yak. Almost all the commerce is controlled by Chinese
+merchants, and the chief article of trade is tea, which is received in
+exchange for wool, hides, musk, amber, and gold. The tea is an inferior
+kind known as "brick tea," being composed of the refuse, stems, and
+leaves of the plants cemented with rice water and pressed into hard
+bricks. This kind of tea is preferred by the Tibetans, who brew it with
+butter and other ingredients and consume the entire concoction. The tea
+trade amounts to several million pounds annually.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN
+
+
+Who has not had the youthful imagination fired by the "Arabian Nights"?
+The simplicity and lifelike reality of these interesting stories, made
+even more fascinating by their Oriental color, appeal both to young and
+old.
+
+So great has been their popularity that few works have been translated
+into so many different languages, while their influence on the
+literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more
+than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set
+forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and
+revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner
+the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the
+senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely
+characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.
+
+The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly
+storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is
+the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million
+converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.
+
+We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on
+ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we
+shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we
+shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic
+and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand
+years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and
+polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.
+
+In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration,
+art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests
+was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by
+the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem,
+for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth
+await those who fight in the holy cause.
+
+By nature the Arab is active, vivacious, and keen-witted. He is proud of
+his lineage, earnest, and hospitable. The mother not only takes care of
+the home but educates the children; and, strange as it may seem to the
+outside world, illiteracy is practically unknown to Arabia.
+
+To the Arabic race we are indebted for our knowledge of arithmetic, and
+many of the principles of algebra and geometry. The pendulum, the
+mariner's compass, and the manufacture of silk and cotton textiles were
+introduced into Europe by the Arabs. They claim to have used gunpowder
+as far back as the eleventh century. In the year 706 paper was made at
+Mecca and from there its manufacture spread all over the western world.
+To them we owe many of the useful arts and practical inventions which
+were later brought to perfection by other nations.
+
+[Illustration: Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India]
+
+Now, no one is quite certain about the Saracens as a people because the
+name has been very loosely used. It was applied by Roman soldiers to
+several wandering tribes of Arabs who were much accustomed to mistaking
+other people's flocks of sheep and herds of cattle for their own. Most
+likely there never was a Saracenic Empire. But there certainly was a
+time when Arabians controlled not only the Arabian peninsula, but also
+Syria and the fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well;
+and that great region became known as the "Land of the Saracens." From
+Damascus to Bagdad, and from the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Gulf of Oman, the
+Moslem was all-powerful.
+
+Let us glance at the country itself. In the first place, Arabia is not a
+nation but a country made up of petty states--some independent, some
+controlled by the sultan of Turkey; two or three are included in the
+British Empire. But the country itself is very far removed from the rest
+of the world so far as accessibility is concerned; and although its
+coast is scarcely a gunshot from the greatest trade route of the East,
+Arabia is to-day one of the least-known countries in the world.
+
+In general, the country is a moderately high table-land bordered by low
+coast plains. Much of it is an out-and-out desert; all of it is arid.
+Long ago it was divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia
+Felix--that is, the rocky, the desert, and the happy. It is needless to
+say that Arabia the happy was the part receiving enough rainfall to
+produce foodstuffs.
+
+The coast-line of this great peninsula is nearly as great as that of the
+Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States; but in its entire extent,
+not far from four thousand miles, there is scarcely a harbor in which a
+good-sized fishing schooner could find safe anchorage. Even at Aden a
+steamship cannot approach within a quarter of a mile of the shore. So
+one will not be far out of the way in designating Arabia as an
+impassable country with an impossible coast.
+
+It is estimated that about seven millions of people live in the entire
+peninsula. To say that these belong to the Semitic race is merely to say
+that they are dark-skinned and black-haired. The Arab, whether a
+merchant dwelling in a city along the coast, or a Bedouin wandering with
+flocks and herds, is a product of the desert and of the teachings of
+Islam. His black eyes twinkle with shrewdness and he is a past master of
+craftiness. As a trader he is unsurpassed, and Arab traders control the
+interior commerce of western Asia and northern Africa just as the
+Chinese control the trade of southeastern Asia.
+
+As a Bedouin of the desert the Arab is supreme in his way. Savage and
+blood-thirsty by nature, if there is no caravan to rob or common enemy
+to fight, neighboring tribes easily find cause for fighting one another.
+Usually a quarrel over pasture lands in the same locality furnishes an
+excuse for a feud that results in the extermination of one tribe or the
+other.
+
+A hatred of those who are not followers of the prophet is a heritage of
+all Arabs. The merchant class, who are wealthy and usually educated, may
+have trained themselves to conceal it, but they possess it. Even to the
+most liberal Arab, one who is not of the faith of Islam is a "dog of an
+unbeliever." Among Bedouins, not to rob the caravan containing the
+belongings of a Christian would be a sin. There is one exception,
+however; if a Bedouin sheik agrees to convoy a party of "unbelievers,"
+together with their valuables, over a robber-infested route, he will
+carry out his bargain faithfully.
+
+Family ties among the Bedouin Arabs are much the same to-day as they
+were two thousand years ago. The great-grandfather, grandfather, or
+father, as the case may be, is the head of the family, and his will is
+law. The tribe is governed by a sheik, who is simply a "boss." He does
+not inherit his office, nor is he elected to it by popular vote; he
+elects himself because he is the best man, and he "holds over" for the
+same reason.
+
+The family mansion of the Bedouin is a tent made of goat-hair cloth.
+Some tents occupy as much ground as is covered by a small cottage. The
+tent of a sheik may be richly furnished with rugs and silk portières;
+ordinarily, a coarse hearth-rug and a divan cover are about the only
+furnishings. The cooking utensils are primitive--one or two kettles to a
+family; and of tableware there is practically nothing more than one or
+two platters. Meat is freely eaten and coffee is commonly a part of each
+meal. In the place of bread, flour about as coarse as oatmeal is mixed
+to a paste, rolled or beaten into thin cakes, and cooked in hot butter.
+Dates are almost always a part of the food supply.
+
+The camel has first place in the wealth of the Bedouin, but sheep and
+goats in many instances form a part of his herds. The tents of a family
+are pitched where the grazing is good and the families move about as
+they will. All disputes are settled by the sheik, and he is apt to
+emphasize his decisions by the free use of his lance shaft. Whenever it
+becomes necessary because of poor grazing, the whole clan or tribe may
+move to a distant place. All household goods are wrapped in packs or put
+into saddle bags. Two or three camels will readily carry the tent and
+luggage of a family. The women are carried in litters; the men ride
+camels. Horses are rarely ridden at such times.
+
+If a caravan is to be plundered, however, the best horses are used, and
+in addition to his lance the raider carries a heavy knife. Perhaps a few
+firearms may be carried, but they are generally either flintlocks or the
+older matchlocks. It is only within a few years that the modern rifle
+with metal cartridge has found favor with the Bedouin.
+
+[Illustration: A group of Arabs with their dromedaries]
+
+The great Arabian peninsula, seemingly so far out of the world, produces
+many things, some of which the world cannot do well without. First of
+all, it is the home of the camel. Perhaps a more awkward and ungainly
+animal has not been domesticated, but certainly none is more useful. We
+are told by students of natural history that the camel is the descendant
+of the llama kind which seems to have originated in the South American
+Andes. Just how or when the descent from the New World, which is really
+the Old World, to the Old World, which is really the New World, was made
+we are not informed; nevertheless, it looks as though the natural
+history student has the right end of the argument. After the animal got
+to Arabia it "developed." And while the result may not have been very
+artistic, no one will deny that it was good workmanship; for the world
+has never produced a more useful helper to mankind.
+
+Practically all the riding animals are of the one-hump or Arabian
+species. They are much larger and stronger than the two-hump animals.
+One variety is slim and comparatively light in weight. These animals, as
+a rule, are trained to a swift gait, and are used solely as riding
+animals. They are called dromedaries, a word that means swift-runner.
+
+Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic
+cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for
+their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A
+well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a
+pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the
+camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized.
+The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is
+used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in
+high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. Ordinarily, however, camel's hair
+is coarse and is used for the cheapest textiles. Arabia is the source
+from which a large proportion of the camels used in the caravan trade of
+Asia and Africa is obtained. Fermented camel's milk is much used all
+over western Asia.
+
+The Arabian horse has been famous in literature and in song for more
+than two thousand years. The district of Nejd has been the chief
+breeding locality for these horses for many centuries. Contrary to
+tradition, however, even the finest animals are neither so large nor so
+swift as American thoroughbred horses. The qualities that have made the
+Arabian horse famous are its beautiful proportions, endurance, and
+intelligence. Young colts mingle freely with their owners and
+attendants, and they need, therefore, only the training to make them
+saddle-wise; they require no "breaking." Brought up with the family and
+treated with the greatest kindness from its birth the colt learns to
+regard his master as his best friend.
+
+Ordinarily but little water is given them, and they are so well trained
+that a good animal will go a whole day in summer and two days in winter
+without drink. The pure, full-blood Arabian is never sold. It may be
+acquired only by gift, by capture in war, or by legacy. Animals of mixed
+breed, however, are freely sold, most of them going to Turkey and to
+India.
+
+Mocha coffee is another product for which Arabia is renowned. The coffee
+berry bearing this name is of the peaberry variety--that is, only one of
+the two seeds within the husk comes to maturity. Most of the coffee is
+grown in Yemen and the adjoining vilayets, and it received its name
+because it was formerly marketed at the port of Mocha. Of late years it
+has been shipped from Hodeida.
+
+The business is in the hands of Arab merchants, and the coffee is
+carried to Hodeida by caravans. On its way it is carefully sorted by
+hand into three or more grades. The finest grade is sold to wealthy
+Turkish customers at from three to five dollars per pound; the inferior
+grades command prices varying from thirty cents to twice or three times
+as much. Very little of the product ever passes outside of Turkey. All
+the Mocha coffee grown in Yemen would not much more than supply New York
+City.
+
+The pearl fisheries along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are also
+controlled by Arab traders. From there are obtained some of the finest
+pearls to be found, and also many tons of mother-of-pearl shells. The
+yearly product of the fisheries is thought to exceed more than two
+millions of dollars in value. The pearls are found in a species of
+oyster, and to obtain them the divers must go to the bottom in from
+thirty to ninety feet of water. Expert divers can remain under water as
+long as two minutes.
+
+The oysters are taken ashore to be opened, and Turkish inspectors are on
+hand to levy a tax on the product. A few pearls may escape him,
+especially if he is temporarily blinded by the glare of several
+piasters; but the pearl industry is taxed for about all that it is
+worth.
+
+Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, is the city to which
+every disciple of Islam is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once
+in his lifetime. The chief income of the inhabitants of Mecca is
+obtained by renting rooms and entertaining the visiting pilgrims who
+flock thither.
+
+In the centre of the city is the so-called Sacred Mosque, or area, which
+is entirely enclosed by a covered structure of colonnades having
+minarets and cupolas. Within the centre of this enclosed space is a
+cube-shaped building called the Kaaba, which contains the famous sacred
+Black Stone. This stone, probably of meteoric origin, gives to the
+building its sanctity, and is an object of the greatest veneration to
+every pious Moslem, who kisses it repeatedly. There is also within the
+enclosure a building containing the holy well, Zemzem, the only well in
+Mecca.
+
+No unbeliever is permitted to enter the sacred enclosure, much less to
+pollute the Holy Kaaba by his presence. A few infidels disguised as
+pilgrims, at the risk of their lives, have visited this sacred place.
+
+The preparations for pilgrimage are unique. The pilgrims assemble near
+Mecca during the holy month and begin the sacred rites by bathing and
+assuming the sacred garb. This suit consists of two woollen wrappers,
+one worn around the middle of the body and the other around the
+shoulders. With bare head and slippers covering neither heel nor instep
+the pilgrim sets forth on his holy journey.
+
+While wearing this dress he is admonished to bring his thoughts into
+harmony with the sanctity of the territory he now traverses. He is not
+to shave, anoint his head, pare his nails, or bathe until the end of the
+pilgrimage. Among the various rites to be performed after reaching Mecca
+is walking seven times around the Kaaba, first slowly, then quickly.
+Before leaving the city the pilgrim drinks water from the holy well,
+Zemzem.
+
+Many pious pilgrims visit Medina, now the terminus of a railway, before
+going on to Mecca. This is another of the sacred cities of Islam, since
+it is the scene of Muhammad's labors after his hegira from Mecca; it
+also contains his tomb. Formerly no unbeliever was permitted to traverse
+the streets of Medina or look upon the tomb of the great prophet, but
+tourists are now allowed within the gates. The city is enclosed by a
+wall forty feet high which is flanked with thirty towers. Two of its
+four gates are massive structures with double towers. Like Mecca, Medina
+is supported chiefly by pilgrims.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SAHARA
+
+
+An expanse of land as large as the main body of the United States
+stretches across the northern part of Africa. From the Atlantic Ocean to
+the Red Sea, and from the foot of the Atlas Mountains to the Sudan, it
+is a weird panorama of rock waste--level, rugged, shingly, and
+mountainous, according to locality. In places only it is penetrated by
+large and permanently flowing streams. On the eastern borderland the
+Nile pours a mighty flood, winding a sinuous passage along its
+self-made flood-plain, the Egypt of history. In the west the Niger has
+forced its way into the confines of the desert and then, as if rebuffed,
+turns its course southward.
+
+This great domain of the simoom has every diversity of surface. The
+higher summits of the Tarso Mountains are eight thousand feet above sea
+level; the Shott, a chain of salt lakes south of the Atlas Mountains,
+are about one hundred feet below sea level. The depression in which
+these lakes is situated probably was once the head of the Gulf of Sidra;
+but the never-ceasing winds have partly filled the depression, cutting
+off the head of the gulf in the same manner that wind-blown sands
+severed what is now Imperial Valley from the Gulf of California. Around
+the briny lakes are marshes of quicksands, and woe betide the luckless
+traveller who strays to the one side or the other of the beaten trails.
+Unless help is at hand, life will have neither joys nor troubles for him
+after a few brief minutes of struggle.
+
+The Sahara proper begins at the south slope of the Atlas Mountains.
+Where there are no Atlas Mountains, it begins almost at the
+Mediterranean's edge. In the valleys of the Atlas and along the
+Mediterranean coast there is a strip of fertile land, wide here, narrow
+there, that produces grain and fruit. The Arabs call it the
+_Tell_. "Beyond the Tell is Sah-ra," or the Sahara. This is the name
+which the Arabs apply to the archipelago of fertile spots, or oases.
+Beyond the zone of oases is the desert. One becomes instantly and
+painfully aware that it is a desert on leaving the last oasis. Go a
+thousand miles southward, eastward, or westward from Tripoli, and one
+encounters but a single thing--an ocean of orange-colored rock waste,
+the Guebla of the Arabs.
+
+[Illustration: On the sands of the desert]
+
+The desert is a desert for want of water only. There is no lack of
+nutrition in the soil, nor is there anything in surface or temperature
+that makes a desert unproductive. Temperature and winds reach great
+extremes in fierceness, however. The temperature of the air in the
+noonday sun will often exceed one hundred and forty-five degrees; it may
+reach one hundred and fifty-five degrees. In the shade it frequently
+climbs to one hundred and thirty degrees in the vicinity of the tropics.
+Unless one is at a considerable altitude there is not much relief at
+night, though the thermometer may drop to ninety degrees. Farther north,
+however, and at an altitude of five thousand feet or more, the
+temperature of the night is even more cruel than that of the day.
+Immediately after sunset a sharp chill becomes perceptible. At first it
+is a welcome relief from the intolerable heat. By nine o'clock it begins
+to cut like a stiletto, and at midnight the water suspended in shallow
+dishes clinks into ice. The drivers burrow deep into the sand and wrap
+woollen baracans about them; the camels shiver and even blubber like
+whipped bullies.
+
+The air is so dry, however, that the extreme heat of day is by no means
+insupportable. Sunstroke is almost unknown, and even the tragedy of
+perishing for want of water is very rare; for the caravan drivers know
+just where to find water, and there are many hidden watering places that
+are known to the crafty Tuaregs and Bedouins. Many of the watering
+places are wells that have been sunk in various localities along the
+caravan trails. The intense heat, great depth of rock waste, and dry air
+are not favorable to the above-ground flow of rivers. But nearly every
+river has an underground flow that is pretty likely to exist all the
+year round.
+
+One may follow a stream of considerable volume down the southern slope
+of the Atlas Mountains. The volume of water grows less and less until at
+last it apparently disappears. Not all is lost by evaporation, however;
+possibly the greater part sinks into the porous rock waste. And the
+rock waste?--perhaps it may be twenty, fifty, or one hundred and fifty
+feet deep. At all events, the water sinks until it reaches bed rock or
+clay through which it cannot pass. Then it flows along what may once
+have been an above-ground channel until fierce winds and cloud-bursts
+buried it deep.
+
+But the half-savage dwellers of the desert know just where to tap these
+underground reservoirs and streams; even the dumb animals know
+instinctively where to look for water. It is merely a question of
+instinct coupled with experience, and the animal's judgment is about as
+good as the man's. When one finds the spot, it is necessary only to dig.
+The water may be two feet below the surface or it may be ten feet. When
+the moist sand is reached the task is half over. A foot or two more and
+the hole begins to fill. The water is hot, brackish, and repulsive to
+the taste, but it is water--and in the desert, water is water!
+
+The simoom is also an institution of the desert. The simoom is
+unmistakably a wind, and surely no one who has not had the experience
+can appreciate it. Even the West India hurricanes or the typhoons of the
+China Sea are more kindly. They have plenty of destructive energy, it is
+true, but the simoom has all this and much else besides. It comes not
+without warning, but the warning and the wind are not far apart. The
+approach of the simoom is a dense black cloud of whirling and seething
+fine dust. As it strikes one, the choking, suffocating blast of hot air
+and dust overcomes everything that has life. The caravan men and the
+animals as well turn their backs to the wind and lie down with faces
+close to the ground. In a minute or two the full strength of the blast
+is on and the simoom is picking up not only the fine rock waste, but the
+coarser fragments as well, and is hurling them along at Empire State
+Express velocity. One might as well try to face a hail of leaden
+bullets. It is a cruel blast that neither animal nor human being can
+withstand. The camels crouch with their heads pointing away from the
+wind and nostrils close to the ground; their drivers lie prone with
+faces in little hollows scooped in the sand.
+
+Perhaps the full blast of the simoom may last an hour--perhaps two or
+even three hours. In lighter strain it may continue a whole day. When,
+finally, it ceases the air is thick with fine dust; one can see scarcely
+a rod away. Sun and sky are hidden, and the blackness of a tornado or of
+a London fog prevails. The fine dust floating in the air may not settle
+for several days. Perhaps a week afterward there may be a haze that
+partly obscures the sun. The dust, finer than the finest flour, pervades
+everything in the desert. One's clothing is full of it; one's hair
+becomes harsh and matted; the skin becomes rough, cracks and peels; the
+eyes are inflamed; mouth, lips, and nostrils are swollen. But the great
+bodily discomfort resulting from the simoom does not last forever; it
+gives place to bodily irritation of some other sort, which is indeed a
+grateful change merely because it is a change.
+
+The sand dunes of the Sahara are interesting to those who are not
+compelled to travel among them, but to the unfortunates who traverse
+them they are almost heart-breaking. Imagine oneself standing on an
+elevation a few hundred feet higher than the surrounding country. There
+is but one landscape--waves upon waves of the loose rock waste, for
+convenience called sand, as far as the eye can reach. Sometimes the
+waves are in long windrows, but oftener they are short and choppy like
+the surface waves of midocean.
+
+Unlike the ocean waves, in which only the form moves forward, while the
+water composing it moves up and down only, the sand dune and the
+material of which it is composed are both moving in the direction of
+the wind. A breeze even of five or six miles an hour will keep the
+lighter surface dust moving freely, while a twelve-mile wind will not
+only sweep along much larger particles but it also carries more of them.
+And just as the surface, or "skin," friction forms waves at the surface
+of water, it also piles the desert sand in wave-like dunes.
+
+The loose bits of rock waste are carried along, up the windward slope of
+the dune until they roll over its crest, where, no longer impelled by
+the wind, they come to rest. Thus, the crest, built forward by new
+material constantly added, is advancing. Valleys are filled; old stream
+channels are obliterated; and the inequalities of the surface are
+levelled off until the whole landscape is one of shifting, drifting
+sand.
+
+Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the Sahara and the arid lands
+southward to the Sudan are by no means destitute of life and wealth. It
+is an almost universal custom to speak of the barren condition of the
+desert. The contrary is the truth; there is no soil elsewhere so fertile
+and productive. It is vastly superior even to the soil of the lands
+reclaimed from the bottom of the North Sea.
+
+Water is the magic wand that makes the sands of the Sahara bring forth
+crops that are marvellous both in quantity and quality. No fruit grown
+elsewhere in the world can compare with that grown on desert lands, and
+the French engineers are planning the means whereby water may be
+obtained. Surface water that is available to irrigate the wastes of the
+Sahara does not exist. The level of the Nile is so far below the surface
+on both sides of its own flood-plain that its waters cannot be used for
+the reclamation of any part of the Libyan Desert, and the same is
+practically true of the Niger, which barely more than touches the
+borders of the Sahara. The few wadys, or "dry washes," are destitute of
+water except when a cloud-burst may fill them; but this happens at
+intervals of years only.
+
+The engineer takes into his confidence a caravan driver--perhaps an
+Arab, possibly a Berber, but quite as likely a slave. And the long
+experience has taught the caravan man where to find the precious water.
+The engineer then brings his science into play and drives an artesian
+well. The well thus driven may be a "gusher," but for most of them pumps
+are required to raise the water to the surface. The best well, however,
+furnishes water enough to irrigate but a very small area. Indeed, all
+the lands of the Sahara together irrigated by artesian wells would make
+an area scarcely larger than the State of Delaware, and all the water
+thus obtained would not supply New York City!
+
+Nevertheless, the water obtained by artesian wells has proved a great
+blessing to the dwellers of the desert. If the water is found along one
+or another of the numerous caravan routes, an increase in caravan
+commerce is apt to result, for along many routes the volume of caravan
+commerce depends very largely on the number of wells. The location of
+artesian wells has also led to the opening of trade along new routes as
+well, for wherever water can be found there will be camels to drink it.
+
+The date palm is essentially a plant of the desert, or, rather, of the
+oasis. Nowhere else does it grow in such profusion as in northern
+Africa. The number of productive trees there is estimated to be anywhere
+from ten million to twenty million, though the estimate is but little
+better than a guess. At its full growth the date palm is a most
+beautiful object. Usually the feathered tops of the trees are the only
+foliage to relieve the harsh landscape. Like the bamboo, every part of
+the tree is used. The leaves may be made into fans, or shredded and
+woven into mats. The wood is used in making the framework of buildings,
+and the waste material is very handy as fuel. A refreshing fermented
+drink and a most vile liquor are prepared from the juice. But the fruit,
+when properly prepared, is the chief food of many thousands of men and
+beasts. Even the stones, or "pits," of the dried fruit are useful; those
+which are not sent to Italy to be used for adulterating coffee are made
+into an "oil-meal" for fodder.
+
+Esparto grass, called "alfa" or "halfa" by the Arabs, is another unique
+product of the Sahara. In spite of its name, it is not a grass but a
+flowering plant whose stalk has a tough fibre useful in making cordage
+and paper. When the plant turns brown and has become dry to the root,
+the esparto picker gets busy.
+
+By four o'clock in the morning he is at work, his heavy woollen baracan,
+or blanket, wrapped tightly about him, for the air is not only chilly
+but almost freezing cold. By sunrise the chill begins to disappear, and
+a few brief moments is the only interval between piercing chill and
+midsummer heat. The baracan is quickly shed and the fez, if the picker
+is rich enough to possess one, is discarded for an esparto hat with rim
+of mammoth proportions. Esparto grass sandals protect his feet.
+
+Almost all the animal life of the Sahara is deadly, and the esparto
+grass picker is constantly facing danger. The clump of esparto, into the
+bottom of which he must reach to cut the mature stalks, is quite likely
+to be the lair of a poisonous viper; and if the reptile sinks its fangs
+into the flesh of the unfortunate picker, long weeks of suffering and
+disability--perhaps death--are in store for him. Between the bite of a
+rattler and that of an esparto viper there is little to choose.
+
+The scorpion is another peril to the esparto picker. The great
+rock-scorpion of the Sahara is about as ugly as the centipede of Arizona
+and Mexico; in size it is also about as large--from six to ten inches
+in length. Its sting, too, is about as dangerous as the fangs of the
+rattler. But the esparto picker has a method of heroic treatment for
+both the bite of the viper and the sting of the scorpion. He squats
+calmly upon the sand while a brother picker cuts out the flesh that has
+been pierced. If he survives the twenty-four hours following, he is
+pretty likely to pull through. If not--well, the vultures know when and
+where to look.
+
+The esparto grass is delivered to the nearest local market compressed in
+bales of five or six hundred weight, held together by a coarse netting
+of esparto weave, and shipped to Europe. Nearly all of it goes to Great
+Britain. There it is shredded and made into cordage, coarse cloth, or
+paper.
+
+But the esparto has a rival so far as its use in making paper is
+concerned. The wood pulp of Norway and the United States is slowly
+displacing it, and in time esparto will be but little used except for
+making cordage or gunny cloth. Already the French Government is having
+troubles of its own in providing employment for the esparto pickers, but
+it is not likely that such a useful plant will be discarded; on the
+contrary, its use is likely to increase in the future.
+
+The camel is the institution upon which the commerce of the desert
+depends. A more awkward, ungainly beast can hardly be imagined--a
+shambling collection of humps, bumps, knobs, protruding joints, and
+sprawling legs seemingly attached to a head and neck in the near
+foreground. But that shambling gait will carry a load three times as
+heavy as the stoutest pack mule can bear, and it will carry it twice as
+far in a day.
+
+A horse or a mule must be fed twice a day, but a camel will worry along
+for a week at a time with nothing more substantial than its cud. Horses
+and mules cannot traverse regions where the watering places are more
+than twelve hours apart, unless water be carried in storage; but the
+camel is its own storage reservoir, and can carry a supply sufficient to
+last for ten days.
+
+At the end of his week of fasting the hump of the camel has shrunken to
+a fraction of its former size. When the animal has a few days of feeding
+the hump grows to its former proportions again. Indeed, the hump is
+merely a mass of nutrition ready to be formed into flesh and blood.
+
+[Illustration: A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa]
+
+Within the paunch of the animal and surrounding its stomach are great
+numbers of cells capable of holding seven or eight gallons of water.
+When the camel drinks copiously these cells become filled and afterward
+slowly give up the water as the stomach requires. It may be truly said
+that the camel is a camel because of the desert and not in spite of it.
+
+The sparse population of the Sahara--Arabs, Berbers, and negroes--are
+dependent upon the camel, for until the railway shall traverse the
+Sahara the camel will be practically the only means of transportation.
+The camel's flesh furnishes about the only meat consumed by the dwellers
+of the desert, for ordinary cattle can live only in a few localities
+along the desert border lands.
+
+The native people of the desert are mainly of the race to which the
+Arabs also belong, although there are many Arabs and negroes. The
+Tuaregs and Bedouin Arabs are the best known. The Tuaregs are thought to
+be the descendants of the Berbers and of the same race as the
+Carthaginians, whom the Romans many times defeated but never conquered.
+They have whiter skins than the Arabs and in appearance are perhaps the
+finest peoples of Africa. They are also the most ferocious and
+blood-thirsty villains on the face of the earth. Many of them live in
+the white-walled cities such as Ghadames, Kand, and Timbuktu--all large
+centres of population.
+
+Their government is well organized. Each of the larger tribes is
+governed by a sultan, and in each there are several castes--a sort of
+nobility of unmixed Tuareg blood being at the head and negro slaves at
+the lower end of the social ladder. The families of the highest caste
+are usually well-to-do, and both the men and the women are taught to
+read and write. The garments usually worn by a Tuareg man consist of
+white trousers, a gray tunic with white sleeves, sandals of ornamented
+leather, and a white turban. When away from home the Tuareg covers the
+lower half of the face by a cloth mask.
+
+The usual occupation of the Tuaregs is twofold--to guard caravans or to
+rob them. The average Tuareg is perfectly indifferent as to which he
+does. A caravan from the Sudan enters, we will say, Kano. The garfla
+sheik pack master, or superintendent, goes at once to the financial
+agent of the sultan and pays the usual liken, or tariff charges. Then
+he goes to the sultan himself and incidentally leaves in his possession
+a generous money present. Then, if he desires, he may hire half a dozen
+or more guards.
+
+The hiring of these will insure the caravan against theft or robbery on
+the part of the predatory bands living at Kano. The guards will also
+faithfully defend the caravan in case of attack by Bedouin Arabs. On the
+other hand, should the garfla sheik forget the present to the sultan, or
+neglect to hire guards, those same Tuaregs would be the first to attack
+and loot the caravan.
+
+The Bedouin Arab is the chief trial of the caravans. He is always a foe
+to them; and although he ostensibly herds camels and horses, his real
+occupation is robbery and pillage. For days nomadic Arabs will follow a
+caravan, keeping always out of sight. Most likely a band of a dozen or
+more mounted on swift horses will survey the caravan from a distance at
+which they are not likely to be discovered. Then they make their way
+ahead of it to some point where a dune or a gully will conceal them.
+Then, just as the end of the caravan drags by, there is a sudden sortie
+and a rattling musket fire. And before the guards can gather to the
+defence half a dozen camels are cut out of the train, a driver or two is
+shot down or pierced with assegais, and both the robbers and their loot
+are beyond the reach of the guards.
+
+But perhaps the greatest value of the desert is its effect upon the
+climate of Europe. Hot winds blow from the Sahara in all directions; the
+northerly winds, crossing the Mediterranean, are not only tempered
+thereby, but the desert blasts tempered and filled with moisture finally
+reach the southern slopes of Europe, where they convert the nutrition of
+the soil into bountiful crops of corn, wine, and oil.
+
+The conquest of the great African desert is already in sight, and the
+railway will be its master. The Cape to Cairo line is no longer a vision
+of the future; the ends of its two parts are rapidly shortening the
+interval that separates them and they are almost in sight of each other.
+When the lines that are projected from the Mediterranean coast shall
+have traversed the stronghold of the Tuaregs to penetrate the wealth of
+the Sudan and the Kongo, the Sahara will have become merely an incident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC
+
+
+Excepting the arctic and the antarctic regions, with their
+fortifications of eternal ice and snow, intrepid explorers have made
+known nearly every part of the world. There Giant Frost guards his
+frozen secrets and defies man to wrest them from him. Many a hero has
+perished in endeavoring to solve the Sphinx-like riddle of northern
+lands and seas. Many a gallant ship has found its grave in northern
+ice-clad waters. Yet there has never been a lack of adventurous spirits
+to continue the work.
+
+But one after another the strongholds of nature have gradually yielded
+to persistent attacks. Especially is this true of the arctic regions, of
+which not more than two million square miles of sea and land remain to
+be explored.
+
+Buffeted by adverse winds and floating ice-fields, venturous explorers
+have drawn nearer and nearer to the north pole. Again and again, the
+attack has been renewed, until, after half a lifetime, Robert E. Peary,
+an officer of the United States navy, made a brilliant dash and planted
+the national ensign at the pole.
+
+The story of arctic exploration and discovery is filled with interest.
+It is pathetic, tragical, and calculated to awaken the deepest emotions.
+Nevertheless, it is enlivened by brilliant exploits, deeds of daring,
+and acts of heroism.
+
+For many years the search for a northern passage to India in the
+furtherance of commerce was the chief incentive to arctic exploration.
+Even more than a century before Columbus discovered America, two
+Venetian brothers named Zeno sought a northwest passage to the Orient,
+believing that the difficulties in navigating it would be offset by the
+shortening of the route.
+
+The success achieved by Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth
+centuries in discovery, conquest, and colonization incited England to
+find a northwest passage, in the hope that such a route, by shortening
+the distance to the East Indies, would extend her commerce.
+
+After the discovery of the mainland of North America, Sebastian Cabot,
+under the patronage of Henry VII, planned a voyage to the north pole,
+thinking that would be the best route to ancient Cathay. He proceeded
+only as far as Davis Strait; then, becoming discouraged by the immense
+fields of ice, he turned the prow of his vessel homeward.
+
+Soon afterward the Muscovy Company of London sent out an exploring
+expedition with instructions to find a northwest passage. This
+expedition, taking a different route from its predecessors, reached Nova
+Zembla. But the ice-fields forced the vessel back to the shores of
+Lapland, and the ship was never spoken of again. Years afterward the ship's
+company were found frozen in death.
+
+Next in importance came the renowned Frobisher, a strong advocate of a
+northwest route. He made three voyages to the Arctic Ocean, the last two
+being under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Frobisher believed that
+fabulously rich fields of gold existed in the north, and his expedition
+was organized for the purpose of discovering them. His search for
+precious metals was fruitless, but he added much to the world's
+knowledge of polar regions, and he has been remembered in the strait
+that bears his name.
+
+The Muscovy Company again sent out an exploring vessel, this time under
+the able navigator Henry Hudson, with orders to go "direct to the north
+pole." He did his best to carry out his instructions and, sailing along
+the northern shore of Spitzbergen, reached latitude 81° 30' north.
+Finding the route utterly impracticable, he returned home. In all,
+Hudson sailed on four voyages of discovery, twice in the employ of
+English companies and twice in the employ of the Dutch East India
+Company.
+
+In one of his voyages under the Dutch, after advancing as far north as
+he deemed prudent, he turned southward and cruised along the Atlantic
+coast. Entering New York Bay, he proceeded up the broad river that now
+bears his name, believing at first that he had found the coveted short
+route to India. Soon he was undeceived, for as he went farther up he
+found the seeming passage to be merely a large river. He gave his
+employers such a glowing account of the valley of the Hudson River that
+the merchants of Holland sent out ships to establish trading posts along
+the river and to trade with the Indians.
+
+On his fourth voyage, while seeking a passage northwest, he discovered
+the strait and the bay both of which bear his name. Desiring to continue
+his explorations the next year, he sailed westward on the bay and
+wintered on the island of Southampton. In the spring he again tried to
+find the long-wished-for passage.
+
+The long, cold winter and lack of suitable food told heavily on his men.
+They became badly demoralized and declared that they would not remain
+longer in such an inhospitable region. When Hudson insisted, the men
+mutinied. Seizing their commander, they placed him with his son and
+five sailors in an open boat and sailed away. After this cruel act of
+the mutineers, no trace of Hudson or those who were with him was ever
+found. But Hudson's fame will never die. Historians will ever laud his
+achievements, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the map of the
+world. The ringleader of the mutineers with five of his companions was
+afterward killed by the natives, and several of the others starved to
+death. The rest of the crew succeeded in getting the ship back to
+England; there they were tried, found guilty of mutiny, and sent to
+prison.
+
+In 1616 the intrepid William Baffin took up the search. He penetrated
+the bay bearing his name and explored the passages of water westward to
+the mouth of Lancaster Sound.
+
+Later the Russians became interested in exploration. Among the explorers
+Captain Veit Bering of the Russian navy was the most eminent. In the
+early part of the eighteenth century Bering was commanded by Peter the
+Great to take up the search for the long-sought passage. He explored the
+northeastern coast of Asia as far north as sixty-seven degrees latitude,
+discovering a fact hitherto unknown, that North America is separated
+from Asia by a narrow passage of water containing small islands. The
+passage received the name Bering Strait from its discoverer, and the
+same name was bestowed upon the sea leading to it.
+
+About ten years afterward Bering determined to explore the northwest
+coast of North America. He landed twice upon the coast, but, being
+driven back by violent storms, was at length wrecked on an island, where
+he died. His crew, though suffering terrible hardships, lived through
+the winter. With the coming of spring, however, they rigged a craft from
+the stranded vessel in which a few survivors reached the coast of Asia.
+
+In 1743 the British Government offered a reward of twenty thousand
+pounds for the discovery of a northwest passage by the way of Hudson
+Bay. Thirty-three years afterward a like reward was offered for the
+actual discovery of the north pole and the same amount for the
+exploration of any navigable passage. The sum of five thousand pounds
+was also offered to any one who should approach within one degree of the
+north pole. These standing rewards greatly stimulated arctic
+exploration.
+
+Of the many voyages of exploration that followed, Sir John Franklin's
+last expedition was the most tragical. This expedition was fitted out by
+the British Government with the necessary supplies and scientific
+instruments for a three years' cruise. Two stanch vessels, the _Erebus_
+and the _Terror_, both of which had been previously employed in
+antarctic exploration, were selected to stem the ice-fields of the
+north, and a tender with extra supplies accompanied them as far as Davis
+Strait. The vessels were last seen in Lancaster Sound moored to an
+iceberg, where they were spoken to by a whaling ship homeward bound.
+
+Three years having passed and no tidings having been received from the
+expedition, all England became extremely anxious concerning the safety
+of the explorers. The British Government then sent out two vessels to
+seek Franklin, but no trace of the missing commander or his men was
+found.
+
+The government then redoubled its exertions, supplemented by private
+parties, and in 1850 no less than twelve vessels were vigorously
+searching the arctic lands and waters for their lost brothers. Lady
+Franklin spent her fortune in endeavoring to find trace of her noble
+husband.
+
+The heart of humanity was touched with the deepest sympathy and moved by
+the noblest motives. The United States Government, aided also by private
+citizens, fitted out vessels to continue the search. At one time ten of
+the searching vessels met in the Arctic. The results of these
+expeditions were meagre in securing trace of the lost ones, but they
+greatly enriched our knowledge of northern lands and seas.
+
+Not until five years after the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ left England was
+trace of the explorers found. Near the head of Franklin Strait, off the
+shore of King William Land, evidence of an encampment of some of the men
+was discovered, and at Beechey Island, near by, carpenters' tools, empty
+meat cans, and the graves of three of the men threw more light on the
+mystery of the ill-starred expedition. A few years later, at Victory
+Point, Lieutenant Hobson found a record of the death of Franklin, the
+date being July 11, 1847.
+
+Charles F. Hall, a native of New Hampshire, but long a resident of Ohio,
+who had been a reader of arctic literature, became deeply interested in
+the search for Sir John Franklin. Obtaining financial aid from different
+sources, he made four voyages to the arctic, the first being devoted to
+searching for Franklin's men and in solving the mystery of their
+disappearance. His third voyage was the most fruitful one in securing
+results. Hall believed that the Eskimos knew more about the lost
+explorers than they were willing to tell, and that if he could but gain
+their confidence he could extract from them the story. In furtherance of
+his plan, he resolved on his third voyage to live with them several
+years. In 1864 he started on this voyage north. On his arrival in the
+arctic he sought out the natives and made himself one of them, adopting
+their mode of life and food.
+
+He spent five years living and travelling with them. Having won them
+over, he obtained the story of the ill-fated explorers. He learned that
+one of Franklin's vessels had actually made the northwest passage to
+O'Reily Island, southwest of King William Land. Five men remained on
+board alive, but the vessel was abandoned by the crew. The next spring
+the Eskimos found it in good condition frozen fast in the ice.
+
+The skeletons of Franklin's men were found scattered over King William
+Land, where they had perished one after another from starvation and
+cold. Some had engaged in conflict with the natives in endeavoring to
+secure food, but being weak from hunger were unsuccessful. Of the one
+hundred and five men who accompanied Franklin not one was ever found
+alive.
+
+During the year 1850 the problem of the northwest passage was solved by
+Captains M'Clure, Collinson, and Killet. South of Melville Island,
+M'Clure, who had sailed through Bering Strait, met the ship of Killet
+which had come through Lancaster Sound. M'Clure, having wintered near
+the connecting waters, had really established the existence of the
+passage by observation before the meeting. Twenty days later Collinson
+came up in his ship. Finding the problem of the northwest passage
+solved, he turned to the southeast and completed the passage in another
+direction.
+
+It thus became evident that so far as commercial purposes were concerned
+a northwest passage was impracticable and that further northern
+exploration must be considered in the light of scientific and geographic
+value only.
+
+Hall's labors did not cease with his discovery of the Franklin
+expedition. He became an enthusiast concerning the arctic and seemed to
+enjoy its weird icy scenery and attendant perilous excitement. Believing
+that he could reach the north pole if he had a properly equipped
+expedition, he planned a fourth voyage and appealed to Congress for
+assistance.
+
+A generous appropriation was made by Congress, and on July 3, 1871, the
+expedition set sail from New London, Conn., carrying a full crew and
+several scientists. The vessel, which was named the _Polaris_, touched
+at several places on the western coast of Greenland to secure
+additional dogs and skins suitable for arctic clothing, and then steamed
+north as far as seemed safe, to establish winter quarters preparatory to
+making a dash for the pole in the spring.
+
+The vessel passed through Robeson Channel into the polar ocean, reaching
+82° 11', then the highest point ever reached by a ship. Not finding a
+good harbor, Hall sailed south about fifty miles. He anchored near the
+Greenland shore to the lee of a stranded iceberg. Building material for
+a house and part of the stores were removed to the land in case anything
+happened to the ship. Then the ship was banked up with snow and part of
+the deck was covered with canvas to keep out the cold.
+
+The weather being propitious, Captain Hall thought best to take a sledge
+journey to find the lay of the country. He ordered the dogs to be well
+fed, and accompanied by two other sledges advanced northward about fifty
+miles, making side trips to take observations. At the end of two weeks
+he returned seemingly perfectly well, but in a few hours complained of
+illness. Thirteen days afterward he died. The date of his death was
+November 8, 1871, just a little more than four months from the time he
+left the port of New London buoyant with hope.
+
+The command of the expedition now devolved on Captain Buddington, a man
+of dissipated habits and lacking in discipline. During the winter and
+spring severe storms crashed the ice-pack against the sides of the
+vessel, causing it to leak. In the meantime exploring parties were sent
+out with sledges and boats, gathering not a little knowledge concerning
+the west coast of Greenland. Then the vessel began to leak badly, and
+Captain Buddington ordered all hands on board for return home.
+
+Great fields of ice still covered the sea, and it was with extreme
+difficulty that the vessel made its way through them southward. A
+severe gale damaged the vessel still more, and as it seemed certain that
+it could not float much longer, preparations to abandon it and to move
+at once to the ice-floe were made.
+
+At the dead of night, in the face of a fierce gale, a part of the ship's
+company and stores were transferred to the ice. Then the heaving billows
+broke the vessel loose from the floe, separating the men on the ice from
+those on the vessel. With eighteen companions Captain Tyson lived on the
+ice-floe which moved southward, breaking off piece after piece, for a
+period of six and one-half months, suffering incredible hardships from
+cold, hunger, and constant fear. Finally, they were sighted off the
+Labrador coast by the ship _Tigress_ and rescued in a starving
+condition. The story of this ice-floe journey of one thousand three
+hundred miles is one of the most thrilling in maritime annals.
+Fortunately, there were two Eskimos on the ice-floe skilled in the
+capture of seals, else the entire company would have starved to death,
+since but a small portion of the provisions had been transferred to the
+floe when the vessel parted from it. The devices for sustaining their
+lives during the journey form interesting reading. Strange to relate, no
+one was seriously ill and no deaths occurred during this remarkable ice
+voyage.
+
+After drifting a while the _Polaris_ was purposely beached on the
+Greenland shore and the stores placed on land, where a house was built
+in which to spend the second winter. In the spring two boats were
+constructed in which the company started southward along the coast,
+where they were finally picked up by a whaling vessel.
+
+The conquest of the northeast passage was not achieved until the latter
+part of the century. In 1878 Baron Nordenskjold, a Swedish explorer
+commanding the _Vega_, entered the Arctic and sailed eastward along the
+Russian and Siberian coast. Nordenskjold was the first navigator to
+double Cape Chelyuskin, the northern cape of Asia. The _Vega_ reached
+Bering Strait where she was nipped by the ice-pack. In the following
+spring she reached Japan in safety.
+
+In 1879-80 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka set out on an overland
+expedition northwestward for Hudson Bay, to gather knowledge concerning
+the great Arctic Plain of North America. Schwatka's was probably the
+longest sledge journey ever made up to that time. With a small party of
+men, his dog sledges covered a distance of three thousand miles.
+Schwatka found the skeletons of several members of Sir John Franklin's
+party. These he buried on King William Land.
+
+[Illustration: Peary's ship, the _Roosevelt_]
+
+In 1881 the De Long expedition, in the steam cruiser _Jeannette_, met
+disaster off the Siberian coast. The _Jeannette_ was sunk and her
+officers and crew in three boats abandoned her. One boat was never
+heard of afterward. De Long and his party starved in the delta swamps of
+the Lena River. Chief Engineer Melville and his party were rescued in
+the Lena River.
+
+In 1881 also the International Polar Conference attempted to establish a
+chain of stations around the pole as far north as possible. The United
+States and several of the European nations were represented in the
+organization. Two expeditions were sent out by the United States; one at
+Point Barrow, under Lieutenant Ray, the other at Lady Franklin Bay,
+opposite the Greenland coast, in latitude 81° 40'. The latter was in
+charge of Lieutenant, now General Greely. In a sledge journey along the
+north coast of Greenland, Lockwood and Brainard reached the latitude of
+83° 24'. The observations of Greely and Ray added not a little knowledge
+concerning the meteorology and tides of the arctic regions. The sledge
+journey of Lockwood and Brainard practically established the fact that
+Greenland is an island.
+
+Of all attempts to reach the pole, the most daring was that adopted by
+S. A. Andree, a Swedish explorer. Andree had been to the polar regions
+before, and being something of an aeronaut, believed that he could reach
+or pass over the pole in a balloon. In carrying out his plan he had
+constructed a monster balloon capable of floating in the air thirty
+days, due allowance being made for the daily escape of gas by permeation
+through the envelope. This balloon, with necessary accessories, was
+shipped to Danes Island, one of the Spitzbergen group. Everything being
+ready July 11, 1897, Andree set forth on his perilous trip accompanied
+by two companions. The balloon carried a load of about five tons,
+including food, clothing, ballast, scientific instruments, and men.
+
+On being let loose the balloon arose six hundred feet, and then
+descended to the surface of the sea owing to the entanglement of the
+guide ropes and ballast lines. Three heavy guide ropes nine hundred feet
+long were used, to which were attached eight ballast lines two hundred
+and fifty feet long. The ropes were cut and ballast was thrown out, when
+the balloon again rose and the wind bore it away over a mountainous
+island one thousand five hundred feet high. In an hour it had passed
+below the northeastern horizon. Three message buoys were dropped on the
+day of Andree's departure, reporting fine weather, all well, and
+altitude eight hundred and twenty feet; from that time on no traces of
+the daring unfortunates have ever been found.
+
+Fridtjof Nansen, who had spent some time in the exploration of
+Greenland, had also reached the conclusion that a polar current sweeps
+across the Arctic Ocean from Bering Sea to the north coast of Greenland.
+He therefore set out with a picked crew in a small steamship, the
+_Fram_,1893, entering the Arctic at Bering Strait. After the _Fram_ had
+been caught in the ice-pack, Nansen and his companion, Johansen, started
+toward the north pole with dog sledges. They reached latitude 86° 14';
+finding that the ice was drifting southward, they made for Franz Josef
+Land, where they spent the winter, and then started for Spitzbergen. On
+their way they were found by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth
+expedition, by whom they were rescued. The _Fram_ also returned safely.
+The existence of the polar current was not established.
+
+In 1900 Captain Cagui, a member of the Abruzzi Polar Expedition,
+starting from Franz Josef Land, made a dash across the ice toward the
+pole. He succeeded in reaching latitude 86° 34', the nearest approach to
+the pole up to that time.
+
+Only a few years afterward, 1905-6, Amundsen, in the steamer _Gjoa_,
+found a more southerly northwest passage from King William Land than
+that followed by Collinson. It was comparatively free from ice. Amundsen
+was the first to penetrate the northwest passage in a continuous voyage.
+The result showed plainly that as a commercial route the northwest
+passage was out of the question.
+
+The man who finally succeeded in reaching the pole is the intrepid
+arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy. In the
+first record-breaking trip Peary started in July, 1905. Sailing through
+Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Smith Sound, and Robeson Channel to Grant
+Island, which lies west of the northern part of Greenland, he went into
+winter quarters at Cape Sheridan.
+
+In the early spring, when the daylight was an hour long, Peary set out
+for the north pole over the ice-clad ocean with sledges drawn by dogs.
+Delayed by storms and open water in some places, he succeeded after
+incredible hardships and suffering in reaching 87° 6', the highest point
+up to that time reached by man, a distance only two hundred miles from
+the north pole.
+
+In previous trips Peary had crossed the northern part of Greenland twice
+at the risk of his life, each time bringing much knowledge of the north
+coast of Greenland. During one of his voyages Peary brought home three
+meteorites. The largest, weighing more than thirty-six tons, is now in
+the Museum of Natural History of New York City. These are among the
+largest meteorites ever found, and it is an interesting fact that so
+many were found in Greenland.[1]
+
+Peary's last and successful trip began when the steamship Roosevelt,
+commanded by Captain Bartlett, sailed out of New York harbor, July 6,
+1908. The vessel traversed Baffin Bay and reached Cape York August 1. At
+Etah, an Eskimo settlement, three weeks were consumed in storing
+supplies and selecting Eskimo guides and purchasing dog-trains. The
+Roosevelt then proceeded northward through the narrow strait that
+separates Greenland from Grant Land. The party went into winter quarters
+near Cape Sheridan at the head of the strait. The winter was spent in
+exploration and in preparation for the sledge journey. The necessary
+supplies for the journey were carried to Cape Columbia, the northerly
+point of Grant Land. The sledge party started northward from Cape
+Columbia February 28--seven members of the expedition, seventeen
+Eskimos, and nineteen sledges.
+
+[Illustration: Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on
+the Roosevelt]
+
+When the expedition reached latitude eighty-eight degrees, Captain
+Bartlett and Professor Marvin, with most of the Eskimo guides, were
+ordered back; Peary with his companion, Hensen, and several Eskimos
+started on the final dash. Fortunately the ice was smooth, and but few
+breaks, or "leads," were encountered. It was not difficult to make
+twenty-five miles or more a day during several days of the journey. At
+last a temporary break in the clouds gave Peary an opportunity for
+observation, which showed his latitude to be 89° 57'. Ten miles more
+were made, and another observation showed that the party had actually
+gone several miles beyond the pole.
+
+A cairn of ice blocks and snow bearing the American flag was erected
+approximately at the pole, April 7, 1909, and the party started on the
+return trip. There being a plain trail and smooth ice, the return trip
+was made in about half the time required for the outward trip. The
+reserve party was joined at Cape Columbia, and all hands returned to the
+_Roosevelt_, which was at anchor near Cape Sheridan. The only fatality
+of the expedition was the death of Professor Marvin, who was
+accidentally drowned while on his return to Cape Columbia.
+
+The open polar sea which had been observed by Kane and several other
+explorers was closed by ice at the time of Peary's dash; indeed, the
+entire route lay over ice and snow that apparently was several years
+old. After leaving Cape Columbia no land sky was seen anywhere about
+the horizon. A single sounding was made about five miles from the pole,
+but no bottom was found at fifteen hundred feet, the length of the
+sounding wire.
+
+For his services Peary received the medal of the Royal Geographical
+Society, and an admiral's commission from the United States Government.
+
+In spite of the desolation that pervades polar regions, the resources
+are considerable and have attracted much commercial activity. For many
+years whale oil was about the only illuminating oil used by most of the
+world, and the chief supply was obtained from the whales slaughtered in
+north polar regions.
+
+Holland sent whaling ships to the arctic as early as 1613, and for two
+centuries whaling fleets of different nations frequented these seas.
+During the early part of the seventeenth century--the most profitable
+period--upward of three hundred Dutch ships and fifteen thousand men
+annually visited Spitzbergen. It is estimated that in two centuries
+America, England, and Holland obtained from the arctic regions products
+amounting to one thousand million dollars, the greatest items by far
+being whale oil and whalebone. Great quantities of fossil ivory have
+been obtained from the New Siberian Island, the very soil of which seems
+in great part to be made up of the bones and tusks of the extinct
+mammoth.
+
+Much valuable scientific information has been gained by meteorological
+and magnetic observations. The north magnetic pole, toward which the
+north-seeking end of the compass needle points, has been located on the
+west side of Boothia Peninsula. At this place the dipping needle stands
+vertical. It must be borne in mind that the north pole of the earth and
+the north magnetic pole are two entirely different points. As a matter
+of fact, if the mariner be in the arctic waters north of Boothia
+Peninsula his compass points south.
+
+The arctic currents have been carefully studied with valuable results,
+and it has been found that the drift of the polar ice-floe is constantly
+to the eastward. Snow-white arctic reindeer in considerable numbers have
+been recently found; and Peary found seals within two hundred miles of
+the north pole. The Greenland seal seems to enjoy seas filled with ice,
+spending part of the time in the water and part on the ice-floe.
+
+[Illustration: Musk ox]
+
+It is now known that Greenland is an ice-capped island very sparsely
+inhabited along the coast by Eskimos. A few hundred of these hardy
+people live along the Greenland coast from Cape York up to latitude
+seventy-eight degrees, cut off by the surrounding ice-cap from the rest
+of the world. They are the most northern known inhabitants.
+
+Peary found the northern coast of Greenland well stocked with both
+animal and vegetable life. Bears, wolves, hares, and musk oxen were seen
+in considerable numbers.
+
+A most important fact discovered by Hall was that the most northerly
+part of Greenland is comparatively free from ice, the largest known area
+of bare ground of that continent. This fact accounts for the profusion
+of animal and vegetable life existing there.
+
+One of the most interesting of land animals found in the north is the
+musk ox. When fully grown and in good condition this animal weighs five
+hundred pounds and upward. When the musk oxen are attacked by wolves or
+dogs they form themselves into a circle with their heads on the outside
+and conceal their calves under their bodies. Their hair, being long,
+reaches nearly to the ground and forms a curtain which completely
+conceals the calves from view. Their food is moss and lichens which grow
+on the rocks. This they obtain by scraping away the snow with their
+sharp hoofs. The flesh of the musk ox, though musk-like in flavor, is
+not repulsive to the taste, and several explorers have been saved from
+starving by using the flesh for food.
+
+The chief obstacles to arctic exploration are the long winter night,
+during which all must remain idle, and the necessity for carrying all
+provisions. No one who has not wintered beyond the arctic circle can
+have a realization of the influence on the nerves of continual darkness
+for months, an influence that has driven many men insane. Combine the
+darkness with the weird scenery and the fierce storms that prevail
+during the long winter, and it requires a strong will and abiding faith
+not to be seriously influenced. The extreme cold is not hard to endure
+if one clothes himself in the manner of the Eskimos.
+
+Provisions and supplies must be carried by dog sledges, and the
+management of the dog teams is very difficult for those who have not
+been trained to the work. Shetland ponies have been tried as draught
+animals. Captain Evelyn Baldwin was the first to use them in polar
+exploration; others have used them, but less successfully.
+
+Good coal is found in abundance on many of the islands of the arctic.
+Its outcroppings are found on Disco Island, west of Greenland, and
+excellent coal is found in many places in Spitzbergen, where at the
+present time two companies are mining it, one American and the other
+English.
+
+Spitzbergen is sometimes called No Man's Land, since Norway and Sweden
+have not been able to agree in regard to its possession. Lately the
+islands of this archipelago have become favorite resorts for summer
+excursionists who can here have the arctic scenery and experiences with
+but very few discomforts. Ptarmigan, geese, ducks, and many other kinds
+of birds are found on these islands. Large quantities of eider-down have
+been obtained annually from this section, but the rapid destruction of
+the ducks by hunters has lessened the industry and will probably
+annihilate it. There being no law to regulate hunting, sportsmen
+wantonly kill the wild animals, especially the reindeer and bears, in
+great numbers.
+
+We owe much to dogs in arctic explorations. It would have been
+impossible to penetrate to the interior of arctic lands or to traverse
+the frozen seas but for the services of the faithful dogs trained to
+draw sledges. Many of these animals have suffered from overwork and have
+perished from starvation; others have been sacrificed for food in dire
+extremities to preserve the lives of their masters. Surely arctic
+service has proved as destructive to the poor dogs as to men.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Isolated masses of native iron are usually of meteoric
+origin, but to determine whether or not the native iron fell from the
+sky a portion of the surface is ground off and polished; then the
+polished surface is etched with acid. If crystalline lines are plainly
+brought out, there can be no doubt of its being of meteoric origin.
+
+The following excerpt from the American Museum Meteoric Guide will make
+the matter clear: "The iron of meteorites is always alloyed with from
+six to twenty per cent of nickel. This 'nickel-iron,' as it is commonly
+called, is usually crystalline in texture, and when it is cut, polished,
+and 'etched' a beautiful net-work of lines is brought out, indicating
+plates which lie in positions determined by the crystalline character of
+the mass. This net-work of lines constitutes what are called the
+Widmannstattian figures, from the name of their discoverer. When these
+figures are strongly developed the meteoric origin of the iron cannot be
+questioned, but their absence does not necessarily disprove such an
+origin. Native iron of terrestrial origin is extremely rare."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA
+
+
+A continent twice the size of the United States lies sleeping beneath a
+mantle of snow and ice at the south pole. No vegetation save a few
+mosses and lichens exists anywhere on this vast expanse. No four-footed
+animals rove over it; no human beings inhabit it.
+
+Hundreds of thousands of square miles of pack-ice, glaciers, and
+ice-walls jealously guard it on all sides. On one side, for a distance
+of five hundred miles, extends a great ice barrier whose perpendicular
+ice-wall is from thirty to three hundred feet in height. Behind this
+wall are vast ice-fields, and beyond these immense plateaus of ice
+having an elevation of six thousand to twelve thousand feet where fierce
+winds and a biting cold prevail. On these elevated plains the
+thermometer stands in the middle of summer sometimes as low as forty
+degrees below zero.
+
+Great fields of ice and huge icebergs cover the sea in all directions
+and in winter extend far beyond the antarctic circle. In these regions
+the ice forming on the surface of the ocean attains a thickness varying
+from five to seventeen feet. Long ranges of snow-clad and ice-mailed
+mountains are found with ermined peaks towering from ten thousand to
+fifteen thousand feet in height.
+
+A long winter night, with its intense darkness relieved at times by the
+light of the moon and brilliant chromatic displays of the aurora
+australis, succeeds a day of perpetual sunshine. All these are on such a
+scale of sublimity that no pen can adequately describe nor brush portray
+them. Nowhere else on the face of the globe does there exist such a wide
+expanse of utter desolation. Yet an undefined attraction lures bold men
+to fathom the mysteries of these forbidding regions. Dating from 1772,
+many exploring expeditions have visited the south polar regions in the
+interests of science.
+
+The compass is the mariner's guide across the trackless ocean, and it is
+essential to find out everything possible about that mysterious agent,
+magnetism, which directs the compass needle by its attractive force. The
+earth itself is a huge magnet with positive and negative poles. The
+poised needle of the compass maintains its relative position because of
+the magnetic poles of the earth, one located in the north polar regions,
+on the western side of the peninsula of Boothia, and the other in the
+south polar regions, on Victoria Land. Except in a few localities the
+compass needle does not point due north and south--that is, toward the
+real poles of the earth, but toward the magnetic poles. And these
+magnetic poles are ever shifting, as is shown by the changing direction
+of the compass needle, which year by year increases or decreases its
+deviation from true north and south.
+
+It is necessary to chart the variations of the magnetic needle for the
+use of the navigator. To observe the deviations and to locate the south
+magnetic pole have been the chief objects of south polar expeditions for
+several years, geographical information being of secondary importance.
+
+The marine life of the south polar regions is abundant. In the latter
+part of the eighteenth century ships sailing in the regions north of the
+antarctic circle discovered whales and fur-bearing seals. Soon sealers
+and whalers of different nations began to frequent the prolific new
+regions. Then various European nations and the United States sent out
+exploring expeditions to the south polar regions to gather scientific
+and geographical information as well as to assist the charting of coasts
+and the determination of magnetic variations.
+
+On account of their uninhabitability, their difficulty of access, and
+their unknown commercial value, the antarctic lands have claimed far
+less attention than the north polar regions. The famous explorer,
+Captain James Cook of the royal navy, was commissioned by the British
+Government to undertake various exploring expeditions, and in carrying
+out his instructions he made several voyages to the antarctic. In 1773,
+with his two vessels, _Resolution_ and _Adventure_, he crossed the
+antarctic circle--so far as is known, the first time that it had been
+crossed by a human being. He continued farther southward, but finding an
+alarming increase of pack-ice and icebergs, he soon retreated north. In
+January of the following year he succeeded after a third trial in
+reaching latitude 71° 10' south, the farthest south attained during the
+century.
+
+[Illustration: An antarctic summer scene]
+
+In 1839 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government under
+Captain Charles Wilkes. The exploring squadron consisted of five ships
+and more than four hundred officers and men, scientists, and crews.
+Wilkes was the first to discover the so-called mainland of the antarctic
+continent, in January, 1840. He then followed along this unknown
+coast-line amid icebergs, fogs, and storms for over fifteen hundred
+miles, taking such observations as were possible. For his polar
+achievements in discovery and exploration he was awarded a gold medal by
+the Royal Geographical Society. Considering that he was supplied with
+improperly equipped ships, he certainly accomplished wonders.
+
+The British Government, realizing the necessity for better magnetic
+charts of the south polar regions, and urged by the scientific societies
+of England, sent out a second expedition to the antarctic under the
+command of Sir James Ross. The expedition sailed from England in the
+fall of 1839 in the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, both of which were
+subsequently lost in the unfortunate Franklin expedition.[2] On this
+voyage Ross made many discoveries, the most important of which was
+Victoria Land. On this land is the south magnetic pole toward which the
+south-seeking end of the needle always points. Ross greatly desired to
+plant at the south magnetic pole the flag that had been displayed at the
+north magnetic pole in 1831, but he was unfortunately caught in the
+pack-ice and compelled to abandon the attempt.
+
+Two volcanic mountains were discovered on an island near Victoria Land.
+These mountains Ross named Erebus and Terror from the two ships in which
+he sailed. The former, thirteen thousand feet in height, was in violent
+eruption, and the latter, ten thousand feet high, was quiescent.
+
+An expedition which has accomplished very great results in antarctic
+research was sent out under Captain Robert F. Scott of the British navy
+in the vessel _Discovery_. Through the influence of the Royal
+Geographical Society this expedition was admirably financed, the English
+Government and private parties contributing four hundred and fifty
+thousand dollars toward its equipment.
+
+The _Discovery_ left Cowes, England, in the summer of 1901, and, after
+making a series of magnetic observations south of Australia, steered for
+the south polar regions. Pack-ice was met almost at the antarctic
+circle, but Scott gradually worked the vessel through the pack and
+reached the base of Mount Terror where he landed a party. Then with the
+remainder of his men he coasted eastward along the great ice barrier for
+five hundred miles. It was found that the barrier had receded thirty
+miles since its front was examined by Ross in 1841 and that its front is
+wearing away at the rate of one-half mile a year. A captive balloon was
+used in making investigations of the ice front. If the unfortunate case
+of Andree be excepted, it was the first time that the balloon was used
+in polar research.
+
+The vessel remained in a safe harbor near Mounts Terror and Erebus,
+where it lay frozen in for two winters. Every precaution was taken to
+insure the safety of the land party in case the ice should break up and
+force the ship out of the harbor. Suitable huts were erected on shore
+and a portion of the provisions was landed. Magnetic observations and
+other scientific work were carried on daily.
+
+During the warmer season of the year many journeys were made into the
+interior. In order to be able to advance as far as possible, sledge
+journeys were made along a selected route to establish provision depots.
+This being done, Captain Scott with two companions and nineteen sledge
+dogs started for a protracted journey into the interior. They travelled
+three hundred and fifty miles inland over the great ice-field but did
+not even then reach the end of it. Then, having lost most of the dogs,
+and the provisions being low, the party set out on their return to the
+ship.
+
+The few remaining dogs being disabled, the men were obliged to haul the
+sledges. Having suffered great hardships, the party reached the vessel
+after an absence of three months.
+
+On this journey a long range of mountains with many high peaks was
+discovered. The highest peak, fifteen thousand one hundred feet, was
+named Mount Markham. The latitude reached was 82° 17' south, being the
+farthest distance south attained. On a subsequent journey a plateau of
+nine thousand feet elevation was reached, where the evenness of the ice
+surface for miles seemed scarcely broken. The length of this journey was
+three hundred miles.
+
+At the end of the second winter two relief ships appeared at the edge of
+the ice with orders that Captain Scott should return home at once. The
+_Discovery_ was still sealed up in the harbor with solid ice from twelve
+to seventeen feet thick, and it was a problem how to free the vessel.
+The solid ice extended out more than six miles from the harbor.
+
+The crews set resolutely to work making holes in the ice in a direct
+line from the imprisoned vessel to the open water. In these holes
+powerful explosives were placed which cracked the ice. This labor
+consumed some nine days. Then the great ocean swells broke up the ice,
+freeing the vessel. The _Discovery_ forthwith sailed for England by way
+of Cape Horn, arriving home in September, having gathered much valuable
+information during her sojourn in the south polar regions.
+
+Although practically no vegetable life has been found in these regions,
+an abundance of animal life exists in or contiguous to the sea,
+dependent on shrimps, fish, and such other life as the sea affords.
+Seals, penguins, petrels, cormorants, and gulls are found in
+considerable numbers. In fact, no persons tarrying in these regions need
+starve for lack of food, such as it is.
+
+[Illustration: The penguin defies the cold]
+
+During the two years spent by the _Discovery_ in the south polar ice,
+seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
+the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
+it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
+material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
+excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
+served daily.
+
+Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
+used as fuel when the coal began to give out. Penguins are strange,
+interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
+of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
+seen.
+
+The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
+rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
+a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
+orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
+walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
+average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
+is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
+excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
+at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
+equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
+were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
+seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.
+
+When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
+eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
+of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
+below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
+it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
+completely covers it up.
+
+After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
+around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
+cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
+thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
+food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
+frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
+fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
+killed by kindness.
+
+The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest
+Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
+those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
+member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
+the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
+in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
+expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.
+
+The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
+and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
+than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
+main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
+not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
+scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
+"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
+Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
+New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
+she was towed to the antarctic circle.
+
+The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
+Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay,
+about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
+curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
+known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
+most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also
+the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two
+thousand miles from New Zealand.
+
+In the following March a party of six--David, Mawson, Mackay, Adams,
+Marshall, and Brocklehurst--prepared for the ascent of Mount Erebus, the
+volcano, then active, discovered by Ross and named after one of his
+ships. The crater rim was only a few miles distant, and during the
+first three days the party could be seen from the camp by means of a
+powerful telescope--tiny black specks struggling up the ice-clad slopes.
+Three craters were discovered, the youngest and highest of which was
+found to be thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty feet above sea
+level.[3] During the ascent the party nearly perished in a gale which
+blew their tents into tatters. The crater rampart was finally reached,
+however, and a number of excellent photographs were made.
+
+During the entire stay at Ross Island the steam column from the crater
+furnished the means whereby the direction of the upper currents of air
+might be instantly noted, and the condition of activity did not differ
+materially from that observed in Stromboli. When the barometer was low
+the steam column was heavier and denser; the glow of light was also
+brighter. With a high barometer, on the contrary, the conditions were
+reversed, the steam column was insignificant and the glow was scarcely
+visible. As a rule, the ascending column of steam was projected three
+thousand feet or more before it was caught by the upper air current.
+Measurements showed the principal crater to be half a mile in diameter
+and nine hundred feet deep. Great deposits of sulphur and pumice were
+observed.
+
+In the last week of October a party composed of Shackleton, Adams,
+Marshall, and Wild started on the trip to discover the south pole. The
+journey to the point farthest south occupied seventy-three days. After a
+few days out from the winter quarters no bare rock was seen--the
+landscape being one of ice and snow.
+
+Shackleton's journal of January 8 notes the fierce gales blowing at the
+rate of seventy or eighty miles an hour, while the temperature had
+dropped to "seventy-two degrees of frost." "We are short of fuel," he
+writes, "and at this high altitude, eleven thousand six hundred feet, it
+is hard to keep any warmth in our bodies between the scanty meals. We
+have nothing to read now, having left behind our little books to save
+weight, and it is dreary work lying in the tent with nothing to read,
+and too cold to write much in the diary."
+
+"It (January 9, 1909) is our last day outward. We have shot our bolt and
+the tale of latitude is 88° 23' south. We hoisted her majesty's flag,
+and the other Union Jack afterward, and took possession of the plateau
+in the name of his majesty. While the Union Jack blew out stiffly in the
+icy gale that cut us to the bone we looked south with powerful glasses,
+but could see nothing but the dead white snow-plain. There was no break
+in the plateau as it extended toward the pole, and we felt sure that the
+goal we have failed to reach lies on this plain. We stayed only a few
+minutes, and then taking the queen's flag, and eating our scanty meal as
+we went, hurried back and reached our camp about 3 P. M. Whatever
+regrets may be, we have done our best." On their return journey the
+party killed the two surviving ponies for food.
+
+Early in October, 1908, a party consisting of David, Mawson, and Mackay
+started on their journey to locate the south magnetic pole. Like the
+journey of the southern party, it was a trip of hardship, intense cold,
+and physical suffering. On January 16, 1909, partly by experiment and
+partly by calculation, the point of vertical position of the needle was
+found in latitude 72° 25' south, longitude 155° 16' east. The position
+found by Professor David was very close to that obtained by Scott of the
+_Discovery_ expedition and about forty miles from that which Ross
+calculated in 1841. In the interval of nearly seventy years, it is safe
+to assume that the position of the south magnetic pole has shifted forty
+miles.
+
+In spite of the knowledge obtained in other directions, Shackleton
+frankly admits that the secret of the great ice barrier cannot be
+learned until the structure and trend of the mountain ranges which seem
+to form its edge are traced. The investigations showed, however, that it
+is composed of densely packed snow. It was found that at least one part
+of the ice barrier is receding, and that Balloon Bight, noted by Captain
+Scott, had disappeared in consequence of the recession. Not the least
+important part of the exploration was the discovery of forty-five miles
+of coast. Shackleton also was able to strengthen the opinion that
+Emerald, Nimrod, and Dougherty Islands do not exist.
+
+The hardy Shetland and Manchurian ponies, first used by Evelyn Baldwin,
+proved a valuable equipment in polar research. Shackleton's gasoline
+motor-car and Scott's captive balloon were of considerable but limited
+use.
+
+During 1910 and 1911 three different nations--England, Norway, and
+Japan--were represented by expeditions in south polar regions. The
+Norwegian expedition under Captain Roald Amundsen was especially
+equipped for quick travel, having eight sledges and more than one
+hundred trained dogs.
+
+The expedition made its way to the head of Ross Sea, a large bay of the
+Antarctic plateau, nearly due south of New Zealand. The camp there was
+made the base of supplies. Depots for provisions were first established
+in latitudes 80°, 81°, and 82°.
+
+A start for the pole was made September 8 with eight men, seven sledges,
+and ninety dogs. The weather was too severe for the dogs, however, and
+the party returned to camp. By the middle of October summer weather had
+set in, and on the 20th of the month five men, four sledges, and
+fifty-two dogs started on the poleward trip. Three days later they
+reached and passed the first depot; on the 31st the second depot was
+reached; and on November 5 the sledges reached the third depot in
+latitude 82°. Additional supplies were thereafter cached, in depots
+about one degree apart, to be used on the return trip. Snow cairns were
+built at frequent intervals to mark the trail. The last cache of
+supplies was left at latitude 85°.
+
+From this point the way was a steep and difficult climbing over the
+range, or barrier, that had proved so difficult for Shackleton. Peaks in
+height from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet loomed up on every
+side, and glacier surfaces proved to be the easiest paths.
+
+When a height of nine thousand feet had been reached the rugged upraise
+opened out into a nearly level plateau. On December 10 observations
+showed latitude 89°, and on the 14th of the month the party reached
+latitude 90° and achieved the conquest of the South Pole. The Norwegian
+flag was planted, and after three days spent in checking observations
+the party returned in safety. The expedition returned by way of
+Tasmania. The vessel employed was the _Fram_, the small steamship used
+by Nansen.
+
+Captain Scott, who commanded the _Discovery_ in the expedition of 1901,
+went with the men in his command to Ross Sea and made his head-quarters
+near the head of that body of water. He at once sent out exploring
+parties, one of which started for the pole. According to reports made in
+April, 1912, he had accomplished a great deal of work in surveys and
+geological research, probably more than all that of his predecessors.
+
+The same reports brought also word that the Japanese expedition under
+Lieutenant Shirase had surveyed a considerable extent of the Antarctic
+coast.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 2: In April, 1831, Ross had the honor of fixing the location
+of the north magnetic pole on the Boothia Peninsula in latitude 70° 5'
+north and longitude 96° 46' west.]
+
+[Footnote 3: According to the observations of Ross its altitude was
+twelve thousand three hundred and sixty-seven feet. Inasmuch as a change
+in altitude results from each eruption, both determinations may be
+correct. The admiralty charts give twelve thousand nine hundred and
+twenty-two feet, the determination of the expedition of 1901.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH
+
+
+Several thousand years ago a mighty conflict occurred between the sea
+and the subterranean forces in the north Atlantic five hundred miles
+northwest of Scotland. A violent earthquake rent the rocks of the ocean
+bed, and through the broken floor there issued tremendous floods of
+molten lava. The great conflict manifested itself in explosions of
+steam, gigantic streams of red-hot lava, frothy pumice, and volcanic
+ashes. For miles around the water of the sea was seething and boiling.
+
+After awhile the turbulence of the fiery mass was subdued and it stood
+congealed in the varied forms of rugged peaks, contorted ridges, and
+deep valleys, subsequently to be seamed and further distorted by
+earthquakes and piled higher by further volcanic outbursts. A new island
+had been born.
+
+Ages rolled on; vegetation appeared as the volcanic rock disintegrated;
+crystal lakes were formed and rivers, fed by frequent rains and melting
+snows, flowed to the sea. This comparatively new island is Iceland. The
+book of nature here is open; the print is clear; and the language is so
+plain that he who can read may learn the story.
+
+The internal fires of the earth seem to have taken their final great
+stand in this far-off northern land and have waged a titanic battle to
+the death, as may be seen in many places. In the northern part of the
+island one may find acres of burning sulphur beds, small geysers, and
+mud caldrons, all of which attest to the slowly dying volcanic forces
+beneath. Although a comparative calm now exists, an exciting cause may
+at any time awaken the slumbering volcanoes and again renew the work of
+destruction.
+
+Fossilized forests are found, but of trees different from those now
+existing. Climate and vegetation materially changed as century succeeded
+century.
+
+The written history of Iceland begins about the year 860, when a viking
+living on the Faroe Islands who was on his way home from Norway, being
+driven far northward of his course, came to an unknown coast. Climbing a
+high rock and looking around, he beheld no signs of life; before he
+could return to his ship, however, a sudden storm came on, covering the
+ground with a mantle of snow. From the latter circumstance he named the
+country Snowland.
+
+Four years after a Swedish master-mariner was driven by stress of storm
+to this same land, and, building a house, spent the winter there. During
+the following summer he sailed around the land, demonstrating that it
+was an island, and called it after his own name, Gardar's Island. On his
+return home he gave such a favorable account of the island that a famous
+Norwegian viking named Floki determined to seek it and to take
+possession. Having gathered his family and followers, and taking on
+board some live stock, he set sail for the unknown land by way of the
+Faroe Islands.
+
+The compass had not then been invented, but knowing that ravens by
+instinct seek the nearest land when freed on the ocean, he provided
+himself with three of these birds to serve as guides.
+
+He remained awhile at the Faroe Islands and then boldly sailed
+northward. When he was several days out he uncaged one of the ravens,
+which immediately took its flight back to the Faroe Islands. Later, he
+set free a second bird. This one, after hovering high in the air for
+some time, seemed bewildered and returned to the ship. Still later, the
+third raven was set free, which at once flew northward. By pursuing the
+course taken by the last bird, Floki soon reached the desired land.
+
+The winter that followed was very severe. Deep snows covered hill, rock,
+and valley, and ice blockaded the fiord. Floki had neglected to harvest
+the wild grass, and as a result his cattle died. Disheartened by his
+losses, he returned to his native land, naming the island which he
+abandoned Iceland.
+
+A few years later another Norse rover, who had slain an enemy and was
+threatened with vengeance by the relatives of the victim, took refuge on
+the island where he spent a year. He liked the country so well that he
+returned home and induced his retainers to accompany him back to his
+safe retreat. Approaching the land, he threw into the sea the sacred
+columns which his vessel bore, so that he might learn the will of the
+gods where to land and found a colony. A violent storm arising, the
+pillars drifted out of sight, so he sought the nearest harbor and there
+he established a temporary camp.
+
+Three years afterward the pillars were found on the desolate shore of a
+lava stream on the west side of the island. Near by was a rivulet from
+whose bed a spring gushed forth emitting clouds of steam. Thither the
+colony removed and the present capital, Reykjavik, was founded. The name
+Reykjavik means "smoking bay." Other vikings followed and selected such
+parts of the island as they considered best.
+
+Harold, the king of Norway at this time, determined to curb the
+rebellious spirit of the chiefs under him. So, many of the sturdy
+Norsemen, chafing under his arbitrary rule, collected such of their
+property as they could carry and, putting it on board their stanch
+vessels, sailed away to the land of refuge.
+
+At this period of history nearly all nations considered that might made
+right; but no class of plunderers excelled the Norsemen, who were wont
+to make periodical raids on the various seaport cities and towns of
+Europe. They swooped upon them, pillaging and killing the inhabitants,
+and then fled in their swift vessels with booty and captives before they
+could be intercepted. The audacity of the Norse vikings knew no bounds.
+They pillaged Paris, Bordeaux, Orleans, and nearly every other city of
+France accessible by water. Their hands fell heavily on the coasts of
+Spain and the British Isles.
+
+[Illustration: Street in Reykjavik, Iceland]
+
+At one time a band of these fearless sea-robbers made their lairs in the
+Shetland and Orkney Islands and even plundered the coast of Norway, the
+abode of their kinsmen. Their conduct so exasperated Harold that he
+determined to destroy the freebooters of the Orkneys root and branch.
+Gathering a large fleet, he relentlessly pursued the raiders up every
+bay and inlet. Leaving the ships, he chased them among the rocky islands
+and the sinuous fiords. When they were overtaken the pursuers showed
+them no mercy. A few escaped, and, stealing away under the cover of
+darkness, the hunted sea-robbers fled in their ships to Iceland.
+
+All the while the tide of immigration was augmented by the migrations of
+disaffected nobles from Norway. This naked volcanic island had more
+attraction for them than their own country where freedom was denied
+them.
+
+Sixty years after the first settlement fifty thousand people had made
+their homes in Iceland. The inhabited parts were along the coast, in the
+river valleys, and in the vicinity of the fiords, rarely extending
+farther than fifty miles inland.
+
+In order to better maintain rights and settle disputes, in 930 the
+chiefs or nobles established an aristocratic republic and adopted a
+constitution. The republic existed four hundred years. Many just laws
+were enacted, some of which England was glad to borrow. The legislative
+meetings were held in Thingvalla, a picturesque valley thirty-five miles
+east of Reykjavik. This valley was formed by the sinking of a lava area
+of fifty square miles. In the middle of the valley, flanked by two huge
+jagged walls of lava, is a triangular floor of lava like a large
+flatiron having separating chasms meeting at the apex. Here the Althing,
+or general assembly, met annually to make laws and settle disputes.
+Toward the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a
+beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five
+miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The
+scenery here is one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by,
+a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy
+water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom
+of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a
+legislative assembly.
+
+Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of
+Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the
+re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by
+Denmark in 1874.
+
+Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million
+crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights
+advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change
+their names when they marry.
+
+Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of
+it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.
+
+It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with
+vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined
+chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large
+desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse
+is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields,
+one of which occupies four thousand square miles.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so
+severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the
+warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding
+waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic
+ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter
+snowstorms even in August.
+
+The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the
+white and the blue. These animals probably drifted on the ice from
+Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because
+they attack the sheep.
+
+The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The
+horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked.
+Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large
+numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines.
+There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark galleries.
+
+Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone
+Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to
+one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most
+prominent are east of Reykjavik.
+
+According to its area probably no other part of the world except the
+island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and
+cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within
+the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic
+eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously;
+the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and
+the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke
+accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed
+the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth
+heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere
+became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was
+darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder.
+Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles
+wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar
+Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and
+spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted
+the vegetation far and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand
+head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.
+
+[Illustration: North Cape, Iceland]
+
+Iceland is well watered, having many streams, all of which are rapid,
+for the greater part flowing over beds of lava and quicksand. In some of
+the wider fords stakes have been set so that the traveller may not get
+lost in crossing them on horseback during a dense fog. In the summer the
+frequent rains make travelling very unpleasant unless one is suitably
+equipped with water-proof garments. In the Hvita, or White River, is the
+celebrated Gullfoss--literally, "goldfall"--a fall that rivals Niagara
+in the height of its two cataracts.
+
+A few garden vegetables excepted, little or no agriculture is
+attempted; the chief dependence of the people is the rearing of sheep,
+cattle, and horses, fishing, and the collecting of eider-down. The
+streams are filled with excellent fish, including the salmon; off the
+coast are codfishing grounds equal to, if not surpassing, those of
+Newfoundland.
+
+The most valuable mineral is sulphur, the supply of which appears to be
+inexhaustible. The chief exports are wool, oil, fish, horses,
+eider-down, knit goods, sulphur, and Iceland moss.
+
+Transparent calcite, a mineral commonly called "Iceland spar," is found,
+one mine of which furnishes an excellent quality. It is highly prized by
+mineralogists on account of its double refractive qualities. If a piece
+of this mineral be placed over a word, the letters forming it will
+appear double. Iceland spar is used chiefly in the optical instrument
+known as the polariscope.
+
+Eider-down consists of the soft, fine feathers growing on the breast of
+the eider-duck, great numbers of which frequent the coast and lakes of
+Iceland. This duck is wild except at the nesting season; then it is as
+tame as the domestic fowl and makes its nest not only around and on top
+of the buildings but frequently inside them. A heavy fine is imposed on
+any one killing a duck at this season.
+
+When about to lay, the duck carefully lines her nest with down plucked
+from her breast. Then people remove it from the nest and the duck pulls
+more down from her breast to replace that taken. This process is
+repeated several times. When the duck has stripped her own breast the
+drake comes to the rescue and furnishes down from his. A certain number
+of the eggs are also taken. These, though inferior to those of the swan,
+are esteemed a great delicacy. Swans also are killed on many of the
+lakes.
+
+Iceland is the resort of the fishing fleets of several nations; the
+value of the annual catch averages about ten million dollars. Much of
+the catch consists of food fish, but many are caught for the oil.
+
+The only trees found growing on the island are birch and ash, and they
+seldom exceed ten feet in height. A few juniper bushes and willows are
+found here and there.
+
+In the remote and isolated sections most of the dwellings are built of
+blocks of lava laid one upon another, making a wall six feet thick. Upon
+these are placed rafters made from ribs of whales, drift-wood, or
+anything else that will answer the purpose. The roof is then covered
+with grass and turf. In the hamlets many of the houses are constructed
+of imported lumber, there being no trees of sufficient size on the
+island for building purposes.
+
+The inhabitants are very hospitable and every house is open to the
+traveller. They live in a simple manner, drink sour whey and milk, eat
+rancid butter, fish, mutton, and occasionally the lichens called Iceland
+moss. When well cooked, the last named is quite palatable. It is also a
+sovereign remedy for bronchial ailments.
+
+Notwithstanding their many privations, the people are loyal to their
+country and lovingly call it "The Maid of the North." They lead pastoral
+lives and their customs are much like those of the Homeric age.
+Story-telling is much appreciated by all classes. There are wandering
+minstrels who gain their livelihood by going from house to house to
+recite the stories in prose and poetry which they have learned by heart.
+Spindle and distaff are used in spinning the wool into yarn, which is
+then knit or woven into cloth on a hand loom.
+
+Education is universal, and no child of twelve years can be found who is
+unable to read or write. The families are so isolated that there are few
+schools outside of the capital; but the parents diligently teach their
+children whatever they themselves have learned.
+
+During the long winter evenings one member of the family reads aloud
+while the others are busily at work, the men making nets and ropes, or
+removing the wool from the sheepskins, the women embroidering, sewing,
+or using spindle and distaff.
+
+In no other country of Europe are so many books and papers published in
+proportion to the population as in Iceland. On the average one hundred
+books are issued annually from Icelandic presses. Several excellent
+newspapers and periodicals are also published.
+
+Every Icelander to-day knows perfectly the sagas, the legendary stories
+that commemorate heroes and heroic deeds and which are so dear to his
+heart. It is not uncommon to find an Icelander who is well versed in the
+ancient classics or one who can speak several languages. They are well
+acquainted with the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, which have been
+translated into their own language. During the twelfth and thirteenth
+centuries Iceland produced a literature equal to that of any other
+nation in Europe within the same period.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GREENLAND
+
+
+The history of Greenland really begins about the year 986 A. D., when
+Eric the Red, a chieftain who had been banished from Iceland, landed on
+the island with some of his followers and made it his permanent
+residence. At different times these hardy and daring seamen made
+expeditions to the eastern coast of North America, and sailed as far
+south as Chesapeake Bay. They attempted to found a colony on the east
+coast at a point thought to be on the coast of New Jersey but, after
+contending with the savages for some time, deemed it best to abandon the
+project and to return to their Greenland home. The location at which
+they attempted their colony is by no means certain.
+
+[Illustration: Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland]
+
+All this island, a half million square miles in area, except a small
+part of the southern coast line and a larger area in the north, is
+covered by an immense glacier. And this field of ice, like a huge piece
+of plastic wax, is constantly moving from the interior down toward the
+sea. As it approaches the ocean it divides into branches which flow down
+the numerous fiords and valleys into the sea. As the fronts of the
+branch glaciers are pushed out into the water their ends are broken off
+by the buoyancy of the water. These glacial-born masses then float away
+as icebergs, carrying with them on their southward journeys the rock
+waste--moraine detritus it is called--gathered by the parent glaciers.
+
+When these floating leviathans are off the coast of Newfoundland, they
+encounter the waters of the Gulf Stream, melt, and scatter their débris
+of stony matter over a large area of the ocean bed. This process, having
+gone on for thousands of years, has shoaled the ocean in certain parts,
+forming the so-called Banks of Newfoundland.
+
+A gelatinous slime filled with minute animal life forms on the bottom of
+the ocean in the arctic; the cold currents flowing south carry some of
+it along with them, and much of it is lodged on the stony bottoms of
+these banks. Fish, especially the cod, are fond of this gelatinous
+substance, and throng thither at certain seasons of the year in
+countless numbers to feed upon it.
+
+One ignorant of the currents of the ocean might be puzzled at times in
+observing that an iceberg floats southward at the same time that pieces
+of wood are floating northward, both apparently acted upon by the same
+current. This may be explained by recalling that warm water is lighter
+than cold and hence is found as the upper layer when a cold and a warm
+current are flowing in different directions, one upon the other. It
+should be borne in mind that seven-eighths of the floating iceberg is
+under water, leaving but one-eighth above the surface. The Gulf Stream
+drift spreads out as it travels northward, and, being much shallower
+than the arctic currents, carries floating objects northward on the
+surface, while the deeper and more powerful arctic currents force the
+huge masses of ice southward.
+
+When the warm air over the Gulf Stream comes in contact with the
+floating ice it is chilled, and the moisture which it holds is condensed
+into fog. The fogs in turn, which are off the Newfoundland coast, being
+in the line of steamship communication between Europe and America, are a
+constant menace to navigation. The near presence of ice is usually
+detected by a greater chilliness in the air. In order to avoid
+collisions with one another, and also with icebergs, a ship constantly
+sounds its sirens and fog horns as warnings while in the fog belt. The
+signal of another steamship is a warning of the one; the answering echo
+announces the nearness of the other.
+
+[Illustration: A large iceberg]
+
+The high interior of Greenland, about ten thousand feet in altitude, is
+thought to result largely from the accumulation of ages of snow and ice,
+only a part of which melts or moves oceanward to form glaciers. No other
+part of the world is such an absolute desert as the greater part of this
+island. Animal and vegetable life are wholly absent.
+
+The colony which was planted in Greenland by Eric the Red, and
+subsequently augmented by other Norsemen, continued to prosper for four
+hundred years. At the end of that period there were about two hundred
+villages, twelve parishes, and two monasteries. These, however,
+disappeared. The hostility of the Eskimos in part accounts for their
+extinction, but an encroachment of ice from the north, which encompassed
+the southern part of the island, is thought to have been also a factor.
+The fact that foreign trade with Greenland was forbidden by the mother
+country may account in part for the gradual disappearance of the colony.
+At all events, intercourse with Europe seems to have been cut off. This
+condition continued for upward of two centuries, and when intercourse
+with the mother country was again possible there was no Greenland
+colony. Perhaps the finding of "white" Eskimo in Victoria Land may
+explain this disappearance.
+
+[Illustration: A group of Eskimos in south Greenland]
+
+Subsequently the island was again colonized, but concerning the
+disappearance of the former inhabitants history is silent. The mute
+testimony of a few ruined buildings and relics is all that has been
+found to give the least shadow of information as to the final struggle
+of the wretched colonists. We only know that they mysteriously
+disappeared. But the great glacial cap is slowly receding and ages hence
+more ground will be laid bare.
+
+The present inhabitants number about ten thousand, most of whom are
+Eskimos. They are lacking in thrift and live chiefly by hunting and
+fishing. Among the wild animals living here are the arctic fox, the
+arctic hare, the musk ox, the seal, the polar bear, the ermine, and the
+walrus.
+
+The principal resources of the island are sealskins, eider-down, oil, and
+cryolite.
+
+Cryolite is a mineral from which common soda is easily extracted, and
+also from which the light silver-like aluminum was formerly prepared.
+The mines near the village of Ivigtut furnish practically the world's
+supply of this mineral. Formerly it was carried to Philadelphia, but in
+recent years not much is used. The fisheries are a monopoly of Denmark,
+and each station is visited from one to three or four times a year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET
+
+
+Perhaps there is no section of the globe about which most well-informed
+persons know so little as the southern part of South America. Judged by
+the reports of early discoverers and explorers, this region until
+recently has been considered a desolate stretch of snow mountains,
+barren plains, and extensive morasses, sparsely inhabited by a few
+thousand human beings of the lowest type and worthless to civilized man.
+
+Such a picture is but partly true. Many of the highest mountains are
+snow-capped throughout the year and are scored by immense glaciers which
+are constantly moving down their grooved sides; but there are also
+heavily forested slopes flanked by valleys and plains covered with rich
+grasses, making most excellent pasturage. The best land, comprising a
+large area, is now occupied as grazing grounds principally by sheep
+farmers.
+
+In the early part of the sixteenth century it was rumored that a water
+passage traversed the southern part of South America. This rumor was
+proved true in 1520, when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in
+the service of Charles V of Spain, sailed through the strait which now
+bears his name. He called the passage Todos los Santos--literally, "All
+Saints"--but later the name was changed to commemorate the bold captain
+who discovered the route.
+
+Magellan was the first not only to sail through the strait, but to cross
+the broad Pacific Ocean, which was so named by him on account of the
+quietness of its waters. Because he saw the fires built by the natives
+blazing on the islands along the south side of the channel, he called
+them Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire."
+
+The Strait of Magellan varies from three to seventy miles in width. The
+scenery along its shores, low and treeless in the eastern part,
+elsewhere is mountainous and heavily wooded--mainly with beech. In
+various places lofty precipices rise abruptly from the water's edge;
+throughout most of its extent the shore line is rock-bound and studded
+with islets.
+
+A more picturesque route, and one abounding in the grandest and most
+stupendous scenery in the world, is that from the Pacific by way of
+Smyth Channel, the entrance to which is four hundred miles north of the
+entrance to Magellan Strait. By this route one follows a series of
+channels and reaches the strait proper near Desolation Island. On
+account of the dangers besetting this course, underwriters refuse to
+insure vessels taking it.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, New York The Straits of
+Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end]
+
+It remained for a Hollander named Schouten to discover Cape Horn, in
+1616, and thus find a safer way for sailing vessels going from the one
+great ocean to the other. Schouten named the cape "Hoorn," from his
+native city in Holland. Afterward the name was shortened to Horn, which
+is applied both to the cape and to the island from which it projects.
+Since the western entrance to the strait is subject to rough,
+tempestuous weather and strong currents, very few modern sailing vessels
+take the shorter course, preferring to double the cape. Though doubling
+the cape is the safer route, yet this passage itself is beset by
+dangerous storms and tempestuous seas. Fortunate is the sailing master
+who rounds the Horn with pleasant weather.
+
+Some of the smaller islands of the archipelago are densely wooded and
+practically unexplored. Gold has been found on the beaches of several of
+the islands in paying quantities, and these placers have been worked
+successfully for several years. On the islands are found wild
+strawberries of great size and fine flavor, wild raspberries,
+gooseberries, grapes, and celery; in the spring the pastures are covered
+with a variety of wild flowers. A profusion of ferns is seen almost
+everywhere. Wild geese and swans are found on the lagoons and lakes in
+large numbers.
+
+Once upon a time Patagonia, as the southern part of the continent is
+popularly called, was regarded as a waste; now it is recognized as a
+wonderfully fertile region, and is being rapidly settled. European
+colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous.
+The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by
+King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know
+the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth.
+The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and
+ostrich feathers.
+
+The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those
+brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders
+and excel in the use of a peculiar lasso called the bolas. It consists
+usually of three balls of stone or metal covered with rawhide and
+attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In
+fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is
+indispensable. The operator, holding one of the balls, swings the others
+over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them
+go. If well aimed, the connected balls circle around the legs of the
+animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.
+
+The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South
+American Indians, they go about well clothed. Occasionally they kill
+their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and
+clothing is the guanaco.
+
+Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for
+centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superstitious
+dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded
+mountain slopes of the Cordillera.
+
+[Illustration: Fuegians]
+
+The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those
+of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish.
+The canoe Indians, as those in the western part are called, build boats
+of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet
+long, and in the centre a quantity of earth is carried, upon which a
+fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal
+relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their
+time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish
+may be obtained. At night they generally go on shore to sleep. A hole
+scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent
+down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for
+warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing
+that if they do not move on an evil spirit will catch them.
+
+In the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego and on some of the other larger
+islands two tribes of Indians are found whose subsistence consists of
+sea food, guanacos, and such sheep as they can steal. These tribes are
+continually at enmity with the white settlers and will kill them
+whenever possible.
+
+In spite of cloudy weather and cold winds, which are common a part of
+the year, the climate of Patagonia is milder than that of places much
+farther north, and the sheep require no feeding during the winter
+season. In the matter of sheep farms this section rivals Australia,
+since there is no fear of drought. The grass continues green the year
+around, and the sheep easily fatten upon it.
+
+The drawbacks to successful sheep-growing are many and the business
+requires constant vigilance. Vultures, foxes, wild dogs, pumas, and
+Indians make serious inroads on the flocks. The wild dogs live in the
+surrounding forests and from time to time rush out in packs of from ten
+to thirty and attack the sheep. Notwithstanding all these troubles,
+however, the profits of sheep-growing are large.
+
+Russians, Germans, French, Australians, English, and Scotch, many of
+whom have amassed large fortunes in a few years, are engaged in this
+lucrative business. As in all other sheep-raising countries, the collie
+is an invaluable aid to the shepherds. Not only are the principal
+islands chiefly devoted to sheep-raising, but a considerable part of the
+southern mainland is also devoted to this industry. On the island of
+Tierra del Fuego alone there are upward of a million sheep.
+
+Most of the land is leased from the government for a long term of years.
+Many of the proprietors have enclosed their holdings with wire fences,
+thereby lessening the expense of caring for their flocks. Some of the
+holdings range from twenty-five thousand to more than two million acres.
+
+Southern Patagonia has immense numbers of guanacos, or wild llamas.
+These animals frequent the Andean slopes and the adjacent pampas. During
+the winter season they come down to the lowlands to drink in the
+unfrozen lakes and feed upon the herbage. During severe winters
+sometimes hundreds are found dead from starvation in the valleys near
+the frozen lakes.
+
+Thousands of wild cattle are found on the eastern slopes of the Andes,
+but they are difficult to capture; they are exceedingly wary and can
+scent a man far off. In agility in climbing the steep, rough places they
+equal the goat. If one of their number is killed the whole herd deserts
+the locality at night. When wounded they are fierce fighters, if forced
+into close quarters.
+
+Punta Arenas, or "Sandy Point," is on the north side of the Strait of
+Magellan and is Chilean territory. It is a new town cut out of the
+woods, and even yet many of the streets are diversified by the stumps of
+big beech trees. The place is an important coaling and provision station
+and, next to Honolulu, the most important ocean post-office in the
+world. It has a population of twelve thousand, and is the capital and
+centre of the great wool industry of the Territory of Magellan, which
+comprises a majority of the islands south of the mainland, together with
+the southern part of Patagonia.
+
+A few years ago, in order to encourage the building up of Punta Arenas,
+the government offered a lot free to any one who would erect a building
+on it. Many accepted the offer, and to-day some of the lots in the
+business part of the town are very valuable. Although most of the
+buildings are constructed with regard to economy rather than beauty, yet
+some of the business blocks will compare favorably with those of the new
+cities in the United States.
+
+Like several Australian cities, Punta Arenas was a convict colony. It
+was founded as such in 1843, and so remained until the European
+steamships began to thread the strait instead of doubling the Horn. Then
+it became a coaling station, a supply store, a half-way town, and an
+ocean post-office. All this business was previously carried on at the
+Falkland Islands, but the route through the strait settled the business
+for both places. The Falkland station was abandoned; Punta Arenas became
+a thriving town. A ticket-of-leave was given to each convict who
+consented to join the Chilean army.
+
+The town forthwith blossomed into a typical frontier settlement--banks
+and gambling dens, churches and saloons, schools and bullfights. Every
+race of people and almost every industry is represented there. The
+Spanish see to it that the Sunday bullfights are correct; the French
+insure the proper social functions; the Germans manage the banks; and
+the Americans take the profits of the railways, telegraph lines, and
+flour-mills. As to latitude, Punta Arenas is cold and inhospitable; but
+for business and social affairs, it is very, very warm, especially in
+the matter of social affairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS
+
+
+If only Dame Nature had distributed the rainfall of the United States a
+bit more evenly, land enough to feed about fifty millions of people
+would not have required an expenditure of half a century of time and
+several hundred millions of good, hard dollars. One must bear in mind,
+however, that if Dame Nature had done otherwise, it is just as likely
+that the same time and the same amount of money would have been required
+elsewhere for those same fifty millions of people.
+
+The reclaimable swamp lands of the United States east of the Rocky
+Mountains aggregate about one hundred and twenty thousand square miles
+in extent--an area nearly equal to that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
+combined. Of this, Louisiana has about fifteen thousand square miles, a
+tract about as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
+combined, and Florida has about half her entire area in swamp land. West
+of the Rocky Mountains, California takes the lead, with enough swamp
+land to make a state of respectable size.
+
+In the case of California, if the "forty-niners" could have waited about
+a thousand years they would have found the precious swamp lands all
+properly filled in for them and ready for use; for the Sacramento and
+San Joaquin Rivers long since have been working at the task of filling
+up the big hollow between the mountain ranges. But the rivers are a
+trifle slow, and Californians are always in a steaming hurry. So Uncle
+Sam's engineers are driving their reclamation schemes with railroad
+speed. A few years ago these lands were worth nothing; drain them and
+they are worth one hundred dollars per acre; improve them according to
+modern farming science and they are worth ten times as much.
+
+[Illustration: The Everglades of Florida]
+
+In many instances even the quick methods of the reclamation authorities
+are too slow for the California farmer, and so he takes matters into his
+own hands. First he acquires his land; then he mortgages all his worldly
+possessions to surround the land with a ditch deep enough and wide
+enough to make a dike high enough to keep out flood waters. His land
+after draining is full of the stuff for which he otherwise would pay
+thousands and thousands of dollars. Phosphates and lime form the
+coverings of minute swamp life and nitrogen compounds are a part of
+their bodies. The polders of Holland are not richer than this swamp
+land; indeed, they are not so rich. One or two crops will pretty nearly
+extinguish the mortgage and three or four more will put the owner on
+"Easy Street."
+
+In the bottom-lands of the Sacramento River is an island that for fifty
+years went a-begging. Then a company with a shrewd head bought it, diked
+it, and drained it. Now the island has immense celery beds and the
+largest asparagus farm in the world. The celery and canned asparagus are
+shipped to the produce markets of New York City.
+
+Another great swamp area covers a large part of Louisiana, Mississippi,
+and Arkansas. This swamp was made when the head of the Gulf of Mexico
+reached half-way up to St. Louis, for the delta of the Mississippi River
+has been travelling leisurely southward for several thousand years--so
+leisurely, in fact, that Iberville and Bienville opened the region to
+settlement fifteen hundred years or more too soon. But Uncle Sam is
+taking a hand here likewise, and in another fifty years a population
+half as large as that of New York may not only live comfortably but get
+rich on the reclaimed lands of this and adjacent coast swamps.
+
+The Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia all have large areas of coast
+marshes--"pocosons" they call them--only a small part of which has been
+reclaimed. Formerly these were the property of the general government;
+then they were given to the States with the understanding that they were
+to be reclaimed. Large tracts were sold to speculators for a few cents
+an acre, and there you are! Few States are rich enough to handle
+extensive reclamation enterprises, and so the general government stepped
+in again and assumed the responsibility. That means that the work of
+reclamation will be skilfully and honestly done. Uncle Sam may play some
+questionable politics, but he never mixes politics and government
+business.
+
+Of all the swamp lands of the United States, the region in Florida
+known as the Everglades is the most interesting and the most romantic.
+
+Ponce de Leon, an aged Spanish governor of Porto Rico, who was seeking
+the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, discovered--not the long-sought
+fountain, but a peninsula decked with such a profusion of flowers that
+he named the country Florida.
+
+From that time until years after it was ceded to the United States
+Florida was repeatedly baptized in blood. From the first there were
+encounters between the Spanish and Indians in which no quarter was given
+on either side. Later, an exterminating warfare broke out between the
+French and Spanish when a Huguenot colony was massacred and not a man,
+woman, or child spared. In 1586 St. Augustine was burned by Sir Francis
+Drake, and a century later it was plundered by English buccaneers. Still
+later, frequent contests were waged between the English colonies and the
+Spanish in Florida.
+
+Previous to the acquisition of Florida by the United States hostile
+Indians, together with fugitive whites and renegade negroes who had
+joined them, made many raids upon the settlements in Georgia, robbing
+and burning plantations, murdering the whites, and carrying off the
+slaves. Retaliation to a certain extent was meted out to the
+blood-thirsty savages until Spain was glad to cede the peninsula to the
+United States in 1819 for five million dollars. Thereby she ridded
+herself of her troublesome protégés. The Indian raids still continued
+after the acquisition, and the United States Government therefore sent
+troops into Florida to punish the treacherous savages, who gradually
+retreated southward until they reached the Everglades. There they made
+their final stand.
+
+In these almost inaccessible sinuous water passages and the dense island
+vegetation for a long time the Indians baffled our ablest military
+officers. A seven years' contest followed which cost the United States
+fifteen hundred men and nearly twenty million dollars.
+
+[Illustration: Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida]
+
+After much negotiation and no end of trouble the Indians--they were the
+Seminoles--ceded their lands to the United States on the promise of an
+annuity of twenty-five thousand dollars and suitable lands in the Indian
+Territory. About four thousand of the Seminoles were then removed to
+their new homes; a small remnant refusing to emigrate were left behind.
+
+The name Everglades is applied to a vast swamp containing a multitude of
+shallow lakes studded with numerous islands. The region embraces most
+of the southern part of Florida. The water of the lakes, of which Lake
+Okechobee is the largest, varies in depth from a few inches to ten feet.
+The region itself has an area six times that of the State of Rhode
+Island, and on account of the difficulty in traversing it is but
+imperfectly known. Countless winding intricate water channels extend in
+every direction. Many of these are filled with tall sawgrass which,
+growing from the bottom, greatly impedes the passage even of small
+boats. The average elevation of the Everglades above sea level is
+scarcely twenty feet. The water is both clear and wholesome, but the
+surface is so nearly a dead level that the current is imperceptible; it
+can be distinguished only by noting the position of the grass.
+
+The islands are covered with a dense growth of oak, pine, cypress, and
+palmetto trees, together with a jungle of luxuriant tropical vines and
+shrubs. They range in size from one to one hundred acres and are but
+slightly elevated above the surrounding waters.
+
+About three hundred Seminole Indians inhabit the interior and live by
+hunting and fishing. Deer, bears, otters, panthers, wild cats, and
+snakes frequent the land; alligators, crocodiles, fish of various kinds,
+and waterfowl dwell in the water. In the western part of the Everglades
+is Big Cypress Swamp and in the extreme southern part Mangrove Swamp,
+where myriads of mosquitoes are hatched out. Extending along the eastern
+side of the Everglades is a long, narrow belt of dry, fertile land which
+is utilized for farming purposes.
+
+A far-reaching project to reclaim the Everglades has been proposed.
+Unlike the Western projects, the problem is to get rid of water and not
+to supply it. The plans for reclamation include the construction of
+drainage canals and the clearing of the jungle growths. It is purposed
+to use the land thus reclaimed for sugar growing. At the present time
+the United States is importing annually over two hundred million
+dollars' worth of sugar; it is estimated that by draining only a part of
+this vast area and planting it to sugar cane the local demands could not
+only be supplied but a large surplus for export would result.
+
+The possibilities of this region, when properly drained and cleared of
+its superfluous vegetation, are almost beyond computation. It has a rich
+soil, abundant moisture, and almost tropical climate. Reclaimed land of
+this character is suitable for raising not only sugar cane and
+subtropical fruits, but a great variety of other crops. It is estimated
+that the cost of reclaiming the Everglades, so that the land may be made
+productive, need not exceed one dollar per acre.
+
+A great impetus has been given to southern Florida by that wonderful
+achievement of engineering, Mr. Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast
+Railway. This railway stretches in a direct line along the coast from
+Jacksonville to the southern part of the State, and has been extended
+along the Florida Keys to Key West. When all arrangements are completed,
+the trains will be ferried across Florida Strait between Havana and Key
+West, and freight will be sent from points in Cuba to New York and
+Chicago without reloading.
+
+The building of the Florida East Coast Railway is one of the great
+engineering feats of the world. In its construction from key to key
+thousands of tons of rock and cement were dumped into the water on which
+massive viaducts in fifty-foot spans have been built to carry the
+road-bed. These solid archways, rising from twenty to thirty feet above
+the water, defy tides and storm waves. This railway has become one of
+the chief factors in developing the resources of southern Florida and
+hastening the reclamation of the Everglades.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES
+
+
+Almost any unusual form in nature is apt to attract the eye and interest
+the beholder; and when such natural objects resemble artificial ones or
+bear a fanciful resemblance to animals the similarity intensifies the
+interest and almost always leads one to apply fanciful names to them. In
+wandering along a rocky shore one instinctively searches for the curious
+formations carved out by the unceasing action of the waves; and in
+journeying through rugged sections of mountain country each unusual rock
+formation rivets the attention at once.
+
+Caves especially have a peculiar attraction of awe and curiosity
+combined. Such natural objects as Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Luray Cave
+in Virginia, Calaveras Cave in California, the Garden of the Gods in
+Colorado, the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and
+Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa are visited annually by many
+thousands of people. And no wonder that all mankind, from the savage to
+the most civilized, is charmed with natural arches spanning great
+chasms. No cyclopædia of natural wonders fails to give at least a brief
+description of the Natural Bridge of Virginia which spans a small stream
+that flows into the James River. So great a wonder was the structure
+regarded to be even in colonial times that it then claimed marked
+attention. Thomas Jefferson became so much interested in this natural
+wonder that he applied to George III for a reservation of land that
+should include the bridge, and in 1774 his request was granted. To
+accommodate distinguished strangers who might visit the bridge,
+Jefferson built near by a log cabin of two rooms. Concerning it he said:
+"The bridge will draw the attention of the world."
+
+[Illustration: The Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah]
+
+Chief-Justice Marshall described it as "God's greatest miracle in
+stone." And Henry Clay said it was "the bridge not made with hands, that
+spans a river, carries a highway, and makes two mountains one." On the
+rocky abutments are found carved the names of many persons. Among them
+is that of Washington. In his youth, laboriously cutting places for his
+hands and feet, he climbed up the face of one of the steep abutments and
+cut his name above all others, where for seventy years it stood
+unsurpassed in height. In 1818 a daring college student climbed from the
+foot to the top of the rock, thus outranking all others.
+
+The Natural Bridge is composed of blue limestone; it is two hundred and
+fifteen feet high, ninety feet wide, and spans a chasm eighty-five feet
+across. A public highway lined with trees passes over the top. The
+bridge itself is all that remains of the roof of what once was a
+limestone cavern.
+
+The southeastern part of Utah is overlaid with strata of red and yellow
+sandstone hundreds of feet deep. Ages ago this whole region was elevated
+and thereby was distorted by the internal forces which pushed it upward.
+Subsequently wonderful transformations were wrought. The flowing streams
+gradually bored through portions of the soft, uplifted sandstone,
+forming arches and digging deep canyons, while the air and rain rounded
+off the rugged parts into graceful shapes.
+
+Wonderful as is the famous Natural Bridge of Virginia, the natural
+bridges of Utah are still more wonderful. In White Canyon of
+southeastern Utah are Edwin, Carolyn, and Augusta Bridges--magnificent
+structures of pink sandstone carved in lines of classic symmetry and
+possessing gigantic proportions. At least half a dozen natural bridges
+in Utah surpass that of Virginia, not only in beauty and grandeur, but
+also in dimensions. They were discovered by cattlemen in 1895, but they
+did not become known to the outside world until 1909, when the region
+was explored by the Utah Archæological Expedition.
+
+[Illustration: Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah]
+
+Of these bridges the Edwin easily ranks first in graceful symmetry; its
+span is one hundred and ninety-four feet, its elevation one hundred and
+eight feet, its width thirty-five feet. Combining grace and massiveness,
+the Augusta stands pre-eminent. It rises in majestic proportions to the
+height of two hundred and twenty-two feet and has a span between
+abutments of two hundred and sixteen feet. The width of the road-bed is
+twenty-eight feet and the thickness of the arch at the keystone is
+forty-five feet. The height of the Carolyn Bridge is two hundred and
+five feet and the span one hundred and eighty-six feet.
+
+All these bridges span canyons whose depths correspond to the height of
+the arched structures. In White Canyon, a few miles below Edwin Bridge,
+under its overhanging rock walls, are the ruins of numerous
+cliff-dwellings.
+
+The largest natural bridge in the world yet discovered is the
+Nonnezoshi. It is in Nonnezoshiboko Canyon, Utah, not far from the place
+where the San Juan River enters the Colorado. This mammoth arch is more
+of a flying buttress spanning the canyon than a real bridge. Its height
+is three hundred and eight feet and its span two hundred and eighty-five
+feet.
+
+To visit these bridges from the nearest railway station requires stage
+and horseback riding for upward of one hundred and twenty-five miles.
+The latter part of the journey is made over a faint trail through a
+rugged country; but the scenery amply repays one for the hardships
+endured.
+
+The climatic changes during the ages have been such that this region is
+now almost inaccessible on account of the lack of water, except in the
+early spring when melting snows yield a temporary supply. Even the
+cattlemen pasturing their herds in that section keep them there but a
+few weeks during the year, so scarce is both water and vegetation.
+
+In the main, natural bridges are the result of one or another of several
+causes. A limestone cavern may be partly destroyed by streams of water,
+leaving a portion of the cavern with its roof still in place; the part
+of the roof thus remaining becomes the arch of the bridge. A branch of
+the Southern Railway threads a natural tunnel near Anniston, Ala., and
+the tunnel is the remnant of an old limestone cavern.
+
+In other cases a natural bridge is formed when bowlders, or a mass of
+rock, tumbling into a deep crevice is wedged and held in place. In still
+other instances a layer of hard or slowly weathering rock may rest upon
+a layer of rock which weathers rapidly. In such cases, if the rock
+layers form the face of a cliff, natural bridges, caverns, and overhangs
+are apt to result.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA
+
+
+There are many table mountains in different parts of the world, but the
+one which I am about to describe is interesting both from geological and
+financial stand-points. The so-called Table Mountain of California is a
+massive natural railway embankment or colossal Chinese wall, extending
+through several counties, but best studied in Tuolumne County.
+
+The mountain is forty miles long, from five hundred to eight hundred
+feet high, and a quarter of a mile wide at the top. For the most part
+the top is bare of vegetation and quite level, though slanting slightly
+toward the south. In places at the base of its precipitous sides, and
+sometimes extending part way up, pine and other trees are found growing.
+
+This gigantic wall, broken through in several places by flowing rivers,
+is nothing more nor less than a mighty stream of congealed basaltic lava
+called latite, which in prehistoric times, rushing down the western
+flank of the high Sierras, usurped the bed of an ancient river channel,
+drinking up the waters and piling up its molten mass bank high.
+
+The bed of the stream being filled with lava, its waters not flowing
+through the gravel, were forced to find other channels. The action of
+the elements during subsequent ages has worn away in great part the
+banks of the pliocene river and eroded in places the solid slate rocks
+to the depth of two thousand feet, leaving this sinuous wall as a mute
+witness of the mighty forces of nature.
+
+On account of the excessive hardness and durability of this kind of
+basalt, this monumental fortress will endure long after the corroding
+tooth of time shall have crumbled to dust the royal pyramids and their
+very memory shall have been lost in oblivion.
+
+Some geologists think there were two volcanic streams of lava, one
+succeeding the other by an interval of thousands of years, the first
+covering the auriferous gravel and the second quenching the waters of a
+subsequent river which had forced a passageway through the first flow of
+lava.
+
+Scores of tunnels have been run into the mountain to get at the gravel
+of this Pactolian river. Millions of dollars of gold have been extracted
+from its bed, and millions more await the tunnel, upraise, and drift of
+the adventurous miner.
+
+Beginning at the top of the mountain and working downward, we find the
+order of materials as follows: A cap of basalt from sixty to three
+hundred feet thick, a bed of breccia of varying thickness, two hundred
+feet of conglomerate andesitic sand (volcanic ash of the miners), a bed
+of pipe-clay, and then auriferous gravel resting on a bedrock of slate.
+In tapping the ancient river-bed considerable water is encountered
+flowing through the gravel. To get rid of this water has been a problem
+of expense and annoyance to the miner.
+
+To measure the time that has passed since this buried river rolled over
+golden sands staggers the intellect. It is estimated that from one
+hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand years must have
+elapsed.
+
+This curiously formed mountain has been likened to a monolithian
+serpent. Where the Stanislaus River breaks abruptly through the mountain
+the eye gazes in wonder from the crest down two thousand feet to a
+seemingly tiny crowded stream below, rushing madly on its way to the
+sea.
+
+Many interesting remains of animals have been found in the gravels under
+this mountain. In running a tunnel under Table Mountain some years ago,
+the miners came across a large mass of tallow weighing about one hundred
+and fifty pounds, and in proximity were the bones and tusks of a huge
+animal. Many bones and tusks of the mammoth and mastodon, not to mention
+the remains of other animals, have been found in the ancient river-bed.
+Probably some of these elephantine animals were sporting in the water
+and dashing it over themselves when the stream of lava, sweeping down,
+overwhelmed them, trying out the tallow and preserving their skeletons
+for the wonderment of civilized man.
+
+At one place in the mountain the deep roar of a waterfall is heard. At
+another, where there is a deep break, is a series of passageways and
+caves where the outlaw Murietta had his hiding-place. In several places
+on the top of the mountain, by striking the foot down hard, a hollow,
+reverberating sound is heard. We give in his own words the account of an
+explorer's visit to the so-called Boston tunnel which runs beneath Table
+Mountain:
+
+"Hearing of a celebrated petrified tree in the Boston tunnel, which runs
+under Table Mountain, I determined if possible to see it and procure
+some specimens. After considerable inquiry I found a miner who said he
+knew where the tree was; that the tunnel in which it was located had
+been abandoned many years ago; that no persons had entered it for years;
+that rocks were constantly falling, making it exceedingly dangerous to
+enter, and that very likely it was so clogged up with rocks that no one
+could get to the tree. When I had expressed my great desire to see this
+tree, and coaxed him, at length he promised to take me to the tunnel to
+see its condition, but said he would not promise to guide me into it.
+
+"Having dressed ourselves in overalls and jumpers, with candles and
+geological hammers in hand we set out for our destination. On
+approaching the tunnel my guide at once began to throw stones into the
+bushes on either side of the entrance. When asked why he threw the
+stones, he replied that about the mouth of old tunnels rattlesnakes are
+wont to resort to get out of the burning sun.
+
+"Not finding any rattlers, we proceeded down the incline to the mouth of
+the tunnel. Finding the mouth not obstructed, and lighting our candles,
+we entered. Sometimes crawling on our hands and knees over fallen rock
+with scarcely a foot of extra room above our heads, then stooping low,
+then walking upright, again crawling between huge masses of rock and
+earth, and crowding between slanting monoliths, we made our way through
+the mud and water dripping on us from the roof above.
+
+"When part way in, the guide hesitated and declared that we were taking
+our lives in our hands if we went farther; that the five-ton rock lying
+in front of our path had very recently fallen from the roof, probably a
+week before, possibly a day or only an hour before. Pointing to the roof
+with his candle he said: 'Do you see that piece of rock partly detached
+and ready to fall at any moment?'
+
+"Acknowledging the threatening conditions, I urged: 'If not too
+dangerous, I do wish that we might go on until we find the tree.'
+
+"Said he: 'If you promise not to strike any of these rocks with your
+hammer, we will venture a little farther.'
+
+"You may be assured that I not only promised, but obeyed.
+
+"At this juncture, I must confess, a peculiar sensation came over me
+when I thought of the possibility of being buried alive or crushed to
+death in this subterranean cavern, yet pride kept me from showing the
+white feather.
+
+"The guide, going ahead and examining the walls and roof, called back to
+me in a low voice, saying, 'We are now safer.'
+
+"Having traversed the main tunnel for a distance of upward of eight
+hundred feet, and carefully avoiding its branches, we finally came to
+the object of our search. This tree, four feet in diameter, of opalized
+wood, stands upright on the left side of the tunnel. The lava had burned
+off the bark and partly carbonized the outside part, and then the whole
+had subsequently taken the form of opal silica. There is a space of
+about four inches between the tree and the surrounding lava.
+
+"By raising the candles above our heads we could look up the body of the
+tree some thirty feet. When we had broken off some choice specimens from
+the body of the tree with the hammer we left this subterranean world. On
+emerging from the tunnel the guide said: 'Thank God, we again see the
+sunlight.'
+
+"To which I replied: 'Amen.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR
+
+
+A huge projecting limestone rock, in form like a reclining lion, guards
+the entrance to the narrow water passage which separates Europe from
+Africa. This wonderful feature, the Rock of Gibraltar, extends directly
+southward from the mainland of Spain with which it is connected by a
+low, sandy isthmus. It is about three miles in length and in breadth
+varies from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile. Two depressions
+divide it into three summits, the highest of which is about fourteen
+hundred feet.
+
+Let us visit the small city lying at its western base and then carefully
+examine this leviathan sentinel that seems to stand guard over the
+narrow strait. The special permission of the military commander to
+examine it or even to remain in the city must first be obtained; we are
+especially warned that cameras are forbidden and all negatives will be
+confiscated.
+
+The north face we find to have an almost perpendicular height of twelve
+hundred feet; its east and west sides also display tremendous
+precipices. The south face is much lower and slopes toward the sea.
+Fortifications of massive walls and the best of modern guns protect the
+lower parts and also the seaward side of the city.
+
+But what are those holes high up on the faces of the rock? They are
+portholes cut through the rock from interior chambers out of which
+cannon can be thrust and discharged at an invading enemy. We are curious
+to learn more about this interesting place, and on questioning our guide
+are told many remarkable stories.
+
+The Rock of Gibraltar is honeycombed with caves, passageways, and
+chambers, some of which are natural and others artificial. We enter the
+largest of these natural caves, St. Michael's, and as we stand in the
+main hall, a spacious chamber two hundred feet in length and seventy
+feet in height, we are amazed at its beauty and grandeur. Colossal
+columns of stalactites seem to support its ornamental roof and all
+around are fantastic figures--foliage of many forms, beautiful
+statuettes, pillars, pendants, and shapes of picturesque beauty
+rivalling those of Mammoth Cave. St. Michael's Cave is eleven hundred
+feet above sea level and is connected by winding passages with four
+other caves of a similar character.
+
+[Illustration: This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of
+Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar]
+
+To six of the caves distinct names have been given. One of the caves is
+three hundred feet below sea level. About three miles of passageways,
+exclusive of many storage chambers, have been hewn so as to connect the
+different caves and natural passages, and so large have they been made
+that a wagon can be drawn through them. Within this rock are stored
+supplies of ammunition and sufficient provisions to last several years.
+In clambering about the rock we find cannon carefully concealed in
+scores of different places ready for use when needed.
+
+In places the rock is overlaid with thin soil which produces a variety
+of vegetation. There are grassy glens, with trees, and luxuriant gardens
+surrounding pretty English cottages. During the rainy season wild
+flowers in great profusion spring up in all directions, but in the
+summer the rock presents a dry, barren aspect.
+
+This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar and the city
+nestling at its base, Gibraltar. The city has a population of
+twenty-five thousand, of whom several thousand are soldiers forming the
+garrison. The garrison with their artillery, two pieces of which weigh
+one hundred tons each, reinforced with the strongest of fortifications,
+are thought to be capable of withstanding the combined hosts of
+Christendom.
+
+Early in the eighth century the Moors, perceiving the strategic
+importance of the promontory, took possession of it and erected
+fortifications. During the succeeding nine hundred years the fortress
+was besieged no less than twelve times, and on several occasions was
+captured by invaders.
+
+At length it became a possession of Spain, and so strongly was it
+fortified by the Spanish that it was thought to be impregnable. During
+the War of the Spanish Succession, however, the combined forces of
+England and Holland laid siege to it, and after a stubborn resistance
+the garrison was forced to surrender. Forthwith the English took
+possession in the name of Queen Anne and, strengthening the
+fortifications, have held the fortress ever since.
+
+Spain was greatly mortified by the loss of this stronghold which she
+deemed rightly belonged to her. Several times during the ensuing
+seventy-five years, single-handed, she laid siege to the citadel in the
+endeavor to win it back, but each time she signally failed.
+
+A seemingly auspicious time arrived in 1779 when she secured the
+co-operation of France. For the succeeding four years a relentless siege
+was laid to the fortress by the combined land and naval forces of Spain
+and France. Both nations summoned to their aid their ablest generals and
+admirals, using every conceivable device and strategy to capture the
+fortress, but all in vain.
+
+During the first years of this siege the supreme command of both land
+and naval forces rested with the Spanish, but, having met with failure
+after failure, they were ready at length to give way to the French, who
+promised to capture the stronghold by constructing a powerful fleet of
+battering-ships, enabling them to fight at close range, so that gun to
+gun and man to man should decide the contest.
+
+The French engineer who prepared the armament cut down the huge bulwarks
+of the sides of ten of the Spanish battle-ships and proceeded to
+reconstruct them within and without. The reconstructed ships were much
+like the _Merrimac_, that did such destructive work in our Civil War,
+except that they were not armored with iron. Triple beams of heavy oak
+with layers of sand and cork between them were used for encasing these
+huge hulks. For protecting the crews heavy timbers covered with rope and
+hides were used.
+
+On September 12, 1782, fifty line-of-battle ships flying flags,
+together with a fleet of smaller vessels, lined up before the town. This
+formidable fleet was supported on land by an army of forty thousand men
+reinforced with batteries of the heaviest ordnance stretched along the
+shore. To oppose these the English commander, General Eliott, had
+ninety-six pieces of artillery and seven thousand men. So confident was
+the enemy of success that the triple-armored battering-ships moved
+boldly up to within half-gunshot range.
+
+At a signal the English opened fire, which was instantly answered by the
+floating batteries and the whole shore line; four hundred guns were then
+playing on the beleaguered town. Soon death and destruction were made
+evident on both sides. There seemed to be but one thing for the English
+to do to save themselves, and that was to set fire to the enemy's ships.
+Accordingly, furnaces were placed beside the batteries in which heavy
+cannon balls were made white-hot. The guns, shotted with these glowing
+balls, were then turned on the ships. The enemy attempted to guard
+against the hot shot by continually pumping water into the layer of sand
+between the wooden sheathing of the ships, and for a time succeeded in
+extinguishing the fires.
+
+It was not long though before the admiral's ship caught fire, and as
+night drew on, the flames, indicating the position of the Spanish line,
+furnished a mark for the English guns. At midnight ten of the besieging
+ships were on fire. Rockets were thrown up and distress signals hoisted
+to summon aid from their consorts.
+
+The flames mounted higher and higher, illuminating sky, sea, and rock.
+The shrieks of the wounded and dying filled the midnight air. When it
+was found that the ships could not be saved, all discipline was lost and
+a panic ensued. Hundreds perished miserably, while hundreds of others
+threw themselves into the sea. Seeing the terrible destruction wrought
+by firing hot balls, General Eliott ordered his men to man the boats in
+order to save their foes from drowning and burning.
+
+With the greatest heroism they scoured the sea, and, mounting the
+burning vessels, dragged from the decks men deserted by their own
+people. While performing these humanitarian acts several of the English
+perished by explosions. Three hundred and fifty-seven of the enemy were
+saved from a horrible death. The following morning disclosed a sea
+covered with wrecks. A few days more of feeble bombardment ensued; then
+a treaty of peace was signed.
+
+From a strategic stand-point, the Rock of Gibraltar is easily Great
+Britain's most important stronghold, because it guards the trade route
+to her most important possession--British India. Practically all her
+commerce with her Indian colonies passes through the Mediterranean Sea
+and the Suez Canal. With either one in the possession of an enemy,
+British commerce would not only suffer heavy losses, but it might be
+destroyed altogether. So necessary is the command of the Strait of
+Gibraltar to Great Britain, that to lose the Rock might also mean the
+loss of British India.
+
+At the present time Great Britain is continually adding to the defences
+by building new fortifications and replacing the older guns with the
+latest patterns.
+
+In ancient times the name Calpe was applied to the rock of Gibraltar and
+Abyla to the eminence in Africa on the opposite side of the strait, and
+both of these eminences formed the renowned Pillars of Hercules. For
+centuries no ships navigating the Mediterranean dared sail beyond these
+pillars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE BAKU OIL FIELDS
+
+
+Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train
+for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the
+world--a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems
+almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this
+entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to
+the Balkan hills.
+
+Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California
+fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the
+surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities,
+passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through
+the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to
+be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating
+purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting
+the gas which rises in the tube.
+
+The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for
+bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on
+its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end
+to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.
+
+Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft
+in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by
+Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of
+the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the
+fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went
+there to pay homage to it.
+
+In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree,
+shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of
+rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of
+interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to
+lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a
+slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the
+sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge
+iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has
+mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant
+to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.
+
+For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum,
+and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had
+recourse to these springs to obtain supplies of oil for medicinal and
+domestic purposes. Herodotus has given an interesting description of
+them. Even in the early part of the twelfth century petroleum was an
+important article of export from Baku. Crude petroleum was used to
+anoint camels for mange. In the first part of the eighteenth century
+Peter the Great annexed Baku to Russia. After his death it was ceded
+back to Persia; but in 1801 it was again annexed to Russia.
+
+To-day Baku is one of the important commercial cities of the Russian
+Empire. Its shipping is immense and to further its commerce there are
+magnificent docks. The city is built on the shores of a large bay,
+sheltered from adverse winds by an island that acts as a breakwater. The
+water-front has an anchorage for thousands of vessels. One may walk
+along the strand for eight miles and find ships lined up in front of the
+city the entire distance.
+
+The Caspian is filled with various kinds of fish, and while bathing one
+might reasonably have the impression that he was swimming in an
+aquarium. In fact, this place is an ideal one for an Izaak Walton. On
+the islands beyond the peninsula, projecting out from the Baku section,
+petroleum gas has flamed for centuries, lighting the heavens at night
+with a lurid glare that is visible far out at sea.
+
+In Baku Bay, between two peninsulas, there was a spot, now
+commercialized into a producing oil well, where the gas came to the
+surface with sufficient force to upset small boats. Many of the oil
+wells are spouters for a long time after they are first bored, and when
+they cease to spout they can frequently be made to renew their activity
+by deeper boring.
+
+Wells have been pumped for years without the level of the oil being
+lowered in the slightest. Some of the wells which have caught fire
+accidentally have burned for years, sending up their pillars of fire to
+a great height. In a few instances the richest wells have made the
+owners practically bankrupt by overwhelming the buildings on adjoining
+property with sand and petroleum, spreading ruin far and wide before the
+flow could be checked.
+
+A majority of the great oil wells are about ten miles from Baku, and a
+dozen pipe-lines convey the petroleum from them to Black Town, a suburb
+of Baku, where it is stored and refined. From one well alone the
+escaping oil would have brought more than five million dollars had it
+been saved.
+
+Seemingly the crust of the earth for hundreds of miles around acts like
+a huge gasometer pressing down on the pent-up gases with its weight.
+Since the Caspian Sea is eighty feet below sea level, it is probable
+that the land bordering the sea has sunk since the gases and oil were
+formed. And this would, in part at least, account for the enormous
+pressure.
+
+The spouting oil wells are called fountains. Some of them have yielded
+two million gallons each day for months, sending up jets three or four
+hundred feet high with a roar that could be heard several miles away.
+Great difficulty was found at first in stopping the flow when necessary
+by capping or gagging the wells, but after a time a sliding valve-cap
+was invented, capable of checking the flow of the most violent well. In
+order to prevent the enormous pressure from bursting the pipe and
+tearing up the ground, as soon as the pipe has been sunk part way the
+earth is excavated around it and the excavation is filled with cement.
+
+[Illustration: Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea]
+
+It is said that one of these gushers threw up in a day more oil than is
+produced by all the wells in the United States. One well spouted oil for
+months before it could be gagged, and in the meantime flooded the
+surrounding country. Millions of gallons were burned to get rid of it
+and millions more were diverted into the Caspian Sea. Two wells are
+reported to have thrown up in less than a month thirty million gallons
+each.
+
+At first sand is thrown out with the oil, and frequently it is ejected
+with such force that a plate of iron three inches thick struck by the
+stream is worn through in less than a day by this liquid sand blast.
+When the wells cease spouting and it is not deemed advisable to bore
+deeper, pumping is employed. Generally the oil coming from the wells is
+conducted into large, carefully tamped excavations in the ground forming
+ponds or lakes. In these huge reservoirs the sand and heavier parts soon
+sink, making the bottom impervious. After the settling the petroleum is
+either pumped into large iron tanks or sent directly to the refinery by
+pipe-lines.
+
+Since petroleum is vastly cheaper than coal, the steamers plying on the
+Caspian Sea and the locomotives of many of the Russian railroads use oil
+for fuel. At one time so great was the accumulation of petroleum that it
+sold at the wells for a few cents a ton. A fleet of tank-steamers
+conveys the oil products to the interior of Russia by the Caspian Sea
+and Volga River route.
+
+The crude petroleum of Baku yields a lower percentage of kerosene than
+the American wells, but it contains more lubricating oil. Millions of
+gallons of lubricating oil are shipped from Baku each year to all parts
+of Europe. On the opposite side of the Caspian there are great cliffs of
+mineral wax such as is obtained from petroleum and used extensively in
+the manufacture of paraffin candles.
+
+More than two hundred different products are made from petroleum, among
+the chief of which are kerosene, lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline,
+vaseline, and paraffin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS
+
+
+Many of the great treasure fields of the world have been discovered by
+chance rather than careful search.
+
+The diamonds of the Deccan, India, were trodden under foot for ages
+before they were recognized as diamonds. In Brazil the gold placer
+miners threw away the glassy pebbles as worthless and the black slaves
+used them as counters in their card games. A visitor who was acquainted
+with the diamond fields of India happened one day to notice the shining
+stones which two men were using in a card game at a public-house. The
+brilliancy of the pebbles piqued his curiosity. Having secured some, he
+tested them and found them to be diamonds of the first water. Yet so
+great was the prejudice against the Brazilian diamonds at first that for
+years many were secretly shipped to India and thence sent to the diamond
+market as Indian diamonds.
+
+A trivial circumstance often leads to a marvellous change in the
+conditions of men, communities, and nations. The playful act of a Boer
+lad picking up a shining pebble on the banks of the Orange River served
+as a beacon to lure persons to search for the most precious and hardest
+of gems, the diamond, and thereby transformed South Africa.
+
+It was the beginning of an industry that has already added more than
+four hundred million dollars' worth of wealth to the world and which now
+yields annually twenty million dollars' worth of diamonds. The history
+of the South African diamond mines is a fascinating story from start to
+finish.
+
+A Boer farmer named Jacobs had made his home on the banks of the Orange
+River not far from Hopetown. Here, living in a squalid hovel, he eked
+out a precarious existence by hunting and grazing. His chief income was
+from the flocks of sheep and goats that grazed on the scanty herbage of
+the veld. Black servants were the shepherds, and the children, having no
+work to employ their time, were free to roam over karoo, and veld, and
+along the river.
+
+What children are not attracted by pebbly streams? Wading in the water
+and skating flat stones on its surface was a joyous pastime for them.
+The banks of the river were strewn with stones of various colors and
+sizes such as would naturally attract the eyes of children.
+
+There were rich red garnets, variegated jaspers, chalcedonies and agates
+of many hues mingled with rock-crystals. The children would fill their
+pockets with these colored pebbles and carry them home to use in play.
+
+One day the farmer's wife noticed an unusually brilliant pebble among
+the other stones that were being tossed about by the children. Soon
+after she told one of her neighbors that the children had found a
+curious glassy stone that sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. On his
+expressing a desire to see the stone, it was brought to him covered with
+dirt. He was attracted by its brilliance and, probably surmising that it
+was more valuable than common quartz crystal, offered to purchase it.
+The good-wife scorned the idea of taking money for a smooth stone, and
+told him laughingly that he was welcome to it.
+
+The stone was sent by post to Grahamtown to ascertain whether or not it
+was of value. To the astonishment of all concerned it was pronounced a
+genuine diamond and was sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. A search
+was forthwith made in the locality for other stones, but none was found.
+Ten months later a second diamond was found thirty miles away on the
+bank of the same river. Then quite a number of fine diamonds were found
+by prospectors along the Vaal River.
+
+In 1869 a black shepherd boy found a magnificent white diamond which was
+purchased for five hundred sheep, ten oxen, and a horse. The purchaser
+sold the gem for fifty-five thousand dollars, and it was subsequently
+resold for one hundred thousand dollars. This superb gem became famous
+as the star of South Africa.
+
+Although a few skeptics said these stones might have been brought from
+the far interior in the crops of ostriches, yet this last great find
+served to attract public notice, and soon thousands of prospectors came
+to seek the coveted gems. Even the stolid Boer caught the excitement,
+and trekked long distances with wife and children to reach the
+captivating fields.
+
+It was a motley throng, like a mighty stream, which poured into the
+valley of the Vaal. Men came hurrying in all sorts of ways, afoot, on
+horseback, and in heavy, creaking ox-wagons. For miles and miles men
+were quickly at work sinking holes into the ground; camp-fires were
+flaming; teamsters were inspanning and outspanning their oxen, and
+wagons were creaking. These, with raucous voices shouting in a babel of
+languages, made a pandemonium exciting enough for the most adventurous.
+
+As far as the eye could reach along the banks of the Vaal were seen
+hives of busy, hopeful men who believed that untold riches were almost
+within their grasp. The hardest of work was but a pastime, for if they
+did not find diamonds to-day, would they not to-morrow? Did not their
+neighbors find them? The next shovelful of earth might contain a
+precious gem. They could hardly afford time to eat or sleep. Flashing
+eyes and elastic steps marked the success of some, while others
+repressed their feelings and kept their own counsel regarding the extent
+of their finds.
+
+So great did the crowd become that it was necessary to limit claims, and
+at an informal meeting of the prospectors, a digging committee was
+formed to make regulations controlling the working of the digging.
+Thirty feet square was thought to be a reasonable claim for one person.
+Some sought the river's banks to prospect, others the kopjes or hills.
+Some pinned their faith to light-colored ground, others to dark. Fancy
+rather than reason dictated the choice.
+
+The manner of working a claim was simple. The earth was thrown into a
+cradle having a bottom of perforated zinc or of wire mesh. The cradle
+was then rapidly rocked to and fro as water was poured in upon the
+earth. The finer part was washed through the mesh and the worthless
+stones were thrown out by hand. The residue was then removed to a
+suitable place and carefully examined.
+
+Each person most vigilantly scrutinized his hoard, fearing that in an
+unguarded moment a fortune might slip through his hands and be lost.
+Even the stranger passing along was hardly given a glance, so eager was
+each individual in searching for the precious pebble.
+
+There is an entrancing interest in diamond mining far exceeding that of
+gold, for at any moment one is likely to come across a princely fortune.
+The miner is ever hopeful. Communing with himself, he says: "To-morrow I
+may be made independent by a lucky find." And for a time it was merely
+luck, for so irregularly distributed were the diamonds that no knowledge
+was gained as to where they were most likely to be found.
+
+While miners were strenuously working along the rivers, far more
+wonderful diamond regions were soon to be unfolded; regions rich beyond
+the loftiest nights of the imagination and equal to the fabled valley of
+Sindbad the Sailor.
+
+A thrifty Dutch vrau owned a farm, on a volcanic plateau extending for
+miles into the rocky kopjes. Her overseer, learning that garnets are
+often found associated with diamonds, and noticing some garnets in one
+of the small streams that coursed through the valley, concluded to do a
+little prospecting on his own account. Sinking a hole a few feet in
+depth and sifting the sand and gravel through a common sieve, he came
+across a diamond weighing fifty carats--nearly half an ounce.
+
+This find caused a rush to the farm to secure claims, and the widow,
+with an eye to business, charged a monthly license of ten dollars. Soon
+this discovery was eclipsed by a more remarkable one at Dutoitspan[4] in
+1870. Although a fair supply of diamonds was found near the surface,
+these diggings seemed to give out as they reached hard limestone.
+
+When nearly all of the prospectors had left the field, having become
+discouraged, one more sanguine than the others determined to find out
+what was beneath this limestone covering. Sinking a shaft, he found that
+the limestone grew so soft and friable that it could be easily dug out
+with a pick. When he had penetrated the limestone covering he came in
+contact with a hard layer somewhat of the nature of clay. This he
+proceeded to break up and sift. During the sifting process he observed
+many sparkling gems. The problem had been partly solved at least.
+Diamonds were to be found in greater abundance below than above the
+limestone covering. On learning of the changed condition of affairs the
+deserting miners hastened back to the diggings in double-quick time.
+
+Early in 1871 diamonds were found at Bultfontein[5] and on the De Beers
+farm, two miles from Dutoitspan. Five months later another bed of
+diamonds was found on the same farm, lying on a sloping kopje, one mile
+from the first location. This kopje, named Colesberg Kopje, became
+afterward the famous Kimberley mine. The district was immediately
+divided into claims and taken by prospectors.
+
+The climate of this section is exceedingly trying. A blazing sun, clouds
+of suffocating dust, and a scanty supply of muddy water are the
+conditions of the region; it therefore required remarkable physical
+endurance and an indomitable will to achieve results. Sometimes terrific
+thunder-storms with torrents of rain would sweep through the valley. At
+other times great hail-storms would drive both man and beast to the
+nearest shelter. Wind-storms frequently drove blinding clouds of dust
+that penetrated everything.
+
+Very quickly a city of tents sprang up at Kimberley to be superseded
+later by substantial buildings of wood, of brick and iron, and
+well-constructed streets. Water was pumped from the Vaal River through a
+main sixteen miles in length. It was then raised in three lifts by
+powerful engines to a large reservoir five hundred feet above the river.
+
+The introduction of an abundant supply of good water wrought a wonderful
+transformation. Outside the business section the desert was made to
+blossom with flowers in gardens surrounding the hitherto bleak homes.
+Lawns were laid out and vines and trees planted about the houses, making
+the dusty, wind-swept expanse a thing of beauty and comfort.
+
+At length prospectors learned that the diamond-bearing earth was
+confined chiefly to several oval-shaped funnels, ranging in area from
+ten to twenty acres, and that outside these few diamonds were to be
+found.
+
+Now these huge funnels, or pipes, are nothing more or less than extinct
+volcanic craters. The walls, or casings, of these pipes are chiefly of
+shale and basalt filled with hard earth, yellow near the surface and
+bluish deeper down. The latter is called "blue-stuff" and is very
+prolific in diamonds. The diamonds found outside the rim wall must have
+been washed out of the craters or perhaps were thrown out by the
+eruption.
+
+At first it was customary to pulverize the blue-stuff at once, but
+experience showed that a more satisfactory way to work it was to expose
+it for several months to the action of the weather. By this process it
+readily crumbled.
+
+Various devices were used by the different miners to raise the earth out
+of their claims. Some used windlasses; others carried the earth up in
+buckets and tubs, some even by climbing ladders. Surrounding the funnels
+were carts, wheelbarrows, etc., for carrying away the material to the
+depositing grounds, where it was dried, pulverized, and sifted.
+
+Many of the miners found it desirable to employ the native Kafirs to
+work in the pits, since neither the scorching sun nor clouds of dust
+seemed to trouble them.
+
+The deeper the pits were sunk the greater the difficulty became in
+raising the blue-stuff. To add to the difficulties the rim wall of shale
+and basalt began to fall in, and the rain made the claims muddy and
+slippery or filled them with water. At a still greater depth water began
+to seep through the shale wall, and great masses of the rim occasionally
+fell in endangering life and almost precluding further mining unless
+concerted action were taken. So, in order to effect more economical
+methods of working, a consolidation of claims began to take place.
+
+At the Kimberley mine a double platform with staging was built around
+the pit, and a series of wires running from the different claims served
+as trackways on which buckets of the blue-stuff were drawn up by means
+of ropes and windlasses located on these platforms.
+
+When still greater depth had been reached and much of the rim wall had
+been precipitated into the pit and rain and seepage water had made the
+pits mud holes, two remarkable persons who were interested in the mines
+took a leading part in solving the difficulties. These persons were
+Cecil John Rhodes and Barnett Isaacs, better known as "Barney Barnato."
+Rhodes owned stock in the De Beers and Barnato in the Kimberley mine. At
+first they were sharp rivals in gaining control, but later they got
+together and consolidated interests.
+
+Cecil Rhodes was an English college student. He had lost his health and
+had come to South Africa at the invitation of his brother, who was
+interested in the diamond mines. Roughly dressed, his clothes covered
+with dust, this shy, pale student, week in and week out, might be seen
+looking after the Kafirs who worked his brother's claim.
+
+Barney Barnato, a young Hebrew of keen foresight, likewise had a brother
+in South Africa. The latter, who was engaged in diamond buying, urged
+Barney to come at once to this famous region, setting forth the
+wonderful opportunities offered for business. Barnato forthwith packed
+his few belongings and took the next steamer for Cape Town. He was only
+twenty years old and was bubbling over with good-natured energy; but he
+was quick to perceive and quick to act.
+
+Although he had but a few dollars with which to start in business, yet
+by indomitable energy and shrewd management he soon acquired sufficient
+money to buy a few small claims in the famous Kimberley mine. To these
+claims he constantly added others until he became one of the leading
+stockholders in the mine.
+
+When the rival mines began to undersell each other and diamonds were
+being sold for but little more than the cost of production, Rhodes
+conceived the plan of consolidating all the mines, thereby forming a
+monopoly to keep up the prices. By masterly skill he brought this
+about, purchasing some shares outright, and giving shares in the new
+company as payment for others. To make the purchases he negotiated a
+loan of several million dollars through the Rothschilds, the famous
+bankers of London.
+
+[Illustration: Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley]
+
+Thus, after many years of struggle through difficulties that were
+seemingly superhuman, the four great mines, the De Beers, Kimberley,
+Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein, were merged into one great corporation.
+Afterward some others were added, but all bear the name De Beers
+Consolidated Mines, Limited, a corporation which to-day controls the
+diamond market of the world. During the eleven years ending 1899 they
+yielded nearly six tons of diamonds.
+
+Both Rhodes and Barnato acquired immense wealth by their investments,
+but it is doubtful if either gained much happiness from his
+acquisitions. Poor Barnato! He had gained riches and stood among the
+foremost financiers of the world, but at how fearful a cost! His
+overtaxed brain began to give way, and on his way back to England he
+suddenly leaped overboard and was drowned.
+
+Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in enlarging British influence and
+territory in South Africa, and to him England owes a deep debt of
+gratitude. He died in 1902 leaving a portion of his immense fortune for
+scholarships in Oxford, England's great university. Rhodes earnestly
+advocated the building of a railroad from Cape Town to Cairo. Already
+this line has been constructed northward from Cape Town several hundred
+miles beyond Victoria Falls, directly below which it crosses the Zambezi
+River.
+
+Diamonds of various colors are found in the African mines--brown,
+yellow, pale blue, clear, and black. The black diamonds, called bort,
+are used mainly for arming diamond drills and for polishing other
+diamonds. Green, pink, and mauve diamonds are found occasionally.
+
+The De Beers mines have produced some notable stones. From the Premier
+mine a diamond weighing more than three thousand carats--one and
+thirty-seven hundredths pounds avoirdupois--was obtained. This stone,
+more than twice the size of any heretofore found and estimated to be
+worth five million dollars, was insured for two million five hundred
+thousand dollars. It was named the Cullinan, from one Tom Cullinan, who
+purchased the farm on which the Premier mine is located.
+
+Captain Wells, the manager of the Premier, one evening, after a burning
+hot day, when work had been suspended, strolled over to the mine, and,
+while partly walking and partly sliding down into the pit, noticed a
+gleam from a stone half-embedded in the earth. In a moment he had the
+stone in his hand and his practised eye told him this was the greatest
+diamond the world ever saw.
+
+At first the possession of it seemed more like a dream than a reality,
+and he began to doubt his own sanity. When held up to the blazing
+Southern Cross, it sparkled like the purest crystal, and he knew that
+its value must be reckoned in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
+
+He immediately took the priceless treasure to the company's office where
+it was critically examined. It was then sent for safe-keeping to the
+Standard Bank at Johannesburg, and afterward was forwarded to London.
+For some time it was deposited in a London bank, the name of which was
+kept secret for fear that its great value might tempt criminals. Two
+years after its discovery it was purchased by the Transvaal Government,
+at the suggestion of General Botha, and presented to King Edward VII as
+a crown jewel.
+
+The De Beers Company employs upward of eleven thousand African
+natives--Kafirs, they are called--working above and below ground. They
+come not only from the surrounding districts but from regions hundreds
+of miles away. All native laborers are kept in large walled enclosures,
+or compounds, which are covered with wire netting to prevent the
+laborers from throwing diamonds over the walls to confederates outside.
+Twelve such enclosures are owned by the De Beers Company, the largest of
+which occupies four acres and contains ample space for housing three
+thousand natives.
+
+On entering the service of the company each applicant must sign a
+contract to live in the compound and work faithfully at least three
+months. At the expiration of his contract he may leave or make another
+contract, as he wills.
+
+Constant vigilance is maintained in order to prevent stealing diamonds,
+and yet, notwithstanding this watchfulness, it is estimated that
+hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds are stolen each
+year.
+
+Everything necessary for the sustenance and comfort of the men is
+brought into the compounds, and no one is permitted to leave until the
+expiration of his contract except by permission of the overseer, which
+is seldom given. The men go out of the compounds to their work through
+tunnels and return the same way.
+
+Besides the native Kafirs already mentioned, about two thousand white
+laborers are employed, the greater number being engaged in the offices
+and workshops and on the depositing floors.
+
+Electric lights are used throughout the mines, and underground work is
+carried on both day and night by three shifts. Every known scientific
+device is pressed into service. In all of the deep mines the laborers
+are taken up and down the shafts in cages.
+
+The method of mining and working the diamond-bearing earth at present
+employed is far more economical than in former years. After the blue
+material has been brought up it is carried to the depositing floors
+where it is allowed to remain several months. In the meanwhile it is
+harrowed several times to break the lumps. The part that resists this
+treatment is carried to a mill to be crushed. The disintegrated and
+pulverized material is then carried to the washing machines.
+
+The coarser fragments of the concentrates from the washing machines are
+picked out by hand; the finer are sent to the pulsators. Each
+shaking-table of the pulsators is made of corrugated iron plates in
+several sections with a drop of about an inch from one division to
+another.
+
+A sufficient quantity of thick grease is spread over the plates to cover
+them to the top of the corrugations. The concentrates are continuously
+spread over the upper portion of the table automatically while running
+water washes them down.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the diamonds stick fast to the grease; the other
+material is washed away. It has been found by trial that grease will
+cling to the precious stones but to nothing else. After a few hours the
+grease with the diamonds is scraped off the tables and steamed in
+perforated vessels to separate them.
+
+[Illustration: Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine]
+
+One of the De Beers mines has been worked to a depth of about two
+thousand feet with no diminution in the quantity or quality of the
+diamonds. The "pipe" or plug of blue-stuff shows no signs of giving out.
+Nature, in her underground laboratory, works in a mysterious way,
+baffling the astutest students of science to find the process by which
+she is able to manufacture such beautiful gems as the diamond. Many
+theories have been propounded to explain the genesis of the diamond, the
+most plausible one being that the crystallization of the carbon is due
+to a very high temperature and tremendous pressure acting on the carbon
+in a liquid form deep down beneath the earth's surface. The crystals,
+intermingled with much foreign matter, are afterward projected upward,
+filling these great volcanic pipes.
+
+In order to produce the most beautiful effect, diamonds are usually cut
+into one or another of three different forms, namely, rose, table, and
+brilliant, the shape and size of the stone determining which form is
+best. The double-cut brilliant is the most common form at the present
+day. The general form of rough, crystallized diamonds is that of two
+square pyramids joined at their bases. The crystals are oftenest found
+octahedral and dodecahedral--that is, eight and twelve sided, and the
+diamond-cutter takes advantage of these forms in shaping the diamond.
+
+The modern lapidary must have a perfect knowledge of optics and be a
+skilful stone-cutter. The numerous planes or faces which he cuts on the
+surface of the diamond are called facets. In the treatment three
+distinct processes are utilized--cleaving, cutting, and polishing. The
+lapidary must study the individual character of each stone and determine
+whether to cleave or grind off the superfluous matter so as to correct
+flaws and imperfections. All this calls for the judgment which comes
+only with long experience, for if the cutter errs he may ruin a
+priceless gem.
+
+The grinding and polishing are done by diamond dust mixed with oil
+spread on the upper surface of a grooved flat steel wheel revolving
+horizontally. The diamond, having been set in fusible solder, is firmly
+pressed against the surface of the wheel by a small projecting arm and
+clamp. When one facet has been finished, the diamond is removed from the
+solder and reset for grinding another facet. Thus the workman continues
+until the grinding and polishing are completed. Infinite patience and
+steadiness of nerve, as well as steadiness of hand, are required for
+such delicate and exact work. Sometimes two uncut stones are cemented
+into the ends of two sticks. Then the operator, using these sticks as
+handles, presses the stones against each other with a rubbing motion,
+the surface of the stones being coated over with diamond dust and oil to
+accelerate the process.
+
+The last cutting of the celebrated Kohinoor diamond cost forty thousand
+dollars. One may understand, therefore, that the expense of cutting a
+large diamond adds materially to its cost. The diamond-cutting industry
+is confined chiefly to Amsterdam, where the work employs several
+thousand persons, mostly Hebrews, the craft having been handed down from
+father to son through several generations. Much fine cutting is now done
+in New York also.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 4: The term pan is a name applied to a basin or pool in which
+water collects during the rainy season.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Fontein is a word of Dutch origin meaning fountain or
+spring. In this hot and semi-arid country a pan or fontein was a
+necessity to the Boer farmer, whose chief dependence was on his sheep
+and cattle. Hence he was wont to settle near where water could be easily
+obtained.]
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+OCEANIA
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC
+
+
+Not until four hundred years ago did the body of water now named the
+Pacific Ocean become known to the people of Europe.
+
+A vague knowledge of a sea that washed the eastern shores of Cathay, or
+China, was gained from the reports of the famous Venetian traveller,
+Marco Polo. After spending several years in the Orient, Polo returned
+home in 1295, giving such marvellous accounts of the countries visited
+and things seen that his stories were but half believed.
+
+In 1531, Balboa, a Spanish explorer stationed at Darien, now Colon,
+hearing rumors that a great ocean lay to the opposite side, determined
+to test the truth of the report. Taking with him about three hundred
+men, he laboriously worked his way through the jungles of the isthmus;
+and on reaching the top of the divide beheld for the first time the
+Pacific Ocean. He then hastened forward, and as he reached the shore he
+waded into the water and took possession of it in the name of his
+sovereign. He named it the South Sea.
+
+But the vast extent of this sheet of water did not become well known
+until fifty years later, when brave Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated
+the globe. Two and one-half centuries more elapsed before the memorable
+voyages and discoveries of Captain Cook disclosed the fact that the new
+ocean world was studded with countless islands, and that most of them
+were densely inhabited by savages.
+
+Just how or when all these islands became inhabited is not definitely
+known. Since the Polynesian languages in general are similar, it is
+conjectured that the inhabitants of the islands have a common origin and
+that many of the more northerly groups were peopled by emigrants from
+the south.
+
+In a general way the name Oceania is applied to all of the islands in
+the Pacific, but in a more limited sense only to those lying between the
+American continent and Australasia.
+
+The chief divisions of Oceania are Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia,
+and Polynesia. Australia, the largest body of land, is usually regarded
+as a continent. Nearly all the smaller islands are of coral or of
+volcanic origin; in many instances both agencies have contributed to
+their formation. The coral and volcanic islands seem to be the tops of
+mountain ranges that, little by little, have sunk, until only their
+higher summits are now above sea level.
+
+The central part of the Pacific Ocean is pre-eminently the home of the
+reef-building coral. Countless islands and reefs, wholly or partly built
+up by these tiny creatures, are found widely scattered over an immense
+area limited to one thousand eight hundred miles on each side of the
+equator. All these formations are composed of the compact limestone
+remains of coral polyps.
+
+These polyps have the power of extracting carbonate of lime from the
+sea-water and building it into massive formations which, for the most
+part, are nearly or completely submerged.
+
+The reef-building coral differs very materially in form and appearance
+from the precious or red coral; the former is confined to comparatively
+shallow water, while the latter is found most commonly at a depth of
+six hundred feet or more, and it occurs chiefly in the Mediterranean
+Sea. The common or reef-building coral has but little use except as a
+source of lime, and no intrinsic value except as an object of curiosity.
+
+Coral reefs may be arranged under three classes; namely, fringing reefs,
+barrier reefs, and atolls. The first class embraces the shallow-water
+reefs found close to land, either surrounding islands or skirting the
+shores of continents. The reefs of the second class likewise skirt
+islands or continents, but at such distances as to leave a deep channel
+between them and the shore. The third class are called atolls; each is
+irregularly ring-shaped and almost entirely encloses a sheet of water,
+called a lagoon.
+
+The ring-shaped reef, or atoll, is broken in one or more places,
+generally on the leeward side, and built up higher on the windward side.
+The reason for such omissions and buildings is obvious when we remember
+that the coral animal cannot move from its fixed position to seek food,
+but must depend upon the waves to bring it within reach. The water
+dashing up against the reef on the windward side brings an abundance of
+food, while the slight movement of the waves on the leeward side brings
+but little food.
+
+After many years the dead coral is broken off and piled up on the reef.
+In this condition it is cemented by the lime in the sea-water, thereby
+forming a nucleus for land. Then, perchance, a cocoanut drifts upon the
+formation and, finding sufficient nutriment, sends down a root and
+begins its growth. Other cocoanuts are drifted to the newly
+disintegrated coral soil until the tropical vegetation becomes capable
+of sustaining animal life. Or, perhaps, a portion of the ocean bed in
+that particular region is uplifted by the volcanic forces, thus greatly
+enlarging the land area. Attracted by the new land, people from near-by
+islands emigrate and take possession of the unoccupied area. Thus the
+upbuilding of islands and their occupancy goes on through the centuries.
+
+From the fact that these formations exist at a depth of several thousand
+feet, while coral polyps themselves can live only near the surface, it
+is thought that either the sea bottom must have been sinking for a long
+period of time or else that the cinder cones around which the reefs are
+built must have shrunk away until their tops are below sea level. At all
+events they seem to be due to volcanic movement.
+
+[Illustration: A Malay girl]
+
+Differences in environment produce marked differences on people in
+various parts of the continental world. Likewise, differences in the
+geological structure of the islands of the Pacific have produced a
+marked influence on the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific. Those
+living on large and mountainous islands, where the productions are
+varied and abundant, are greatly superior mentally and physically to
+those inhabiting the small low-lying coral islands.
+
+In the small islands, where there are few objects of interest and the
+circle of life is necessarily circumscribed and food and building
+material scanty, the inhabitants are dwarfed in intellect and their
+languages limited in vocabulary. The inhabitants of the extensive
+Paumoto group of islands give a striking example of the dreary monotony
+of life on small coral islands. Indeed, coral atolls are lacking in
+pretty nearly all the features that are necessary for a high degree of
+civilization; nature, therefore, reacts, with the result that the human
+life of this region is in a condition of savagery. Many of the natives
+are cannibals.
+
+The natives of Australia are a race that seems to be separate and
+distinct in itself. Wherever they are found their speech and customs are
+so nearly alike that little or no doubt of their common origin exists.
+They are so small in stature that by some scholars they are classed with
+pygmy peoples. They are repulsive in appearance in their native state,
+but when the children are trained by English families they become
+attractive. They are regarded as a very low type of intellect; yet at
+the missionary schools the children seem to learn about as quickly as do
+European children. The children learn to figure readily, but the older
+natives have no names for numbers greater than three or four.
+
+In New Guinea and the adjacent islands is found a race of black peoples
+usually called Negritos, or Negroids. They are black and, like the
+African negroes, have black, kinky hair. They are far superior to the
+native Australians. Many of the tribes are good farmers, and cultivate
+crops of sago, maize, and tobacco. On the coasts there are good
+boat-builders and sailors. The greater part of the Melanesian tribes is
+hostile and blood-thirsty; head-hunting is a common practice. In many
+tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo
+Indians of America.
+
+A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule
+the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization.
+They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the
+Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European
+possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no
+superiors.
+
+[Illustration: A Malay boy]
+
+Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the
+most interesting. In physical appearance they are tall, well-formed,
+dark of complexion, and black-haired. In the northern island
+groups--Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and others--which are colonized by
+European and American peoples, the natives have gradually acquired
+western civilization. The number of natives has decreased, however, and
+only about one-third of the population of fifty years ago remains
+to-day.
+
+The animal and vegetable life is peculiar. That of Australia resembles
+the life forms of a geological age long since past; that of the islands
+near tropical Asia is Asian in character. Now there are many large
+islands at a considerable distance from the continent in which many of
+the life forms on the slopes facing Australia are Australian, while on
+the northerly and westerly slopes they are Asian. One cannot be certain,
+however, that these islands were ever a part of the Australian
+continent, or that they were ever joined to Asia. On the contrary it is
+more probable that the life in question was carried by winds and
+currents of the sea.
+
+The life forms of the coral atolls are very few in number. So far as
+vegetation is concerned, the cocoa-palm and breadfruit are about the
+only kinds of plant life of importance. A few species of fish and
+migratory birds are the only animals that may be used as food.
+
+The names given to the various divisions of Oceania are more or less
+fanciful. Australasia means Southern Asia; Malaysia, Malayan Asia;
+Melanesia, the islands of the blacks; Micronesia, small islands; and
+Polynesia, many islands.
+
+During the latter half of the nineteenth century practically all of
+Oceania has been divided among European powers. Australia, Tasmania, and
+New Zealand are peopled by colonists from England; but they possess the
+character of a great nation rather than that of colonies. A few of the
+larger islands have become producers of sugar, cotton, and fruit. The
+long distance from the markets for their products is offset by the low
+cost of native labor. The coral islands are almost valueless for
+commercial products; but a few of them are used as coaling stations,
+telegraphic cable stations, or as positions of naval advantage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+AUSTRALIA
+
+
+Early in the sixteenth century the island of Australia became known to
+the Portuguese; later the Dutch, who had valuable possessions in the
+East Indies, sent exploring expeditions to spy out the new land, and
+named it New Holland. But not until after Captain Cook, of the English
+navy, had explored the eastern part did any one think the country to be
+more than a barren waste sparsely inhabited by savages. Indeed, various
+European nations who were even then seeking lands for colonization
+thought it too worthless to claim.
+
+In April, 1770, Captain Cook made his first landing on the east coast
+and, finding at one place a profusion of beautiful flowers, named the
+indentation Botany Bay. He spent a considerable time in exploring the
+eastern coast and also the Great Barrier Reef. In going through one of
+the passages across the Barrier Reef his vessel ran aground, and in
+order to lighten it he was obliged to throw overboard six of his
+heaviest cannon. In late years efforts have been made to secure these
+cannon as souvenirs, but the search for them has proved unavailing. One
+may easily imagine that they have been long since entombed in thick
+growths of coral.
+
+On his return home, Cook gave such a glowing account of the great island
+that the English Government forthwith sent out a body of soldiers to
+take possession of the country and to make settlements. Because it is
+well watered, the southeastern part was selected as best adapted for
+colonization. For a long time this part of Australia was utilized
+chiefly as a penal colony, but the fruitful land and salubrious climate
+quickly attracted free emigrants from England. Then gold was discovered,
+and thousands of people rushed to the new Eldorado, not only from Great
+Britain but from all parts of the world. Almost in a twinkling it
+changed from "our remotest colony" to a great country producing annually
+millions of wealth.
+
+So far as its surface features are concerned, one may regard Australia
+as a continent not quite so large as the United States. The eastern part
+is diversified by low ranges of mountains fantastically scored and
+carved by rivers which are swift and impassable torrents during the
+season of rains, and trickling streams, or dry washes, the rest of the
+year. This is the region that has produced a wealth of gold and wool and
+a stock of hardy people that for intelligence and strength of character
+can scarcely be matched elsewhere.
+
+The central part of the continent is a dish-shaped table-land. Its
+surface is sandy here, stony there, but intensely hot and desolate
+everywhere--desolate of everything that adds to the comfort of man, but
+full of about everything that contributes to his misery. The "bush"
+which covers so much of this region is chiefly acacia, and the acacia is
+chiefly thorns. The rivers that flow into the interior from the coast
+highlands seem at first sight to be formidable streams so far as
+appearance goes. One, the Murray, is more than a thousand miles in
+length. But even the Murray will match the description which an English
+traveller gave to Platte River--"A mile wide, an inch deep, and bottom
+on top!"
+
+The few lakes of the interior are great "sinks," or marshes, much like
+Humboldt Sink, in Nevada. They are shallow, reed-grown, and briny, and
+they are bordered by mud flats and quicksands between which there is
+little to choose. An unfortunate victim will sink in the one quite as
+quickly as in the other. But even the lakes are gradually going the way
+of all lakes. In this case, however, their disappearance is due largely
+to the dust storms that little by little are burying them.
+
+Only a very small part of the central region can be reclaimed; for where
+there is so little rain there can be but little either of surface or of
+ground waters. During the intensely hot summer season the smaller
+streams disappear entirely and the larger ones become a succession of
+stagnant pools along the dry washes.
+
+[Illustration: A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference]
+
+The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greater extent of
+coast, is far richer in resources than the central section. It contains
+not only a greater proportion of land fit for grazing and cultivation,
+but also very rich mines. Perhaps these have not a greater wealth of
+minerals than the mines of the central section, but they are so situated
+that they can be more easily worked.
+
+The great island of Tasmania ought also to be included in the Australian
+continent; for it is separated from it by a narrow and not very deep
+strait. In its general features Tasmania resembles eastern Australia;
+and, indeed, it is one of the most productive and delightful parts of
+the world.
+
+Of the whole Australian continent scarcely one part in fourteen is fit
+for human habitation, not because the soil is lacking in elements of
+fertility but because there is not enough rainfall. As a matter of fact,
+the rain-bearing winds bring rain only to the eastern and southeastern
+part of the continent. Any map will show that nearly all the cities,
+towns, herding-grounds, and settlements are in that part of the
+continent, and they are there because the rainfall is there.
+
+The rest of Australia is like the Sahara in one respect; it is a desert.
+Beyond that fact the resemblance between the two ceases; indeed, they
+could scarcely be more unlike; for, while the Sahara is much like any
+other desert, Australia is unlike any other part of the world.
+
+Not very much is known about the interior because but few explorers have
+been able to penetrate the continent. Many have tried to explore its
+fastnesses, it is true, and many bones are bleaching in its furnace-like
+desert. Even a century after the eastern part had become dotted with
+settlements the interior was so little known that the government of
+South Australia offered a reward of ten thousand pounds to any one who
+would start from Adelaide and cross the island due north. Now, ten
+thousand pounds, or fifty thousand dollars, is a large sum of money,
+and there were many efforts to obtain it.
+
+In 1860 an explorer named Stuart, whose name is remembered in a high
+peak which he discovered, traversed more than half the distance. It was
+a record trip, but illness forced Stuart to turn back. Another
+expedition, headed by four plucky men, Burke, Wills, Grery, and King,
+were more lucky on their outward trip. They reached tide-water near the
+head of the Gulf of Carpenteria, thereby accomplishing the task. The
+return trip was tragic. When they had reached the relief depot at which
+they had planned to have supplies awaiting them, they found nothing.
+They wandered about until all but King died from exposure and
+starvation. A year or two later Stuart made a third attempt and found
+what is now an "overland route," for a telegraph line has been built
+along it from Adelaide to the north coast, and this connects with an
+ocean cable to London.
+
+[Illustration: A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket]
+
+The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of its most remarkable
+features. Both plants and animals are of the kind that lived many ages
+ago. One of the curiosities of forest life is the "gum," or eucalyptus,
+a belt of which almost surrounds the continent. In its native home the
+blue gum is a most beautiful tree that sometimes grows to a height of
+three hundred feet. When the tree begins its growth the stem is nearly
+square in shape and the leaves are almost circular. After a short time,
+however, the branches and trunk become circular and the leaves long and
+lance-shaped. They hang with their edges instead of their flat surfaces
+to the light, which also is true of many other Australian trees. The
+eucalyptus sheds--not its leaves every year, but its bark instead.
+
+Many plants which in other continents are small shrubs in Australia are
+trees. The tulip, the fern, the honeysuckle, and the lily are examples.
+They all grow in tree form and are of considerable size. There is no
+turf grass except that which is cultivated. The wild grasses are of the
+"bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that
+they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine grass, bears a name that
+does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a
+growth of thorny "scrub" that has made cultivation both difficult and
+costly. The interior is the "bush" region.
+
+The animal life of the continent is even more singular than the plant
+life. Most of the animals resemble the opossum of North American fauna
+in one respect, the mother carries her young in a pouch or fold of the
+skin under her body. But the opossum itself is not confined to North
+America alone; there are several species in Australia and Tasmania. The
+kangaroos are among the most remarkable animals, not only because of the
+great length and strength of their hind legs, but also because of the
+variety in the sizes of the different species. Some of the smaller
+species are no larger than a small rat; the large-sized species are six
+feet tall when sitting on their haunches.
+
+There are no monkeys and no animals that chew the cud, but there is a
+wonderful variety of birds. Among them is the emeu, a kind of ostrich
+that practically is wingless. Another, the platypus, or duck-bill, has
+the bill and webbed feet of a duck and the body and tail of a beaver.
+Stranger still, the female duck-bill lays eggs, but nurses her young
+after the eggs are hatched! The duck-bill carries a hinged spur on the
+hind legs, which also is a sting that injects a violent poison into
+whatever it strikes. Ordinarily the spur is folded against the leg of
+the animal, but when used as a weapon it stands out like the gaff of a
+fighting cock. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the
+honey-bee of Australia has none.
+
+[Illustration: An Australian emeu]
+
+The dingo, or wild dog, may not be an especially interesting animal to
+the student of natural history, but it is a very interesting one to the
+herdsman. For of all animals in Australia the dingo is the most
+intolerable nuisance on account of its fondness for mutton. Hunting the
+coyote on the plains of the United States is a pastime, but hunting the
+Australian dingo is a serious and monotonous business. Indeed, the sheep
+and the dingo cannot both remain in Australia unless the former has been
+eaten by the latter. In a single night a dingo will kill a score of
+sheep, and a pack of them will make way with several hundred. In one
+instance two of these pests killed and maimed more than four hundred
+sheep before retribution overtook them.
+
+In addition to the troubles of native origin, three very serious pests
+have been imported. One of these, the species of cactus known as the
+prickly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just
+how the prickly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter
+of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant
+produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred
+seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast.
+Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds,
+especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders
+fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great
+interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it
+is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat
+where other plants wither up and perish.
+
+In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz.,
+burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first
+method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs
+together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces
+they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up
+high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the
+platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits,
+filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt.
+Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves
+with arsenic or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants
+have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which
+distributes the deadly substance.
+
+Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to
+have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs.
+When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and
+mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short
+time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but
+ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.
+
+Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had
+spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their
+serious inroads on herbage and grass where the sheep fed. At this stage
+of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers.
+Laws were passed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits.
+Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly
+increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the
+mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.
+
+But the rabbits seemed to have increased a thousand-fold. In despair,
+rabbit commissioners were appointed in each colony to enforce the
+building of high rabbit-proof wire fences, and now thousands of miles of
+wire fences have been built so as to enclose ranges and farms. By means
+of the fences and by the use of various methods of destroying the pests,
+they are now kept in check after causing millions of dollars of damage,
+and at an enormous annual expense to the colonists. In the meantime it
+was discovered that the flesh of the rabbit was excellent food, and the
+slaughter of millions to be preserved has been a noticeable check to
+their increase.
+
+Unlike the American Indians, the aboriginal peoples of Australia were
+never troublesome to the European settlers, and although apt to be
+thievish they were not inclined to warlike acts when the European
+settlements were new. The "bushrangers," as they are called, somewhat
+resemble the negro peoples, and are thought to be a part of the black
+race that is found in the island near New Guinea. They are classed as
+Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the
+African pygmies, with whom at least one authority classes them. They are
+materially larger and taller than the pygmies, however, though below the
+average stature of Europeans. At all events they are among the lowest
+type of human beings.
+
+The bushrangers have no fixed habitation; they do not build houses nor
+live in villages; they have no domestic animals except the dingo, and
+they do not cultivate the soil. They live nominally by hunting and
+fishing, but their food consists of about anything that requires no
+weapons beyond the fish-net and the boomerang. They rarely molest larger
+game, though some of the tribes employ a net in which to entrap the
+kangaroo.
+
+Of all the weapons used by savage tribes the boomerang is the most
+interesting. In shape it is a flat strip of hardwood having an angle, or
+else slightly curved in the middle. The interesting feature about it is
+the fact that when skilfully thrown it will return to the thrower unless
+intercepted. A bushranger may be skilful enough to throw the boomerang
+ahead of him so that in its return it will kill a small animal back of
+him.
+
+The bushrangers were only too ready to adopt the vices of Europeans, but
+they have not been able to withstand the changes wrought by
+civilization. Their numbers have steadily diminished. In 1880 they were
+thought to be about eighty thousand in number, but at the close of the
+century there were scarcely one-fourth as many. Those who remain are for
+the greater part herdsmen and farm laborers.
+
+[Illustration: Homestead and station in Young district, Australia]
+
+One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the
+habitable part of the continent is the foremost asset of Australia.
+Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates
+activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpassed elsewhere in the
+world. And because of its life-growing and invigorating character it has
+placed the Australian high in the rank of the world's foremost people.
+
+Climate and soil, too, have made Australia one of the foremost
+wool-producing countries of the world. Not far from one hundred million
+dollars' worth of wool and mutton are exported yearly, and much of the
+wool clip is a fine grade of merino. Gold is another product of
+Australia. At the close of the century the mines had produced a total of
+more than one billion dollars' worth of the metal. In round figures, the
+great Thirst Land, with a population of about four millions, scattered
+along the edge of a great desert continent, produces enough wealth to
+sell yearly about three hundred millions of dollars' worth of its
+products!
+
+The foregoing picture of Australia presents, perhaps, the unpleasant
+side of Australian life. But this great Thirst Land, so far from being
+an inhospitable desert, is one of the world's greatest storehouses of
+wealth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
+
+
+Within the tropical parts of the great South Sea are submarine gardens
+that in the beauty of their floral forms and their richness of coloring
+rival the most elaborate flowerbeds made by man; in color and variety
+they are fairy regions of exquisite living animal flowers. One of the
+greatest and most attractive of these sea gardens lies off the coast of
+Australia.
+
+Of all the wonderful animal structures in the world the Great Barrier
+Reef of Australia is the most remarkable. It consists of a chain of
+coral islands and reefs parallel to the east coast of Queensland. This
+great reef is about twelve hundred miles long, and the distance from the
+mainland to its outer border is from ten to more than one hundred miles.
+It is far enough off the coast to leave a wide channel between the reef
+and the shore.
+
+Since it is well charted this channel is the route taken by many
+vessels. It is admirably furnished with lighthouses and light-ships, and
+is protected from the huge rolling billows of the ocean by the reef
+itself. There are several breaks in the reef through which vessels can
+pass out into the open ocean.
+
+This mighty barrier, the work of coral polyps, is of special interest
+not only on account of the curious shapes and varied kinds of sea life
+it presents, but because of the commercial value of its products. The
+bêche-de-mer, pearl, oyster, and sponge fisheries yield an annual
+revenue of upward of half a million dollars, and when all of the
+resources of the reef are properly exploited the returns will be more
+than doubled.
+
+The habitat of the reef-building coral is in clear tropical waters. The
+polyps thrive best near the surface; they cannot live at a depth
+exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet. The reef-building coral must
+not be confounded with the precious, or red, coral, which flourishes in
+a muddy sea-bottom and is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea.
+
+When alive and in the water, coral polyps present a variety of beautiful
+forms and colors. Living polyps are composed of limestone skeletons
+covering and permeating a soft gelatinous substance which corresponds to
+the flesh of animals. When the polyps are removed from the water this
+soon decomposes and disappears; in certain species a part of it flows
+off as a thick liquid.
+
+Fish fantastically striped and of brilliantly variegated colors are seen
+swimming among the coral. In tropical waters many of them have
+fascinating colors and patterns. By simulating the colors of the coral
+polyps they escape the species that prey upon them.
+
+The different kinds of coral are generally designated by common names
+according to the different objects which they resemble. Thus, by
+similarity of form we have _brain_ coral, _organ-pipe_ coral, _mushroom_
+coral, _staghorn_ coral, etc.
+
+Some of the islands and reefs are the homes of sea fowl and at the
+nesting season are literally covered with their eggs. These fishers of
+the sea have marvellously well-developed faculties for location, since
+each bird goes directly to her nest when returning to the islands. As
+night approaches, when all the birds seek the land, their wild cries are
+deafening.
+
+Some of the islands are turned to profitable account by the export of
+guano. On Raine Island, so extensive are the deposits of guano that a
+railroad has been built to facilitate handling the product.
+
+Bêche-de-mer, or trepang, is a name applied to the flesh of certain sea
+slugs or sea worms found in the Indian seas. Of this substance great
+quantities are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge
+cucumbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cucumbers." They
+are found clinging to the rocks below low-water mark, and are from one
+to four feet in length. Their food consists of microscopic shell-fish
+which live upon the coral rocks.
+
+[Illustration: The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable
+animal structure in the world]
+
+The trepang exported from this section requires considerable care in
+preparation. After being gathered from the rocks they are cleaned,
+boiled, and partly dried in the air; then they are smoked with mangrove
+wood until dry and hard. The best class of trepang is packed in tin
+cases to keep it perfectly dry, as moisture ruins it. The product is
+marketed chiefly at Hongkong, where it is used in making the gelatinous
+soups for which the Chinese are so famous.
+
+The pearl-shell fisheries yield products of considerable value. The
+average depth from which the mother-of-pearl shell is gathered is seven
+or eight fathoms. Twenty fathoms represents the greatest depth in which
+divers, even in their diving suits, can work, so great is the pressure
+of the water upon them.
+
+The fishery is carried on chiefly for securing the shells, the finding
+of pearls being of secondary importance, since only about one shell in a
+thousand contains a pearl of much value. The shells themselves bring in
+the market from three hundred to eight hundred dollars per ton according
+to quality and size, and are used chiefly for making buttons and small
+ornaments.
+
+The Cairn Cross Islands, a little coral group midway between Cape
+Grenville and Cape York, are especially interesting as the home and
+nesting-place of the Torres Strait pigeons. These large white pigeons
+are highly esteemed for the table. They gather at the islands during the
+month of October and remain until the end of March. The nests are
+usually built in the forked branches of the mangrove trees that form
+extensive thickets along the coast. Each nest contains two white eggs.
+
+The Australian jungle-fowl or scrub-hen also frequents these islands as
+well as the mainland. The nests of these birds are large and unique.
+They consist of huge mounds of dead leaves, grass, sticks, and soft
+earth piled together by the adult birds in shaded and sequestered
+places. The mounds are about twenty feet in diameter and from ten to
+fifteen feet high. Several pairs of birds generally unite in their
+construction.
+
+When the mounds are completed the birds burrow holes in the centre and
+deposit their eggs, which are left to be hatched by the moist heat
+engendered by the decaying vegetation. Forty or fifty brick-red colored
+eggs as large as those of a turkey are sometimes found in a single nest.
+Both the eggs and the parent birds are excellent eating.
+
+The Australian bee-eater, a bird of attractive plumage, is found all
+over the northern islets of the Barrier Reef. It has a long, sharp
+curved bill and two long, narrow feathers in its tail. Its beautiful
+green plumage, varied with rich brown and black, and vivid blue on the
+throat, makes it an attractive bird.
+
+The sea-anemones of the Great Barrier Reef are remarkable for both
+beauty of color and structure; some of them measure four or five inches
+across the expanded disk. In Torres Strait are seen brilliant
+sea-anemones around the border of whose disks are jewel-like clusters.
+These beautiful sea animals present the appearance of delicately tinted
+flowers adorned with the most exquisite gems.
+
+Starfish and sea-urchins of all descriptions are found in immense
+numbers. The five-rayed varieties of starfish are universally condemned
+as insatiable foes of the oyster family, and the oyster cultivators
+destroy all they can find. To dismember the body of the starfish by
+pulling off the finger-like rays does not kill the animal, for not only
+does each fish produce new rays but each ray will produce a new
+starfish. The predatory starfish fastens itself to both valves of the
+oyster, forces them open, and consumes the fleshy part. It is
+destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles,
+snails, worms, and small crustacea as well.
+
+The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the
+bivalves the most remarkable for the size and weight of the shells are
+the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that
+their shells have been burned to make lime. A pair of tridachna valves
+often weighs several hundred pounds.
+
+To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special
+attraction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA
+
+
+The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind
+visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very
+similar. January 24, 1848, was the red-letter day in California's
+history, and the news that transpired that day electrified the world.
+While constructing a saw-mill at Coloma Creek, a branch of the American
+River, John Marshall picked up a handful of gold nuggets in the
+mill-race. At once the gold fever seized all far and near. During the
+ensuing year fifty thousand persons came by sea and by land from the
+States east of the Rocky Mountains, and forty thousand more from other
+parts of the world; all bent upon digging for gold in the new El Dorado.
+
+From far-off Australia came vessels crowded with passengers. Among these
+was Edward H. Hargraves, who had lived for twenty years in New South
+Wales, where fortune had not smiled on him. Hargraves was a keen
+observer and something of a geologist as well. He diligently scoured the
+gullies and canyons in the gold regions of California, and when he quit
+he possessed a good sum of money as a return for his labor. During his
+stay in California he became convinced that gold existed in Australia,
+since many of the formations and strata were similar to those of the
+gold-bearing fields of California.
+
+After working for nearly two years, he planned to return to his old
+home, implicitly believing that he could win riches and fame by
+discoveries of the precious metal in New South Wales; and as soon as he
+had landed at Sydney he made ready to test his theories. When he
+explained to his friends what he purposed to do and his reasons they
+considered him half crazy. Moreover, rumors that convict shepherds had
+sold gold nuggets to traders in Sydney strengthened his belief that gold
+in paying quantities could be obtained by seeking for it. There were
+rumors also that a gold nugget had been picked up on Fish River.
+
+Procuring a team he set forth on his journey for the Blue Mountains
+lying back of Sydney. On the fourth day out, stopping at an inn kept by
+a widow, he confided to her his mission and enlisted her co-operation.
+He requested a black boy for a guide; but instead she sent her son, who
+was well acquainted with every inch of the region for miles around.
+
+Taking horses, Hargraves and the young man started out from the inn. It
+was a crisp autumn morning succeeding a dry summer. A careful search was
+made up and down canyons and gulches. At length, during the latter part
+of the day, they reached the bank of a dry creek which disclosed strata
+similar to the auriferous gravels of California.
+
+Looking about, Hargraves found a spot in the bed of the creek from
+which, after scooping off the top, he scraped from the bedrock a panful
+of earth. Hastening to the water hole with the loaded pan, he proceeded
+to wash away the soil and lo, in the bottom of the pan were
+bright-yellow particles!
+
+"I shall be made a baronet and both of us will be rich," exclaimed the
+excited Hargraves. He seemed to be walking upon air and could scarcely
+believe his own senses. Nevertheless, he prudently kept his own counsel
+until he had taken out sixty thousand dollars. Then he hastened to
+Sydney to lay the matter before the government. The government gave him
+a reward of fifty thousand dollars for his discoveries and made him
+commissioner of the gold fields.
+
+Hargraves's unexpected find stimulated other persons to search elsewhere
+for the attractive metal, and soon other and far richer fields were
+found. From one locality alone seven tons of gold were obtained in a
+single month.
+
+The whole country now went gold mad. Doctors left their patients,
+lawyers their offices, bakers and butchers their shops, clerks the
+stores, and sailors deserted their ships as soon as they touched the
+wharves--everybody hastened to the diggings eager to get rich.
+
+When confirmation of the wonderful gold deposits in Australia reached
+the outside world, a grand rush, like that to California, took place.
+New towns and cities sprang up as by magic, and from the increase of
+business the older places rapidly became more populous. Since the time
+of Hargraves's discovery, Victoria has produced the most gold, some of
+the largest nuggets in the world having been found in this colony.
+
+The following story of the gold fields is related in Lang's "Australia":
+While the ship _Dudbrook_ was docked at Sydney, where she was receiving
+her cargo, a sailor boy named Bob heard of the great quantities of gold
+that had been dug out of the mountains. He longed to try his luck at
+mining, but hardly knew how he could get away from the ship without
+being caught.
+
+In the meantime, while the ship was receiving her cargo, all the old
+crew except Bob had deserted. He hesitated about leaving and seemed to
+find no good opportunity to escape unnoticed. The day of departure
+arrived. The sails were being shaken out by the new crew, which had been
+pressed into service. The little tug that was to tow the big ship out
+of the harbor was beginning to straighten the cable and churn the water
+into foam, but the hawser still held the vessel fast to the wharf. The
+captain shouted "Bob, Bob, get ashore and cast off the hawser."
+
+Bob now saw the long-waited-for opportunity and with alacrity sprang to
+the wharf, but not to release the hawser. He ran along, hidden by the
+jetty, until he reached the shore and then dodged into a house where he
+had friends. The skipper could not stop to hunt up the runaway, so the
+vessel was towed out through the Heads and sailed for Newcastle to pick
+up a cargo for India.
+
+The next day Bob started on foot for the mines and, while on his way,
+picked up one of his old shipmates with whom he formed a partnership. On
+arriving at the diggings, the two staked out a claim and began sinking a
+shaft; but after reaching the bottom no metal greeted their longing
+eyes. Another shaft was sunk and this time they struck it rich.
+
+Within two months each had saved up one hundred twenty pounds of gold.
+Like some of his companions, Bob now concluded to take a short rest and
+go to Sydney for a few days of pleasure. Therefore he changed his gold
+into pound notes, and, stuffing the big rolls into his trousers'
+pockets, started for the city.
+
+Being of an economical turn of mind, he concluded to walk, and taking an
+early start, by the middle of the afternoon he had measured off
+twenty-five miles. The day was hot and the roads dusty; and seeing a
+shady nook, near a creek not far from the roadside, he betook himself
+thither and sat down to wait for a bullock wagon which he had passed two
+hours before. The water in the stream looked cool and inviting, so he
+undressed to take a swim.
+
+In taking off his clothes he pulled out of his pockets the two bundles
+of pound notes and laid them beside his boots. After being in the water
+for some time, he came out; and looking where he had laid the notes,
+could see them nowhere. Who could have taken them? He saw no one around
+when he undressed, and he had seen no one about while he was bathing.
+Possibly the thief was hiding behind some of the trees near by. Without
+waiting to dress, he searched here and there behind trees and logs, but
+there was no sign of the thief.
+
+He was greatly disheartened at his loss, but, putting on his clothes, he
+came across a ten-pound note which he had concealed in a side pocket.
+This find cheered him up and he resolved to go down to the city
+notwithstanding his loss. The bullock team soon came along and Bob told
+the driver what had happened. They both searched the ground over to
+solve the disappearance of the money, but in vain.
+
+When Bob reached Sydney, like other sailors, he visited several barrooms
+where he told the story of his strange loss. In one of the places, in a
+corner, sat an old Scotch crone, smoking her pipe and quietly listening
+to the conversation. At midnight when Bob was about to leave, the old
+woman said, "What will ye gie me if I find yer money for ye?"
+
+"What will I give ye, mother?" cried Bob. "Why, I'll give ye a silk
+dress and a ten-pound note."
+
+"It's a bargain!" she cried; and then she told him what to do.
+
+He was to be ready at four the next morning with a horse and trap which
+he could obtain from the landlord. If he would take along an axe, a roll
+of string, and a newspaper, she would find his money for him, she said.
+
+Though much in doubt about the power of such articles to find his money,
+Bob did as old Maggie had directed, and sharply at four in the morning
+the two started back to his bathing place. It took but a short time to
+drive back ten miles to the creek and the hollow log on which Bob sat
+when he pulled off his boots.
+
+"Now, show me the place where ye put the money down," said Maggie.
+
+After carefully looking around she seemed to be satisfied with the
+conditions.
+
+"Now, gie me the paper and the twine," she said. Taking a portion of the
+paper and tying it with a long piece of twine she laid it down just
+where the notes had been placed. Then Maggie said, "Let us seek a shady
+place a short distance away and I'll play ye at cribbage." Bob took
+little stock in these seemingly foolish arrangements; nevertheless he
+determined to be game to the end.
+
+She led the way to a cool place on the creek bank a hundred yards
+distant where they sat down. She then drew out of her pocket a dirty
+pack of cards and a bar of soap punched with holes to be used as a
+cribbage board.
+
+Two games were leisurely played, both of which Maggie won. "Now," said
+she, "Come wi' me." She hobbled back to where the paper tied with a
+string had been left. No paper was in sight, but hanging out of the
+hollow log where Bob had removed his boots was the end of the string.
+Maggie chuckled, and pointing to the log, cried, "Now rip it up wi' the
+axe."
+
+Bob set to work with a will and soon had a big hole chopped out of the
+hollow log, and behold! there were the bank-notes and the newspaper,
+forming a cozy nest for some little speckled native cats calling for
+their breakfast, while farther in were seen two bright balls of fire,
+the mother cat's eyes. The mother cat had run off with Bob's money to
+make a nest for her young ones.
+
+Maggie accepted the ten-pound note but refused the silk dress, telling
+the lad that she had no use for such finery.
+
+Soon after the English settled in Australia they introduced merino
+sheep, and during the last quarter of a century the breed has been
+constantly improved.
+
+It is estimated that now there are not less than seventy-five million
+sheep in Australia. The two great drawbacks to this thriving industry
+are drought and disease. Some years, owing to the scanty rainfall,
+millions of sheep have starved for lack of food.
+
+Two seasons prevail, the dry and the rainy, the climatic conditions
+being similar to those of California.
+
+The eastern section of this continental island is the only part that is
+adapted both to grazing and to agriculture. New South Wales outranks all
+the other Australian colonies in sheep raising, and Queensland in cattle
+raising.
+
+Almost the entire eastern shore section is well adapted to the
+production of lemons, oranges, and figs, while in the southeastern part
+all kinds of temperate-zone fruits flourish. The production of wheat
+also deserves important attention.
+
+The development of cold-storage transportation has given a great impetus
+to the exportation of frozen mutton and beef to England.
+
+Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, situated on Port Philip Bay, near
+the mouth of the Yarra River, is the largest city of Australia and
+contains nearly half a million people. It is built chiefly upon two
+hills and the intervening valley. The streets are broad and cross each
+other at right angles. Many of the squares are devoted to public parks
+and gardens. There are splendid public and private buildings, including
+an excellent library and an art gallery, both of which are free to all.
+Although less than sixty years old, this young city will compare
+favorably in regard to its buildings and general management with the
+largest cities in both Europe and America.
+
+The oldest city in Australia, Sydney, is the capital of New South Wales
+and has a population of four hundred thousand. It is situated on Port
+Jackson and is said to have the finest harbor in the world. This is a
+completely landlocked sheet of deep water which can be entered only
+through a narrow passage, thus affording protection to the shipping,
+even during the most violent storms, and so large that it could
+accommodate all of the fleets that sail the ocean and have room to
+spare.
+
+[Illustration: Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains
+nearly half a million people]
+
+Of Australia's thirteen thousand miles of railways all but five hundred
+miles belong to the colonial government, and are administered in the
+interests of the people. So low are the freight and passenger rates that
+often a tax has to be levied to meet the deficits. More than half of the
+public debt is due to government ownership of the railroads.
+
+Among other prominent places may be mentioned Brisbane, the capital of
+Queensland; Adelaide, the capital of South Australia; and Perth, the
+capital of Western Australia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+TASMANIA
+
+
+In 1642 a Dutch navigator named Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered the
+island which now bears his name. Tasman did not know that he had
+discovered an island, but thought that he had discovered a part of the
+mainland of Australia; so he named it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of his
+patron, Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+Tasmania was once one vast plateau, but in time nature worked away on
+its broad surface; mountains and valleys were chiselled in its face,
+making it a picturesque and diversified island. It is well watered;
+streams abound in every part, and many large lakes are found in the
+interior. The Derwent in the south is the largest river, and vessels may
+go almost to the head of its estuary.
+
+On account of its beautiful mountain scenery, Tasmania is called the
+Switzerland of Australia. Deep winding valleys, clothed with groves of
+ferns, give added charm to its scenery. In recent years it has become a
+famous summer resort for Australians, many of whom pass a portion of the
+hot season in its wonderful forest solitudes and secluded fern-tree
+vales.
+
+No attempt to colonize Tasmania was made until 1803. In that year four
+hundred convicts were brought there and the vessel containing the
+prisoners sailed up Derwent River and landed them where the city of
+Hobart now stands.
+
+When the convicts landed, they found a very dark-skinned race of natives
+in possession of the land. The natives were low of stature, with ugly
+broad faces, flat noses, and frizzly hair. Their habits were repulsive,
+but they were inoffensive. They lived chiefly on shell-fish and what
+they could obtain from the sea. Occasionally they hunted the kangaroo,
+and unfortunately a kangaroo hunt led to their undoing.
+
+One morning a newly-arrived commander of the convict colony saw a large
+number of natives making toward the camp. He did not know their customs
+and mistook a chase after a kangaroo for an attack on the camp. So he
+ordered the soldiers to fire on the crowd, and, as a result, fifty or
+more were killed.
+
+This was bad enough, but worse was to come; for escaped convicts began
+to rob and murder the natives whenever they could do so. So in time
+there began a bush warfare that almost exterminated the poor natives.
+Finally, the remnant, about two hundred, were put on a transport and
+carried to Flinder Island, where they gradually decreased in number. The
+last native died in 1874.
+
+In 1853, the English government ceased to send convicts to the island,
+and within a few years afterward the blackest plague spot in the world
+became one of the most beautiful colonies on the face of the earth.
+
+Tasmania is far enough south of the tropics to have a much greater
+rainfall than most of Australia, but it is not far enough to have a cold
+climate. The generous rainfall covers the whole surface with green.
+There are forests of eucalyptus, or "gum tree," tree ferns, beech, and
+acacia--just about the same kinds that one finds in Australia.
+
+The animals, too, are much the same as in Australia, and some species of
+them are pouched, like the opossum. Many of them are now rarely to be
+found near the settlements, but one kind is pretty certain to be found
+at all times and seasons--the Tasmanian devil. This ugly beast is a
+terror to any neighborhood. An English hunter described it by saying
+that it was more bear than wildcat, and more wildcat than bear--and
+bear-cat it is frequently called. The tiger-wolf is another pest that
+makes great havoc among herds and flocks. Still another pest, also
+called "devil," has bands of black and white on its neck and shoulders,
+a thick heavy tail, and a bulldog mouth. It is a cowardly little night
+prowler with a fondness for young lambs.
+
+As was the case in Australia, the success of sheep-growing and the
+finding of rich gold-mines put an end to the convict colony. Even before
+the mines became profitable the ranchmen were trying to stop the sending
+of convicts to the island; but when the gold fields were found, it was
+stopped in short order.
+
+Very shortly gold-mining became the leading industry. Then tin ore was
+found at Mount Bischoff. Tasmania now produces more tin than all the
+rest of Australasia. In addition to the tin and precious metals, there
+are great beds of excellent coal--enough for all the smelteries and
+manufactories in the island.
+
+Next to the mines the sheep and cattle ranches bring the chief profits
+to Tasmania. But another industry is growing and bids fair to become
+more profitable than either mining or cattle-growing. The fruit of
+Tasmania is of the very finest quality. Moreover, when the fruit is
+ripening in an Australasian spring and summer, all England is shivering
+in midwinter storms. What better business could there be than to ship
+apples and pears fresh from the Tasmanian orchards? Those same apples
+can be shipped half-way round the world and sold in England for a lower
+price than the apples shipped from Buffalo to New York City!
+
+Then there are the peaches, cherries, and strawberries. They find a
+ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time
+Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the
+world.
+
+Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of
+Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the
+city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are
+low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as
+good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools
+themselves are equal to the best anywhere. Kindergarten, grammar school,
+high school, and university are within the reach of all who desire.
+
+It is said that an enterprising man can go to Tasmania, make his fortune
+in fifteen years, and return to England rich, to spend the rest of his
+days. But why should any one desire to leave such a beautiful island to
+spend the rest of his life in London smoke and fog?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+NEW ZEALAND
+
+
+By digging at London right through the centre of the earth one would
+emerge about a day's ride, in an automobile car, from the capital of New
+Zealand--if only the automobile could ride on the water. That is to say,
+England and New Zealand are almost exactly opposite each other on the
+earth. That is the short way, however, and the trip would be eight
+thousand miles. As a matter of fact, the trip by the only available
+route is not far from sixteen thousand miles; for, go either east or
+west as one may choose, the route from London to New Zealand is a very
+roundabout way, and New Zealand is Great Britain's most remote colony.
+
+When Tasman was cruising about the Pacific, or South Sea, he skirted the
+coast of the islands. That was in 1642. About one hundred and forty
+years afterward Captain Cook called at the islands and annexed them as
+an English possession, but the English government refused to take them.
+Early in the nineteenth century missionaries brought the Bible to the
+native Maoris, and at the same time lawless traders carried liquor and
+firearms to those same natives. What was still worse, they kept on
+supplying them with liquor and firearms until there were but a few
+thousand natives left.
+
+The Maoris are the most remarkable native peoples of the Pacific. They
+were not the original people of New Zealand, however, for they drove
+away the black race--probably like that of New Guinea--which they found
+there. Like the Hawaiians and Fijians, the Maoris came from Samoa about
+five centuries ago. Their traditions about their journey are clear and
+exact; even the names of the canoes, or barges, in which they made the
+journey are preserved in Maori history. First they went to Rarotonga, an
+island of the Cook group; then they went to New Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: Maori pa, or village]
+
+Long before white men had settled in New Zealand, the Maoris had made
+great advances toward civilization. They had become wonderful carvers in
+wood; they were also expert builders, weavers, and dyers. No better
+seamen could be found in the Pacific. War was their chief employment,
+however, and tribal wars were always going on in some parts or other of
+the islands. One may compare them in progress to the tribes of New York
+just before the Iroquois confederacy was formed.
+
+Two large and a small island make up the greater part of New Zealand.
+North Island is a little smaller than New York State; South Island is a
+little larger; Stewart Island is half the size of Rhode Island.
+
+Aside from these, the Chatham, Auckland, and part of the Cook group--in
+fact, pretty nearly every outlying group that can be used for cattle and
+sheep growing--are included in the New Zealand colony. This industry is
+the reason for the existence of New Zealand; it is the great
+meat-producing market of Great Britain.
+
+The two largest islands of New Zealand form a great plateau. Mountain
+ranges border the edges, and fertile, well-watered lowlands are between
+the ranges. The ranges and valleys, together with hundreds of lakes, are
+beautiful to the eye; they could not be better for a great grazing
+industry. Cook Strait, which separates the two islands, is about sixteen
+miles wide at its narrowest crossing.
+
+North Island has several active volcanoes, and likewise one of the three
+famous geyser regions in the world. There used to be the Pink-and-White
+Terraces also--terraces of brilliant coloring, like those of Yellowstone
+Park. But a few years ago Volcano Tarawera had a bad fit of eruption,
+and when the eruption was over, Pink-and-White Terraces were covered
+many feet deep with lava and ash.
+
+Many of the higher ranges are snow-clad the year round. The New
+Zealanders do not need to go half-way round the world to spend the
+summer in Switzerland; they have a fine Switzerland at home. Indeed, the
+Alps of Europe are not surpassed by those of New Zealand; and as for
+glaciers, the great Tasman Glacier cannot be surpassed--twenty miles
+long, a mile wide, and no one knows how deep. In South Island some of
+the glaciers reach almost to the sea.
+
+[Illustration: The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand]
+
+There is some wonderful vegetation in New Zealand and nowhere else will
+one find a greater variety of ferns. Some of them grow in the form of
+trees; some are huge vines; and still others are as fine and delicate as
+the maidenhair fern. Some kinds have fine wiry tendrils that are much
+used for mattresses and cushions. Another plant looks so much like a
+palm that no one ignorant of plants would suspect that it was not a
+palm-tree; but as a matter of fact it is a lily.
+
+So many of the forest trees are evergreens, and so abundant is the grass
+that at all times of the year the islands are green from the mountain
+summits to the sea. Of all the forest trees the kauri pine has been one
+of the most valuable--has been, because not many trees are left. The
+wood itself is about as easily worked as white pine or California
+redwood. What is still better, it is very tough and durable.
+
+But the wood itself is only a part of the wealth of the kauri forests.
+The bark is full of gum which, when hard, is much like amber. It makes a
+very hard and glossy varnish that commands a high price because of its
+good qualities. In places where old kauri forests have existed, digging
+kauri gum is a profitable employment. Kauri-gum mining does not require
+much capital. A sharp iron rod and a pick are about the only tools
+required.
+
+The gatherer goes about thrusting his rod into the earth at intervals of
+a few inches. When he "feels" a piece of gum with his rod he needs only
+to use his pick to capture it. For many years about a million dollars'
+worth of kauri gum was thus obtained each year. The lumps vary in size
+from that of a hen's egg to masses weighing several pounds.
+
+There are also some strange animals in New Zealand. One curious creature
+is a bird without wings--the kiwi. The species is one of many similar
+kinds that lived in Australia and New Zealand ages ago. Their remains
+are found in abundance, but the kiwi is the last species now living. It
+has a long, sharp bill and hair-like feathers. A full-grown bird is
+about the size of a bantam fowl. One of the more beautiful birds is a
+dull green parrot, the kea. But the kea is also a wretched pest, for it
+has learned how to kill sheep since the sheep-herders came to New
+Zealand. The kea darts out of the air, fastens its talons in the side of
+the sheep, and quickly makes a gaping hole into the animal's vitals.
+Thousands of sheep are thus killed every year.
+
+There are about one million people in New Zealand, and most of them live
+on the east side of South Island. That is where the grassy lands are;
+and that is why the cattle and sheep are there also. And the people are
+there because of the sheep and cattle. New Zealand is one of the
+greatest grazing regions in the world, and most of the various
+industries in the islands have something or other to do with the
+grazing.
+
+In Australia the sheep are grown almost wholly for wool. That is because
+climate and grasses are just right for the growth of wool. In New
+Zealand the climate and grasses are not very good for wool, but they are
+just right for meat, both mutton and beef. So the commerce of beef and
+mutton is the chief business of New Zealand.
+
+The meat must go a long way before it reaches the people who consume it;
+they live in Great Britain and western Europe. In any case, too, it must
+have a long summer trip; for one cannot go from New Zealand to Europe
+without crossing the Torrid Zone. Even if the meat were sent from New
+Zealand in midwinter it not only has a long trip in the Torrid Zone, but
+it gets to Europe in midsummer.
+
+Now, it is very plain that meat cannot be carried for a month or six
+weeks on a steamship without preparation. The preparation is very
+simple; the meat, after dressing, is frozen and it is kept frozen until
+it reaches the people who eat it. There are refrigerating-rooms at the
+slaughter-houses, refrigerator cars to the nearest port, and
+refrigerator ships to London.
+
+Wool is also one of the important products of New Zealand, but it has a
+much coarser and harsher fibre than the fine merino wool of Australia.
+As a rule, sheep that are grown for their wool feed on grass; those that
+are for mutton get their final feeding on turnips; and all England has
+said that turnip-fed mutton is good.
+
+Christchurch, a city of about seventy thousand people, is one of the
+great centres of the wool and mutton industry. The city is there because
+the great Canterbury Plain is one of the finest grazing regions in the
+world. Christchurch is not very old--it was made a city in 1862--but it
+has grown pretty vigorously. Its handsome buildings--churches, college,
+museum, and school-houses--are as fine as those of any city of the same
+size anywhere. The streets are wide and beautifully kept, and electric
+railways extend to half a dozen suburbs.
+
+Out in the suburbs are the large meat-freezing establishments. In the
+season for export about fifteen thousand sheep are dressed and frozen
+daily in the great plants in and around Christchurch.
+
+The freezing-rooms are kept at a temperature of a cold winter night. In
+a single plant there may be as many as ten or fifteen thousand carcasses
+hanging from great frames, and the walls of the rooms are covered with a
+thick coat of ice and frost. In three days from the time the meat is put
+into the freezing-room it will be ready for its long journey.
+
+Wellington is the capital of New Zealand; it is likewise the windy port
+of the Pacific, for it is in the eye of the "roaring forties," the
+strong west wind of the South Temperate Zone. But Wellington has the
+harbor, and the harbor has the shipping; and because of this Wellington
+is a very rich and prosperous municipality.
+
+On the whole, the New Zealanders have not much cause to envy the people
+of other lands. Every man and every self-supporting woman can become the
+owner of a homestead; and about one person in every ten has become a
+landholder. The government lets them have the land on very easy terms of
+payment. Women have the same political rights as are possessed by men.
+They can vote, hold public office, and hold property in their own names.
+
+The government has established postal savings banks at which any one may
+deposit money; what is equally good, the money is loaned at a small rate
+of interest to farmers while they are waiting for their crops. What is
+still better, the bank never fails, leaving the depositors to whistle
+for their money.
+
+The government owns and operates most of the railways, telegraph lines,
+and telephone system. There is good service at a low cost. The
+government manages and supports all public schools. Attendance is
+compulsory and practically everything is free from the kindergarten to
+the university. There are old-age pensions for deserving poor people of
+good character; there are likewise prisons for those of criminal
+character--and the two are pretty apt to get together. "Bad" trusts and
+monopolies have not got the upper hand anywhere in New Zealand and the
+government sees to it that they do not. Great Britain appoints a
+governor of the colony, but the people elect a legislative council and a
+house of representatives.
+
+New Zealand has also something more than productive lands; the colony
+has plenty of coal fields, gold-mines, silver-mines, iron ore, and
+copper ore. Even if all the rest of the world were closed against this
+far-away colony, the New Zealanders could worry along quite well, for
+they easily rank among the most prosperous and well-governed people in
+the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+SAMOA AND FIJI
+
+
+The Samoa, or Navigator's, Islands, discovered by a Dutch navigator in
+1722, attracted but little attention until the introduction of
+Christianity in 1830. Only a few of the group are inhabited; the others
+are chiefly barren rocks.
+
+The islands are of volcanic origin, and earthquakes are frequent, but
+not severe. Fringing coral reefs form barriers that in a great measure
+protect the islands from heavy seas. The group lie on the steamship
+route between Australia and the Pacific coast of North America; hence
+they are important to the United States. The larger islands are
+mountainous and well forested. Some of the mountains attain the height
+of five thousand feet.
+
+Early in the '80's there were three rival chiefs, each of whom wanted to
+be king. As a result, they were at war most of the time, and the
+property of Americans and Europeans suffered greatly. So, in 1889, Great
+Britain, Germany, and the United States formed a joint protectorate over
+them. Ten years later another outbreak was stirred up by foreign
+adventurers; so the islands were annexed to Germany and the United
+States for the sake of peace. The two largest, Savii and Upolu, were
+ceded to Germany; Tutuila and the Manua group were taken by the United
+States. On condition of having a free hand in the Cook group, Great
+Britain gave up all claims.
+
+A rich soil, tropical temperature, and a generous rainfall make the
+islands productive. Americans who live there claim that in no other part
+of the world can the necessaries of life be obtained so easily as in
+Samoa. Savii, the largest island, has a smaller area of cultivable land
+than the others. Once upon a time, however, it was the most densely
+peopled and the richest island of all Samoa. Then a volcanic eruption
+covered much of its surface with ash and lava. Perhaps in time the lava
+fields may become good soil, as they have in Hawaii.
+
+Tutuila is one of the four islands belonging to the United States; the
+other three, Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga, belong to the Manua group. All of
+them together are not half the size of Rhode Island. Tutuila is perhaps
+the most important island of Samoa, because of its fine harbor, Pago
+Pago--Pango Pango, the Samoans pronounce it. Pago Pago is certainly a
+fine harbor. The entrance is so narrow that it can be closed easily;
+then it widens out into a bay two miles long and nearly half a mile
+wide. When the Panama Canal is completed, Pago Pago will be right in the
+track of steamships from Europe and the United States bound for
+Australia.
+
+Apia, on the island of Upolu, is the port of the Germans. The harbor is
+larger, but it is not so well protected. In 1889, when a typhoon struck
+Apia (both the town and the shipping), very few buildings escaped damage
+or destruction. And the shipping?--well, there was not much left. There
+were six warships and a lot of sailing-vessels in the V-shaped harbor.
+When the storm raged hardest it seemed to grow a bit more furious. Some
+of the vessels dragged their anchors and were piled up as wrecks on the
+beach. Others foundered and went to the bottom with all aboard. Three or
+four managed to get out of the bay into the open sea, where they were
+fairly safe.
+
+But Pago Pago harbor is large and deep. What is still better, it is
+surrounded by bluffs and mountains that will shelter a big fleet against
+even the fury of a typhoon.
+
+Most of the islands are covered with a dense vegetation, tropical and
+richly colored. There is an abundance of hardwood trees, but the
+breadfruit, banana, and cocoa-palm are the most useful. The
+breadfruit-tree grows wild, but it is also cultivated. The fruit is
+about the size of an ordinary cantaloupe. In some species the fruit is
+filled with seeds nearly as large as chestnuts and these are sometimes
+eaten. The best fruit, however, is filled with starchy matter.
+
+It is cooked in many ways, but it is greatly relished when baked in hot
+ashes covered with live coals. After it is thus cooked, it is cut open
+and the rich juicy pulp scooped out. When cooked with meat and gravy it
+is superior to the finest mushrooms.
+
+The cocoa-palm is a source of not a little profit. The thick husk yields
+a fibre that is much used in making coarse mats; the dried meat of the
+nut is the copra of commerce. Large quantities are exported to the
+United States and Europe in order to obtain the oil; and the oil is used
+chiefly to make soap.
+
+The native Samoans are lighter colored than most Polynesians, and are
+the finest native peoples of the South Pacific Ocean. Many years ago
+missionaries and teachers settled in Samoa and they found the natives to
+be pretty apt scholars. By nature they were dignified and polite; they
+also learned quickly the arts of civilized life. Nowadays nearly every
+native village has its church and school-house. The Samoans are fond of
+music and one may hear American hymns and melodies in nearly every
+native house.
+
+The native houses are larger than most of the houses one finds among the
+Pacific islands. Two or more long posts support the ridge pole and a
+great number of shorter posts hold the lower edges of the roof. The roof
+itself consists of closely fitted mats of brush thickly thatched with
+the leaves of wild sugar cane. A well-made roof lasts a dozen years or
+more.
+
+Mats of sugar-cane closely woven are loosely fastened to the outer rows
+of posts so that they can be easily put up or taken down. They form the
+side walls of the house. The floor is made of clay, paved with pebbles.
+Usually there is a floor covering of mats. In the centre of the floor is
+a fire pit which serves for the purpose of cooking during the day and to
+drive out the mosquitoes at night. The beds and chairs are mats and the
+pillows are made of bamboo.
+
+The Samoans know how to live well. With each house there is pretty
+certain to be a garden in which yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas,
+fruit, and chickens are grown. Then, there are fish and shrimps that can
+be caught in abundance. But the chief and most highly prized dish is
+called "poi." Taro and kalo are names--or a name, rather; for they are
+different forms of the same word--given to several plants that grow from
+starchy bulbs. One kind of taro looks much like a lily that grows higher
+than a tall man. The bulb, or root, is first baked and then ground to a
+paste with water. When thus prepared, it is set aside until it begins to
+ferment; then it is ready to be eaten. A great dish or pot of poi is
+placed on a mat and the family gather around, one after another dipping
+it out with their hands. To foreigners poi has a most unpleasant,
+disagreeable taste. When made into cakes and baked, however, it is much
+relished by foreigners.
+
+Kava is the national drink. It is made from the roots of a shrub
+belonging to the pepper family. The root is ground between stones and
+then soaked in water. After a while it is pounded and rubbed until all
+the milky juice is squeezed out of it. When "extra-fine" kava is wanted,
+young girls chew the root until it has become pulpy. After standing a
+day or two it is strained and is then ready to be drunk. It is a cooling
+and refreshing drink, but if taken too freely is apt to tangle one's
+legs uncomfortably.
+
+On account of its delightful climate and beautiful scenery, Samoa is
+one of the most attractive places in the world in which to live. Back in
+the mountains, a few miles from Apia, Robert Louis Stevenson spent the
+last few years of his life, and his body is buried on the top of the
+mountain near by. Stevenson was greatly beloved by the natives, and
+after his death he was mourned by them as one of their very best
+friends.
+
+Of all the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, the Fiji group is the
+most important. All told there are more than two hundred islands, but
+scarcely one-third of them are inhabited, or even habitable. Two of them
+are large. One, Viti Levu, is about the size of Connecticut; the other,
+Vanua Levu, is about two-thirds the size of that State. The famous Dutch
+sailor Abel Janszoon Tasman, whose name is remembered in Tasmania, saw
+the larger islands in 1643. About one hundred and thirty years later
+Captain Cook called at Viti Levu and found himself in the midst of a
+great cannibal feast. In 1840, Captain Charles Wilkes, in charge of a
+United States expedition, explored them; shortly afterward they became a
+possession of Great Britain.
+
+The larger islands are great domes of lava built up by volcanic
+eruptions; many of the smaller ones are coral formations, and all are
+fringed with coral reefs. Dense forests of tropical vegetation cover the
+larger islands. Cocoanut and other palms are everywhere to be found. A
+species of pine, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand, grows on the
+larger islands. Among the forest trees are also several kinds of
+tree-ferns and a tree-nettle. When the pointed leaves of the latter
+prick the skin they sting the flesh as badly as does a wasp.
+
+The English have done well by both the islands and the islanders. They
+have made the islands yield a good yearly profit to the government
+itself, but they have also made the natives industrious and contented.
+When the first British settlements were made in Fiji, the islanders
+were in a most degraded condition. They did no work except to grow a few
+yams, bananas, and breadfruit. Their chief employment was war, and this
+was carried on, not for conquest, but to capture as many as possible. A
+few captives were held as slaves, but most of them were fattened--to be
+killed and eaten at the royal feasts.
+
+[Illustration: Native canoe, Fiji Islands]
+
+Notwithstanding all this there was the making of a very superior people
+in them; for when the missionaries and the teachers got among them the
+natives proved very apt pupils. Now there are more than twelve hundred
+church buildings--and a school-house or two for every church. Some of
+the ministers and teachers are English, but there are about four
+thousand native teachers and ministers, nearly all of whom were trained
+for their work in the island schools.
+
+They are fine farmers, probably the best in the islands of the Pacific.
+They grow bananas, pineapples, peanuts, and lemons for the Australians,
+copra and tobacco for the British, and rice, taro, and garden vegetables
+for themselves. They have learned to irrigate their farms, using open
+ditches and bamboo mains. They make the finest canoes to be found in the
+Pacific. Some of the canoes are barges nearly one hundred feet in
+length; and not even the Hawaiians are more expert in using them.
+
+Not a little profit to the islanders comes from the sea. They are expert
+divers and gather large quantities of pearl shells, which find a ready
+market with the button-makers of Europe. Fish are caught, dried, and
+sold in China. One sea product, the bêche-de-mer, a marine animal
+commonly called "sea-cucumber," is highly prized by the Chinese, who use
+large quantities; most of it is gathered by the Fijians.
+
+Sugar, however, is the chief product of the islands, and the sugar
+plantations are owned by great companies that have invested millions of
+pounds sterling in the business. The plantations altogether produce more
+than three million dollars' worth of sugar yearly. The native islanders
+will not work in the sugar fields; so coolies from India were brought to
+the islands to work on the plantations.
+
+Suva (Viti Levu), and Leonka (Ovalu), the two largest towns, are much
+like European cities, except that the houses are low and have large
+yards filled with shade trees and flowers. In the native villages the
+dwellings are much like those in Samoa, though a trifle better, perhaps.
+The side walls are covered with plaited reeds, and the roof is thatched
+with palm leaves securely fastened. In the lowlands it is customary to
+build a platform of rock upon which the house stands and into which the
+foundation poles are set. This is done for two reasons: when a typhoon
+sweeps over the islands, the lowland coast is sometimes flooded;
+moreover, the wind blows with such terrific force that none but the most
+strongly built house will withstand it.
+
+In the centre of the floor is a pit, or fireplace, much like the
+cooking-place one sees in Samoa or in Hawaii. Chickens and pieces of
+meat to be roasted are hung from a frame over the pit. Yams and other
+vegetables are boiled in earthen vessels which the native potters make.
+The floors are covered with closely woven mats; and in order to keep
+them clean an earthen vessel filled with water is kept outside so that
+whoever enters the house may bathe his feet. Inasmuch as the natives go
+barefoot one may see the usefulness of this custom.
+
+Great Britain has many islands in this part of the Pacific; Gilbert,
+Ellice, Tonga, Cook, and some of the Solomon group all fly the Union
+Jack. There is an English governor, or "High Commissioner," as he is
+styled, who looks after British affairs in the islands. In Fiji he is
+the real governor, but in many of the islands native chiefs and kings
+govern their peoples about as they please, provided they do not
+interfere with British interests.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
+
+
+Almost midway between the United States and China a mountain chain more
+than three thousand miles long crosses the tropic of Cancer. Only the
+highest peaks, however, reach above sea level; most of the range is
+fathoms deep in the waters of the Pacific. The eastern end of this great
+chain constitutes the Hawaiian group of islands, or the Territory of
+Hawaii.
+
+Altogether they are pretty nearly as large as the State of New Jersey,
+or five times the size of Rhode Island. All the islands are very rugged
+in surface--steep and high cliffs, deep valleys and canyons, and
+stupendous craters that have vomited great floods of lava. A little way
+from shore the Pacific has some of its deepest beds. If the sea could be
+removed the island of Hawaii would be a great dome five miles high.
+
+The coral polyps have added their mite to the building of these islands,
+and coral reefs are the foundation of the coast plain that surrounds a
+considerable part of the girth of each.
+
+An equable climate throughout the year, a soft and balmy air, brilliant
+coloring on bush and tree, magnificent pictures of sea and sky, and of
+mountain and plain, make the islands a veritable paradise.
+
+It is thought that these islands were peopled by Samoan natives about
+the year 600, and that subsequently their number was augmented by
+emigrants from the Fiji and other southern islands. At first there was
+plenty of land for all, but as their number increased, quarrels arose.
+Each island had its king or chief and some of the larger islands had two
+or more. The result was a condition very much like the feudal system;
+each king had petty chiefs, and these, in turn, their retainers, who
+were little better than slaves. Priests, who ranked equal to the petty
+chiefs, directed their pagan worship and occasionally made human
+sacrifices.
+
+The kings were pretty apt to be at war with one another most of the
+time, but, about forty years before the American Revolution, there came
+a great soldier and leader, Kamehameha I. By the aid of European weapons
+and the counsel of foreign friends, he overcame his rivals and brought
+all the islands under his sway.
+
+The Hawaiian Islands were made known to the rest of the world when that
+plucky English sailor, Captain James Cook, was making his third and
+last great voyage of discovery, in which he had set out to find the
+famous and tragic northwest passage. On a roundabout way to Bering
+Strait, he called at the islands which seemed very attractive to him.
+Perhaps it is not quite right to say that he discovered them, for it
+seems very probable that the Spanish explorer Gaetano discovered them in
+1555.
+
+[Illustration: General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii]
+
+It was 1789 when Cook first visited the islands, and after he had
+continued his voyage through Bering Strait, and had failed to find the
+northwest passage, he turned about and sailed for the islands. While
+ashore with a part of his crew at a landing that is now the village of
+Kealakekua, one of the ship's boats was stolen by natives.
+
+Now Cook had learned to manage South Sea islanders in a very practical,
+though not the most tactful, way. When trouble occurred he used to send
+out a strong landing party, seize the king or chief and take him aboard
+the vessel--a proceeding which usually brought the natives to terms.
+But at this particular time the landing party was driven to the boats
+and Cook was killed.
+
+The group of islands was first named after Lord Sandwich, a patron and
+friend of Cook. At the time of Cook's discovery of the long-forgotten
+islands it was estimated that their population was not far from four
+hundred thousand. Missionaries went to the islands early in the
+nineteenth century and their reports brought many Americans and
+Europeans who settled there permanently. Then the chief business of the
+islands was the ordinary trade with the many whaling vessels that were
+in the Pacific.
+
+For a time the islands were under the protection of Great Britain; then
+they became an independent kingdom. When it was found that the lava
+fields made the best sugar-growing soil in the world, American capital
+came in millions of dollars to be invested in great plantations of sugar
+cane.
+
+Trouble between the queen and American business interests became so
+serious in time that the queen was dethroned and the Republic of Hawaii
+was established. The republic was short-lived, however; for when the
+Spanish-American war occurred, it was seen that Hawaii is the key to the
+Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiians, foreigners and natives, had long wished to
+become a part of the United States. So the islands were annexed and
+shortly became the Territory of Hawaii.
+
+There are six large islands--Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, and
+Lanai. There are many small outlying islets, most of which are not
+inhabited. Wireless telegraph stations connect the principal islands; an
+ocean cable ties the Territory to San Francisco; and steamship lines
+carry on commerce with British, Japanese, and American ports. Even the
+railway-builder has not forgotten Hawaii, for there are not far from two
+hundred miles of railroad, about half of which carry the products of
+the sugar and coffee plantations to the near-by ports.
+
+Hawaii, the largest island, is famous for its great volcanoes, Kea, Loá,
+and Kilauea. From the village or city of Hilo comfortable coaches take
+visitors over a fine road clear to the crater of Kilauea. At times one
+may stand on the edge of Kilauea's rampart and look down on a lake of
+white-hot, molten lava three miles long and half as wide. Every now and
+then bubbles of gas or steam come to the surface and exploding send long
+threads of viscous lava into the air. Some of the glassy threads are
+fine as the finest silk and a blast of air carries them off to the
+cliff; Pele's hair, they call it, and the sea-gulls gather it to make
+their nests.
+
+[Illustration: A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of
+Mauna-Loá, Hawaii]
+
+The highest points of Hawaii island are nearly fourteen thousand feet
+above sea level. Below the line of about ten thousand feet easterly
+winds bring an abundance of rain; above that line westerly winds bring
+occasional showers and snow squalls. As a result one may find places
+only a few miles apart, one of which has almost daily rains while the
+other gets none at all along the lowland coasts.
+
+Oahu is the best-known island because of Honolulu, the capital of the
+Territory. A most beautiful city it is; indeed, there is nothing
+elsewhere to surpass it in attractiveness--wide streets, beautiful
+parks, flower gardens of wonderful plants, fine dwellings, electric
+street cars, good government, and schools that are famous. All these
+things make Honolulu one of the most desirable and attractive cities of
+homes anywhere in the world.
+
+Just back of Honolulu is a volcanic peak with its great crater--the
+"Punch Bowl," they call it, because of its shape. As one looks down from
+the rim of the Punch Bowl the city is half hidden among its palms and
+algeroba trees. Above the trees are the domes and turrets of the
+National Palace, the government building, and the school-houses. In the
+distance here and there are the great plantations--sugar, rice, and
+banana.
+
+In the city streets one will see the people of many lands--Germans,
+English, Americans, native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans,
+Malays, and Hindoos. Many of the native Hawaiians are rich and
+prosperous; some are in business, and others are in professional life.
+Many of the Chinese are well-to-do merchants. The Hindoos, Malays, and
+Japanese were brought to Hawaii to work in the great plantations.
+
+In the native villages one will frequently find a little church building
+and almost always the district school. Perhaps there may also be a
+Chinese store. Black-eyed children are running about dressed in long
+gowns, and some of them carry little bundles of school-books, each tied
+with stout cord or a leather strap.
+
+The Hawaiians will not work in the sugar and the rice fields, and not
+many will stand the easier labor on the coffee plantations. In
+cultivating their little patches of bananas, breadfruit, cassava, and
+taro, however, they are pretty industrious. When the time of the royal
+feast comes, the natives, or "Kanakas," as they call themselves, get
+busy. The feast certainly is a royal one. Roast pig and roast chicken
+are smoking in a dozen dirt ovens. There are steaming yams and sweet
+potatoes by the bushel, great piles of all sorts of fruit--and poi. All
+the rest of the food is commonplace; poi is _the_ dish. It is one-finger
+poi, two-finger poi, or three-finger poi, according as it is thick
+enough to be lifted out of the pot sticking to one finger, or so thin as
+to require a dextrous swish of two or three.
+
+Waikiki is the great resort of Honolulu. There is the finest of bathing
+the year round; and what is more interesting, the native surf swimmers.
+With a piece of plank just large enough to support his weight in the
+water, the bather swims out to the reef in still water. Then he, or
+she--for young girls are most expert swimmers--makes for open water,
+where the combers are forming. Then, lying flat, bather and plank are
+borne along on the swift rolling surf until both are tossed high on the
+beach.
+
+The aquarium is famous for its unique collection of fish and marine
+animals; it is one of the finest in the world. Near by is the race
+course and amphitheatre. What is still better is the winding road
+through ferns and flowers that leads to the crater rampart, Diamond
+Hill.
+
+Half a dozen miles west of Honolulu one goes by rail around the shore of
+Pearl Lochs, or Harbor. Pearl Harbor is large enough and deep enough to
+float all the warships Uncle Sam will ever own, and the possession of
+this magnificent site for a naval station was a very strong inducement
+to annex Hawaii.
+
+Less than one hundred miles away, at Kalaupapa, on the island of
+Molokai, is the leper settlement. Years ago Chinese settlers brought the
+disease to Hawaii; then the natives began to be stricken, and when it
+was found that leprosy was spreading, the lepers were sent to Molokai.
+For many years they had but little care; the government fed and clothed
+the poor victims and that was about all.
+
+In 1873 Father Damien, a plucky Catholic priest, went to Molokai and
+thereby made himself practically a prisoner for life. Father Damien
+procured physicians, trained nurses, and the best possible care for the
+lepers, and they could at least die in comfort if they could not live.
+Then Father Damien himself was stricken and died. By this time, however,
+the government took the matter in hand. A fine hospital was built and a
+laboratory for the study of the disease was established. Those who are
+able to work can partly support themselves, and they are far better off
+when busy than when idle.
+
+In 1848 the "Great Division" took place; that is, the lands for the
+king, for the public domain, and for the people were set aside, so that
+the people who so desired could own their farms and dwellings. At that
+time the islands were important only as a calling place for whaling
+vessels. At the present time Dame Nature is made to yield annually not
+far from one hundred million dollars' worth of products--sugar, rice,
+coffee, fruit, and cattle. A few years hence, tobacco, rubber, cotton,
+and honey will be added to the list of exported products.
+
+Americans own the sugar plantations, which are mainly on the lava fields
+of Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui Islands. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate
+the rice along the coast lowlands of Oahu and Kauai. Sheep and cattle
+are grown on Lanai and Niihau.
+
+Uncle Sam has brought some very valuable additions to his public domain,
+but no investment has paid better than Hawaii, the Paradise of the
+Pacific.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+GUAM
+
+
+While cruising in the Pacific Ocean Magellan discovered a chain of
+islands about fifteen hundred miles east of the Philippine group. While
+he lay at anchor, predatory natives stole some of his belongings;
+thereupon Magellan gave them a bad name, and to this day the islands
+bear the name Ladrones, or "thieves" islands.
+
+Guam, the largest island in the group, became more or less important
+just after the Spanish-American War, inasmuch as it was required as one
+of our chain of naval and coaling stations that pretty nearly encircles
+the earth. As islands go, Guam is of fair size, about thirty miles long
+and from three to ten miles in width. It is mountainous and the surface
+is jungle-covered except where the natives have made trails and
+clearings. Fringing coral reefs, broken here and there, encircle the
+island. One of these breaks is opposite a bight in the coast, San Luis
+d'Apra, or Apra, as it is now called; and the bay and channel together
+form a harbor so well guarded that no transport laden with hostile
+troops would ever attempt landing.
+
+In 1668 a mission was established. At this time the population numbered
+about one hundred thousand. The country was so well cultivated that the
+whole island seemed like a beautiful garden, for the people were pretty
+good farmers. Rice and tropical fruits were cultivated in abundance.
+The natives were also skilful in the making of pottery and they had a
+well-regulated calendar.
+
+For a time they were well disposed toward their intruders; but at
+length, as they began to learn that conversion to the Christian faith
+meant also slavery to the Spanish, they rebelled against a system which
+was so one-sided, and their opposition led to constant strife and
+bloodshed.
+
+In the course of time the severe treatment of the Spaniards, together
+with contagious diseases introduced, so completely wiped out the native
+population that, at the end of seventy years, scarcely two thousand were
+left. Perhaps no peoples in all the South Sea Islands have suffered more
+keenly from contact with Europeans than these aborigines.
+
+Frightened at the terrible mortality they had caused, the conquerors
+turned to the Philippines to replenish the depopulated island. Tagals
+were brought over to occupy the place of the fast-disappearing natives,
+and with these many of the natives intermarried. The half-castes are
+inferior to the original inhabitants, but they have increased in
+population, and now number ten thousand.
+
+Spain ceded Guam to the United States in 1898. Since the acquisition our
+government has established both day and evening schools for the natives,
+and they are making rapid progress in education.
+
+It is a long journey to Guam--thirty-five hundred miles almost from
+Honolulu and not quite half as far from Manila. And how to get there?
+Well, it is not an easy matter. If you go to Apia, or to Manila, and
+remain long enough--perhaps six weeks, maybe six months--a German
+trading schooner will come along and take you aboard. You get there in
+time; for the trading schooner is likely to make a very circuitous trip,
+calling at a dozen islands to get copra in exchange for cloth, knives,
+and cheap jewelry. But if one happens to have the right sort of "pull,"
+one can get a pass on an army transport. That means a most delightful
+trip from San Francisco to Honolulu, and thence to Guam. Uncle Sam does
+the square thing by his soldiers, and the army transports that carry
+them to the distant stations are fitted so as to be as comfortable as
+the best liners. There are a big exercise deck and a reading-room with
+plenty of books. Not the least important part of the equipment is a
+self-playing piano and a good assortment of music.
+
+[Illustration: Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find
+rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China]
+
+There is not very much to see after one reaches Guam. One village is
+just about the same as all the others. Perhaps half a dozen huts are
+built of mud, or possibly of coral limestone; the rest are made of
+bamboo frames covered with palm--all in one room in which the family
+and the pig live.
+
+Agaña, however, is a village of six or seven thousand people. It is laid
+out in streets which are fairly regular. They are deep with dust during
+the dry season, and with mud the rest of the year. There are several
+government buildings which are neat and trim, two or three churches,
+several school buildings, and a few stores. Most of the people one meets
+on the street speak Spanish; a few speak English. English is the coming
+language, however; for the schools are there to stay and every one of
+the fifteen hundred youngsters who attend school carries away a little
+English. A fine road bordered with palms connects Agaña with Apra, seven
+miles south.
+
+There is not much to see in Guam. The scenery is much like that of every
+island in that part of the Pacific. About the only diversion of the
+soldiers stationed there is hunting, which is pretty good if one is
+content to hunt deer and wild hogs. Artistic sportsmen might prefer the
+deer, but all the real fun is the share of the hog-hunters. The hogs are
+savage beasts when cornered; they likewise are full of animal cunning.
+
+Along the coast lowlands one may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated
+as those of Japan or of China. Most of the rice is consumed on the
+island; however, copra, or dried cocoanut, is an export, and its sale
+brings enough money to the natives to purchase the cloth and other goods
+needed. Since American occupation the caçao tree has been cultivated,
+and cocoa bids fair to be the chief export in the near future.
+
+The government of Guam is better under American rule than at any time in
+the previous history of the island. When the late Admiral Schroeder was
+governor of Guam he consulted his log-book and discovered that he was
+altogether too far away from Washington to be tied to rules and
+regulations, or to be tangled up in official red tape. So he cut the
+tape and used good common sense instead. Perhaps the government was a
+bit patriarchal, but it was good, clean, and wholesome--and every one
+profited by it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
+
+
+Our newest possession, the Philippine Archipelago, in a way, is also our
+oldest, for the islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521,
+about twenty-nine years after the great discovery of Columbus. Magellan
+called at several islands, among them Mindanao and Cebú. He anchored in
+the harbor on which the city of Cebú now stands. He seems to have been
+treated in a very friendly manner by the natives of Cebú, but when he
+crossed to a near-by island he was attacked and killed. The friendship
+of the King of Cebú was not very steadfast, for after Magellan's death
+several of his officers were put to death by the king's order.
+
+For two hundred and forty years the islands were a possession of Spain;
+then they were captured by a British fleet. They were soon restored to
+Spain, however, and remained a Spanish possession until 1898, when they
+were ceded to us after the Spanish-American War.
+
+There are more than three thousand islands in the archipelago, and they
+are the partly covered tops of a mountainous and rugged plateau. Many
+volcanoes testify to the volcanic origin of the plateau; indeed, the
+surface of the plateau seems to be a thin crust over--well, over
+trouble; for the dozen or more volcanoes are never quiet long enough to
+be forgotten. Perhaps it was proper to name the islands after Philip II
+of Spain, for he, too, had his full measure of trouble.
+
+The archipelago is of pretty good size. The whole plateau, land and
+water, is about as large as that part of the United States east of
+Chicago; and the islands themselves are pretty nearly as large as the
+State of Texas. Luzon, the largest island, is about as large as
+Pennsylvania, and Mindanao is a bit smaller. Then there are Samar,
+Panay, Palawan, and Cebú--every one large enough to make a State of fair
+size, and every one with enough people to make a State.
+
+There are about seven million people all told, most of whom are of the
+Malay race. As a rule, they are pretty well along toward civilization;
+some of them are educated. There are also tribes of the black
+race--Negritos, they are called--who are just plain savages. They are
+the original inhabitants of the islands, and it is most likely that they
+are the descendants of people from New Guinea. In the southwest is the
+Sulu group, inhabited by Malays, called Moros. They are Muhammadans in
+religion and are the last of the Malays who came to the islands.
+
+Of all the Malay peoples, the Tagalogs of Luzon have been the foremost
+to learn the arts of western civilization. They have surpassed their
+near relatives, the Visayans, who live in the central part of the
+islands. Perhaps it is the closer contact with the Spanish that has
+given the Tagalogs their great progress. At all events they have become
+well to do and prosperous as measured by other Malay peoples.
+
+The Moros, who live mainly in the southern part, have scarcely reached
+civilization. In the Sulu islands they have their own government, at the
+head of which is a native sultan. In many parts of the islands there are
+tribes governed by chiefs called "dattos." Some of the natives are
+prosperous farmers, but many of them are savages.
+
+A great deal has been said about the misrule and cruelty of the Spanish
+governors and officials. Being soldiers and task-masters it is likely
+that they did many things that will not stand the searchlight of
+civilization. But the work of the priests will always leave a pleasant
+flavor. For three hundred years they braved every danger and suffered
+every hardship in their work. For every one that fell a victim to
+disease, or to the bolo, there was another ready to fill his place. They
+not only converted the natives to Christianity, but they also taught
+them to be thrifty farmers and prosperous business men. As a result the
+Filipinos are the only Asian people of considerable numbers that have
+yet become Christians.
+
+[Illustration: The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles
+along]
+
+When the Philippine Islands became a possession of the United States,
+one of the first things done was to establish several thousand schools.
+A thousand American teachers were at first employed. Training schools
+for teachers were established, and in the course of a few years more
+than five thousand Filipino teachers were conducting native schools.
+English is taught in all the schools, and there are special schools in
+which agriculture, mechanical trades, and commerce are taught.
+
+There is good reason for all this, for the islands have wonderful
+resources. Gold, silver, copper, and iron are abundant. The forests have
+an abundance of hard woods that sooner or later will find a market both
+in Europe and America. The rice-fields will easily produce enough grain
+for the whole population, and a considerable amount to sell in addition,
+when all the rice-lands are cultivated. For want of good wagon roads and
+railways only a small part of the rice-lands are cultivated.
+
+There is an abundance of good grazing land that will produce meat for
+twice the present population. Most of the cattle now grown in the
+islands are of the kind found in India.
+
+The most common beast of burden, however, is the carabao, or
+water-buffalo. What an ugly looking beast it is! It is as clumsy as a
+hippopotamus, as ugly as a rhinoceros, and as kind and gentle as an old
+muley cow. Harnessed to a dray or a wagon, it shuffles along, its big,
+flat feet seeming to walk all over the road. But those same big feet are
+the animal's chief stock in trade. They enable him to walk through both
+sand and deep mud--mud so soft and deep that a horse or a mule would
+sink to its body. Nothing but the carabao's flatboat-like feet could
+drag ploughs through the soft mud of the rice-fields.
+
+Carabaos are easily trained to farm work, and even children can drive
+them--or ride on their backs in going to school. The milk of a carabao
+is as good and wholesome as that of an ordinary cow; the meat is pretty
+tough, but it is not unwholesome.
+
+One thing, however, the carabao must have, and that is a bath several
+times a day. Deprived of its bath, the animal at first becomes restless;
+then it breaks away in a half-crazed condition for the nearest water,
+where it buries itself, all but its head. Native drivers know just how
+to manage their animals and drive them to the nearest water several
+times a day.
+
+There are horses in the islands, but not many. Most of them are very
+much like the mustang. The Spanish brought Andalusian ponies to the
+islands many years ago, but they did not prove very useful. Within a few
+years American horses were introduced, but they could not live on
+Philippine grasses. Mexican mustangs and Mongolian ponies were much
+better, however, but they are used chiefly as riding animals.
+
+Of all the beasts of burden in the Philippine Islands, none is in the
+same class with John Chinaman. Everywhere his bland smile is seen; his
+patience has no end--and, apparently, his work has none. The Filipino
+farmer works merely to keep body and soul together; John Chinaman works
+to save hard cash, and he saves it. Wherever there is any money to be
+made, John is pretty certain to be near by. He is the cook and
+"maid-of-all-work" in the house of the foreign resident, the stevedore
+on the dock, the clerk in the forwarding house, the "boss" in the rice
+plantation, the handy man in the tobacco factory, and the store-keeper
+in the remote Filipino village. Sixteen hours of hard work every day and
+Sunday seem to make him grow fat; the rest of the time he just works for
+fun--and hard cash.
+
+Long before the Chinese coolie came to the United States the Spanish
+raised the cry "The Chinese must go." The Spanish made short work of
+them, killing them by thousands and tens of thousands. But in a year or
+two John was on hand again, smiling and working sixteen hours a
+day--strictly for cash. And he is in the Philippine Islands to stay.
+
+As a rule the Filipinos rarely live isolated as do the American farmers.
+Almost always they cluster in villages of one or two hundred people. The
+Filipino is not likely to cultivate a big farm. Two or three acres will
+supply the family with all the food required, and the Chinese merchant
+will buy enough of his produce to provide a few dollars in cash and the
+cloth for the family wearing apparel. In the smaller villages there is
+an open place that answers for a street, but the houses are apt to be
+scattered about without much regularity of arrangement.
+
+The houses, like those of the Pacific islands generally, are built of
+bamboo frames--heavy pieces for the framework itself and woven bamboo
+splints for the side sheathing. The roof is carefully thatched with the
+leaves of the nipa-palm and these are sewn into a thick mat with ratan.
+In places where the ground is likely to be overflowed, each house is set
+on posts so that the floors are several feet from the ground. In this
+case the "pig" does not "live in the parlor"; the pigs and chickens
+occupy the "ground floor." All told, the Filipino village mansion may
+not be very ornate, but it is extremely comfortable.
+
+The larger villages and cities are built much alike. There is a plaza or
+public square. Around the four sides, and facing the plaza, are the
+church, government buildings, and stores. The more pretentious
+residences are near by. Further away these give place to the Filipino,
+or "nipa houses," as they are called. The street surrounding the plaza
+is broad and well kept; elsewhere the streets are quagmires in the
+rainy, and dust holes in the dry season. Pretty nearly always there is a
+Chinese quarter that is crowded and dirty; quite likely, too, the best
+stores in the town are kept by Chinese merchants. That is the way the
+Spaniards laid out their cities and towns in Spain; they did not change
+the plan in the Philippines. The houses built for them in the islands
+are much like those in Spanish towns--adobe walls plastered with stucco,
+and roofed with tiles.
+
+[Illustration: The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila]
+
+Manila is the capital and commercial centre of the islands. It is a city
+about as large as Seattle, and is situated at the head of a landlocked
+body of water, Manila Bay. Corregidor Island, a little dark-green islet,
+guards the entrance to the bay; and one cannot see the wicked guns that
+are ready to pour a raking fire into a hostile fleet until one is within
+a few hundred yards of the island. The only thing visible at a distance
+is a flag flying from a high mast; but it is the Stars and Stripes that
+bends to the east wind. The bay is a good-sized bit of water, too. In
+the middle of it one can just barely see the gray, misty hills that
+surround it. Then the shore line begins to take shape and the mouth of
+Pasig River seems to open in front of the incoming steamship. In a few
+minutes the harbor of the city is in sight. Steamships, with their
+painted stacks and funnels, and sailing vessels, with every sort of mast
+and rigging, crowd the harbor. Row-boats by the hundred are moving in
+every direction, and little steam-launches and motor-boats are spitting
+viciously as they go back and forth.
+
+The lower part of the city is almost like Amsterdam; it is traversed by
+canals, great and small, in which are fishing-smacks waiting to have the
+catch taken to market. Puffy, wheezy tugs are making fast to huge
+cascoes, or lighters; for the cargoes must be taken from the docks to
+the steamships and sailing-vessels out in the harbor.
+
+The Pasig is only ten or twelve miles in length. It flows from a near-by
+lake, and both sides of the river are lined with villages, and
+market-gardens, and duck-hatcheries.
+
+The business streets are crowded with carts and drays. Here and there
+are smart-looking carriages carrying well-groomed men, who talk little
+and look rich. There could not be more style and ceremony about them if
+they were in New York, London, or Paris. Trim-looking soldiers in khaki
+uniforms, native Filipinos in white suits, Chinese in silk gowns and
+long sleeves, native women wearing red skirts and black shawls, native
+coolies in loose blouses and short pantaloons--all go to make up the
+throng of the streets.
+
+Most of the houses are two stories in height with arcades or awnings
+that shelter the sidewalks. And such narrow sidewalks!--they are hardly
+wide enough for more than three people to walk abreast. But even the
+business houses are built for comfort. The roof has a broad overhang,
+and quite likely there is a covered veranda.
+
+Many of the Filipinos of Manila are educated and prosperous. Their
+houses are said to be furnished in European style, and likewise their
+clothing. Sure enough everything bears a "made in Germany" mark, but
+everything looks distinctly Filipino. The head of the family wears a
+suit of spotless white duck, but it has a military cut--and perhaps he
+goes about the house barefoot; if so, he knows what real comfort is.
+
+[Illustration: Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands]
+
+Mother and daughters wear skirts of beautiful brocaded silk, very wide
+and full; above the skirt is a loose garment much like a shirt-waist cut
+low at the neck, and over this a lace cape with a wide, flowing collar.
+Possibly they wear heelless slippers, but just as likely they, too, are
+barefoot--when no visitors are present. Perhaps such suits are not quite
+so becoming as the trim, tailor-made suits in New York, but they are a
+lot more comfortable.
+
+A short distance from the Escolta, or chief business street, is one of
+the many markets of Manila. The whole space is laid off with rows of
+bamboo booths. Pretty nearly everything to eat, to wear, or to furnish
+the house is on hand--or rather in loose piles--fish, duck's eggs, meat,
+rice, pinole, fruit of forty kinds, straw hats, straw sandals, straw
+raincoats, tin ware from America, wooden ware from Holland, and clay
+stoves "made in Manila."
+
+Every alley has its own wares, and John Chinaman with his baskets
+balanced on a long pole puts a finishing touch to the market. A Filipino
+cannot be emphatic in an ordinary tone of voice. Buyer and seller work
+themselves up to high C pitch until it seems as though nothing short of
+a fit would overtake both. Bedlam is turned loose in every part of the
+market. Usually a man and his wife are required to conduct the business
+at a booth. Their bare feet sticking out from the skirts bob up and
+down, beating time to the clatter of their voices.
+
+Here comes a man whose sole stock in trade consists of a single article,
+namely, a python. His goods are twined about a pole with a cross piece
+for a perch, but the snake's tail has a loving twist around the owner's
+neck. What for?--well, the python has a sweet tooth for rats and mice
+and the sweet tooth of this particular snake is on edge for a square
+meal. Years ago foreign ships brought rats from various countries. In
+the course of time rats and mice became so numerous that it became a
+question whether Manila should exterminate the rats or the rats
+exterminate Manila.
+
+Now, those same ships ought to have brought some cats along, too. But it
+is just as well that they did not, for one python is worth half a dozen
+cats or rat terriers when business is on hand. The only drawback occurs
+when the python insists on getting into bed with his owner to keep warm.
+
+When in Manila, go to Duck-town by all means. It is only a short
+distance from the near-by market. The feeding grounds and hatcheries
+extend for two miles along the river. Hundreds of thousands of ducks are
+reared at the hatcheries, some for eggs, and others for food. The ducks
+are fed on shell-fish, and foreigners imagine that both the meat and the
+eggs have a fishy flavor. Eggs and edible bird's nests are also brought
+from neighboring sea-cliffs to the Manila markets; and both are
+considered great delicacies.
+
+[Illustration: Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country]
+
+Manila is the largest city of the Philippines, but there are also
+several other cities of good lusty growth. Bauan, Lipa, Laoag, and
+Batangas--all in Luzon--and Ilo-ilo in Panay are growing in population
+and business as the resources of the islands develop. Since the
+American occupation, Uncle Sam has done a great deal to make these ports
+centres of business; harbors have been deepened; railways have been
+extended; good roads have been built; and rivers have been made
+navigable.
+
+There are several exports that will always tend to make the Philippines
+rich. Tobacco is an important crop and the Manila leaf, as it is called,
+is of very fine quality. There are those who whisper it about that much
+of the leaf is shipped to Cuba to be made into "Havana" cigars. Sugar is
+also a great export crop, and when the railways now under way are
+completed sugar will become one of the foremost exports. The export of
+copra, or dried cocoanut, is a leading industry, and the Philippine
+Islands produce a large part of the world's product.
+
+One Philippine product, however, connects the islands with almost all
+the rest of the world, namely, Manila hemp. That is, it is called
+"hemp," but it is not hemp at all; the fibre is obtained from a plant
+very closely related to the banana. White leaves or husks grow closely
+around the stalk of the plant, forming a tightly fitting case. This
+envelope is composed of thousands of long, strong fibres that, when
+cleaned and dried, are the hemp that makes the strongest and best rope
+in the world.
+
+After the pulpy leaves are stripped from the stalk, the pulp is squeezed
+out of them and the fibres are left in the sun to dry. The best fibre is
+as soft and fine as silk. Some of it is used in making a fine cloth; the
+coarser fibre is used for rope and hawsers. More than fifteen million
+dollars worth of Manila hemp is sold yearly.
+
+In the treaty with Spain, by which Uncle Sam acquired the islands,
+twenty million dollars was paid to Spain. But the exports from the
+Philippines have averaged nearly thirty million dollars a year ever
+since.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--JAVA
+
+
+The East India Islands is a name which embraces nearly all the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, together with the Philippines. The largest of
+these are New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and Java. Nearly all of
+them, except the Philippines and parts of New Guinea and Borneo, are
+controlled by the Dutch. These fertile islands are a source of great
+revenue to the Netherlands; to the rest of the world they are the chief
+source of sugar, spices, and coffee.
+
+Of all the Dutch East Indies, Java is by far the most beautiful and
+productive; it is a garden of the choicest fruits and flowers.
+
+There are two seasons, a wet and a dry. During the wet season the
+torrential rains are accompanied by thunder and lightning. In some parts
+of the island more than a hundred thunder-storms occur yearly. The
+average rainfall is from sixty to one hundred and eighty-five inches,
+most of the rain falling on the windward side.
+
+Many of the streams are perennial, and their waters are conducted away
+to be used in irrigation, thus bringing under cultivation nearly every
+part of the island. Moreover, the streams themselves hold fertilizing
+material much of which has been thrown out by volcanoes. The irrigating
+water itself furnishes sufficient enrichment for the soil, and but very
+little fertilizing is required. The heat, moisture, and fertile soil,
+coupled with skilful farming, produce bountiful harvests and make the
+whole island a smiling field of verdure and plenty.
+
+The hills and mountains in many places are terraced, so that at a
+distance they look like gigantic staircases carpeted with bright green.
+So fertile is the soil that in some places two or three crops are raised
+each year.
+
+About one-fourth of the surface is covered with forest. Among the most
+valuable trees is the teak-wood, which is extensively used in
+ship-building. It is a more durable timber than oak, since it resists
+decay for a long time, even when wholly or partly submerged in sea
+water. There are vessels afloat to-day which were built of teak one
+hundred years ago.
+
+The inhabitants, about thirty million in number, are of the Malay race
+and belong to three nations, speaking closely related but different
+languages--the Sundanese, Javanese, and Mandurese. The island was
+wealthy, populous, and had a high degree of civilization long before it
+was known to Europeans.
+
+Long years ago--twelve hundred or more--the Hindoos invaded the country,
+and in the fifteenth century Muhammadans came. They were followed later
+by the Dutch who first gained trading concessions and then gradually got
+possession of the whole island, much in the same way as England secured
+India. Each conquest left its impress on the people; the Muhammadans
+converted the natives to their religion. Buddhism preceded the religion
+of the great prophet, and some of the teachings of Buddha have been
+retained, together with many pagan customs.
+
+The Dutch wisely made no effort to Christianize the natives and, until
+recently, they have discouraged all such attempts, believing that they
+could control the people better without disturbing the prevailing
+religious conditions. Indeed, they manage affairs with the natives
+wonderfully well.
+
+The island is divided into "residences," in each of which the laws are
+administered by a native governor. A Dutch resident is employed by the
+colonial government to assist the native governor--really to see that
+he manages his people justly and fairly, for strict justice has always
+been observed in dealings with the natives.
+
+[Illustration: A breadfruit tree in Java]
+
+The Dutch residents are called "elder brothers." Each resident watches
+his residency with great care to see that the taxes are collected and
+paid to the government, and that the natives are treated with justice.
+He is usually the judge who settles all family quarrels and disputes
+between neighbors. He is just in his judgments and his decisions are
+not questioned. Affairs are managed in much the same way as the "School
+City" or the George Settlement in the United States.
+
+At the same time the Dutch are very careful to impress their authority
+on the natives. They require the natives to pay great respect to all
+officers of the colony. A native who comes into the presence of an
+official must have his head turbaned and his attire in proper form.
+Under no circumstances is he permitted to smoke, chew betel-nut, or
+behave carelessly.
+
+The daily work of the natives is very carefully supervised. They are
+taught where to plant, what to plant, and how to plant their crops. The
+"elder brothers" also see that the crops are cultivated with care and
+properly harvested.
+
+Java is ruled by a Governor-General and a council appointed by himself.
+The officers are selected because of their fitness, and most of the
+subordinates must pass a civil service examination. Once in the East
+India service an official is fixed for life, and when he has served his
+time he retires on a pension. Most of the pensioners prefer to remain in
+the island the rest of their lives.
+
+The officials and, indeed, all European residents live well. Stone
+houses with marble or tile floors, wide verandas, and large gardens are
+the rule. Breakfast at one o'clock is the substantial meal of the day.
+It marks not the beginning but the end of the day's work. From one to
+five the intense heat keeps every one indoors. At five, official Java
+and all other Europeans bathe, dress, and get ready for dinner. After
+dinner, driving, calling, and gossiping at the clubs is the proper
+thing, and nowhere are people more ceremonious.
+
+The natives have but little ambition and no desire to do anything for
+themselves. Now and then there are exceptions, however; and a native may
+be found pegging away at the studies that will enable him to pass the
+examinations and hold an official position.
+
+As a whole, the native is gentle and polite and yields ready obedience
+to those in authority. He is fond of amusement, feasts, and gambling;
+he, moreover, celebrates every possible event--his marriage, the birth
+of his children, the building of his home, the rice harvest, a return
+from a journey, a recovery from illness, and even the filing of his
+teeth. If he, perchance, has not sufficient money to hold the
+celebration, he can join with a neighbor, then both will share mutually
+the expense. On all occasions his deportment is quiet, and whether moved
+by joy or anger, no loud language or boisterous laughter is ever heard.
+
+The marriageable age of girls is from twelve to fourteen years, and that
+of boys sixteen. The night preceding the wedding must be spent by the
+couple in watching, in order to avert subsequent unhappiness, and the
+next day they repair to a mosque and are married according to Muhammadan
+rites and customs. To symbolize her total submission to her husband, the
+wife washes his feet. Unfortunately, a divorce can be obtained by the
+husband for a trivial cause by the payment of a small fee. A native, on
+being asked why he got a divorce from his wife, replied, "She ate too
+much and I could not afford to keep her."
+
+Early in the morning the highways are thronged with people on their way
+to and from the markets. And the markets?--well, one is certain to find
+John Chinaman in charge. As a matter of fact, there are more than half a
+million Chinese in the island, and they have the control of the trade
+with the natives. But the native Javanese trudges along, balancing two
+baskets on a long bamboo pole. Women and girls help to make up the
+throng, and they, too, are laden.
+
+At the market pandemonium seems to be loose, and both buyer and seller
+are shrieking at the top of their voices over a bargain price. There is
+no question as to which wins; the Chinese merchant is there for
+business. When the native receives the pay for his produce quite as
+likely as not he makes for the nearest gambling-house and in half an
+hour loses the savings of a month.
+
+To the natives the greatest terrors are lightning and tigers, both of
+which claim hundreds of victims each year. They often refrain from
+killing the tigers, since the tigers kill the wild pigs which destroy
+their crops.
+
+The tiger is killed usually by capturing him in a sort of box-trap, and
+then the trap is taken to the nearest stream, where it is submerged and
+the animal drowned, to avoid injury to the skin, which brings a good
+price. The claws and whiskers are carefully removed and sold as
+fetiches, since they are considered to be very efficacious.
+
+Notwithstanding their hard lot, the people seem happy and there is no
+starvation poverty. They and their ancestors from time immemorial have
+always worked hard under task-masters and they know of no better
+condition. Since their scanty clothing costs but little, if they can
+have enough to eat and a little amusement occasionally, they are
+content. When they have money they spend it recklessly, regardless of
+the future. If the needs of the present are supplied, that is
+sufficient. When misfortune or disaster overtakes them they merely say:
+"It is the will of God."
+
+The temples built centuries ago are among the most wonderful structures
+in the world. They vie in size and grandeur with those of India.
+Thousands of these ruined temples are found scattered everywhere over
+central and eastern Java, and many of them are built on the slopes and
+summits of mountains. These ruins give evidence of the wonderful skill
+in sculpture and building attained by the people in by-gone ages, a
+skill not excelled even in modern times, but lost to the present
+inhabitants.
+
+The ruins of the great temple of Boro-Bodor, situated in the
+south-central part of Java, are among the largest and most striking in
+the world. This temple is square and was built in six terraces or steps
+on the summit of a hill. The first terrace measures about five hundred
+feet on each side, while each of the five decreases in size toward the
+top. The last one is crowned by a cupola fifty-two feet in diameter,
+surrounded by sixteen smaller ones.
+
+Here in this great temple of the dead past may be seen scores of
+statues, showing on their countenances the peace of Nirvana. On both
+inside and outside of the structure are hundreds of images of Buddha and
+carvings of scenes connected with his life. It is estimated that all of
+the sculptures occupy an extent of wall at least three miles in length.
+All the figures are carved from large blocks of lava.
+
+This wonderful temple is built of lava blocks without lime or mortar,
+the huge stones being jointed most accurately by tenons, mortises, and
+dovetails which bind them solidly together.
+
+Many of the temples erected by the Buddhists and Brahmanists were
+destroyed by the Moslem invaders, and others abandoned. All of these
+edifices became, during the succeeding centuries, overgrown with the
+luxuriant tropical vegetation and partly buried. Some of them, like that
+of Boro-Bodor, have been uncovered, displaying hundreds of statues and
+long lines of bas-relief.
+
+Java is one of the most productive regions of the world, otherwise
+thirty millions of people could not live there. The greater part of the
+islands consists of government plantations, but there are more than
+twenty thousand private plantations. The Dutch government has built fine
+wagon roads and miles of railways, otherwise the great crops of rice,
+sugar, coffee, and tea could not be moved to the great trade centres and
+seaports. Rice is the chief crop, but so much is consumed that only a
+little is left for export. The export rice is sold in Borneo. Most of it
+is grown on the low coast plains, and these are watered by a net-work of
+canals.
+
+Coffee is the crop that has made Java famous, and Java coffee is
+regarded the best produced. A few years ago it was the custom to sort
+the coffee with great care and then to store it several years in order
+to improve the flavor. The coffee thus seasoned was known as "old
+government" coffee. Much of the crop is now grown by private owners and
+is known as "private plantations" coffee.
+
+Sugar has become the foremost export crop. Most of it goes to Europe; a
+small part of it is sent to the refineries of the United States. The
+great sugar plantations are likewise on the lowlands. Most of the
+plantations are owned by wealthy Hollanders, or by Dutch companies. The
+cane grows taller than that of the Cuban plantations; usually it is
+twice the height of the native laborers and grows so thickly as to make
+the field like a jungle. It requires a great sum of money to carry on a
+sugar plantation, for thousands of dollars must be spent in preparing
+the land.
+
+But when one sees the great mills with their ponderous machinery, the
+thousands of native workmen, and the train loads of sugar which seem to
+be swallowed by the great steamships, one cannot help thinking that the
+sugar-planters make a lot of money in their business. Their homes, many
+of them, are beautiful palaces--as costly as can be found anywhere in
+Europe.
+
+Indigo is another famous product of Java. The indigo plant would look
+like a rank bunch of weeds were it not planted in rows. The leaves,
+which contain the coloring matter, are picked two or three times a year
+and soaked in water. When they begin to rot, the coloring matter leaves
+the plant and mixes with the water, from which it is afterward
+separated by boiling. The coloring matter itself is called indigo; it is
+a beautiful blue used for dyeing yarns and cloth. The blue cotton cloth
+so much worn by the Dutch peasants is colored with indigo, and both the
+cloth and the dye find a market in pretty nearly every country in the
+world.
+
+[Illustration: Coffee-drying in Java]
+
+Years ago an enterprising Dutch botanist brought to Java some cinchona
+trees from South America. The experiment was successful and so many
+trees were afterward planted that Java now furnishes about half the
+world's supply of quinine, which is extracted from the bark of the tree.
+
+Tobacco is extensively grown in Java, but one does not hear much about
+it, because a great deal of it is sold as "Sumatra" leaf. Tea-growing
+has become a great industry in Java and the tea in quality is as fine
+as that grown in China. Women and girls are the pickers. They work with
+head and arms bare, each wearing a loose gown resembling a Japanese
+kimona without sleeves. As fast as they are picked the leaves are piled
+on squares of white cloth. When the cloth contains enough to make a
+bundle of good size the picker carries it on her head to the factory,
+where the leaves are first wilted, rolled into compact form and then
+dried on great stone floors that are shielded from the sun. The hundreds
+of pickers with their brightly colored gowns and white bundles, form a
+wonderful kaleidoscope picture.
+
+In recent years petroleum, long known to the natives, has added much to
+the wealth of Java. The thrifty Hollander studied well-drilling in
+Pennsylvania and California; then he put his training to work on the
+Javanese oil-fields. As a result Java is beginning to supply not only
+the East Indies, but also Japan with coal-oil.
+
+Years ago travellers used to tell marvellous stories about a certain
+poison valley of Java in the centre of which stood an upas-tree. The
+tree itself was famed for the deadly effects of its poisonous
+exhalations, which killed man, beast, or bird that came near it. These
+stories proved to be mere fabrications. They grew out of the fact that
+near by was a valley from which arose at times carbonic-acid gas in
+sufficient quantity to kill small animals running over certain low
+places. But the upas played no part, though the juice of the tree is
+poisonous.
+
+Batavia is the capital of the Dutch East Indies. It is on low, flat
+land, half a dozen miles from the artificial harbor which has not long
+been finished; for the old port had but little protection from stormy
+seas and high winds. The swampy land on which the city is built has been
+drained by canals. Excepting the business streets, the city is almost
+hidden by the gardens with their profusion of plants. It is the
+Amsterdam of the Old World; and one will find as good wares in Batavia
+as in Holland. During the eruption of Krakatoa, Batavia was buried deep
+in dust and ragged cinders of lava. More than twenty thousand dead were
+under the heaps of ash.
+
+Surabaya is larger than Batavia and has a population of more than one
+hundred and fifty thousand. But Surabaya has not much trade with Europe;
+its commerce is mainly with the ports of Asia. The harbor is good and it
+has become the chief naval station of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+The Dutch authorities do not encourage visitors to Java. All visitors
+must have passports or permits; and if one goes to the interior,
+officials question him at every turn and demand his permit at every
+district.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES
+
+
+Two lofty mountain ranges with a deep valley between them lie at the
+eastern side of the Indian Ocean. The Malay Peninsula is one range; the
+island of Sumatra is the other. The floor of the valley between them is
+covered by the sea and forms the Strait of Malacca.
+
+As islands go, Sumatra is of goodly size--larger than New York,
+Pennsylvania, and the New England States together. From end to end its
+length is about the distance between Boston and Chicago. Greenland,
+Borneo, New Guinea, and Madagascar are each larger. The equator crosses
+Sumatra at its central part.
+
+Sumatra is also a possession of the Dutch East Indies, but it is not
+very important as compared with Java. Although it is three times as
+large as Java, it has scarcely one-tenth the population. There is a
+pretty good reason for this. In the first place, the mountainous region
+is very rugged and much of it is covered with jungle; therefore, it is
+neither habitable nor productive for mankind. In the second place, the
+broad plain on the east side of the island is not well adapted to
+cultivation; it is cut by deep river valleys in the higher parts, swampy
+in the middle part, and covered with water next the coast during a part
+of the year.
+
+Rather singularly the lakes--and there are many--are not in the low,
+swampy lands; most of them are high in the mountains. What is still more
+singular, these lakes are the craters of inactive volcanoes. But
+Sumatra, like Java, has many active volcanoes. One of these, Dempo, is
+almost constantly active. Every now and then it discharges great
+quantities of sulphur gases; these are caught by the rain and, falling
+on the cultivated lands, kill pretty nearly everything touched.
+
+In the jungles nature has been very lavish with life. The forests
+contain more than four hundred kinds of trees--among them teak, ebony,
+camphor, and even good pine. Sumatra is also the home of several trees
+and plants from which gutta-percha is obtained. Railroads to connect the
+forest belts to the coast are the one thing needed to make Sumatra a
+lumber-producing country.
+
+For some reason or other many of the wild animals that crossed the
+shallow water between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra did not cross the
+Sunda Strait to Java. There are many more kinds of animals in Sumatra
+than in Java; indeed, nearly all the larger species of wild animals of
+southern Asia are found in Sumatra, and only a few are in Java. There
+are many elephants in the uplands; the rhinoceros lives in the lowlands;
+the tiger lives in the jungle, as in India. The flying "fox" is one of
+the curiosities of Sumatra. So much for a name, however, for the animal
+is not a fox but a very large bat. Its wings are membranes that connect
+the limbs corresponding to one's fingers. Like other bats, it hangs from
+the limb of a tree, head down, in the daytime, and goes to business at
+night. Its body is not much larger than that of a hare, but when in
+flight it is four or five feet from tip to tip.
+
+[Illustration: Natives in the jungle, Sumatra]
+
+The flying "cat" is likewise a misnamed animal that bears no
+relationship to pussy, but is a kind of lemur. The wild dog, however, is
+very much dog and nuisance at the same time--as much of a nuisance as
+the coyote of the western United States, and far more numerous. The
+"coffee" rat is likewise a great nuisance wherever found; unfortunately
+it is found almost everywhere. Monkeys are also numerous.
+
+The natives of Sumatra, like those of Java, are Malays. Unlike them,
+however, they are difficult to govern; some of the interior tribes are
+fierce and warlike. Near the coast, and in places controlled by the
+Dutch, the native ruler is subject to an "elder brother" or Dutch
+commissioner. Most of the tribes of the interior are Muhammadans; they
+believe that they will be blessed if they are killed in war, and,
+therefore, they take every opportunity to make war. The natives of
+Acheen, a province in the northwestern part of the island, have always
+given the Dutch a great deal of trouble, and they are not fully
+conquered, even after a hundred years of warfare.
+
+One of the interior tribes, it is thought, came from India several
+hundred years ago, for their religion and customs are much the same as
+those of the Hindus. Although they are surrounded by savage tribes, and
+far removed from the civilization, both of India and Europe, they have
+reached a remarkable condition of civilization of their own. They are
+excellent farmers and stockmen; they also make firearms, cloth, and
+jewelry which they sell to the Malay peoples about them.
+
+Throughout the island the houses are much like those of Malay peoples
+elsewhere, with timber frames and thatched roofs. As in the other
+islands, they are set on posts wherever floods are likely to occur. The
+larger timbers of many houses are beautifully carved, although many of
+the designs are grotesque and even hideous. All the houses are clustered
+in villages. This is done partly for protection against man-eating
+tigers, and partly because the people are inclined to social life. The
+club-house is usually to be found in the villages. It is the town hall,
+bazaar, market, lounging place, and social club combined. Perhaps a
+wedding and a funeral may be going on there at the same time. Men
+gamble, and women gossip and chew betel-nut; the peddler likewise shows
+his bargain-counter wares at the club-house.
+
+The great plantations of sugar, coffee, and tobacco are managed much the
+same as in Java. The rice-fields are cultivated usually by the Chinese,
+and they have much of the trade in the rice. Sumatra is famous for its
+tobacco. The plants grow larger and higher than those cultivated in the
+United States. The leaves are large and the best of them are used as
+"wrappers," or outer coverings for fine cigars. Sumatra leaf commands a
+high price, and a considerable amount of the best tobacco is shipped to
+Cuba and the United States.
+
+The coffee crop is also of excellent quality. Some of it reaches the
+market as "Java" coffee; and, indeed, it is equal to the best coffee
+grown in Java. The beans are large, light in color, and of fine flavor.
+Carefully sorted Palembang coffee commands a high price.
+
+Sumatra is famous for its pepper, and not far from one-half the world's
+product of pepper comes from this island. The plant producing pepper is
+not the pepper-tree so commonly grown for its beautiful foliage and
+bright red berries in California and Mexico; it is a vine or climbing
+bush. It is commonly planted near to a sapling, around which it twines;
+but in many plantations the plants are pruned and trimmed so that they
+grow unsupported. The pepper of commerce consists of the dried berries
+or fruit of the vine. It is the custom to pick the berries as they turn
+red. The berries shrivel and turn black as they dry. These, when ground,
+are the black pepper of commerce. When fully ripe the color of the berry
+turns to a pale yellow and the outer skin is easily removed. The
+"husked" berries are used for making the white pepper of commerce.
+
+Sago is also an important product of Sumatra. It is the starchy pith of
+a kind of palm-tree--the sago-palm. The pith is dried, ground to a
+powder and washed in order to remove the stringy fibre. In the process
+of washing, the starchy granules sink to the bottom, while the woody
+fibre floats off.
+
+[Illustration: A jungle, scene in Sumatra]
+
+There are several large towns in Sumatra--Siboga, Padang, Benkulen,
+Telok Belong, and Palembang--but their names are rarely seen in print or
+spoken. The reason is not hard to find; Singapore, just across the
+Strait of Malacca, is a free port, with a fine harbor. Vessels from
+every part of the world call at Singapore, and it is much more
+convenient to have the Sumatra products marketed there than to send them
+from Sumatra ports.
+
+A few miles to the east of Sumatra are the islands of Banka and
+Billiton, famous for their tin mines. These mines produce about
+two-thirds the world's supply of tin. It is interesting to know that the
+silver-white metal, with which so many of our kitchen utensils are
+coated, has travelled more than half-way around the world to be used,
+but this is probably the case.
+
+Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. In this narrow strait is
+situated the island of Krakatoa, remarkable for one of the most
+destructive volcanic eruptions that have ever occurred. The great
+eruption was preceded by low rumblings and slight explosions for three
+months before the volcano burst out in all its fury, on the night of
+August 26, 1883. The explosions were heard at a distance of many hundred
+miles and over an area equal to one-thirteenth of the earth's surface.
+The entire southern part of the island was blown away and the earth was
+shaken for thousands of miles, the shock being recorded as far as South
+America.
+
+The upheaval caused a tidal wave one hundred and twenty feet high which,
+with the lava clots and ash ejected, destroyed all of the towns and
+plantations bordering on both sides of the straits. In this disaster
+more than forty thousand persons perished and every vestige of animal
+and vegetable life in the surrounding region disappeared. The only
+person left to look out upon the scene of destruction was the keeper of
+the light-house, a structure one hundred and thirty feet high, whose
+light the gigantic waves merely succeeded in extinguishing.
+
+A cubic mile of material is said to have been thrown out in the form of
+lapilli and dust by the successive explosions. The dust, estimated to
+have reached the height of several miles, was disseminated by the upper
+currents of air and caused the brilliant sunsets seen for months in
+nearly every part of the civilized world.
+
+Celebes is the most curiously shaped island in the world. It has a
+central body from which project four large arms, making it look like a
+huge starfish. These radiating peninsulas are mountain ranges, here and
+there peaked with volcano cinder cones. There are no low-lying marshes;
+the position and high surface render this one of the healthiest islands
+in the Malay Archipelago.
+
+The Dutch have had settlements here for more than two centuries; and
+their wise and just treatment of the natives has made the island famous
+for peace and prosperity. Except a few tribes of the interior, all the
+islanders are at least partly civilized. The natives who live in the
+coast regions are intelligent and industrious. Paganism and corrupted
+Muhammadanism are the prevailing religions, but Christianity has secured
+a firm hold in a few places. A written language and literature have
+prevailed for centuries.
+
+All able-bodied men are compelled to work and each year to give a few
+days' labor to keep the excellent roads in good repair; but they reap
+the reward of their industry and are happy and contented.
+
+The best coffee land in the East Indies is to be found on this island.
+The most favorable soil for coffee is the rich, black volcanic ash that
+covers the mountain slopes in many parts of north Celebes.
+
+The Menado coffee is said to be the finest the world produces.
+
+The coffee-trees are allowed to grow to the height of six feet, when the
+tops are cut off, so as to strengthen the growth of the lateral branches
+which bear the fruit.
+
+Besides a fungus disease, coffee has many other enemies. Both rats and
+mice are fond of the juicy stalks of the berries when they are nearly
+ripe, and they nibble at them until the berries fall. The long-haired
+black rat is the greatest of these pests. Cats are kept on each
+plantation to prey upon the animal pests; but, unfortunately, the
+natives are very fond of cats--not as pets, but as articles of food.
+This feline appetite on the part of the workmen causes the owner to keep
+a vigilant watch over his cat family, and to severely punish any
+offender. Perhaps in time they will learn to employ the python as a
+rat-catcher, for the python is not surpassed for this purpose.
+
+The forest trees are much like those of the adjacent islands. There are
+no very large animals, those peculiar to Celebes being the tailless
+baboon and the "pig-deer," which has tusks and curving horns.
+
+Parts of the interior of Celebes still remain unexplored and are said to
+be inhabited by cannibals and head-hunters.
+
+Macassar is the capital and chief city. It is situated in the southern
+part of the southwestern peninsula, and in commerce ranks next to the
+largest cities of Java. Its trade totals upward of three million dollars
+annually.
+
+The principal exports of the island are coffee, rice, nutmegs, cloves,
+dammer, copal, rattan, copra, tobacco, trepang, and tortoise-shell;
+coffee greatly outranking all the other products.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+BORNEO AND PAPUA
+
+
+Hot, damp, and swampy along the coast lowlands; rugged and fairly
+pleasant in the high plateau lands--that is Borneo, an island as large
+as the State of Texas. Borneo has a great future, however, when a race
+of civilized people can be found who can inhabit it, for it is even more
+unhealthful than Sumatra.
+
+But the wealth is there--diamonds that are rather poor in color, gold,
+copper, iron, coal, and petroleum. That is a good list, and it remains
+only to find a people who can live there and make the great wealth of
+the island available to the world. Perhaps it may be the Japanese--less
+likely the Chinese, for they are content to trade with the natives.
+Possibly it may be the Filipinos--for some of the Filipinos, especially
+the Moros, are the descendants of Borneo peoples.
+
+Safe it is to say that the native tribes will not accomplish this
+result, for they are among the most debased and disgusting savages on
+the face of the earth. Many of these tribes are Malays governed by
+chiefs, or dattoes. Some of the tribes near the coast carry on a crude
+sort of farming, which is encouraged by the Chinese merchants who buy
+their produce. Some of the interior tribes just live, being both lazy
+and vicious. For food, there is an abundance of bananas and meat. As to
+the meat, it makes little or no difference about the kind; any animal
+whose flesh has become putrid is relished.
+
+The most interesting natives of Borneo, however, are the Dyaks, the
+people from whom the Moros of the Philippine Islands are descended. They
+are perhaps the most intelligent, but certainly the most troublesome
+peoples. They are best known as the "head-hunters" of Borneo. Among
+themselves, the one who has killed the greatest number of people is the
+greatest man of the tribe, and the heads of his victims are the
+testimony to his greatness. So the head-hunters kill just for the
+pleasure of killing, and the heads of their victims are kept as
+trophies. Not all Dyak tribes are head-hunters, however.
+
+When they are not off on head-hunting expeditions, the Dyaks are very
+industrious farmers. They are fond of ornaments. The men of some of the
+tribes wear richly embroidered jackets; the women may wear waists made
+of fine rattan strung with metal beads and ornaments. They may even wear
+crowns of burnished metal; at all events, they are certain to wear
+earrings of astonishing size--perhaps three or four inches across and
+made of solid brass. To hold these pieces of native jewelry the lobes of
+the ears, after they have been pierced, are stretched until they form
+loops two inches or more in length.
+
+The men also are fond of earrings and similar ornaments, but a real Dyak
+swell does not consider himself properly in style until his front teeth
+are filed away so that they are notched and shut together like the teeth
+of a steel trap. Moreover, he cannot hope to obtain a wife unless he has
+at least one head as a trophy.
+
+In hunting, the Dyak often makes use of the blow-gun. This weapon, for
+short distances, is about as sure and true as a rifle. It is a wooden
+tube four or five feet in length, the bore of which is made very
+straight and smooth. The arrow, or dart, fits the bore of the tube. To
+make sure of the game the tip of the dart is dipped in a most deadly
+poison; so that, if it merely breaks the skin of the animal at which it
+is shot, it makes a wound that is quickly fatal.
+
+Unlike most of the natives of the tropical Indies, instead of living in
+villages, the Dyaks frequently live in communal houses. Sometimes twenty
+or more families live in the same house, which is not unlike the
+communal houses of the American Indian, except that it is surrounded by
+a broad veranda.
+
+Hunting honey in the forests is one of the native sports. The forests of
+certain parts of Borneo seem to be alive with wild bees. As a result,
+honey and wax are very abundant. The honey-bear gets a good share of the
+wild honey, for his shaggy hide is proof against the stings of the bees.
+The Dyak hunter has no shaggy coating to protect him; so he goes about
+robbing the bees in a more scientific manner.
+
+The bees seem to prefer the mengalis tree, which has so many angles and
+hollow places about its trunk that to build the comb is an easy matter.
+Not infrequently there may be fifty or more swarms in a single tree.
+When a bee-tree is to be robbed, great piles of a certain plant or weed
+are collected and put in such a position that the smoke will be carried
+against the nesting-places of the swarms. The piles are then fired. The
+smoke neither kills the bees nor does it drive them off; it merely
+stupefies them. When the humming of the bees is hushed, comb and honey
+are easily removed. A considerable part of the wax is exported, but
+thousands of tons are wasted.
+
+Hunting in the forests of Borneo has its unpleasant features, for the
+leeches are almost as numerous as the leaves of the trees. They are big,
+fat, ugly-looking slugs, but they can stretch their bodies into a small,
+thin form. When waiting for a victim they lengthen and sway their
+threadlike bodies to and fro, ready to launch out at the first
+opportunity. So gently do they commence their work that the pricking
+sensation is felt only when they are gorged with blood and begin to
+loosen their hold.
+
+The gathering of edible birds' nests, built by a kind of swallow, is
+quite an industry, and is confined to the rocky-cliff sections of
+certain parts of the coast where cover abounds. This species of swallow
+is smaller than the common swallow and builds its nest either in the
+dark limestone caverns or in the crevices and nooks of the overhanging
+cliffs. The chief material used in constructing the nest is a glutinous
+saliva produced by the bird itself. The Chinese are very fond of the
+nests, and Chinese merchants buy most of them.
+
+The roofs of some of the caves frequented by these swallows are several
+hundred feet above their floors, and to reach the nests, scattered over
+the curved roofs and sides, it is necessary to construct ladders and
+stages. These are made out of rattan and bamboo and are fastened by pegs
+driven into the limestone walls. Crawling up on these slender supports
+with a candle and forked bamboo pole, the native proceeds to detach the
+nests, which he passes to a companion below. When the nests are built
+in caves and crevices, near the top of cliffs, a swinging ladder is
+dropped from above.
+
+There are two kinds of nests, the clear yellowish-white ones, and the
+dark ones. The former bring a price as high as twelve dollars per pound;
+the latter only one-tenth as much. The best nests are found in the
+darkest caves.
+
+Bird-nest gathering is a perilous calling, and serious accidents are not
+infrequent. The nests are gathered two or three times a year.
+
+The northern part of Borneo is British territory, and the British also
+control the States of Sarawak and Brunei; the rest of the island is a
+part of the Dutch East Indies. The British are more interested in the
+minerals and jungle produce, such as gutta-percha, rattan, rubber, and
+birds' nests, than in the cultivation of plantations. The Dutch, on the
+other hand, are trying to establish the great plantations there that
+have made Java famous. Already these are producing great quantities of
+sago, tobacco, and sugar.
+
+There are no large cities and only a few ports with good harbors, but
+German steamships make the rounds of the ports and carry the produce to
+Singapore, the clearing-house of the East Indies.
+
+Scarcely one hundred and fifty miles north of Australia lies Papua, or
+New Guinea. Next to Greenland it is the largest island in the world, and
+in many ways it is the world's wonderland. It was one of the first large
+bodies of land discovered after the discovery of America, and one of the
+last to be settled by Europeans. Most likely dry land at one time
+connected Australia and New Guinea, for the animal and plant life of the
+two are much the same. Even the Great Barrier Reef that skirts the east
+coast of Australia extends part-way around New Guinea.
+
+Of all the islands southeast of Asia, New Guinea is the most
+interesting. It is rich beyond measure with things useful and
+beautiful. Sugar-cane grows wild from sea to mountain; wild oranges,
+lemons, and limes can be had for the picking; and land adapted for
+growing rice, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cocoanuts, and cinchona is
+plentiful. There are mountain summits clad in everlasting snow,
+healthful plateaus abounding in delightful scenery, and dank coast
+plains in which lurks the deadly jungle fever.
+
+Dense forests cover most of the island, but the forest trees of the East
+Indies are not to be found except here and there in the northwest neck
+of the island. The famous eucalyptus abounds in the lowland regions; so
+also does the nipa-palm. Pines, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand,
+grow in the high plateaus. Most singular of all, in the high mountain
+regions one may find the alpine plants of Europe, New Zealand, the
+Antarctic islands, and the Andine heights of South America. Still
+another strange feature is to be found: while the forest trees are
+Australian kinds, the plants that make the forests a thicket are the
+rattans and other jungle plants of India!
+
+New Guinea is noted for birds of beautiful plumage, especially birds of
+paradise, of which there are many kinds. Among the insects is one
+commonly known as the "praying" mantis. It is related to the grasshopper
+and is found also in many other parts of the world. In New Guinea the
+praying mantis is three or four inches long and at first sight seems to
+be nothing but a broken twig. In various parts of the world it is known
+as "preacher," "nun," "soothsayer," and "saint." It has received its
+name from the fact that it rests in a sort of kneeling position, holding
+its forelegs in a devotional attitude.
+
+Its character, however, is anything but saintly; it is a most vicious
+wretch that may well be called the tiger of the insect world. The
+devotional attitude is the position in which it can best seize its
+insect prey; for when an unsuspecting insect lights on what seems to be
+a green twig, snap!--those blade-like forelegs armed with sharp spikes
+come together like scissors, and the unlucky victim is cut to pieces in
+an instant.
+
+John Chinaman has discovered a use for the praying mantis--a very
+practical use, too. John and his near-by friends capture a lot of the
+insects, carry them to a convenient bungalow, turn them loose in a
+cockpit, and bet on the survivor. When the insects are turned loose
+there is business on hand, for they go to work at once, cutting one
+another to pieces by the most approved methods of surgical amputation.
+The owner of the survivor wins.
+
+The native Papuans much resemble the bushrangers of Australia; they are
+Negritos, with black skins and woolly hair. There are a few tribes of
+natives that much resemble the peoples of Samoa and Hawaii; there are
+also other tribes that resemble the Malays of southeastern Asia.
+
+The Papuan tribes of the coast are about as degraded as the bushrangers
+of Australia. Some of the tribes are cannibals who have a fondness for
+sailors that have been wrecked on the shores of New Guinea. They are
+neither better nor worse than most of the other tribes of islanders.
+Like other islanders, too, they are tractable and easily governed by the
+Europeans who treat them decently. Not very much is known about the
+tribes in the interior, except that some of them have neither houses nor
+clothing. They live in the trees, and wear no clothing. They are hardly
+better off than the troops of monkeys, but unlike them eat raw flesh
+instead of fruit and nuts.
+
+Missionaries have established schools along the coast settlements, and
+the native children trained in these schools make amazing progress. They
+learn to read and write quickly, are neat in dress, and polite in
+manners. Many of the boys who attend the mission schools are trained to
+skilled labor on the plantations; some go to the interior as missionary
+teachers.
+
+A few of the Papuan tribes have reached a condition of barbarism much
+like that of the Iroquois Indians in New York when the white men found
+them. They live in houses, some of them four or five hundred feet in
+length. Perhaps thirty or forty families may occupy a single house. The
+houses are divided into apartments, each family living separately.
+
+In some of the tribes the men live in a communal house by themselves.
+The women live in small huts, two or three together. They cook the food,
+which they carry to the communal house; they also do all the work
+required in cultivating the gardens of yams, bananas, and vegetables.
+War, hunting, and fishing are the only pursuits of the men.
+
+Three nations, Holland, Great Britain, and Germany, have divided New
+Guinea among them. The Dutch have the eastern half of the island. The
+British and Germans possess each about one-quarter, British New Guinea
+being situated opposite to Queensland, Australia. The British own the
+Solomon Islands to the eastward of New Guinea, also.
+
+The Dutch are laying out plantations and teaching the natives to work
+them in the same way that they are managed in Java. The British are busy
+exploring the interior, looking especially to the rich mines in their
+possession. They have also established a considerable trade in copra,
+sago, pearl shell, and cocoa-fibre mats. They are planting rubber-trees,
+for there is no better land in the world for rubber. They have one great
+advantage, namely, the Fly River, which is navigable six hundred miles
+from its mouth, and opens a trading route far into the interior. Port
+Moresby is the trade centre of British New Guinea.
+
+The Germans make their share of the island pay expenses by taxing and
+licensing the traders who go there to do business, and they manage to
+get a considerable profit out of it. When they find that a trading
+company is making too much money they buy the company out and carry on
+the business themselves; and this is profitable, too.
+
+Although less is known about New Guinea than almost any other part of
+the earth, enough is known to make it certain that it is one of the most
+desirable bodies of land in the world.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania, by Jewett Castello Gilson</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wealth of the World's Waste Places and
+Oceania, by Jewett Castello Gilson</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>Author: Jewett Castello Gilson<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>Release Date: November 19, 2007  [eBook #23546]<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>Language: English<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA***<br />&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Roger Frank<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:413px'>
+<a name="illus-000" id="illus-000"></a>
+<img src="images/wcvr.jpg" alt="" title="" width="413" /><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:377px'>
+<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a>
+<img src="images/wfpc.jpg" alt="The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah" title="" width="377" /><br />
+<span class="caption"><i>From the National Geographic Magazine, copyright 1911</i><br />The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah</span>
+<br /><a href="images/wfpc-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<table style="margin: auto;" summary=""><tr><td>
+<p style=" font-size:1.4em; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em;">REDWAY'S GEOGRAPHICAL READERS</p>
+<p style=" font-size:2.1em;">WEALTH OF THE</p>
+<p style=" font-size:2.1em;">WORLD'S WASTE PLACES</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.2em;">AND</p>
+<p style=" font-size:2.1em; margin-bottom:4em;">OCEANIA</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.2em;">BY</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.6em;">JEWETT C. GILSON</p>
+<p style=" font-size:0.8em; margin-bottom:6em;">FORMER SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.2em; margin-bottom:6em;">ILLUSTRATED</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.2em;">CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</p>
+<p style=" font-size:1.2em; margin-bottom:2em;">NEW YORK :::::::::::::::::: 1913</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center' style='text-indent: 0'>Copyright, 1913,<br />by JEWETT C. GILSON</p>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h3>PREFACE</h3>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span>Although the term "Waste Places" carries an implied meaning of
+"worthless," yet, interpreted in the light of Nature's methods, each
+region described, useless as it may apparently seem, possesses a
+definite relation to the rest of the world, and therefore to the
+well-being of man. The Sahara is the track of the winds whose moisture
+fertilizes the flood-plains of the Nile. The Himalaya Mountains condense
+the rain that gives life to India. From the inhospitable polar regions
+come the winds and currents that temper the heat of the tropics.</p>
+
+<p>Nature has secreted many of her most useful treasures in most forbidding
+places. The nitrates which fertilize so much of Europe are drawn from
+the fiercest of South American deserts, and the gold which measures
+American commerce is mined in the arctic wilds of Alaska or in the
+almost inaccessible scarps of the western highlands. The description of
+these regions and the portrayal of their relation to the rest of the
+world is the purpose of Part I of this book.</p>
+
+<p>Part II of the book deals with Oceania&mdash;more especially with our island
+possessions in the Pacific Ocean. It presents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">viii</a></span> the salient features of
+the ocean grand division in the light of most recent knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>The author wishes to give credit to Mr. Jacques W. Redway, F.R.G.S., for
+suggesting the subject of Part I and for the inspiration he received
+from the distinguished geographer in developing the subject.</p>
+
+<p style='text-align: right; margin-right: 2em;'>J. C. G.</p>
+
+<p style='font-size:smaller; text-indent: 0'><span class="smcap">Oakland, California</span>,<br />
+<i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;December 25, 1912</i>.</p>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<p class='center' style='font-size:1.4em; text-indent: 0'>CONTENTS</p>
+<p class='center' style='text-indent: 0'>PART I&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES</p>
+
+<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents" style="font-variant: small-caps; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+<col style="width:15%;" />
+<col style="width:5%;"  />
+<col style="width:70%;" />
+<col style="width:10%;" />
+<tr>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdleft" colspan="3">Introduction</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+    <td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">I.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Wealth of the Arid Southwest</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_WEALTH_OF_THE_ARID_SOUTHWEST_218">4</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">II.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Grand Canyon of the Colorado</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_GRAND_CANYON_OF_THE_COLORADO_854">27</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">III.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Yellowstone Park</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#YELLOWSTONE_PARK_1047">35</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">IV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Two Prehistoric Cemeteries&mdash;Giant Reptiles and Giant Trees</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#TWO_PREHISTORIC_CEMETERIESmdashGIANT_REPTILES_AND_GIANT_TREES_1524">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">V.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Death Valley</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#DEATH_VALLEY_1718">58</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">VI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Mineral Wealth of the Andes</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_MINERAL_WEALTH_OF_THE_ANDES_1999">67</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">VII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Czar's Greater Domain</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_CZARS_GREATER_DOMAIN_2439">82</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">VIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Mystic Highlands of Asia</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_MYSTIC_HIGHLANDS_OF_ASIA_2901">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">IX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Primal Home of the Saracen</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_PRIMAL_HOME_OF_THE_SARACEN_3119">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">X.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Sahara</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_SAHARA_3411">115</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Polar Regions&mdash;the Conquest of the Arctic</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#POLAR_REGIONSmdashTHE_CONQUEST_OF_THE_ARCTIC_3773">128</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Polar Regions&mdash;Antarctica</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#POLAR_REGIONSmdashANTARCTICA_4348">147</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Iceland, the Maid of the North</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#ICELAND_THE_MAID_OF_THE_NORTH_4750">160</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Greenland</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#GREENLAND_5068">170</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Where the Two Great Oceans Meet</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#WHERE_THE_TWO_GREAT_OCEANS_MEET_5193">175</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Reclaimable Swamp Regions</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#RECLAIMABLE_SWAMP_REGIONS_5406">183</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Strange Rock Formations&mdash;Natural Bridges</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashNATURAL_BRIDGES_5599">190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Strange Rock Formations&mdash;Table Mountain of California</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashTABLE_MOUNTAIN_OF_CALIFORNIA_5726">195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Strange Rock Formations&mdash;Gibraltar</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashGIBRALTAR_5880">199</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Baku Oil Fields</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_BAKU_OIL_FIELDS_6061">206</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The South African Diamond Fields</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_SOUTH_AFRICAN_DIAMOND_FIELDS_6214">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class='center' style='text-indent: 0; margin-top: 1em'>PART II&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;OCEANIA</p>
+
+<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents" style="font-variant: small-caps; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+<col style="width:15%;" />
+<col style="width:5%;"  />
+<col style="width:70%;" />
+<col style="width:10%;" />
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Islands of the Pacific</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_ISLANDS_OF_THE_PACIFIC_6680">226</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Australia</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#AUSTRALIA_6882">233</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Great Barrier Reef</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_GREAT_BARRIER_REEF_7194">244</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Gold Fields of Australia</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_GOLD_FIELDS_OF_AUSTRALIA_7354">250</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXVI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Tasmania</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#TASMANIA_7610">258</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXVII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">New Zealand</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#NEW_ZEALAND_7726">262</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXVIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Samoa and Fiji</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#SAMOA_AND_FIJI_7945">270</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXIX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Hawaiian Islands</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_HAWAIIAN_ISLANDS_8183">277</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXX.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Guam</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#GUAM_8409">285</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXXI.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Philippine Islands</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_PHILIPPINE_ISLANDS_8526">289</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXXII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Dutch East Indies&mdash;Java</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashJAVA_8853">301</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXXIII.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">The Dutch East Indies&mdash;Sumatra and Celebes</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashSUMATRA_AND_CELEBES_9169">311</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="tdright">XXXIV.</td>
+  <td></td>
+  <td class="tdleft">Borneo and Papua</td>
+  <td class="tdright"><a href="#BORNEO_AND_PAPUA_9407">319</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h2 class="loi"><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2>
+<table border="0"  width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+<col style="width:80%;" />
+<col style="width:20%;" />
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Great Rainbow Natural Bridge of Southern Utah</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td align='right'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Map of Islands of the Pacific</td><td class="tdright"><i>Facing</i> <a href="#illus-002">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards&#39; Roost</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-003">6</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Gila monsters</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-004">9</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A giant cactus in Arizona</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-005">12</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-006">17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Shoshone Project, Wyoming</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-007">25</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Grand Canyon of the Colorado</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-008">29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Grand View Trail</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-009">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, looking down canyon from Grand Point</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-010">37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Mammoth Hot Springs, Summit Pools</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-011">45</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Beehive Geyser</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-012">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Brontosaurus</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-013">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Allosaurus</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-014">55</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Twenty mule borax team</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-015">61</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-016">73</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Llamas resting</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-017">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-018">79</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River. Catching the material for caviare</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-019">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-020">87</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Driving over the tundra in winter</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-021">91</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Train on the steppes of Russia</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-022">95</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-023">99</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but furnishes milk, butter, and meat</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-024">103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-025">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A group of Arabs with their dromedaries</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-026">111</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">On the sands of the desert</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-027">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-028">125</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Peary&#39;s ship, the <i>Roosevelt</i></td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-029">137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his eskimo dogs on the <i>Roosevelt</i></td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-030">141</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Musk ox</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-031">144</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">An antarctic summer scene</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-032">149</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The penguin defies the cold</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-033">153</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Street in Reykjavik, Iceland</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-034">163</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">North Cape, Iceland</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-035">167</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-036">171</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A large iceberg</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-037">173</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A group of Eskimos in south Greenland</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-038">174</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-039">177</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Fuegians</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-040">179</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Everglades of Florida</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-041">184</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-042">187</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Devil&#39;s Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-043">191</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-044">193</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-045">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-046">209</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-047">219</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley Mine</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-048">223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A Malay girl</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-049">229</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A Malay boy</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-050">231</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-051">235</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-052">237</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">An Australian emeu</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-053">239</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Homestead and station in Young District, Australia</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-054">243</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal structure in the world</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-055">247</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Melbourne is the largest city of australia and contains nearly half a million people</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-056">257</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Maori pa, or village</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-057">263</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-058">265</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Native canoe, Fiji Islands</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-059">275</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-060">279</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A lake of white-hot molten lava. the volcano of Mauna-Lo&aacute;, Hawaii</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-061">281</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-062">287</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles along</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-063">291</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">The harbor of the city. scene on the Pasig River, Manila</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-064">295</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-065">297</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-066">299</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A breadfruit tree in Java</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-067">303</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Coffee-drying in Java</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-068">309</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">Natives in the jungle, Sumatra</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-069">313</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdleft">A jungle, scene in sumatra</td><td class="tdright"><a href="#illus-070">316</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h1>WEALTH OF THE<br />
+WORLD'S WASTE PLACES<br />
+AND<br />
+OCEANIA</h1>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:642px'>
+<a name="illus-002" id="illus-002"></a>
+<img src="images/w001.jpg" alt="Islands of the Pacific." title="" width="642" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Islands of the Pacific.</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w001-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class='dashed' />
+
+<h2><i>PART I</i></h2>
+
+<div>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_1" id="pg_1">1</a></span>
+<h2>WEALTH OF THE<br />WORLD'S WASTE PLACES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<p>There is a great wealth of literature about what we call the world's
+productive lands&mdash;that is, the densely peopled lands that yield grain,
+meat, sugar, fruit, and all the various foodstuffs. In any well-equipped
+library we may find great numbers of useful books that will tell us all
+about the places where cotton, wool, and silk are grown, or where coal
+and iron are mined. All these lands are the dwelling places of many
+people. Networks of railways connect the various cities and villages,
+and probably a majority of the people living in them have travelled in
+and about much of the area of these lands.</p>
+
+<p>A large part of the earth's surface is commonly called "unproductive."
+As a rule this is only another way of saying that such parts of the
+world produce little foodstuffs. We must not take the word
+"unproductive" either too literally or too seriously, however, for Dame
+Nature has a way of secreting some of her choice treasures in places so
+forbidding and so desolate that only the most resolute and daring men
+even search for them. For instance, the mineral once much used by the
+makers of carbonated or "soda" water comes from a part of Greenland that
+is so bleak, cold, and inhospitable that no human beings can long exist
+there unless food and fuel are brought them from afar off. The famous
+"nitrates" of Chile are obtained<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_2" id="pg_2">2</a></span> in the fiercest part of the Andean
+desert. Not only the food but the water consumed must be carried to the
+miners, who are but little better than slaves. Most of the gold and
+silver is obtained in regions that are unfit for human habitation. The
+largest diamond fields in the world are in a region that will not
+produce even grass without irrigation&mdash;a region that would not be
+inhabited were there no diamonds. From the most inhospitable highlands
+of Asia comes a very considerable part of the precious mineral, jade.
+Death Valley, in the southern part of the United States, on account of
+its terrific heat, is perhaps the most unhabitable region in the world,
+but the borax which it produces is used in every civilized country. And
+so we might name regions by the score that are practically unhabitable,
+which nevertheless produce things necessary to civilized man.</p>
+
+<p>We call them "waste places," but this is far from true. For the greater
+part they are quite as necessary as the places we call fertile. Of
+foodstuffs, for instance, the greater part of the Rocky Mountain
+highland produces not much more than the State of New York. Yet the
+presence of this great mountain wall diverts the moist warm air from the
+Gulf of Mexico northward, making the Mississippi basin one of the
+foremost granaries of the world. The absence of rain in the west slope
+of the Peruvian Andes makes much of the western part of Chile and Peru a
+desert. But that same absence of rain makes the nitrate beds possible;
+for had there been yearly rains, the nitrates long since would have been
+leached out. So, the lands the nitrates now fertilize are far greater in
+area than that of the region of the nitrates.</p>
+
+<p>Then, perhaps, we turn our eyes oceanward. What! wealth in these great
+wastes? Most certainly, and indispensable wealth at that. Let us forget
+for a moment that<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_3" id="pg_3">3</a></span> the oceans produce about as much meatstuffs as the
+land; this is really the least important feature about them. The oceans
+produce one thing that is absolutely necessary for every living thing
+almost every hour of the day, and that is fresh water. Every drop of
+fresh water that falls on the land is born of the ocean. Even the cold,
+polar oceans are indispensable to life, for their waters are constantly
+flowing out into the warmer oceans, thereby tempering the water of the
+latter and preventing it from being too warm for living things.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we see that, after all, Dame Nature is not very unkind to her
+subjects. Compensation is her great law; if her supplies are "short" in
+one direction they are "long" in another. And when we take the broader
+view we must conclude that there are no waste places. It is only when we
+take the extreme and narrow view that we voice the persiflage of the
+poet Pope:</p>
+
+<p class='noindent' style='margin: .5em 0em .5em 3em;'>
+"While man exclaims: 'See all things for my use'&mdash;<br />
+'See man for mine,' replies a pampered goose."
+</p>
+
+<p>Now, these waste places are of various kinds and in pretty nearly every
+locality. Some are deserts pure and simple; some are very dry and, to
+avoid hurting our national feelings, we politely refer to them as "arid
+regions"; some are so rugged and inaccessible that nothing short of
+dirigible balloons and aeroplanes could open a general communication
+with them; still others are in polar regions and too bleak and desolate
+to produce foodstuffs or support human life. The purpose of these
+chapters is to present the characteristics of these waste places. Most
+of them have been conquered by man, and their resources have been opened
+wide to the world. Possibly others yet remain to be conquered, but "what
+man has done, man can do."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_4" id="pg_4">4</a></span>
+<a name="THE_WEALTH_OF_THE_ARID_SOUTHWEST_218" id="THE_WEALTH_OF_THE_ARID_SOUTHWEST_218"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<h3>THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Years ago the maps of the United States depicted a vast region west of
+the Missouri River stippled with dots, which were supposed to imitate
+sand, and marked with the portentous legend, "Great American Desert." As
+sturdy pioneers pushed their settlements farther and farther westward,
+the great American desert began to shrink in size until the roseate
+descriptions of prospectors and land speculators led one to believe that
+this whole region needed only a touch of the plough and the harrow to
+produce the most bountiful crops grown anywhere in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the great domain extending from the
+twenty-five-hundred-foot level to the crest of the Sierra Nevada
+Mountains is a region so deficient in rainfall that, for the greater
+part, ordinary foodstuffs will not grow without irrigation; so farming
+must be confined mainly to the flood-plains of the rivers. Here and
+there considerable areas have been made fertile by capturing rivers,
+damming their streams so as to create great reservoirs, and then
+measuring out the waters to the farm lands below. The Salt River dam in
+Arizona, recently completed, will supply water to two thousand square
+miles, or about twenty-five thousand fifty-acre farms.</p>
+
+<p>But in spite of all that man has done and can do to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_5" id="pg_5">5</a></span> make this region
+fruitful, not far from half a million square miles will ever remain
+barren so far as the production of foodstuffs is concerned. Now this
+whole region, irrigated lands included, does not produce more wealth
+than the State of New York alone&mdash;possibly it does not produce so much.</p>
+
+<p>Indirectly, however, it is worth more than two thousand million dollars
+yearly to the rest of the United States; for it is a great highland
+whose rims, the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountain ranges, are about
+two miles high. Now, these lofty ranges wring almost every drop of
+moisture from the rain-bearing winds of the Pacific Ocean, leaving them
+too dry to shed any moisture over the eastern half of the United States.
+Because of this great mountain barrier, the winds that bring rain and
+bountiful crops to the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic slope, follow
+an easier passage, flowing directly from the Gulf of Mexico and the
+Caribbean Sea. And the copious rains are the chief wealth of this
+midland region.</p>
+
+<p>But the arid western highland possesses a great wealth of its own&mdash;a
+wealth whose influence is world-wide, for it is one of the world's chief
+storehouses of gold, silver, and copper. Gold and silver are the mediums
+of commercial transactions, and copper is the chief medium for the
+transmission of electric power. These metals, therefore, are quite as
+necessary as are iron and steel. Moreover, this great waste, a seeming
+incubus on the face of the earth, is each year disclosing more and more
+of its mineral and agricultural wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Gold is the most widely disseminated of all metals, and is said to be
+where you find it. That this statement is true has been demonstrated
+many times, especially during the last few decades. In the north it has
+been found in the frozen ground of Alaska and Siberia, in the south in<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_6" id="pg_6">6</a></span>
+the sands on the surf-beaten shores of Tierra del Fuego and in the reefs
+of the Transvaal, while it is found in numerous places lying between
+these extremes.</p>
+
+<p>The vast tract of land in the western part of the United States whence
+most of these metals are obtained has been the scene of many tragedies.
+It is an inhospitable region, scanty in both animal and vegetable life,
+where climatic conditions call for heroic daring on the part of those
+who would search out its hidden mysteries; it is a land of death-dealing
+mirages, yet containing untold wealth for the miner, and likewise for
+the husbandman who can irrigate the fallow parched surface.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:375px'>
+<a name="illus-003" id="illus-003"></a>
+<img src="images/w006.jpg" alt="Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards&#39; Roost" title="" width="375" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards&#39; Roost</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w006-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The bold prospector has unearthed in many places of southern Nevada
+gold-bearing rock assaying thousands of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_7" id="pg_7">7</a></span> dollars to the ton, the result
+being the building up of cities and towns and the construction of
+connecting railroads to meet the demands of the growing commerce. Until
+recently, silver was the principal metal sought and found in the State
+of Nevada; but now gold is king, and his throne has been shifted from
+one desert camp to another, each laying claim to his abundant presence,
+while new claimants are ever bringing new treasures into light.</p>
+
+<p>The two most valuable deposits of the precious metals now known in
+Nevada are at Tonopah and Goldfield, the discovery of the first having
+been made in 1901 and of the latter in the following year. Some of the
+Goldfield ore has assayed as high as thirty thousand dollars per ton,
+and so rich were many of its ores that they were sacked and carefully
+guarded until landed at the reduction works. In one year and a half from
+the discovery of gold at Goldfield the output reached four million
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>These mines of the Nevada deserts excel in the richness and abundance of
+their ores, while in the future these camps bid fair to outrival in
+development all other sections of the United States. A few years ago the
+southern part of the Silver State was considered utterly worthless and a
+region to be shunned like a charnel-house, on account of its barren and
+dangerous character. Now it is the Mecca of the gold-seeker.</p>
+
+<p>These mines have already made many a poor man wealthy and many a wealthy
+man a millionaire. Each hillock, ledge, or ravine holds a possible
+fortune, and no hardship and peril is too great for the prospector lured
+by the hope of a rich find. The prosperous desert mining town, first
+built of canvas and rough lumber, is soon replaced by a better class of
+buildings, and water is brought through long miles of pipe from the
+nearest available source. Anon, electric-lighting and other modern
+conveniences are added,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_8" id="pg_8">8</a></span> thereby making life more tolerable in a fierce
+climate of heat and cold, of fiercer winds and blinding dust.</p>
+
+<p>Not only is gold found in these desert wastes, but borax, nitre,
+sulphur, silver, salt, soda, opals, garnets, turquoises, onyx, and
+marble form a part of its resources. Rich gold mines have built the
+towns of Randsburg and Johannesburg in the midst of the Mohave desert,
+while finds of rich ore made elsewhere are of frequent occurrence. It is
+thought that in the near future sufficient nitre can be obtained from
+the deserts of California and Nevada to render the United States
+independent of Chile, from whose desert, Atacama, the world's chief
+supply of this mineral is now obtained.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps there is no part of the United States more healthy and at the
+same time more deadly than the southeastern part of California, embraced
+in those indefinite areas called the Mohave and Colorado deserts. That
+life and death should lay claim to the same regions with equal strength
+seems somewhat of a riddle, but a careful investigation of the
+conditions will make good the claims of both. Here are regions rivalling
+the Sahara in heat, lack of water, and barrenness, and in many parts as
+difficult to traverse; regions full of surprises in deceptive mirages,
+peculiar vegetation, strange animal life, occasional cloud-bursts, purity
+and exhilarating effects of atmosphere, charm of ever-changing colors
+reflected from the mountains, wealth of floral display in early spring,
+and marvellous fertility of soil when touched by the magic wand of
+water. All these and a certain weirdness of beauty difficult to define
+give these great wastes a peculiar attraction of their own which only
+those who have spent much time there can understand and appreciate.</p>
+
+<p>For the dread white plague in its early stages there is no medicine and
+no other climate that can equal the pure,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_9" id="pg_9">9</a></span> healing atmosphere of these
+deserts. A new lease of life may be gained by the nerve-racked man or
+woman who will lay aside all home worries and spend a few months at some
+congenial home on one or another of these deserts.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:295px'>
+<a name="illus-004" id="illus-004"></a>
+<img src="images/w009.jpg" alt="Gila monsters" title="" width="295" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Gila monsters</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w009-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Among the animal life found on the desert are the wildcat, coyote,
+rabbit, deer, rat, tortoise, scorpion, centipede, tarantula, Gila
+monster, chuck-walla, desert rattlesnake, side-winder, humming-bird,
+eagle, quail, and road-runner. Wild horses and wild donkeys, or
+"burros," frequent these<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_10" id="pg_10">10</a></span> great wastes, cropping the vegetation that
+grows on the oases.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting of these animals is the desert-rat, whose
+habits, seemingly intelligent and equally curious, enable him to
+maintain a home amid surroundings most unfavorable to his survival. He
+is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always
+leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often
+called the trade rat. Night-time is his "busy day."</p>
+
+<p>The house that he builds for himself is a veritable fortified castle
+built in up-to-date desert-rat style, under a protecting bush or rock,
+or beside a cactus&mdash;preferably a prickly pear. This stronghold, from
+four to five feet long and three feet high, is made of sticks interwoven
+with pieces of prickly cactus, thorny twigs, and odd bits in
+general&mdash;great care being taken to have most of the thorns project
+outward. His private quarters consist of a shallow hole burrowed under
+the centre of this thorn-woven pile. Access to the interior is gained by
+a winding passage.</p>
+
+<p>The only enemy that might try to thread the mazy hallway is the rattler,
+who by an ingenious device is deterred from even making the attempt. To
+keep his snakeship from intruding on domestic privacy Mr. Rat takes
+several strips of spiny cactus and lays them flatways across the
+passageway leading to his retreat.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known that a rattlesnake will not crawl over a prickly
+substance; hence a traveller when camping out at night in rattlesnake
+regions often surrounds his sleeping place with a horsehair rope as a
+safeguard against such an unwelcome intruder. Even the hungry, prowling
+coyote, who would make short work of the rat could he but get at him,
+fights shy of lacerating his paws by attempting to tear down the
+formidable pile.</p>
+
+<p>The desert-rat has a morbid desire to carry to his home<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_11" id="pg_11">11</a></span> any small
+article which he may chance to find lying around, as many a desert miner
+has found to his discomfiture, but he always leaves something in its
+place, such as a strip of cactus or a stick.</p>
+
+<p>For downright strategy no creature inhabiting the desert surpasses the
+road-runner, sometimes called the ground-cuckoo or snake-killer. Though
+omnivorous, this bird lives chiefly on reptiles and mollusks. It is
+decked in a gay plumage of coppery green, with streaks of white on the
+sides and a topknot of deep blue. In fleetness of foot it is said to
+equal the horse. Many stories are told of its surrounding a coiled
+sleeping rattlesnake with strips of cactus and then tantalizing its
+victim until, baffled in every attempt to get away, the snake finally
+inflicts a deadly bite on itself. Then the road-runner leisurely
+proceeds to devour the suicide.</p>
+
+<p>The characteristic plants of these deserts are sage, mesquite,
+greasewood, and a great variety of cacti. Of the cactus family, the most
+conspicuous is the <i>saguaro</i>, or giant cactus, which frequently attains
+the height of fifty feet. All the cacti are leafless and abundantly
+supplied with sharp, needle-like spines which protect them from
+herbivorous animals. The bark or outer covering has a firm, close
+texture that prevents the sap from evaporating during the long, dry
+season. In traversing the deserts during May and June, one is amazed at
+the display of beautiful blossoms of white, yellow, purple, pink, and
+scarlet issuing from their thorny stalks.</p>
+
+<p>The plant most welcome to the thirsty traveller, and which has saved the
+lives of many a wandering prospector, is the "well of the desert," a
+barrel-shaped cactus thickly studded with sharp spines. When one cuts
+out the centre of the plant in a bowl-like form, the cavity soon fills
+up with a watery liquid that is most refreshing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_12" id="pg_12">12</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:326px'>
+<a name="illus-005" id="illus-005"></a>
+<img src="images/w012.jpg" alt="A giant cactus in Arizona" title="" width="326" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A giant cactus in Arizona</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w012-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Hot and forbidding as are these terrible wastes, they are the dwelling
+places of several tribes of Indians. The desert cactus furnishes them a
+large part of their food, and the fibre is woven into cloth to provide
+them with clothing. These Indians have been acclimated to the desert for
+centuries and are well versed in all of its moods and mysteries. They
+know of no better abode; neither can they be induced to leave it for a
+more congenial climate and fertile soil. Travellers and prospectors have
+told many stories<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_13" id="pg_13">13</a></span> about their experiences in these deserts. But perhaps
+no story has possessed a greater fascination than that of the lost
+Pegleg Mine.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this lost mine has been told and retold with many
+variations for the past seventy years, and more than a score of persons
+have lost their lives in attempting to rediscover it. In 1836, according
+to the traditional story, a man named Smith, distinguished from the rest
+of the Smith family by the possession of a wooden leg, was journeying
+with several companions from Yuma over the Colorado desert. On account
+of his wooden stump he was dubbed "Pegleg" by his fellow-travellers.</p>
+
+<p>After having been out several days and not finding any springs or water
+holes, the prospectors became greatly alarmed and hastened toward three
+small buttes which they saw standing out in the desert, in the hope of
+finding water in the dry wash leading from their bases. On arriving at
+the foot of the hills they were sadly disappointed; diligent search
+revealed no signs of water. He of the wooden leg climbed to the top of
+one of the buttes to get a better view of the country, and to the
+northward saw a high mountain; but before descending, he observed some
+black stones under his feet and on picking one up found it heavy and
+filled with a brassy-colored metal. He then picked up several of the
+stones and put them into his pockets, but being desirous of reaching
+water as soon as possible, he gave little thought to his find.</p>
+
+<p>He told his companions of the mountain seen to the north and advised all
+possible haste to reach it, saying that he believed that they would
+there find water. The next day at nightfall they succeeded in reaching
+the base of the mountain in an exhausted condition and found a spring of
+cool, clear water. They were thus barely saved from a lingering death by
+thirst. The mountain was named Smith Mountain.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_14" id="pg_14">14</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At San Bernardino, Smith showed his ore to an expert, who pronounced it
+nearly pure gold. The real importance of the discovery did not seem to
+dawn on the one-legged man, however, until thirteen years afterward;
+then, in 1849, it was heralded to the world that wonderful discoveries
+of gold had been made in several parts of California and that a man
+could dig out of the ground a fortune in a few days or weeks. Smith
+became enthusiastic and organized an expedition in San Francisco to seek
+for his desert mine where gold could be had for the picking up.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition started out from Los Angeles. One night, just before
+reaching Smith Mountain, the Indians who had been taken along to pack
+the supplies secretly decamped with the provisions, thus compelling the
+prospectors to return as speedily as possible to save their lives. Smith
+felt discouraged and left the company at San Bernardino. Whether he
+perished in again trying to find his mine or left the country is not
+known. At any rate, he was never heard of afterward.</p>
+
+<p>In 1860 a man named McGuire deposited in one of the San Francisco banks
+several thousand dollars in gold nuggets which he said he obtained near
+Smith Mountain. He organized a party of six to hunt for the Pegleg Mine.
+What they found, however, will never be known, for they all perished,
+and their bleached bones were found on the desert a long time afterward.
+They were not alone in disaster, however, for very many others in trying
+to find the legacy of Smith have met the same fate.</p>
+
+<p>But the hidden wealth of this great region, so long known as the "Great
+American Desert," is by no means confined to its storehouses of gold,
+silver, and copper. Here, there, and almost everywhere are areas that
+lack but one element to make them the most productive regions of the
+world, and that one element is water.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_15" id="pg_15">15</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The conquest of the Colorado desert is not the first instance of desert
+land reclamation in the United States, but it is certainly one of the
+marvels of the world's history. A more pronounced and inhospitable
+desert never existed; and, in proportion to the area reclaimed, it is
+doubtful if one can find greater productivity than the lands that
+constitute Imperial Valley. Let us take a glance at nature's work in
+this region.</p>
+
+<p>Long before the Mississippi was born the Colorado was an ancient river
+and it formerly flowed through a fertile valley. During countless ages
+it has stripped from the plateau and carried into the Gulf of California
+a deposit of rock waste from the land surface of its basin many feet
+deep, and abraded billions of tons of material from its channel. All
+this silt and detritus have served to fill up the northern part of the
+gulf, the result of the deposit being an immense land area. At length a
+great bar was formed across the northern part of the gulf, making a sort
+of inland sea. Then the hot climate caused the water to evaporate, while
+from time to time the Colorado overflowed its banks, spreading a rich
+sediment over the former sea-bed.</p>
+
+<p>Various parts of this depression, which, like Palestine, lie below the
+sea-level, are known as Salton, Coahuilla, and Imperial Valleys. The
+lowest part, now filled with water, is usually called the Salton Sea.
+The whole of this region is comprehended under the name of Colorado
+Desert. In 1900 a company was formed to reclaim that part of the desert
+included in Imperial Valley, by taking water out of the Colorado River a
+few miles below the boundary between California and Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>A main canal, called the Imperial Canal, one hundred miles long, seventy
+feet wide, and eight feet deep carries water from the Colorado to
+Imperial Valley, where it is distributed by hundreds of smaller canals.
+The irrigation<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_16" id="pg_16">16</a></span> facilities are already sufficient to water more than one
+hundred thousand acres.</p>
+
+<p>This region, rightly named the hot-house of America, produces marvellous
+crops of hay, grain, and fruits; it is an ideal place for raising
+live-stock and poultry as well. Some of this land already brings into
+its owners from three hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars yearly
+income per acre, and because of its wonderful fertility it is likened to
+the valley of the Nile.</p>
+
+<p>In 1904 the Imperial Canal was filled with silt for some distance, thus
+preventing the flow of the proper amount of water needed for irrigation.
+To remedy the defect a temporary canal was cut around the head-gate.
+This expedient had been tried and then the gap had been closed up before
+high water. At this particular time high water came earlier than usual,
+and a great flood tore out the channel of the temporary canal to such an
+extent that before it could be prevented the whole Colorado River was
+flowing through the breach, leaving its own bed perfectly dry to the
+Gulf of California, filling up the Salton Valley, burying up the Salton
+salt-works, and making an inland sea such as formerly existed there.
+After most strenuous efforts, and at the enormous expense of upward of a
+million dollars, the gap was at length repaired and the Colorado made to
+flow in its own bed.</p>
+
+<p>One should remember that in the development of these deserts the
+prospector owes a deep debt of gratitude to that patient, faithful
+little beast, the donkey, or "burro," as it is commonly known; without
+the service of this animal many a man would have suffered a lingering
+death. As a matter of fact, it is unsafe to venture far out into the
+desert unaccompanied by this oft-maligned creature&mdash;about the only
+animal fitted to carry supplies.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_17" id="pg_17">17</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:606px'>
+<a name="illus-006" id="illus-006"></a>
+<img src="images/w017.jpg" alt="The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway" title="" width="606" /><br />
+<span class="caption">_Built by the U. S. Reclamation Service_<br /> The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w017-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_18" id="pg_18">18</a></span>But
+the use of dams and canals to conserve and supply water for
+irrigation prevailed even in most ancient times. Extensive irrigation
+works were built in Egypt three thousand years ago, and in India, China,
+Persia, and the countries bordering on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers
+irrigation dates back centuries before the Christian era.</p>
+
+<p>The Romans introduced irrigation into southern Europe. When Pizarro
+conquered the empire of the Incas he found the people possessed of
+wonderful systems for irrigation. Likewise, Cortez found the Aztecs
+making extensive canals. Remains of great irrigation works are found
+to-day in Arizona and New Mexico, where our modern engineers wisely
+adopt the canal routes which were established by a race now extinct.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time India is irrigating twenty-five million acres of
+land, the United States thirteen million, Egypt seven million, and Italy
+three million. It is estimated that the United States has left one
+hundred and eighty million acres of arid and semi-arid land available
+for reclamation and four times as much that is incapable of being
+reclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>No other question of to-day is of such vital and far-reaching importance
+as that of the reclamation of the millions of acres of sleeping arid
+lands in the western part of our country. Mines may be exhausted,
+forests slain, and cities annihilated, but wastes made fruitful through
+the potency of water will remain everlasting sources of wealth to the
+nation.</p>
+
+<p>During the last few years our government has been very active in
+promoting irrigation by building impounding dams and constructing canals
+and tunnels for the delivery of water. In connection with the various
+irrigation works the government has already established five
+hydro-electric plants which furnish water, motive power, and light as
+may be required. From the big Roosevelt Dam and the drops of the level
+in the canal connected therewith, twenty-six<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_19" id="pg_19">19</a></span> thousand horse-power will
+be developed incidental to the reclamation of two hundred thousand acres
+of land.</p>
+
+<p>The miracle-working agent, water, has already reclaimed thirteen million
+acres of our domain, and these areas now produce two hundred and sixty
+million dollars annually; moreover, they furnish homes to more than
+three hundred thousand people. Prosperous rural communities with
+thousands of happy, rosy-cheeked children, blooming orchards, broad,
+fertile fields prolific beyond comparison, and flourishing cities
+replace wastes of sand and sage-brush.</p>
+
+<p>The United States Government alone has spent already sixty millions of
+dollars under the Reclamation Act which went into effect in 1902, and
+the end is not yet, for as the vista of human achievements in this line
+broadens still greater works will be inaugurated and successfully
+consummated. In Arizona, California, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana,
+New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming the United States
+Government already is working on or has completed twenty-six important
+irrigation projects.</p>
+
+<p>The most wonderful work combining the highest engineering skill and
+daring is found in the western part of Colorado, where from Black
+Canyon, an almost inaccessible gorge three thousand feet deep, the whole
+Gunnison River has been diverted to the Uncompahgre Valley. To take the
+water out of the river it was necessary to bore a tunnel six miles long
+through a mountain from the canyon to the valley.</p>
+
+<p>To determine the feasibility of diverting the course of the river, it
+was first necessary to make an exploration of the canyon. No one before
+had ever had the hardihood to even make the attempt, on account of the
+extreme danger of a journey between the narrow black walls of this
+gloomy abyss.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_20" id="pg_20">20</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In 1853 Captain Gunnison discovered the river which bears his name. He
+traced its course to where it plunged into a chasm so deep and dangerous
+that he feared to follow it farther and named the gorge Black Canyon.
+Some twenty years later Professor Hayden of the United States Geological
+Survey, looking over the brink of the abyss, declared it inaccessible.</p>
+
+<p>The State of Colorado, desiring to find some way of utilizing the waters
+of the Gunnison River for irrigating the arid land adjacent, in 1900
+called for volunteers to explore the canyon. Five men responded.</p>
+
+<p>Provided with boats, life-lines, and other accessories, the men started
+from Cimarron on their perilous trip. On the third day their provisions
+gave out, and later they were obliged to abandon their boats and nearly
+everything else except their blankets, which were protected in rubber
+bags. They knew it was impossible to retrace their steps and that their
+only salvation lay in going on. At night they rolled themselves up in
+their blankets and tried to encourage one another. They travelled
+fourteen miles between granite walls from two thousand to three thousand
+feet high; and for sixteen days they were almost without food. Then they
+came to a cleft in their prison walls which seemed to offer a means of
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>At their feet the water plunged over a precipice down to an unknown
+depth. To go on meant almost instant death. They were dying of
+starvation. Should they go on? They had not accomplished their task.
+Life was sweet and there were loved ones dependent upon them for
+support.</p>
+
+<p>So they decided to attempt escape while they had strength. Wearily they
+climbed the steep and rugged path that led them to freedom. Starting
+early in the morning, they reached the summit, two thousand five hundred
+feet above the raging torrent, at nine o'clock at night. They were ready
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_21" id="pg_21">21</a></span> drop in their tracks, yet hope inspired them to renewed exertions.
+They struggled on fifteen miles more ere they staggered into a
+farm-house on the verge of collapse.</p>
+
+<p>In the following year, 1901, the United States Government, becoming
+interested in diverting the waters of the Gunnison, sent out one of its
+engineers, Professor Fellows, to look into the practicability of the
+project. After looking over the field, the government engineer succeeded
+in enlisting in his service Mr. Torrence, who was a member of the first
+expedition. They planned to accomplish the feat which the former
+explorers failed to accomplish, namely, to go entirely through Black
+Canyon.</p>
+
+<p>Profiting by the previous trip, they provided for themselves a complete
+equipment, consisting of a rubber raft, two long life-lines, rubber bags
+for food and clothing, a camera, hunting-knives, and belts. Until they
+reached the water-falls where the previous expedition had left the
+canyon, the "Fall of Sorrow," the first part of their trip possesses
+little of interest beyond what had been experienced before. But from
+this point on unknown dangers menaced them.</p>
+
+<p>The roar of the plunging water from below rose upward with a deafening
+sound as they gazed into the seething current. The rising mists obscured
+the tree tops on either side far below. Should they press on or retreat,
+as those before them had done? Yes, they must go forward whatever the
+hazard. They clasped hands, bidding each other good-by. Torrence threw
+himself into the water first and Fellows followed. A few seconds later
+both clambered upon a bowlder in the pool below. The narrow cleft by
+which the former company effected their escape was passed and no
+alternative but to go forward was left to them.</p>
+
+<p>They encountered many other perilous adventures in their thirty-mile
+trip. Before they escaped from the canyon their provisions gave out.
+Death by starvation stared them<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_22" id="pg_22">22</a></span> in the face once more. Weakened by
+hunger and about to give up, they spied at the base of a cliff two
+mountain sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Now, mountain sheep, which roam among the rugged crags, are exceedingly
+difficult to catch. One of the sheep darted into a cleft. With a quick
+movement born of desperation Torrence rushed before the opening, but
+scarcely had he reached the spot before the frightened sheep, in
+attempting to escape, jumped into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing that his life and that of his companion depended upon securing
+the animal, he succeeded in killing it with his knife after a fierce
+struggle. The meat obtained saved their lives and sustained them until
+they reached a ranch fourteen miles from the place from which they
+emerged from the end of the canyon. In making the perilous journey they
+had swum across the river seventy-four times.</p>
+
+<p>Although their instruments and most of the other articles which they had
+taken were lost, yet the valuable data, sought for and recorded in the
+engineering book, were safely brought out and contained enough
+encouraging information to lead the government to take up the project of
+diverting the waters of the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley.</p>
+
+<p>Salt River Valley, one of the most fertile sections of Arizona, has been
+settled for many years, but the lack of a sufficient supply of water for
+extended irrigation has caused a large portion of this rich desert land
+to remain dormant. To meet the demand for more water in this valley the
+United States Government has just completed one of the greatest water
+impounding reservoirs in the world, the construction of which called for
+the greatest engineering skill and cost nearly nine million dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Salt River enters the valley after a tumultuous passage through a deep
+and rugged canyon forty miles long. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_23" id="pg_23">23</a></span> derives its name from the
+saltness of its waters, which results from the discharge of salt springs
+into the main stream as it courses through the gorge.</p>
+
+<p>Though unsuited for drinking purposes the water does not contain enough
+salt to make it detrimental for irrigation, and the soil, stimulated by
+the water, produces marvellous crops. Here extensive farming can be
+carried on with the greatest success. Six crops of alfalfa, averaging
+eight tons per acre, are harvested yearly. The oranges, dates, figs,
+lemons, grape fruit, olives, and peaches grown upon these lands are of
+superior quality and flavor and yield abundantly. The climate during
+eight months of the year is unsurpassed.</p>
+
+<p>Ostrich farming here is becoming an important industry. There are at the
+present time in the valley about eight thousand birds, and the number is
+rapidly increasing. The value of the feathers plucked yearly from each
+full-grown bird is from thirty dollars to forty dollars. Indications are
+that in the near future Arizona will lead the world in ostrich farming
+and the production of ostrich feathers.</p>
+
+<p>The history of this remarkable reservoir is full of human and natural
+interest. It is located in a land whose civilization was old when Rome
+was founded, a land of lost races, perpetual sunshine, forbidding
+deserts, and picturesque wonders. Strange vegetation and scenes that are
+novel are reflected in soft, changing tints from plain and mountain.
+From dawn to dark they possess an indescribable charm.</p>
+
+<p>The government engineers, in looking over the ground, found an ideal
+spot for a reservoir formed by two valleys hedged in among the mountains
+at the head of the canyon. It was necessary only to build a dam across
+the narrow cleft where the river enters the gorge in order to impound
+the water.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_24" id="pg_24">24</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The place being practically inaccessible, much preliminary work had to
+be done before commencing construction on the dam. A road forty miles
+long was made through the rugged mountains by which to transport
+provisions, machinery, and other supplies. A greater part of the road
+was cut out of the solid rock; other portions were constructed of
+masonry. At places on this wonderful highway, a stone dropped over the
+edge of the road will fall almost a thousand feet without stopping. The
+scenery along the whole route is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.</p>
+
+<p>The question of supplying cement for constructing the dam was for a
+while a difficult one; the price asked by the manufacturers was nine
+dollars per barrel delivered. The engineer then summoned to his aid the
+government geologists, and they discovered near at hand limestone rock
+suitable for making good cement. But in order to convert the limestone
+into cement, it was necessary to have a mill and motive power to run it.
+Coal mines were five hundred miles away and such fuel would be too
+costly. The engineer said, "Why not use as a power electricity generated
+by the river itself?"</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly a canal extending twenty miles up the river was constructed;
+with a two-hundred-and-twenty-foot drop it was capable of delivering
+water enough to generate four thousand two hundred horse-power. A mill
+was built and an electric plant installed which ran the mill and machine
+shops besides furnishing power for laying the heavy stones, lighting the
+works and town, and leaving a large surplus amount for pumping water
+from numerous wells in the Salt River Valley fifty miles away. By the
+economy of self-manufacturing, the cost of the cement to the government
+was but two dollars per barrel, thereby making a saving of nearly half a
+million dollars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_25" id="pg_25">25</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:602px'>
+<a name="illus-007" id="illus-007"></a>
+<img src="images/w025.jpg" alt="Shoshone Project, Wyoming Shoshone Canyon, looking upstream toward the dam. Dam, 328.4 feet high; storage capacity, 456,000 acre-feet" title="" width="602" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Shoshone Project, Wyoming Shoshone Canyon, looking upstream toward the dam. Dam, 328.4 feet high; storage capacity, 456,000 acre-feet</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w025-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_26" id="pg_26">26</a></span>To provide proper accommodations for all of the employees and their
+families, a regular town was built on the floor of the reservoir, to be
+submerged when the works should be completed and the flood gates closed.
+The town, which was christened Roosevelt, contained a population of
+upward of two thousand, and bore the reputation of being the best
+behaved in all Arizona.</p>
+
+<p>The dam, also named after Colonel Roosevelt, then President of the
+United States, floods two valleys, one twelve and the other fifteen
+miles long and each from one to three miles wide. The reservoir is
+nearly two hundred feet deep on the average. It is two hundred and
+eighty feet high, and the thickness of the dam ranges from one hundred
+and seventy-five feet at the bottom to twenty feet at the top, where its
+length is one thousand and eighty feet. Massive iron gates weighing
+sixty thousand pounds guard the outlet of the flood. To do the
+preliminary work and construct the dam nearly eight years were required,
+and during a part of this time a thousand men were employed both night
+and day, several hundred of whom were Apache Indians.</p>
+
+<p>This region was previously the haunt of Chief Geronimo and his murderous
+band of Apaches. Near by are two groups of cliff dwellings formerly
+occupied by a race now extinct.</p>
+
+<p>The capacity of this immense reservoir exceeds that of the Nile pent up
+by the Assouan dam, and the water would be sufficient to fill a canal
+two hundred feet wide and twenty feet deep, extending entirely across
+the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When full there is
+sufficient water to submerge the city of Washington to the depth of
+thirty-four feet.</p>
+
+<p>Among the other many important irrigation works may be mentioned the
+Shoshone and Rio Grande Dams. The Shoshone Dam in Wyoming impounds
+sufficient water to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_27" id="pg_27">27</a></span> irrigate one hundred and fifty thousand acres in
+the valley below. This dam was completed January 10, 1910, and is the
+highest in the world, its height being three hundred and eighty-four
+feet. Twelve miles below the dam proper a diversion dam was built across
+the river which turns the stream into a tunnel connected at the other
+end with a canal, which delivers water upon one hundred thousand acres
+of fertile land.</p>
+
+<p>The Rio Grande Dam involving the construction of a storage dam opposite
+Eagle, New Mexico, across the Rio Grande River will irrigate one hundred
+and eighty thousand acres of land in New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_GRAND_CANYON_OF_THE_COLORADO_854" id="THE_GRAND_CANYON_OF_THE_COLORADO_854"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<h3>THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Nowhere else on the face of the globe is one so vividly impressed by the
+vastness of the work of corrasion as in the northwestern part of
+Arizona. Here the mutilated breast of Mother Earth discloses a chasm
+from three thousand feet to seven thousand feet deep, cut through
+horizontal strata of sandstone, shale, limestone, and granite, chiefly
+by the agency of water.</p>
+
+<p>This stupendous chasm is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. It is
+more than two hundred miles long; and from rim to rim its walls measure
+in places twenty miles across. It is not a clean-cut open channel from
+wall to wall, but, on the contrary, it is filled with castellated peaks,
+buttes, pinnacles, ridges, seams, and lesser canyons. Down deep in its
+lowest part, hurrying onward with impetuous speed, is the river itself.</p>
+
+<p>Geologists tell us that this stream was an ancient river<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_28" id="pg_28">28</a></span> before the
+Mississippi was born and that it formerly watered a valley as fertile.</p>
+
+<p>Ages ago when Time was young the river found its channel closed by an
+obstruction&mdash;just how, or where, or by what, no one knows. So it spread
+out into a great lake, or, perhaps, into an inland sea several thousand
+feet deep. The rock waste carried into its basin hardened into
+sandstone&mdash;red, pink, and white of many shades.</p>
+
+<p>After this great inland sea had become dry the Colorado River was
+born&mdash;just how, or when, or because of what, one can only guess. But
+when it was born it began to undo what its predecessor had done. It cut
+a channel in the surface of the sandstone and then began business in
+earnest. It loosened little pieces of sharp flint from the sandstone and
+swept them along with such force that each became a tiny mallet and
+chisel combined to cut and carry away other rock. And so it kept on
+until it had carved a passage not only to the original granite bed rock
+but in places a thousand feet or more into it. A few localities
+excepted, the canyon does not form a single gash; nor has it the usual
+V-shape of canyons in regions of plentiful rainfall. On the contrary,
+its cross-section takes the form of a succession of steps and terraces,
+as though the river cut the channels successively in decreasing widths.
+And because the region through which it flows is one of very slight
+rainfall, all the landscape outlines are bold and sharply angular.</p>
+
+<p>All told, an area comprising two hundred thousand square miles has been
+denuded to the depth of six hundred feet, and the material borne
+southward by the Colorado and its tributaries, while the land through
+which they flow has been literally drained to death. Even the
+tributaries have formed deep lateral canyons that meet the level of the
+main stream. It staggers the mind to try to grasp the time expressed in
+countless eons since the youth of this now senile river.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_29" id="pg_29">29</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-008" id="illus-008"></a>
+<img src="images/w029.jpg" alt="The Grand Canyon of the Colorado" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Grand Canyon of the Colorado</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w029-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_30" id="pg_30">30</a></span>As early as 1540 Spanish explorers made known to the world the fact that
+a deep and impassable gorge existed in one part of the Colorado River,
+and again in 1776 a Spanish priest revived a knowledge of its existence.</p>
+
+<p>Then, for many years afterward, the canyon claimed but little attention
+because it was so difficult of access, and so little was known of its
+colossal dimensions and the marvellous carvings within its walls.</p>
+
+<p>Just above the Grand Canyon and continuous with it is Marble Canyon, so
+called because of the immense beds of marble that form a part of its
+walls. In both canyons the limestone sometimes takes the form of marble,
+or gypsum, or alabaster&mdash;crystallized forms of limestone which take a
+fine polish.</p>
+
+<p>This remarkable river with its canyons was first explored by Major
+Powell in 1869. With nine men and four boats he started from a landing
+on Green River in Utah, floated down Green River to its junction with
+the Grand, and thence down the Colorado below the mouth of the Virgin to
+the Grand Wash. There he landed after having passed through the entire
+length of the canyon.</p>
+
+<p>The time spent in this voyage was ninety-eight days, and the distance
+travelled was upward of one thousand miles. Four of his men left him
+when the voyage was but partly finished, being frightened by the perils
+that beset them. They were killed by Indians. The others, after many
+accidents and hair-breadth escapes, succeeded in getting through in
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the rapidity of the current the river has many rapids and
+water-falls with jagged projecting rocks which make boating extremely
+hazardous. All these perils were conjectured but unknown to Major
+Powell's party,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_31" id="pg_31">31</a></span> and every new bend of the river was liable to disclose
+a cataract more dangerous than any encountered before. Then the
+reverberating sound of the roaring river as it struck the sides of its
+lofty prison walls together with the deep gloom of the mighty abyss was
+calculated to terrify the bravest. Thus, facing death at every turn of
+the stream, the men were kept constantly in a tense state of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>A wealth of adjectives has been expended in attempting properly to
+describe the immensity of this great handiwork of nature, and scores of
+persons have produced fascinating word-paintings of its awe-inspiring
+grandeur.</p>
+
+<p>Leading back from the river the canyon walls are made up in part of
+shelving rocks and terraces. These, with peaks, buttes, and myriads of
+other structures arising from the great gulf, show plainly the different
+strata of rocks of which they are composed. Many of these rocks are
+richly colored; the tints as a rule result from the salts of iron and
+other mineral matter disseminated through them. In some instances the
+coloring material of the upper strata has been washed down by the storms
+and has stained the rock of the walls below. This is the case in the
+Grand Canyon, where the limestone wall is colored red by the iron in an
+overlying stratum.</p>
+
+<p>When the gigantic forms partly filling the chasm, yet standing apart
+from each other, are seen near sunrise or sunset with their shifting
+shadows, they leave on the mind remembrances that will never fade.</p>
+
+<p>To appreciate properly the magnitude and height of these towering masses
+one should examine them not only by travelling along the brink, but by
+descending to the river level in order to examine them from below. Then
+only will the awful grandeur and immensity of this monumental
+architecture of nature begin to dawn upon the understanding.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_32" id="pg_32">32</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To the geologist this chasm is an intensely interesting book which
+reveals much of the history of the past in world-building.</p>
+
+<p>Some years ago a company was formed in New York to build a scenic
+railroad through Marble and Grand Canyons. Engineers were sent out not
+only to make a careful survey of the canyons but also to make a series
+of photographs which should form a continuous panoramic view of the
+proposed route. A large sum of money was spent in making the surveys;
+then the project was abandoned. Possibly at some future time the scheme
+may be revived and a road be built, using as its motive power
+electricity generated by the river itself.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Canyon is now easily reached by the Santa F&eacute; Railway system.
+From the main line at Williams a branch road extends to El Tovar, Grand
+Canyon station, which is located near the edge of the canyon. The
+descent to the bottom of the canyon can be made by several trails. Those
+noted for easy descent and the best views are Grand View and Red Canyon
+Trails from Grand View, Bright Angel Trail from El Tovar, and Bass Trail
+from Bass Camp. Each has its own special charms, and for one limited as
+to time it is difficult to make a choice.</p>
+
+<p>The course of the Colorado and its tributary, Green River, presents some
+interesting problems. The latter has cut its channel directly across the
+Uinta Mountains, and the Colorado has sawed its channel to the base
+level of a series of plateaus, sometimes called the Sierra Abajo. And
+the interesting problem is&mdash;how was the sawing process accomplished? It
+needs only a moment's thought to understand that the river could not
+flow against the base of a mountain range and bore a passage through it,
+much less clear out an open passage miles in width.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_33" id="pg_33">33</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:601px'>
+<a name="illus-009" id="illus-009"></a>
+<img src="images/w033.jpg" alt="Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado" title="" width="601" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w033-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_34" id="pg_34">34</a></span>Major Powell has shown how this mighty work of mountain cutting was
+accomplished; the sawing process was begun, not at the base of the
+range, but at its top. It is merely a question of age. The Colorado and
+its chief tributaries are older than the mountain uplifts which they
+have severed. Moreover, the level of their channels is much the same now
+as it was before the mountains were born.</p>
+
+<p>The mountain levels, however, have been changing ever since their uplift
+began. And when the rock layers of which they are composed began to be
+pushed upward the uplift was so slow that the rivers cut downward just
+as rapidly. In time the ranges were pushed upward to their present
+height; but when the uplift was completed, in each case it was sawed to
+the bottom by the river. It is in very much the same manner that a huge
+log is cut in twain as it is pushed against the saw. The mountain range,
+as it is pushed upward, represents the log; the river, which is
+stationary, represents the saw.</p>
+
+<p>One might look a long way to find the wealth created by this muddy
+torrent. But the wealth is there, though it is certainly a long way from
+the canyon; moreover, the rock waste itself is the wealth, and great
+wealth it is. The water of the river is very muddy. Dip up a bucket
+filled to the brim and allow it to stand for ten or twelve hours. There
+is an inch or two of clear water at the top, while at the bottom there
+is a thick, muddy paste of sand, clay, and red earth. All this rock
+waste the current is sweeping along to the Gulf of California.</p>
+
+<p>Every overflow along the banks of its lower course spreads this rich,
+nutritious rock waste over the flood plain. Imperial Valley is filled
+with it; and this, together with the flood plain above and below,
+constitutes an area of productive land about as large as the State of
+Illinois. Moreover, the area is constantly increasing, because of the
+enormous<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_35" id="pg_35">35</a></span> amount of rock waste which the river daily bears to the Gulf
+of California. In time, a long time as years are measured, the gulf will
+be entirely filled&mdash;and what a valley of prairie land there will be.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="YELLOWSTONE_PARK_1047" id="YELLOWSTONE_PARK_1047"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<h3>YELLOWSTONE PARK</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the northwestern part of Wyoming, at the summit of the continent, is
+a tract of land containing more than three thousand square miles. It is
+a region which attracts thousands of sightseers every year; yet
+inconceivable as it may now seem, this marvellous region was unknown to
+the world until 1870. Being difficult of access, because flanked by high
+mountains on all sides, and possessing no mineral deposits of value,
+there was but little inducement for any one but a hunter or a trapper to
+penetrate it.</p>
+
+<p>John Coulter, a frontiersman, was probably the first white man to set
+foot within its territory. He was a member of the Lewis and Clark
+Expedition and, having observed that there were many beavers in the
+headwaters of the Missouri River, desired to try trapping there. Having
+obtained permission to leave the expedition before its return to St.
+Louis, he forthwith set out to hunt and trap in that region. This was in
+1807.</p>
+
+<p>While following his favorite employment he met with many strange and
+exciting adventures with both Indians and wild beasts. And during his
+wanderings he beheld sights so marvellous as to tax the credulity of
+even his own senses; among them a glass mountain, geysers sending up
+great volumes of water hundreds of feet high into the air, boiling hot
+springs, deep and gorgeously painted canyons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_36" id="pg_36">36</a></span> stupendous water-falls,
+curiously colored rock formations, and a mountain lake filled with the
+finest of fish.</p>
+
+<p>So well versed was he in woodcraft that he could travel through pathless
+forests and over rugged mountains as unerringly as by well-beaten
+trails. A love for wild nature and adventure had become his ruling
+passion. After hunting and trapping for several years he returned to St.
+Louis. Here he told his friends the marvels that he had seen and his
+adventures with Indians and wild beasts; but his hearers being doubting
+Thomases, listened with incredulity to his astonishing stories.</p>
+
+<p>He related his experiences and what he had seen to an editor of a St.
+Louis paper, who, after listening patiently to the narrative, informed
+Coulter that his wonderful adventures, glass mountain, and boiling
+springs among the snows were falsehoods and could find no place for
+publication. Coulter gave interviews to many other persons, and stuck so
+persistently to his statements that the region which he had so minutely
+described was derisively dubbed "Coulter's Hell."</p>
+
+<p>Coulter's experiences certainly were marvellous. On one occasion, when
+he and a companion were trapping along the Madison Fork of the Missouri
+River, they were surprised by a company of Blackfeet Indians who killed
+his friend but spared his life for the time being. After the Indians had
+consulted for some time in regard to what should be done with Coulter,
+the chief asked him if he could run fast. Coulter replied that he could
+not. He was in reality the fleetest runner among the western hunters,
+but he told the Indians that he could not run fast, since he concluded
+that there was a chance of saving his life by running should he be given
+the opportunity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_37" id="pg_37">37</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:380px'>
+<a name="illus-010" id="illus-010"></a>
+<img src="images/w037.jpg" alt="The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Looking down canyon from Grand Point" title="" width="380" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Looking down canyon from Grand Point</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w037-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_38" id="pg_38">38</a></span>He was stripped naked and taken several miles away to give the Indians
+some sport before killing him. Then the chief commanded his followers to
+remain back while he led the captive some three hundred yards in front
+of them. At a given signal he told Coulter to save himself if he could.
+At once the war whoop resounded and six hundred demons were on the track
+of the fugitive. Coulter strained every nerve to outdistance his
+murderous pursuers. His great exertions caused the blood to spirt from
+his nostrils and smear the front of his body.</p>
+
+<p>After running a while he heard footsteps, and turning saw an Indian with
+a spear but a few yards behind him. Being exhausted, and fearing that at
+any moment the spear might be hurled at him, he concluded to surprise
+the Indian. Stopping suddenly he wheeled about and presented his bloody
+body and outstretched arms to the Indian.</p>
+
+<p>The red man, greatly astonished, in attempting to stop quickly stumbled
+and fell, breaking his spear. Before the prostrate runner could recover
+himself Coulter seized the head of the shaft and quickly pinioned his
+foe to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Then the fleeing hunter ran at his topmost speed toward the river, about
+a mile distant. Arriving there a little ahead of his pursuers, he
+plunged into the water and swam as fast as he could. Observing a raft of
+drift-wood that had lodged against a small island, he dived under the
+d&eacute;bris, and thrusting his head up between the tree-trunks of the
+heterogeneous mass succeeded in getting into a position where he could
+breathe and yet be concealed.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had he hidden himself than the yelling savages appeared on the
+river's bank. They looked in all directions for their missing captive,
+but in vain. They even went on the island and climbed over the
+drift-wood, scanning every possible place of concealment. Seeing no
+trace of their white prisoner they reluctantly returned to the mainland.
+Coulter remained under the raft in dreadful suspense until night, when,
+hearing nothing of his foes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_39" id="pg_39">39</a></span> he silently slipped from under the raft
+and swam down stream a long distance before landing.</p>
+
+<p>His situation was now indeed a desperate one; his feet had become filled
+with thorns from the prickly pear while running across the prairie; he
+was also naked, hungry, and without means to kill the wild game for
+food; moreover, the distance to the nearest fort was at least a
+seven-days' journey. But he was in excellent physical condition and,
+being inured to hardships and skilled in traversing the pathless
+wilderness, he at length reached the fort, having subsisted in the
+meantime chiefly on roots whose nutritious value he had learned from the
+Indians.</p>
+
+<p>John Bridger, a famous hunter, was familiar with the region now known as
+Yellowstone Park as early as 1830, and he endeavored to have his
+descriptions of it published, but he could find no periodical or
+newspaper willing to print his statements. In Bridger's case, however,
+there was ground for doubt, inasmuch as he had a reputation for
+exaggeration, and the facts that he related about the wonders of the
+Yellowstone were considered mere fabrications.</p>
+
+<p>One of his most astounding stories concerned an elk. He claimed that
+while hunting he espied an elk that seemed to be only a short distance
+away; taking a good aim he fired, but the animal was unmoved by the
+shot. He again fired with more deliberation, yet with the same result as
+before. Having fired twice more with no effect he seized his rifle by
+the barrel and rushed toward the antlered monarch; but all at once he
+ran up against what seemed to be a high vertical wall. On investigation
+the wall proved to be a mountain of perfectly transparent glass. And
+still the elk kept on grazing quietly!</p>
+
+<p>The strangest thing about the mountain he said was that its curved form
+made it a perfect telescopic lens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_40" id="pg_40">40</a></span> great power. On going around to
+the other side of the mountain he caught sight of the elk, which he
+judged must have been at least twenty-five miles away when he first saw
+it by the powerful glass-lens mountain!</p>
+
+<p>In 1860-61 gold was discovered in Montana, and prospectors began to
+extend their search for the precious metal into adjoining territory. The
+Indians were troublesome; nevertheless many prospectors ventured into
+the region of the Upper Yellowstone during the years succeeding, and
+reported seeing wonderful volcanic agencies at work.</p>
+
+<p>To settle the many flying accounts about volcanic wonders in the
+Yellowstone section, two expeditions headed by prominent citizens of
+Montana were formed to ascertain the truth concerning these statements.
+The expeditions set out during the consecutive years 1869 and 1870. On
+their return excellent descriptions of what they had seen were published
+in the Montana papers, and these accounts were copied by the leading
+papers of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The second, or Washburn-Doane, expedition of 1870 was the most
+successful in its explorations, since it was provided with a military
+escort. One of the members of this expedition wrote up a series of
+excellent articles which were published in <i>Scribner's Magazine</i>, thus
+giving further authenticity and wide publicity to the discovery.</p>
+
+<p>In 1871 interest awakened by the last expedition caused the United
+States Government to send out a special expedition of geological and
+engineering men to collect exact data, take photographs, and make a
+survey of the Yellowstone region. The geological section was under the
+direction of Dr. P. V. Hayden. Mainly through Hayden's influence and
+foresight Congress withdrew the tract now comprising Yellowstone
+National Park from occupancy or sale, and dedicated and set it apart as
+a public park or pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_41" id="pg_41">41</a></span>
+people. The bill was signed by the president March 1, 1872. In 1872 two
+United States geological surveying parties were sent out and detailed
+explorations were made during the next ten years.</p>
+
+<p>The park is now under the management of a military commander as acting
+superintendent, aided by a detachment of United States troops, who
+maintain order, prevent acts of vandalism, and see that the rules and
+regulations of the park are obeyed. No one except the troops is allowed
+to bring firearms into the park, and the wild animals, now carefully
+protected by law, have greatly multiplied. Through subsequent acts of
+Congress two forest reserves have been added to the park proper, the
+Madison Forest Reserve in 1902 and the Yellowstone Forest Reserve in
+1903. These additions make the total area reserved from settlement about
+seventeen thousand six hundred square miles.</p>
+
+<p>The only living beings that are permitted to fell as many trees as they
+wish are the beavers, which use them in constructing their dams. The
+grizzly and the black bear flourish in the park and have become quite
+tame. In the neighborhood of the camps and hotels they have become an
+intolerable nuisance because of their propensity to break into tents and
+buildings in search of food.</p>
+
+<p>The lordly elk nourishes here and numbers of them may be seen at almost
+any time of day. A herd of buffaloes is jealously protected, and food
+and shelter are provided for them during the winter when necessary.
+These animals are increasing in numbers. Many antelope, deer, and
+mountain sheep are seen in the park.</p>
+
+<p>The mountain lion and the coyote are two animals that the authorities of
+the park feel justified in killing in order to preserve the other game,
+but the wild ruggedness of the territory, which affords these pests
+ample opportunity to multiply unmolested, prevents their extinction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_42" id="pg_42">42</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the fall of the year wild geese and ducks frequent the park in
+great numbers; some of the latter remain all winter long in places where
+the hot springs keep the water of the streams from freezing. The United
+States Fish Commission has taken special care in stocking the fishless
+streams with trout, and now the Yellowstone Park furnishes the finest
+trout-fishing in the whole world. Visitors to the park are granted full
+license to fish, but they must use only hook and line.</p>
+
+<p>About one-fifth of the reservation consists of tracts suited for
+grazing, but for agricultural purposes the park is worthless, since
+frosts occur every month of the year.</p>
+
+<p>The forests consist of a variety of trees, but only one kind, the
+Douglas spruce, is suitable for good lumber. The quaking aspen is the
+only deciduous tree that is abundant. Elk and deer browse about these
+trees and keep them trimmed at a uniform distance from the ground.</p>
+
+<p>During the long rainless season the distant hills and mountains are
+bathed in an atmosphere of soft purple and blue in ever-varying
+intensity, while later in the season Jack Frost with his magic brush
+paints the mountain-sides with the most varied and gorgeous colors, and
+the aspen changes to rich autumnal tints.</p>
+
+<p>At the proper season Yellowstone Park is a vast garden of wild flowers
+which are dense and rich in colors even up to the snow line. Several
+varieties of the lupine and the larkspur clothe the hillsides with every
+shade of color, while the modest violet seeks secluded spots in which to
+bloom. Forget-me-nots, geraniums, harebells, primroses, asters,
+sunflowers, anemones, roses, and many other plants are abundant.</p>
+
+<p>The climate puts new life and energy into the visitor. Contrary to the
+general opinion, the climatic conditions in the park are not extreme,
+notwithstanding its high elevation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_43" id="pg_43">43</a></span> The average temperature at the
+Mammoth Hot Springs in January, the coldest month, is 18&deg; F., and in
+July, the hottest month, 61&deg;. In the plateau regions, averaging fifteen
+hundred feet higher, the temperature is 8&deg; in January and 51&deg; in July.</p>
+
+<p>Good roads have been constructed throughout the park connecting all
+points of interest, and in many instances these roads have been built at
+an enormous expense. The United States Government has already expended
+upward of one million dollars in road-making and bridge-building. There
+are now over sixty bridges and five hundred culverts to supplement the
+five hundred miles of roads within the park proper and the forest
+reserves.</p>
+
+<p>We enter the park from the north and then proceed to visit a few of the
+most interesting places. Our tour embraces Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris
+Geyser Basin, Firehole Geyser Basins, Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand
+Canyon of Yellowstone River.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the Northern Pacific train at Gardiner, the entrance station to
+the park, we take a coach for Mammoth Hot Springs, five miles distant,
+and ride along the foaming, dashing Gardiner River through a canyon
+bearing the same name. Portions of the way unfold bold, picturesque
+scenery, giving a fitting introduction to the marvels and greater scenic
+beauty that are in store for us. We cross the river four times on steel
+bridges within one mile.</p>
+
+<p>Just after crossing the last bridge we see an immense stream of hot
+water issuing from an opening in the rocks and discharging directly into
+the Gardiner River. This stream, the Boiling River, we are told, comes
+through subterranean channels from the famous Mammoth Hot Springs a mile
+and a half away.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the springs, we find here a large, well-equipped hotel,
+where are also the administration head-quarters of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_44" id="pg_44">44</a></span> the park. After
+resting a short time, we visit the world-renowned Hot Springs.</p>
+
+<p>The Mammoth Hot Springs rise from the summit of a hill of limestone
+formation three hundred feet high, built by the deposit of mineral
+matter held in solution by the hot water that issues from them. The
+terraces, containing upward of two hundred acres, are delicately tinted
+in beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, and purple. Those
+over which the water is still flowing present the most attractive
+appearance, the colors being fresh and rich; the others have dull, ashen
+colors.</p>
+
+<p>Calcareous deposits are rapidly building up these terraces in various
+beautiful forms, the edges of many being supported by delicate columns,
+some of which resemble organ pipes. Different names are given to the
+terraces according to form or fancy, as Pulpit Terrace, Jupiter Terrace,
+Narrow Gauge Terrace, Minerva Terrace, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The overhanging bowls built up by these deposits are exquisite specimens
+of Nature's work and are filled with water of wonderful transparency;
+while the variety of forms of these receptacles and their charming
+colors fascinate the beholder.</p>
+
+<p>Scattered over the formation in all directions are numberless
+curiosities, such as the Devil's Kitchen, Cupid's Cave, and the Stygian
+Cave. In many of these caves there is an accumulation of carbonic-acid
+gas sufficient to destroy animal life. This is especially true of the
+latter cave.</p>
+
+<p>We now journey by coach to Norris Geyser Basin. On the route we pass by
+Obsidian Cliff, sometimes called Obsidian Mountain, which is an immense
+mass of black volcanic glass. This mineral was used by the Indians for
+making arrow-heads and spear-heads.</p>
+
+<p>In constructing a road around the base of the cliff, great<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_45" id="pg_45">45</a></span> difficulty
+was encountered on account of the hardness of the obsidian. The
+superintendent in charge of the work hit upon a happy device by which to
+quarry it. Log fires were built along the base, and when the volcanic
+glass was hot cold water was thrown upon it. This method cracked the
+material into fragments which were easily removed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:382px'>
+<a name="illus-011" id="illus-011"></a>
+<img src="images/w045.jpg" alt="The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot Springs. Summit Pools" title="" width="382" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot Springs. Summit Pools</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w045-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Opposite the base of Obsidian Cliff is Beaver Lake, the home of numerous
+beavers and a great resort for waterfowl during a part of the year.
+After passing Obsidian Cliff, hot springs become more numerous until we
+reach Norris Geyser Basin. In this locality the odor of sulphur is
+strong and unpleasant. A little farther on a loud roar startles us, and
+a few moments later we see the cause of the explosion; it is a powerful
+steam jet issuing from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_46" id="pg_46">46</a></span> summit of Roaring Mountain. When Dame Nature
+"turns on steam" there is no nonsense about it.</p>
+
+<p>Norris Basin seems to be of more recent volcanic development, since some
+of the steam vents in other basins have ceased action during the past
+few years; moreover, several new ones have opened, one of which rivals
+Roaring Mountain. Constant and Minute-Man Geysers, though small, are
+frequent and vigorous in action. In passing through this section the
+road-bed is hot for some distance, showing that the subterranean rocks
+which heat the water cannot be very deep down in the earth.</p>
+
+<p>In going to the Firehole Basins we follow Gibbon River to within four
+miles of its mouth, then, crossing a point of land to the Firehole, we
+ascend the right bank of the stream to Lower Basin. On the road we pass
+many springs; the most conspicuous of which, Beryl Spring, lies close to
+the road. It discharges a large volume of boiling water and the rising
+steam frequently obscures the road.</p>
+
+<p>In one locality outside the beaten track of tourists there is a
+veritable Hades on earth. Here, as we walk over ground that is very hot,
+we are nearly suffocated by the fumes of sulphur. All around us are
+hundreds of seething, boiling vats of water, and the whole area is
+cracked and filled with holes from which noxious vapors rise.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after we leave this infernal region we hear a constant roar like
+that coming from a large steamer about to leave its moorings. We follow
+in the direction from which the sound proceeds and at length discover
+the cause.</p>
+
+<p>On approaching the source of the sound we see a large volume of steam
+rushing with immense velocity from an opening in the ground, while the
+rock around the orifice is black as jet. The guide tells us that this
+huge steam vent<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_47" id="pg_47">47</a></span> is called the Black Growler, and that it continues
+vigorously active summer and winter, year in and year out. Its roar can
+be heard four miles away.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:377px'>
+<a name="illus-012" id="illus-012"></a>
+<img src="images/w047.jpg" alt="The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive Geyser" title="" width="377" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive Geyser</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w047-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The chief wonder of Lower Firehole Basin is the Great Fountain Geyser.
+Its formation is unique. At first sight one is led to believe that the
+broad circular structure which he sees is artificial. On close
+inspection numerous pools, moulded and nicely ornamented, are seen sunk
+in this stone table, while in the centre there is a large and deep pool
+filled with hot water, but looking like a beautiful spring. At the time
+of eruption this central pool of water is shot up to the height of one
+hundred feet or more. Near the Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_48" id="pg_48">48</a></span> Fountain Geyser is a small valley
+in the upper part of which is a large hot spring called the Firehole.</p>
+
+<p>When this spring is visited on a windless day, a light-colored flame
+seems to be constantly issuing from the bottom, flickering back and
+forth like a torch, and the visitor feels sure he is gazing at the
+hidden fires beneath that heat the water. It is the illusion caused by
+superheated steam escaping through a fissure in the rock and dividing
+the water. The reflection from the surface thus formed and a black
+background formed by the sides and bottom of the pool account for the
+phenomenon.</p>
+
+<p>Surprise Pool is found near the Great Fountain; it will make good its
+name should you throw into it a handful of dirt. Excelsior Geyser, not
+far away, is really a winter volcano, its crater being a seething
+caldron near the Firehole River, into which it sends six million gallons
+of water each day, even when not in eruption.</p>
+
+<p>At times it sends up a column of water, fifty feet in diameter, to the
+height of two hundred and fifty feet. The eruptions take place at long
+intervals&mdash;seven to ten years. On account of the great depth and extent
+of this geyser it has sometimes been denominated "Hell's Half-Acre."</p>
+
+<p>Following along Firehole River we pass into the Upper Basin, a section
+the most popular with the majority of tourists. Among the geysers in
+this basin we shall find Grotto, Castle, Giant, Giantess, Bee Hive,
+Splendid, Grand, and Old Faithful. Each of them has an interest
+peculiarly its own, but Old Faithful is always true to its name and is
+perhaps best appreciated by visitors.</p>
+
+<p>The opening through which Old Faithful disgorges its water is at the
+summit of a mound built up by its own exertions. The wrinkles on its
+face tell of long-continued service. Every seventy minutes this faithful
+worker sends up a column of water to the height of one hundred and<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_49" id="pg_49">49</a></span>
+eighty feet, and at each eruption more than one million gallons of water
+are thrown out.</p>
+
+<p>We now pass through a section noted for its wild and picturesque scenery
+and considered the pleasantest on the trip. In leaving the Upper Basin
+we follow along Firehole River to the mouth of Spring Creek, then along
+this creek to the Continental Divide. From there, travelling a few miles
+along the Pacific slope, we cross the Divide and descend the mountains
+into the valley of the Yellowstone.</p>
+
+<p>Near the central part of the park, encircled by a forest and elevated
+nearly eight thousand feet above the sea-level, lies a remarkable body
+of water supplied by ice-cold streams formed by the melting snow on the
+surrounding mountains. This body of water, of which the Yellowstone
+River is the outlet, is the famous Yellowstone Lake, thirty miles long
+and twenty miles wide; it is filled with trout.</p>
+
+<p>Here the fisherman can catch hundreds of trout in a short time, but
+unfortunately most of them are afflicted with a parasitic disease,
+rendering them unfit for food. Researches have been made seeking the
+cause of the disease in order, if possible, to apply a remedy, but so
+far to no purpose. It is conjectured that the superabundance of fish
+together with a dearth of suitable food lowers their vitality, thus
+rendering them liable to disease.</p>
+
+<p>Yellowstone stands next to Lake Titicaca as the highest large body of
+water in the world. The sunrise and sunset effects on the lake are most
+beautiful. A steamer plies on the lake carrying mail and passengers. The
+bird life on this body of water and its shores is represented by swans,
+geese, ducks, cranes, pelicans, curlews, herons, plovers, and snipe.</p>
+
+<p>For beauty and grandeur the lower falls and canyon of the Yellowstone
+River are unsurpassed. A body of water seventy feet wide rushes forward
+with impetuous speed and<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_50" id="pg_50">50</a></span> joyously takes a leap of more than three
+hundred feet to the rocks below, where, breaking into millions of
+particles, it forms a great cloud of spray. The water then dashes on
+with renewed vitality between the walls of a canyon fourteen hundred
+feet deep, and most gorgeously painted by nature in such a variety and
+lavishness of tints that they defy the most skilful artist to reproduce
+them.</p>
+
+<p>As one gazes from the edge of the chasm into and along the depths below,
+he attempts in vain to measure the fulness and beauty of this handiwork
+of nature. He is too amazed for utterance and remains spellbound,
+communing only with himself and nature regarding the unfathomable
+significance of such marvels. When the famous painter, Thomas Moran,
+desired to reproduce in colors on canvas this masterpiece of nature, he
+gathered his inspiration from Artist Point, and after he had finished
+the celebrated painting which now adorns the Capitol at Washington, he
+acknowledged that the beautiful tints of the canyon were beyond the
+reach of human art.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone has no equal on the face of the
+globe. With a breadth equal to its depth, this richly decorated canyon
+stands out unique among the world's wonders. Its beautiful panorama of
+stained walls, down which trickle streams of water which brighten the
+tints in some places and soften them in others, extends for a distance
+of three miles. The entire canyon is fifteen miles in length.</p>
+
+<p>A most interesting place to visit, but outside the itinerary of most
+tourists, is the Fossil, or Petrified, Forest. This section, especially
+attractive to the scientist, lies in the northeastern part of the park
+just north of Amethyst Mountain.</p>
+
+<p>To one who can read Nature's books, a wondrous volume is open,
+disclosing in its strata the hidden secrets of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_51" id="pg_51">51</a></span> many by-gone geological
+ages. Here on the north flank of the mountain are two thousand feet of
+stratifications. On the ledges, tier above tier and story above story,
+are seen the opal and agate stumps and trunks of twenty ancient forests,
+some of the trunks being ten feet in diameter.</p>
+
+<p>What wonderful stories do they tell of life and death, of flood and
+volcanic fire, ranging through the eons of the past! So perfect are
+these petrifactions that the annual rings can be easily counted and even
+the grain of the wood is plainly visible.</p>
+
+<p>As one traverses this wonderland he is impressed by the evidence of the
+stupendous forces that lie smouldering beneath the crust of the earth.
+It is not improbable that at some future time, by the further wrinkling
+or sinking of the surface of this part of the American continent, the
+slumbering volcanic fires may be awakened to new life and activity.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="TWO_PREHISTORIC_CEMETERIESmdashGIANT_REPTILES_AND_GIANT_TREES_1524" id="TWO_PREHISTORIC_CEMETERIESmdashGIANT_REPTILES_AND_GIANT_TREES_1524"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<h3>TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES&mdash;GIANT REPTILES AND GIANT TREES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Although reptiles appeared first in the period known as the
+Carboniferous Age, or age of plant life, they did not attain their
+greatest development until Jurassic and Cretaceous times, when many were
+of prodigious size and ruled the world. The gigantic ichthyosaurs,
+mesosaurs, and dinosaurs held dominion over the sea and land, and the
+monster flying reptile, the pterodactyl, over the air.</p>
+
+<p>Ages ago a great inland sea embracing Wyoming and the surrounding region
+occupied the area east of the Rocky Mountains. For many years students
+of geology had found this section a fertile field for the study of rock
+formations<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_52" id="pg_52">52</a></span> and the collection of fossils; but not until 1898 was the
+geological wonderland of central-south Wyoming discovered.</p>
+
+<p>This discovery proved to be a graveyard of prehistoric monsters dating
+back probably several millions of years ago. Entombed in the rocks of
+the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, many lizard-like animals of
+gigantic size called saurians were found. Several fossil skeletons of
+these animals have been chiselled out of the solid rocks and mounted in
+museums, the work entailing a vast amount of labor and expense. The
+discovery was made by Mr. Walter Granger, who had been sent out by the
+American Museum of Natural History, of New York, to hunt for fossils.</p>
+
+<p>In the desert section near Medicine Bow River, Wyoming, he found what
+seemed to be a number of dark-brown bowlders. On a critical examination
+they proved to be ponderous fossils that had been washed out of a great
+bed of reptilian remains. The fossil graveyard in question was found to
+be two hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness. Near by was a Mexican
+sheep-herder's cabin, the foundations of which were constructed of huge
+fossils. The vicinity was christened Bone Cabin Quarry. Ten miles south
+of the Bone Cabin Quarry, in the Como Bluffs, another bed containing the
+remains of huge dinosaurs was discovered. From these remarkable
+cemeteries many fossils have been obtained.</p>
+
+<p>The term saurian means "lizard," and it has many prefixes to indicate
+the different genera and species. The prefixes generally express to a
+certain extent the characteristic appearance or habits of the different
+kinds of saurians. Some were flesh-eaters; others were herbivorous. Some
+lived on land; others, in the shallow waters and lagoons, fed on
+succulent aquatic plants; still others frequented the deeper waters and
+lived on fish.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_53" id="pg_53">53</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:377px'>
+<a name="illus-013" id="illus-013"></a>
+<img src="images/w053.jpg" alt="The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)" title="" width="377" /><br />
+<span class="caption">_Property of the American Museum of Natural History_<br />The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w053-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The name dinosaur, meaning terrible lizard, represents an order of
+fossil reptiles. They are allied to the crocodile, but, like the
+kangaroo, their hind legs were much longer than their front ones. The
+neck and tail were very long and the body short but of immense size.
+These monsters were from twenty to eighty feet in length and weighed
+from thirty to one hundred tons. The long, slender neck supported a small
+head that contained a correspondingly small brain, from which it is
+thought that the creature possessed a low order of intelligence. The
+tail was much thicker than the neck and in some species was flattened.
+When rising on its hind legs and resting on its tail it could look into
+the window of a four-story building. Some of these strange animals had
+bills like those of a duck; some possessed teeth for grinding and others
+sharp teeth for tearing. These were by far the largest land animals that
+ever lived. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_54" id="pg_54">54</a></span> different species often waged titanic battles with one
+another for the supremacy of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>It is conjectured that their disappearance was due to violent upheavals
+of the earth, to the draining of the water, to changes of climate, and
+to deprivation of suitable food.</p>
+
+<p>The mounted brontosaur in the American Museum of Natural History, New
+York, will enable one better to appreciate the size of these giants of
+the ancient world. This typical specimen, though not the largest found,
+is sixty-seven feet long and stands fifteen and one-half feet high. Its
+neck measures thirty feet in length and its tail eighteen. The body
+weighed about ninety tons. This huge fossil, enclosed in its stone
+matrix, was sent from the quarry to the museum. After it had been
+received two men were employed constantly for nearly two and one-half
+years in removing the matrix, repairing, and mounting the fossil.</p>
+
+<p>Let us turn now to the burying ground of a giant forest. Long, long
+years ago, before man appeared on the earth, an inland sea occupied what
+is now the northeastern part of Arizona. It was a sea bordered with
+sandstone and surrounded by coniferous forests, where stately trees
+nodded in the breezes.</p>
+
+<p>At length there came a great change. The rim of the basin gave way, and
+the great volume of water, freed from restraint, overwhelmed the forest
+with earthy material, prostrating and burying it deep beneath the flood
+of sand.</p>
+
+<p>In time the woody structure disappeared, and was replaced by beautifully
+stained opal and agate. Again, in the lapse of time the old forest bed
+was once more lifted above its former level, forming a mesa, or plateau,
+of considerable extent. During subsequent ages, the elements scarred and
+furrowed the plateau, forming canyons, gulches, valleys, and buttes,
+thus revealing in part this ancient forest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_55" id="pg_55">55</a></span> Could these dead trees but
+talk, how interesting would be their story! We can read their history
+but imperfectly by examining the mutilated breast of Mother Earth, in
+and on which lie these mute stone trees, dead yet made more beautiful
+through their transformation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-014" id="illus-014"></a>
+<img src="images/w055.jpg" alt="The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">_Property of the American Museum of Natural History_<br />The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w055-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>This region is called the "Petrified Forest," or "Chalcedony Park." It
+is about one hundred square miles in extent, and is visited annually by
+thousands of people from all parts of the world. On account of its
+strange geological character it is of special interest to the scientist.</p>
+
+<p>Let us make a brief trip to this wonderful stone forest. We take light
+hand-baggage and board a Santa F&eacute; train. The railway passes near the
+most interesting part of the forest, and we change cars before entering
+Arizona in order to take this line. The railway officials have made a
+station at Adamana, six miles from the edge of the forest, in order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_56" id="pg_56">56</a></span>
+accommodate the travelling public. We leave the train here and procure a
+team to carry us to the forest.</p>
+
+<p>Unless informed of what is to be seen one is apt to be greatly
+disappointed. One's idea of a forest is usually that of a timber-covered
+area in which the trees stand erect, with outspreading branches; but we
+look in vain for a standing tree, or even a stump that is erect.</p>
+
+<p>All are branchless trunks, prostrate on the ground, many wholly or
+partly buried; moreover, they are lying in all sorts of positions, some
+entire and others broken into sections; some are massed closely
+together; others lie apart; and millions of pieces of all sizes are
+scattered around. At places we can travel a long distance by stepping
+from one log to another.</p>
+
+<p>But what is that pile of variegated disk-like objects looking like the
+primitive Mexican ox-cart wheels? They are cross-sections of stone logs,
+some large and some small, seemingly thrown together carelessly. It is a
+characteristic of petrified trunks to break into cross-sections or
+blocks, varying from a few inches to several feet in length; and this
+tendency prevails here.</p>
+
+<p>We are told that the trees of this forest antedate those of the
+Yellowstone Park by a long period of time. How the loftiest flights of
+the imagination are piqued as we contemplate the marvellous changes
+since this primeval forest depended on the soil and sun for their
+life-giving elements! As we wander through this wonderful forest our
+feet seem to be treading on the rarest gems. And well may it seem so,
+because when polished these pieces display a beauty of coloring and a
+lustre that rivals the glint of precious stones. There is no other
+petrified forest in the world in which the mineralized wood assumes so
+many varied and interesting forms and colors.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago a firm at Sioux Falls undertook to manufacture<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_57" id="pg_57">57</a></span> table
+tops, mantels, pedestals, and various decorative articles out of
+sections of this agatized wood by cutting them into the desired forms
+and polishing them. Tiffany and Company, the famous jewellers, also used
+this material for the base of the beautiful silver testimonial presented
+to the French sculptor, Bartholdi.</p>
+
+<p>At a later date, an abrasive company of Denver conceived the plan of
+grinding up these trunks to make emery because of their extreme
+hardness; in fact, a plant was shipped to Adamana station for that
+purpose. Fortunately for the public, however, it was not put into
+operation because the company learned that a Canadian firm had put on
+the market an article at such a reduced price that to grind up these
+beautiful logs would be unprofitable.</p>
+
+<p>Fragments, branches, and trunks of all sorts and sizes are found lying
+around, many of them richly colored, forming chalcedony, opal, and
+agate; some approach the condition of jasper and onyx.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Petrified Forest was set aside as a national park by
+Congress, many acts of vandalism were committed, to say nothing about
+the quantities of mineral carried away by manufacturing firms and
+curiosity-hunters. Keepers now have charge of the park, and no one is
+permitted to take away specimens for commercial use. Previously many of
+the finest logs were destroyed by blasting in order to procure the
+beautiful crystals which are found in the centre of many of them.</p>
+
+<p>One object of special interest in the park is the National Bridge, a
+petrified trunk which spans a chasm thirty feet wide and twenty feet
+deep. The part of the trunk crossing the gulch lies diagonally and is
+forty-four feet long. The length of the trunk exposed by erosion is one
+hundred and eleven feet; a fraction still remains embedded in the
+sandstone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_58" id="pg_58">58</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The ruins of several ancient Indian pueblos are scattered about the
+park, nearly all of them built of logs of this richly colored, agatized
+wood. The forest was a storehouse for ages, whence primitive men
+obtained material from which to make agate hammers, arrow-heads, and
+knives, as is shown by implements found hundreds of miles distant from
+these quarries.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="DEATH_VALLEY_1718" id="DEATH_VALLEY_1718"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<h3>DEATH VALLEY</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Death Valley, or the Arroyo del Muerte, as the Spanish called it, is in
+the western part of southern California, near the oblique boundary of
+Nevada, a little way north of Nevada's vanishing point. Nowadays one may
+ride almost into the valley in a Pullman coach. From Daggett, a forsaken
+station of the Santa F&eacute; Railroad, a "jerkwater" road, as it is called,
+extends northward to Goldfield and Tonopah, and this road takes one
+almost as the crow flies to the edge of the valley of the ominous name.</p>
+
+<p>Even in a Pullman coach the trip is trying to both body and soul. But
+forty years ago?&mdash;well, that is a different story. Then there was no
+Santa F&eacute; Railway, and no Daggett&mdash;just a wide stretch of desert dotted
+with yucca and Spanish bayonet. Prospectors and pack-trains had left
+trails here and there. One of these, now a wagon-road, lay southward to
+San Bernardino; northward it lost itself in the desert toward
+Candelaria.</p>
+
+<p>The region possesses some names that are a trifle paradoxical. For
+instances, there are the Black Mountains, the grayish red color of which
+belies their name. Then there is Funeral Range, which, far from being
+sombre in<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_59" id="pg_59">59</a></span> aspect, is most brilliantly colored. To the southward is
+Paradise Valley, a plain desert strewn with greasewood and chamiso; and
+down in the floor of Death Valley is, or rather was, Greenland. But
+Greenland is not a waste of icebound coldness; on the contrary, it is
+averred by the laborers in the borax fields to be several degrees hotter
+than any other place on earth. The surplus water of the spring is
+employed to produce verdure there, and it is apparently equal to the
+task, for the forty or more acres so irrigated produce wonderful crops;
+hence it is "Greenland."</p>
+
+<p>Even twenty years ago the trip to Death Valley was a trying one to the
+experienced desert traveller in summer; to the tenderfoot without a
+guide it was almost certain death. The best equipment for the trip was a
+pair of mules, or else cayuse ponies, and a light buckboard with broad
+tires&mdash;tires so wide that they would not sink in the loose, wind-blown
+rock waste. The equipment might possibly be found in Daggett; more
+likely it must be purchased in San Bernardino.</p>
+
+<p>At all events, Daggett was the real starting point, and the first
+"trick" in the journey was the crossing of Mohave River. The river was
+pretty sure to be deep&mdash;not with water but with sand. Whoever saw water
+in the channel, or "wash," of the Mohave? Perhaps the oldest settler may
+have seen it; at any rate he will so claim, for the oldest settler is
+always boastful; indeed, fairy-story telling is his inherent, bounden
+right. To make good his assertion he points to the bridge, and certainly
+the bridge is there; but as for the river, it may be on hand one
+day&mdash;perhaps an hour or so&mdash;in ten, twenty, or thirty years!</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the river a wide expanse of desert is before us, and then a
+beautiful lake comes into view. Real water, is it?&mdash;no; just the desert
+mirage, but it seems real enough to quench a genuine thirst. But the
+illusion is lessened by<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_60" id="pg_60">60</a></span> the surroundings, for we are approaching a dry
+sink&mdash;an old lake-bed that was filled with brackish water once when a
+cloud-burst that occurred in Calico Mountains had its busy day.</p>
+
+<p>Back of us are Calico Mountains, a picturesque clump of buttes, and the
+glimpse of them we get from the north explains why they were so named.
+And such colors! Their brilliant hues change like kaleidoscopic patterns
+with the sun's motion. On our right a trail diverges to Coyote Holes,
+made grewsome by one of many tragedies that have occurred in the region.
+This time it was a hold-up. A desert waif out of luck and ready cash
+waylaid the paymaster of Calico mines and relieved him of the money
+intended for the miners. The robber was soon trailed and he quickly
+discovered that his only safety lay in hiding. But where could he hide
+in that desolate flat?</p>
+
+<p>At Coyote Holes there is a spring and a small marsh. The robber buried
+himself in the mud till all but his face was covered and lay there while
+the posse searched. But the keen vision of an Indian scout did not fail.
+When the robber saw that he was surrounded, he put up a brave fight and
+went down, riddled with rifle-balls. The money was recovered.</p>
+
+<p>A little farther on is Garlic Springs. It is a common camping-place and
+like other camps is plentifully strewn with the evidence of the
+prospector's outfit&mdash;hundreds and hundreds of empty tin cans. In time we
+camp at Cave Springs in a little cove of the Avawatz Buttes. Once there
+came along a man who all said was half-witted. Perhaps he was, but his
+intelligence was keen enough to prompt him to claim the springs. By
+selling the water for quenching thirst at the rate of "four bits" a head
+for stock and "two bits" apiece for men, his spring proved the best gold
+mine in the district.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_61" id="pg_61">61</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is no water ahead until we reach Saratoga Springs, a dozen miles
+beyond, and it is well that we take a small supply along, as the water
+there is unfit for either man or beast. There is a difference between
+Saratoga Springs, New York, and the springs bearing this high-sounding
+name in the Amargosa sink.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:415px'>
+<a name="illus-015" id="illus-015"></a>
+<img src="images/w061.jpg" alt="Twenty-mule borax team" title="" width="415" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Twenty-mule borax team</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w061-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Boiling Springs are a night's ride&mdash;perhaps twenty miles&mdash;beyond. We
+give our team three hours of rest and start therefor, stopping in the
+mean time for a midnight feed, where most unexpectedly we find some
+excellent grazing for our horses. By daylight we are at the Springs and
+in a locality much like the Bad Lands of South Dakota. But the "boiling"
+industry apparently is taking a vacation, for the water is not too warm
+for one's hands and face&mdash;and certainly it is refreshing.</p>
+
+<p>We are in a "sink," or the dry bed of a lake, and the cliffs of clay
+have been sculptured into existence by the Amargosa River. Sometimes,
+when a dissipated cloud tumbles its contents into the region, the
+Amargosa is filled bank full with water; but few prospectors have seen
+more than a trickling stream flowing in its bed.</p>
+
+<p>We turn our way out of the wagon-trail toward Funeral Range to find the
+canyon of Furnace Creek, and in time we are clambering up a narrow gulch
+between the multicolored<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_62" id="pg_62">62</a></span> strata of clay buttes. Not a vestige of life,
+not even the horned-toad or the trail of the kangaroo-rat is to be seen.
+Half a dozen graves marked each by a wooden cross or a rock monument are
+in sight. Who are they? Ask the simoom that sweeps like a cruel furnace
+blast over this forsaken region. To be lost in this desert means
+horrible suffering, phantom-seeing, and then death. The bodies of these
+unfortunates were merely found and buried&mdash;lost!&mdash;dead!</p>
+
+<p>We cross the mesa which forms part of the Funeral Range. Telescope and
+Sentinel Peaks beyond Death Valley in the Panamint Mountains loom above
+the horizon; we descend the canyon of Furnace Creek and are in Death
+Valley.</p>
+
+<p>We are in a strange and weird depression of the earth's crust about
+fifty miles long and ten wide, the deepest part of which is more than
+two hundred and fifty feet below sea level. Once upon a time, it is
+thought, the Gulf of California reached so far inland that it included
+this gash. Then the never-ceasing winds bridged it with loose rock
+waste. Thus, Death Valley was born. In time it became a salt lake, a
+marsh, and then a dry sink.</p>
+
+<p>It is here that the deadly side-winder travels by night instead of day
+to avoid the excessive heat, and rivers flow with their bottoms up as if
+to hide from the burning rays of the sun; where Death by name and by
+nature gives forth no warning note, and even a mountain range on the
+east side of the valley signifies the service held to commemorate the
+last resting-place of the unfortunates who have perished here.</p>
+
+<p>The valley is hemmed in on the east by the precipitous side of the
+gorgeous-colored Funeral Range, and on the west by the Panamint
+Mountains, which rise to the height of ten thousand feet. The climate is
+cool and salubrious<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_63" id="pg_63">63</a></span> in winter, but is a fiery furnace in summer, when
+the mercury in the thermometer sometimes climbs to one hundred and forty
+degrees in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>Death Valley gained its name from a terrible tragedy that occurred
+during the early days of the gold excitement in California. Emigrants
+bound for California overland were wont to follow the same general route
+as far as Salt Lake City. From here there were two routes, one westerly
+along the route over which the Central Pacific Railway was afterward
+built, the other southerly into southern California.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the season of 1849 one of the emigrant parties reached Salt Lake
+City. Rather than winter there, however, they determined to push forward
+at all hazards by the southern route. After travelling through Utah and
+some distance in Nevada, they left the regular trail and decided to turn
+southwesterly and cross a fairly level mesa. The region was unknown to
+them, but they believed that by thus changing the route they would be
+able to reach their destination more quickly. They also thought that
+they would find better grazing for their stock. After they had crossed
+the mesa, the route became more rugged and more precipitous, so, in
+order to lighten the wagon-loads, one by one many articles of furniture
+were left behind.</p>
+
+<p>When the company reached the head of Amargosa Valley they began to
+separate. At length one party found looming up before it the streaked
+and many-colored Funeral Range of mountains. Nothing daunted, they
+laboriously toiled up to the crest with their teams. On looking down
+their hearts sank within them as they beheld a precipitous descent to a
+long, deep, and narrow valley almost destitute of vegetation. This
+depression was to be christened Death Valley.</p>
+
+<p>It was now too late to turn back; so, unyoking the oxen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_64" id="pg_64">64</a></span> they proceeded
+to lower the wagons down into the valley by hand, using chains and
+ropes. By the time they had finished the task darkness had shut down
+and, gathering sufficient greasewood brush to make a fire, they cooked
+their evening meal with a scanty supply of water and vainly searched for
+more. The food was eaten in gloomy silence, for they were lost and knew
+not where they were nor how to reach the nearest settlement.</p>
+
+<p>It was apparent to all, however, that they must hasten to leave this
+kiln-dried desert valley as soon as possible. Abandoning their wagons
+and nearly all of the surviving oxen to their fate, after incredible
+hardships from lack of both food and water, about one-half of the
+company of thirty souls that crossed the Funeral Range reached the
+settlements alive. Succumbing to their sufferings, the others dropped,
+one by one, by the wayside unknelled and uncoffined. The skeletons of
+several of these unfortunate emigrants were found years afterward by
+exploring parties and prospectors.</p>
+
+<p>Among those who escaped was a man named Bennett, who, on reaching the
+nearest town, reported that he had found a ledge of pure silver. The
+reputed discovery occurred in this way. As he was wending his course
+along one of the canyons he came across a spring, and, being both
+thirsty and tired, after taking a drink sat down to rest. While sitting
+there he carelessly broke off a piece of a rock jutting out near him,
+and perceiving that it was very heavy and thinking it might be of some
+value, placed a small part of it in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>After he had reached San Bernardino he happened to purchase a gun
+lacking a front sight. Bennett therefore sought a gunsmith, whom he
+requested to make a sight out of the metallic rock which he had found
+that he might have a souvenir which would not be easily lost.</p>
+
+<p>To the astonishment of all who learned the facts, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_65" id="pg_65">65</a></span> metal proved to
+be pure silver. This circumstance gave rise to the celebrated "Gunsight
+Lead," a phantom that was chased in every direction from Death Valley;
+but, like the mirage of the desert, the lead was never found.</p>
+
+<p>In summer the valley is said to be the hottest place on the face of the
+earth, and persons deprived of water even for an hour become insane. Men
+who have attempted to cross it at mid-day have been known to fall dead,
+and birds flying across have been killed by the fierce heat.</p>
+
+<p>Cloud-bursts occur occasionally on the adjoining mountains, when
+torrents pour down the declivities, filling the canyons with streams of
+water sometimes many feet deep, which sweep everything before them. A
+cloud-burst may change the whole face of the mountain. Cloud-bursts come
+usually in the hottest weather and almost with the suddenness of an
+explosion. A swiftly moving black cloud tipped with fiery streaks and
+growing rapidly appears above the crest of the mountains. Then it sinks
+like a monster balloon turned sidewise until it strikes a ridge or peak;
+the flood is then let loose and destruction follows.</p>
+
+<p>Many stories are told of persons barely escaping with their lives by
+hastily climbing up the side of the canyons, beyond the reach of the
+roaring waters, and of others being overwhelmed and drowned. Such a
+flood, caused by a cloud-burst, may have buried the alleged Gunsight
+Lead and have changed the conformation of the canyon beyond recognition.</p>
+
+<p>No one without experience in travelling over deserts in the summer
+season can realize the hardships attending travel in the region of Death
+Valley nor the sombre sameness of the arid stretches of sand. When the
+sun has set and the full moon rising makes the silhouettes of the
+mountains look darker, a vague, indescribable sensation comes over
+one&mdash;an awe-inspiring feeling of insignificance<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_66" id="pg_66">66</a></span> and helplessness amidst
+scenes of majestic desolation. If religiously inclined, one is prone to
+utter the words of the wandering Arab of the Sahara, "Nothing exists
+here but Allah! <i>Allah hu Akbar!</i>&mdash;God is greater than all his created
+witnesses." In summer, the air being almost entirely destitute of
+moisture, evaporation is exceedingly rapid, and so hot is the sun at
+this season that metal objects lying out-of-doors burn the hand if
+touched.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago valuable borax deposits were discovered in the Death
+Valley and thousands of tons of borax have been freighted out by huge
+wagons drawn by mules; indeed, "twenty-mule-team borax" has become
+almost a household term. Borax is still mined here, but not so
+extensively as formerly, more accessible borax deposits having been
+found in Nevada and elsewhere&mdash;and the twenty-mule team is now a
+motor-truck!</p>
+
+<p>Nearly one-third of all of the borax of the world comes from the deserts
+of California and Nevada. When borax was first discovered in California
+the wholesale price in New York was about fifty cents a pound; now it is
+about six cents.</p>
+
+<p>The various applications of borax to industrial and domestic uses have
+kept pace with its enormous production during the last twenty-five
+years, until now it is used for more than fifty different purposes. The
+meat-packers of the United States alone use several million pounds as a
+preservative. It is also used with excellent results as an antiseptic in
+dressing wounds and sores.</p>
+
+<p>Furnace Creek enters the valley on the eastern side of Death Valley, but
+its waters soon sink out of sight. The creek is used to irrigate a tract
+of alfalfa, a small garden, and a few trees; and the small ranch, a
+veritable oasis in a desert, is rightly called Greenland. A few men are
+kept employed here by the borax company. Now and then, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_67" id="pg_67">67</a></span> the
+whole crowd, tiring of the extreme heat, desert in a body.</p>
+
+<p>This region is now robbed of some of its terrors by the completion of
+the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, which touches Death Valley at the
+old Amargosa Borax Works.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_MINERAL_WEALTH_OF_THE_ANDES_1999" id="THE_MINERAL_WEALTH_OF_THE_ANDES_1999"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<h3>THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>At this period of the world's progress, when so many marvellous
+inventions are taking place, one can scarcely realize the intense
+interest that was awakened by the first discoveries made in the New
+World. So great was the excitement that the most improbable stories were
+readily believed.</p>
+
+<p>There were fountains of perpetual youth, Amazonian warriors, mighty
+giants, and rivers whose beds sparkled with gems and golden pebbles. The
+reports of every returning adventurer, whatever had been his luck, were
+tinged with the marvellous. In fact, a world of romance was now open to
+all and the opportunities to achieve fame and fortune were numberless.
+The first in the field stood the best chance to win the choicest prizes.
+Stories that outrivalled the Arabian Nights clouded the realm of reason.</p>
+
+<p>So extraordinary were the accounts that many of the cities of Spain were
+depleted of their most energetic men. Every craft that could sail the
+seas was called into use, and the building of new vessels was hastened
+to completion in order to provide for the needs of adventurous
+prospectors and would-be explorers.</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of the Aztec Empire, with its millions of treasure, by
+Cortez had already proved the valiancy of Spanish<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_68" id="pg_68">68</a></span> cavaliers. To add to
+this, the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro and his followers was
+regarded a miracle of divine interposition.</p>
+
+<p>As a result, Spanish galleons laden with treasure from the conquered
+countries ploughed the seas, and untold wealth poured into private and
+royal coffers. Spanish ambition and greed for gold knew no bounds.
+Cunning and cruelty were employed by the Spaniards to secure their ends.
+No trials, no hardships were too great for them to endure. No perils
+daunted them. Western South America, ruled by viceroys for nearly three
+centuries, brought to Spain its greatest wealth. One-fifth of all the
+wealth and treasure acquired was reserved for the crown.</p>
+
+<p>When Pizarro first visited the interior of Peru he found an empire well
+advanced in the arts of civilization. Its temples within and without
+were richly decorated with gold. There were thousands of miles of
+excellent roads, of which two were used for military purposes. One of
+these extended along the lowlands; the other traversed the grand
+plateau. These roads crossed ravines bridged with solid masonry and were
+pierced by tunnels cut through solid rock. The construction of these
+great roads was a more wonderful achievement than the building of the
+Egyptian pyramids.</p>
+
+<p>The government was systematically organized and to a certain extent it
+was both paternal and communal. Agriculture was skilfully carried on by
+means of fertilization and irrigation.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was the chief deity and object of worship of its people. Their
+most beautifully adorned and renowned sanctuary was the Temple of the
+Sun at Cuzco. Besides this sacred edifice there were several hundred
+inferior temples and places of worship scattered through the empire, all
+plentifully ornamented with gold and silver. Every Inca<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_69" id="pg_69">69</a></span> ruler was
+regarded as a descendant of the sun and therefore a sacred person.</p>
+
+<p>According to the popular belief, gold consisted of tears wept by the sun
+and was therefore a sacred metal suitable for beautifying the palaces of
+the Incas and temples of worship. Not only were the edifices themselves
+richly adorned with this precious metal, but the sacred vessels and many
+of the articles of furniture were made of the same material. Silver,
+also, was much used, but was not considered sacred. So great was the
+amount of the precious metals used that each royal palace and temple was
+a veritable mine.</p>
+
+<p>From 1520 to 1525 reports of a rich empire at the south were circulated
+among the adventurers congregated at Panama. At length they were
+confirmed in a great measure by travellers who had voyaged southward
+along the coast. Francisco Pizarro, a restless spirit who had been
+associated with Balboa and others in discovery and exploration,
+determining to test the truth of these reports, made several voyages
+south.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, he landed on the shores of Peru with an army of followers who
+numbered less than two hundred. He met with but little opposition from
+the natives while marching toward the interior, and although he
+plundered some of the places through which he passed, the people
+received him with marks of friendship.</p>
+
+<p>In some instances towns of several thousand population were deserted on
+the approach of the Spaniards, so great was the terror inspired by the
+white men, especially by those on horseback. At first it was the policy
+of the invaders to treat the natives with kindness in order to
+accomplish their purpose, namely, to conquer the Peruvian Empire in the
+same manner that Cortez had conquered the Aztecs. They were accompanied
+by two of the natives who previously<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_70" id="pg_70">70</a></span> had been taken to Spain and taught
+the Spanish language. By this means the Spaniards were able to
+communicate with the people.</p>
+
+<p>Learning that the Inca ruler, Atahuallpa, was encamped with his army
+among the mountains, Pizarro sent an embassy to request a meeting with
+him. It was agreed that they meet at Caxamalca, a strongly fortified
+city among the sierras. On arriving at the city, the Spaniards found it
+evacuated. Soon after taking up their quarters there, Atahuallpa arrived
+and established his camp a short distance outside the city.</p>
+
+<p>Pizarro at once sent word to Atahuallpa to come into the city and sup
+with him, but asked that, in order to show his faith in the white men
+and his own good intentions, he should leave all weapons behind. After
+much persuasion Atahuallpa accepted the invitation and entered the city,
+with several thousand of his followers, unarmed.</p>
+
+<p>When fairly within the enclosure, a priest approaching the Inca ruler
+made a harangue about Christianity and demanded that he should submit to
+the authority of the Spanish king.</p>
+
+<p>"By what authority do you demand such submission?" replied the monarch
+with flashing eye.</p>
+
+<p>"By this holy book which I hold in my hand," answered the priest.</p>
+
+<p>Then snatching the volume from the hand of the priest, Atahuallpa
+scornfully threw it on the ground, saying, "What right have you in my
+country? I will call you and your companions to an account for the
+indignities heaped upon me."</p>
+
+<p>Picking up the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported
+the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At
+them at once; I absolve you."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately Pizarro raised his handkerchief for the preconcerted<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_71" id="pg_71">71</a></span>
+signal, the firing of a gun. Thereupon his soldiers, infantry and
+cavalry, rushed from their places of concealment upon the defenceless
+Indians, slaughtering them unmercifully right and left.</p>
+
+<p>The discharge of the arquebuses and cannon, with their smoke, and the
+charge of the cavalry paralyzed the unsuspecting natives, and the attack
+became a horrible massacre. Not until thousands of the Indians had been
+killed and the Inca ruler had been captured did darkness cause the
+Spaniards to desist from their bloody work. So sudden and terrible had
+been the onslaught that the haughty monarch himself seemed stunned by
+the effect.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing the irresistible power of the white men with their wonderful
+weapons and horses, the natives gave up for a time all thoughts of
+resistance. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings
+endowed with preternatural gifts.</p>
+
+<p>When the ruler had been kept a prisoner several months, he desired to
+regain his freedom. By this time he realized the Spaniards' thirst for
+gold, and therefore promised to fill the room in which he was confined
+with it as high as he could reach, and twice to fill an adjoining room
+with silver, if they would release him.</p>
+
+<p>Pizarro agreed to this proposal; Atahuallpa thereupon sent out
+messengers to all parts of his empire requesting that the metals in the
+shape of utensils and ornaments be collected from the royal palaces,
+temples, and elsewhere and brought to Caxamalca.</p>
+
+<p>On account of the difficulty of transportation, since all the treasure
+had to be carried on the backs of the natives, many months elapsed
+before the collections could be made.</p>
+
+<p>When fifteen and one-half million dollars' worth of gold and a large
+amount of silver had been delivered at Caxamalca, Pizarro excused the
+imprisoned ruler from further<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_72" id="pg_72">72</a></span> contributions. At this juncture of
+affairs Almagro, a co-partner in the Peruvian expedition, arrived on the
+scene with a strong reinforcement.</p>
+
+<p>On learning of the immense amount of gold and silver collected, the
+followers of both leaders loudly clamored for its distribution among
+them, and, taking out the royal fifth part, the remainder was divided
+according to the rank and service rendered. Then came rumors of an
+uprising among the natives and of the collection of an army to drive out
+the invaders, but on investigation these reports were found to be false.</p>
+
+<p>The question then uppermost in the minds of the Spanish leaders was the
+disposition of the royal prisoner. It was thought that, were he released
+according to promise, the natives might rally around him and demand the
+expulsion of the intruders. So it was decided to make charges against
+him and to have at least the form of a trial in order to give an
+appearance of justice to the proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>Twelve charges were made against Atahuallpa, nearly all of which were
+far-fetched and absolutely false. He was found guilty and condemned to
+death by burning; but at the last moment, when he was chained to a stake
+and the torch was ready to be applied, the priest in attendance promised
+that the sentence should be commuted to the easier death by the garrote
+if he would renounce his idolatry and embrace Christianity. He assented
+to the proposal, and immediately the modified sentence was carried out.
+It is not necessary to add that the execution of the Peruvian monarch
+was the darkest stain on the pages of Spanish colonial history. From
+this time on the conduct of the Spanish invaders was marked by a most
+inhuman cruelty toward the natives.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_73" id="pg_73">73</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:603px'>
+<a name="illus-016" id="illus-016"></a>
+<img src="images/w073.jpg" alt="The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road" title="" width="603" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w073-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_74" id="pg_74">74</a></span>Thinking that he could more easily govern the empire through a native
+ruler subservient to himself, Pizarro placed Manco, the true heir, on
+the Peruvian throne. In the meantime, however, parts of the empire
+rebelled against the new ruler and the Spanish usurpers. Then, when the
+rebellious tribes had been brought back to their former allegiance, the
+Spanish leaders quarrelled and fought among themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before the arrogant and cruel conduct of the Spaniards
+alienated all friendship on the part of both ruler and his subjects.
+Manco broke from his masters and, aided by his people, raised the
+standard of rebellion, determining to make a last supreme effort to rid
+his subjects of the incubus that was sapping the life of the country.</p>
+
+<p>After many bloody encounters in which both sides sustained severe
+losses, Manco was killed and the Spanish yoke was firmly fixed on the
+neck of the people, who for the greater part were consigned to a most
+inhuman slavery. Thousands perished by the brutal treatment inflicted
+upon them in the silver mines.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of time Indian slavery was abolished in a great measure by
+royal proclamation; nevertheless, Spain continued to rule this land for
+three hundred years before the oppressive yoke was cast off by a
+successful uprising. It is a pleasure to know that many of the Spanish
+leaders who were guilty of this heartless cruelty suffered violent
+deaths in quarrels among themselves or in rebellion against the crown of
+Spain.</p>
+
+<p>During the period of Spanish rule an immense revenue accrued from
+working the rich silver mines. Those that filled the Spanish treasure
+ships so eagerly sought by buccaneers were the mines of Potosi. These
+silver lodes, extensively worked through Indian slave labor by Hernando
+and Gonzalo Pizarro, brothers of Francisco Pizarro, were discovered in
+1546.</p>
+
+<p>So rich did the lodes prove to be that the city of Potosi sprang up near
+them and was supported by them, although<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_75" id="pg_75">75</a></span> the site was far from being
+desirable. Its altitude is about thirteen thousand feet, and it is,
+therefore, the highest city in the world. It is situated on the bleak
+side of the Andes, from whose snow-clad peaks cold, piercing winds sweep
+down over the city. Towering above it is a mountain, honeycombed with
+shafts, tunnels, and drifts, from which has been taken silver to the
+value of two billion dollars.</p>
+
+<p>At first it was thought that a location so high above sea level would be
+unhabitable, but the immense wealth of the silver lodes required many
+workmen for their development, and these laborers had to be housed and
+fed.</p>
+
+<p>At the zenith of its prosperity Potosi possessed one hundred seventy
+thousand inhabitants, and had the distinction of being the largest city
+in the New World during the first two centuries of its existence. A mint
+built in 1562, at the expense of over a million dollars, is long since
+unused. A splendid granite cathedral ornamented with beautiful statuary
+still attests to the former grandeur of the city.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the richest veins of silver ore in the Potosi mines have been
+worked out and many mines have been allowed to become filled with water.
+These conditions, coupled with the low price of silver for many years,
+have caused the population of the city to dwindle until now there are
+scarcely more than ten thousand inhabitants and very many of the
+buildings are in ruins. These mines have produced twenty-seven thousand
+tons of silver since their discovery, and at the present day many of
+them are yielding large returns.</p>
+
+<p>The Bolivian plateau is one vast mineral bed abounding in rich mines of
+copper, tin, silver, and gold. In Bolivia alone there are upward of two
+thousand silver mines; while some of the richest tin mines in the world
+are found here. Lodes of pure tin several feet in width have been
+followed down six hundred feet. Tin mines were recently discovered among
+the mountains thirteen thousand five<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_76" id="pg_76">76</a></span> hundred feet above the level of
+the sea, near the shores of Lake Titicaca.</p>
+
+<p>Two railroads now reach this high plateau, one from the seaport town of
+Antofagasta, Chile, to Oruro, Bolivia; the other from Molendo, Peru, to
+Puno, on Lake Titicaca. The most wonderful railroad in the world and the
+most costly in its construction, the Oroya Railroad is about one hundred
+fifty miles long. It begins at Callao, Peru, and ends at Oroya. The
+highest point reached by it in crossing the Andes is fifteen thousand
+six hundred and sixty-five feet. It is said that seven thousand lives
+were lost in its construction. Much of the road-bed was blasted through
+solid rock on the sides of the mountains. The cost of construction was
+about three hundred thousand dollars per mile. It has seventy-eight
+tunnels, the longest being the Gallera tunnel, which pierces Mount
+Meiggs at the altitude of fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-five
+feet. This is the highest place in the world where steam is used as a
+motive power. Ultimately the road is to be extended to the celebrated
+mines of Cerro de Pasco, fifty-one miles beyond its present terminus,
+Oroya.</p>
+
+<p>The chief business of these railroads extending into the Andes is
+carrying ore, bullion, and wool. Their construction marks the acme of
+engineering skill; the scenery along them surpasses that of all other
+regions in its wild ruggedness, grandeur, and sublimity.</p>
+
+<p>In ascending to such great heights quickly one not accustomed to high
+elevations is apt to experience dizziness, headache, and nausea. At
+first even the effort to talk on reaching these lofty places by train is
+laborious. Dogs taken from the lowlands to these elevations are unable
+to run with speed for a long time, but those which are born and reared
+in this region easily pursue wild animals.</p>
+
+<p>When the New World was discovered the llama was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_77" id="pg_77">77</a></span> only animal used
+there as a beast of burden. Thousands of these diminutive creatures are
+still used for transporting ore and bullion in the Andes. Each animal
+can carry a load of seventy-five pounds or more. This sure-footed animal
+can travel with its load about fourteen miles a day.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-017" id="illus-017"></a>
+<img src="images/w077.jpg" alt="Llamas resting" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Llamas resting</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w077-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Lake Titicaca is one of the famous lakes of the world. Its name means
+tin-stone and was doubtless derived from the tin ore found in the
+vicinity. The lake has an elevation of twelve thousand five hundred and
+fifty feet, and although nine streams run into it, only one, the
+Desaguadero, flows out, carrying its waters to Lake Poopo, a small body
+of salt water nearly three hundred miles south. Lake Titicaca has the
+same surface level both summer and winter. The outflow never reaches the
+sea; it is lost by evaporation mainly in Lake Poopo, but the latter
+frequently overflows into the salt marshes lying to the southward.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_78" id="pg_78">78</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Though thin ice may be found in the quiet bays and inlets nearly every
+morning during the year, the expanse of the lake is never frozen even in
+the severest weather. A peculiarity about the lake is that not only will
+iron not rust when left in its waters, but that which was before rusted
+soon loses its scales of rust after being immersed a few days.</p>
+
+<p>Several steamers ply on the lake carrying chiefly ore and wool. Some of
+the islands in the lake are inhabited by Indians who eke out a
+precarious living.</p>
+
+<p>A civilization antedating that of the Incas formerly occupied the region
+about the lake, as is proved by the remarkable ruins along the shores
+concerning which the natives told the early Spaniards that they had no
+record. Three square miles are covered by these ruins, whose walls were
+made of immense blocks of stone most accurately fitted together, thus
+giving evidence of the great skill in stone-cutting possessed by the
+pre-Inca people.</p>
+
+<p>The Inca rulers had beautiful palaces and other edifices on some of the
+islands. Titicaca Island was regarded as sacred, and at the time of the
+Spanish conquest was the site of a large temple richly ornamented with
+gold and silver.</p>
+
+<p>Prospecting in the Andes is attended with great hardships. Few wild
+animals can be found to furnish food. Food and utensils must be carried
+on the backs of men, and the greatest difficulty is experienced in
+traversing the almost inaccessible steeps and deep ravines.</p>
+
+<p>Coal of inferior quality has been found near the shores of Lake Titicaca
+and is used by the steamers sailing on its waters. Many rich mineral
+lodes yet remain undiscovered, and a vast number of valuable mines
+languish for lack of capital to develop them. Frequent revolutions and
+the insecurity of private property prevent the investment of foreign
+capital.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_79" id="pg_79">79</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Andes will continue to be a great storehouse of minerals for many
+years to come.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:379px'>
+<a name="illus-018" id="illus-018"></a>
+<img src="images/w079.jpg" alt="Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high" title="" width="379" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w079-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Muffling the feet of the Peruvian Andes is a long narrow strip&mdash;drifting
+dunes of rock waste&mdash;known as the Atacama Desert. In comparison with
+this awful desert, the Sahara is said to be a botanical garden. Here
+during a part of the year a fierce, relentless sun pours down its
+burning rays on the shifting sands, keeping the air at a scorching heat
+both day and night. Formerly the region belonged to Bolivia, but it was
+annexed to Chile as a result of the war of 1881.</p>
+
+<p>For miles and miles not a blade of grass, not a tree, not a shrub is to
+be seen. All around is a bleak, barren waste destitute of water. Yet
+underneath these sands<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_80" id="pg_80">80</a></span> lie concealed immense deposits of "nitrates" of
+untold wealth.</p>
+
+<p>Although small quantities of the nitrates had been sent to Europe for
+chemical purposes&mdash;chiefly the manufacture of gunpowder&mdash;no considerable
+amount was exported until a fortuitous discovery was made by a Scotchman
+named George Smith. After wandering over the world for some time Smith
+settled down in a little village near Iquique, where he had a small
+garden containing fruit-trees and flowers. In one part of his garden he
+noticed that the plants grew best where the soil contained a white
+substance.</p>
+
+<p>He then proceeded to gather a quantity of the material and to experiment
+with it. To his surprise he found that a mere handful of it greatly
+stimulated the growth of plants. He told a member of his family in
+Scotland who was engaged in fruit-growing about the wonderful effects of
+the material as a fertilizer. As a result several bags of nitrates were
+distributed among Scottish farmers and fruit-growers. So satisfactory
+did the fertilizer prove that an immediate call was made for more of it.
+Thus began a business which now yields the owners of the beds one
+hundred million dollars yearly.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon found out that the nitrate in its raw state contained
+properties that were injurious to plants and that these should be first
+eliminated. Forthwith reduction works were established to extract the
+deleterious substances. These substances were mainly iodine and bromine,
+two chemical elements that are of greater value than the nitrates
+themselves. Within a few years railroads were built to transport the
+nitrates from the beds to the various ports where the reduction
+factories were erected.</p>
+
+<p>Many men who had large interests in the nitrate beds became immensely
+wealthy in a short time. The great<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_81" id="pg_81">81</a></span> value of the deposits caused towns
+and cities to spring up along the coast in the most inhospitable places,
+to some of which water was piped a distance of more than two hundred
+miles and at the cost of many millions of dollars.</p>
+
+<p>The principal nitrate beds are in a shallow valley, four or five
+thousand feet above sea level, lying between a long range of hills and
+the base of the Andes. Just how these mineral deposits were formed it is
+difficult to explain, the most plausible theory being that this desert
+was once the bottom of an inland sea having vast quantities of seaweed
+covered with sand. In the gradual decay of this substance the nitrate of
+soda, or "Chile saltpetre," was formed.</p>
+
+<p>To obtain the nitrates it is necessary first to remove the top layer of
+sand and then a layer of clay. Underneath this is found a layer of soft,
+whitish material called "nitrate." The crude nitrate is sent to the
+nitrate ports to be crushed and boiled in sea-water. After boiling, the
+solution is drawn off into shallow vessels and exposed to the heat of
+the sun to evaporate.</p>
+
+<p>When nearly all has been evaporated and the remaining liquid drawn off,
+the bottom and sides of the vessels are found to be covered with
+sparkling white crystals. This is the saltpetre of commerce, the highest
+grade of which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, the second grade
+for chemical purposes, and the third grade, the great bulk, for
+fertilizing the exhausted soils of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The liquid drawn off is crystallized by chemical treatment and further
+evaporation, and from it is obtained iodine, an ounce of which is worth
+as much as one hundred pounds of saltpetre. From eighty to one hundred
+million dollars' worth of these nitrates are dug out and sold each year.
+Great Britain takes about one-third of the entire product and Germany
+one-fifth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_82" id="pg_82">82</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Iquique has the largest shipping trade. From this port about fifty
+million dollars' worth of nitrates and three million dollars' worth of
+iodine are exported yearly.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_CZARS_GREATER_DOMAIN_2439" id="THE_CZARS_GREATER_DOMAIN_2439"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+<h3>THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>No other parts of the globe have been subject to so many kaleidoscopic
+changes by migrations during the past eight centuries as northern Asia
+and eastern Europe. In comparison both India and China have remained
+stable for many centuries.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Christian era, Mongol tribes of northeastern Asia began their
+westward march, tarrying a few centuries along the way in the most
+fertile places and gathering force by multiplication until the
+thirteenth century. Then like a mighty flood they poured into eastern
+Europe, carrying everywhere in their pathway subjugation, devastation,
+and slaughter. During the early part of these migrations, the great
+Roman Empire trembled as she beheld the irresistible moving hosts, and
+her downfall was hastened by the ponderous blows dealt her by these
+barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of the thirteenth century, after the Mongol ruler
+Genghis Khan had overrun southern Russia, he turned northward and
+captured the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan, putting to death
+many of the inhabitants by the most fiendish methods of torture.
+Thousands were slaughtered merely to wreak vengeance for the strong
+resistance offered by the besieged before surrendering. Hundreds of
+thousands of the Russians both high and low were made slaves. Wives of
+the nobles who had been richly clad and adorned with jewels became
+servants of their conquerors.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_83" id="pg_83">83</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-019" id="illus-019"></a>
+<img src="images/w083.jpg" alt="Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River. Catching the material for caviare" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River. Catching the material for caviare</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w083-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>In 1272 most of the Tartars became Muhammadans and henceforth became
+more intolerant of the Christians, thousands of whom they burned alive
+or tortured. This oppressive yoke was borne for nearly three hundred
+years. Then Ivan III succeeded in breaking the Tartar rule forever.
+Mongol tribes, however, remained a disturbing element on the border for
+two hundred years thereafter.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of the fourteenth century Othman, a Mongol, founded
+the Ottoman empire, which then consisted of only the western part of
+Asia Minor. His son and successor conquered Gallipoli in 1354, thereby
+gaining a foothold in Europe, and during the next two centuries
+successive Turkish rulers made large additions to the empire<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_84" id="pg_84">84</a></span> until it
+embraced vast areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For a time, indeed, it
+threatened to absorb all Christendom. Adrianople was conquered in 1361
+and made the capital of the Turkish Empire. Then, in 1453, after a
+memorable siege, Constantinople was captured by the Muhammadans, and
+made the capital of the empire.</p>
+
+<p>Orkhan was the first to exact as tribute the strongest and healthiest
+male children of all Christian peoples whom he conquered. These youths,
+reared as Muhammadans and trained under strict military discipline,
+became that efficient body of troops called the Janizaries. For a long
+time they were the bulwark of the empire, but at length they became so
+dictatorial and powerful that the sultan began to fear them more than he
+feared his foreign enemies. In 1825, when the army was reorganized on
+the European plan, the Janizaries broke out in open revolt. Then the
+reigning sultan unfurled the flag of the Prophet and called upon the
+faithful to suppress the rebellious corps. In the contest that ensued it
+is estimated that twenty-five thousand of the rebels were put to death,
+twenty thousand were banished, and the others disbanded. This was the
+end of an epoch of blood-shedding and the beginning of an era of
+commerce.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians have always been noted for their love of furs; as a result
+a small, fur-bearing animal, the sable, led to the conquest of that vast
+realm now known as Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of the sixteenth century a rich Russian merchant named
+Strogonoff, residing at Kazan, established salt works on the banks of
+the Kama, a tributary of the Volga River, and began trading with the
+natives. One day, having noticed some strangely dressed travellers and
+learning that they came from a country beyond the Ural Mountains, called
+Sibir, he despatched some of his agents into that land. On returning,
+the employees brought with<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_85" id="pg_85">85</a></span> them the finest sable skins that the
+merchant had ever seen. They had been secured for a trifling sum.</p>
+
+<p>Strogonoff began at once to extend the area of his trafficking, and
+informed the government of the lucrative commerce that he had opened up.
+Valuable concessions were then granted him. A few years afterward a
+Cossack officer named Yermak, who had been declared an outlaw by Ivan
+the Terrible, gathered together a force of less than one thousand men.
+The band was composed of adventurers, freebooters, and criminals, and
+the expedition was armed and provisioned by Strogonoff, who expected to
+profit by opening up the new region. Permission having been obtained
+from the government, in 1579 Yermak set forth with his followers for the
+unknown country.</p>
+
+<p>So great were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forest
+offered, together with the severity of the climate and hostility of the
+natives, that his force was reduced by death, sickness, and desertion to
+the number of five hundred when he lined up his men before the large
+army of the powerful Kutchum Khan. Like Cortez and Pizarro, Yermak had
+unbounded confidence in his ability to cope with his enemies, who were
+rudely armed with bows and arrows, regardless of their numbers; for his
+own men were supplied with matchlocks, and with these&mdash;in the language
+of the natives&mdash;they could manufacture thunder and lightning.</p>
+
+<p>A terrible battle ensued, and for some time success seemed evenly
+balanced. At length the fierce attacks of the Cossacks forced the
+barbarous hordes to give way and the retreat became a stampede. Kutchum
+Khan's camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
+Yermak at once sent part of his force to occupy the Tartar capital,
+which was found to be evacuated, so great was the terror inspired by the
+Russians.</p>
+
+<p>The success achieved by the handful of Cossacks led<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_86" id="pg_86">86</a></span> several neighboring
+tribes to offer voluntarily an annual tribute of sable skins. When
+Yermak had collected several thousand of these skins, he sent a special
+envoy to Moscow to present them along with the conquered country to the
+czar. So greatly pleased was Ivan with the offerings that he forgave
+Yermak for his past ill deeds and made him governor and
+commander-in-chief of all the countries which he might conquer. Then,
+knowing that it would be difficult for the Cossacks to hold the
+conquered territory very long with their diminished numbers, the czar
+forthwith sent reinforcements.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the arrival of the additional troops, Yermak audaciously
+started out to make further conquests. One dark and rainy night he
+encamped with his force on a small island in the Irtish River. Relying
+on the terror which his name had inspired, and the stormy weather, he
+deemed it unnecessary to post sentinels. Wearied with their long march,
+soon all of the Russians were buried in slumber.</p>
+
+<p>But Kutchum, smarting under his humiliating defeat, had spies constantly
+watching his foes, intending, if possible, to take them by surprise.
+When the spies reported to him the lack of vigilance on the part of the
+enemy, he stealthily crossed to the island with his force and fell upon
+the sleeping camp. All the Russians but two were killed, and these,
+escaping, reported the disaster at Sibir. When Yermak saw the
+annihilation of his troops, he cut his way through the Tartars and
+attempted to swim the stream, but was dragged to the bottom by his heavy
+armor and drowned.</p>
+
+<p>When news of the crushing disaster reached Sibir the Russians, losing
+heart at the death of their leader, evacuated the place and returned
+home. The czar, nevertheless, had no idea of permitting a land so
+promising to slip<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_87" id="pg_87">87</a></span> from his grasp. It was not long before he sent a
+larger army across the Ural Mountains, which not only reconquered the
+lost territory but also the rest of western Siberia.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-020" id="illus-020"></a>
+<img src="images/w087.jpg" alt="Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w087-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Gradually the Cossacks moved eastward, conquering tribe after tribe. As
+they advanced they built strong wooden forts by which to hold their
+vantage ground. Tomsk was founded in 1604; by 1630 the tide of conquest
+had reached the banks of the Lena; and within eighty years from their
+first conquest the Russians had reached the Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterward a suitable monument was erected to Yermak in the city of
+Tobolsk, which was built on the battle-field where he gained his first
+decisive victory over the Tartar ruler. His real monument is all
+Siberia, whose conquest he inaugurated.</p>
+
+<p>In 1847 the Amur River section was annexed by Russia regardless of the
+protests of the Chinese Government. Quarrels ensued over the boundaries
+and, finding resistance hopeless, the Chinese ceded to Russia all the
+land on<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_88" id="pg_88">88</a></span> the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri and
+on both its banks below that river.</p>
+
+<p>The sable gradually led the Russian hunters to Kamtchatka, while the
+more valuable sea-otter beckoned them across the sea to the Aleutian
+Islands and that part of the American continent now Alaska Territory.
+The chief incentive in all of these conquests was the securing of
+valuable furs. The sable is even yet found along the streams in both
+open and forested sections from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific; but
+so relentless has been the pursuit of this valuable fur-bearing animal
+that it is now nearly exterminated. Besides the sable and the sea-otter,
+there are found in Siberia the ermine, bear, arctic fox, common fox,
+deer, wolf, antelope, elk, hare, and squirrel.</p>
+
+<p>To avoid entering into conflict with the more powerful people at the
+south, the Russians chose to advance eastward along higher latitudes
+toward the Pacific. But within a few years after the Muscovite empire
+had acquired central and northern Siberia, there were loud complaints
+that the tribes on the south were making raids on them, robbing them of
+their property and carrying their people into slavery. So, from time to
+time, Cossack forces were sent to chastise the offenders; and in many
+instances they were punished and their territories were annexed to
+Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>In these raids the Turkomans were the most active. During the forty
+years previous to 1878 it is estimated that eighty thousand Russian
+subjects and two hundred thousand Persians were made captives and sold
+into slavery. In 1873 the Russians captured Khiva and liberated thirty
+thousand Persian slaves.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding these lessons, some of the Turkoman tribes still went on
+marauding expeditions, robbing, killing, and enslaving their neighbors.
+So, in 1878, another strong force of the Cossacks was sent against the
+pillaging tribes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_89" id="pg_89">89</a></span> who were made to release all slaves and abolish
+slavery. Little by little all Turkistan became Russian territory.
+Bokhara and Khiva alone keep their old forms of government, but they are
+practically Russian states and pay Russia annually a stipulated tribute.</p>
+
+<p>It is thought that once upon a time Siberia had a much larger population
+than it has now and the peoples who lived there dwelt farther north. The
+first colonists lived in the stone age and were contemporaneous with the
+mammoth, whose remains are found scattered all over the northern part of
+Siberia and the adjacent islands.</p>
+
+<p>In the interior these remains are found imbedded in thick strata of pure
+blue ice, which is covered by the river gravels of streams that do not
+now exist. So thick are these layers of ice that they may be likened to
+the rocks found in lower latitudes. Several of these animals have been
+found imbedded in the ice in an almost perfect state of preservation,
+and quantities of their tusks are obtained annually along the northern
+rivers where the spring freshets have worn away the banks of the
+streams.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the ivory-tusk hunter sees the end of a tusk sticking out of
+the river bank, he is soon able to remove it from its resting place with
+pick and shovel. Great quantities of this fossil ivory are also obtained
+from the islands to the north of the mainland.</p>
+
+<p>As in arctic America, the ground of northern Siberia is frozen solid to
+the depth of many feet, and even during the hottest summer it thaws down
+only a few inches. The climate is continental in character, being marked
+by fierce winds and great extremes both in temperature and moisture. In
+midsummer the temperature may reach one hundred and ten degrees, while
+in midwinter it has been known to reach ninety degrees below zero.</p>
+
+<p>Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_90" id="pg_90">90</a></span> longitudinal belts:
+first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several
+hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred
+miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern
+part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, grassy plains, and a few
+broken forests.</p>
+
+<p>The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen
+waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here
+nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring
+struggle with cold and hunger.</p>
+
+<p>In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw,
+thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear,
+enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp
+September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their
+tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy
+plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.</p>
+
+<p>One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the
+sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many
+animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for
+thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be
+brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate
+the history of their age and generation!</p>
+
+<p>The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the
+forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of
+islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To
+reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels
+of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their
+return south the natives station themselves at these places and
+slaughter them in large numbers.</p>
+
+<p>All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_91" id="pg_91">91</a></span> breeding places
+of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such
+dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory
+is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
+Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
+the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
+gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
+worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
+early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:384px'>
+<a name="illus-021" id="illus-021"></a>
+<img src="images/w091.jpg" alt="Driving over the tundra in winter" title="" width="384" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Driving over the tundra in winter</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w091-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
+arch&aelig;ologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
+There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
+thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
+from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
+collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_92" id="pg_92">92</a></span> is housed in
+an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
+This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
+the bronze age in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
+shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
+forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
+pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
+square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
+neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
+dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
+so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
+steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
+supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
+they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
+or hearing either bird or beast.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
+that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
+The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
+number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
+by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
+miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
+portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
+be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
+coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.</p>
+
+<p>Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most
+numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy
+several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the
+Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_93" id="pg_93">93</a></span> temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three
+degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and
+the children sport naked in the snow.</p>
+
+<p>The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and
+extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of
+Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly
+spined forms of the cactus family.</p>
+
+<p>A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants
+on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the
+northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in
+Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine
+nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and
+settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially
+in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed
+from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward
+of three million pounds.</p>
+
+<p>The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the
+Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It
+is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along
+frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.</p>
+
+<p>The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central
+Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is
+widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The
+word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes
+from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the
+mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires
+before it can be worked.</p>
+
+<p>The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful
+transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and
+other kinds of business. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_94" id="pg_94">94</a></span> great achievement, begun in 1891, was
+practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and
+seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment,
+double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the
+first cost.</p>
+
+<p>The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line
+across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now
+called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur
+is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five
+hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too
+light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and
+the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.</p>
+
+<p>The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges
+from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as
+one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class
+one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds
+on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the
+luxury of a bath.</p>
+
+<p>Since the completion of the road the government has done everything
+possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle
+and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in
+Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line
+during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand
+annually.</p>
+
+<p>To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives
+each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock
+and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of
+interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be
+bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_95" id="pg_95">95</a></span>
+five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant
+farmers.</p>
+
+<p>Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
+additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the
+growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers
+during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the
+Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice
+obstructions.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-022" id="illus-022"></a>
+<img src="images/w095.jpg" alt="Train on the steppes of Russia" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Train on the steppes of Russia</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w095-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before
+the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the
+government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the
+principal places schools have been established in which the best methods
+of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are
+practically unknown.</p>
+
+<p>The fine quality of the grasses, together with the improved methods of
+manufacturing brought about by the creameries,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_96" id="pg_96">96</a></span> causes Siberian butter
+to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
+products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
+quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
+Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
+Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
+pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
+fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
+only in its infancy.</p>
+
+<p>In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
+black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
+sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
+of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
+timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
+capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
+concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
+have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
+been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
+be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
+criminals are sent to Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
+political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
+of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
+family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
+hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
+deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
+species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
+found<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_97" id="pg_97">97</a></span> nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
+this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
+species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
+industries.</p>
+
+<p>In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
+made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
+one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
+to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends
+around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not
+attempted when the ice is thick.</p>
+
+<p>Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to
+the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than
+six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States,
+including Alaska.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts,
+irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the
+agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond
+computation.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_MYSTIC_HIGHLANDS_OF_ASIA_2901" id="THE_MYSTIC_HIGHLANDS_OF_ASIA_2901"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+<h3>THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The statement that "one half the world does not know how the other half
+lives, nor how it is influenced," applies with double force to the
+peoples living on the high plateau of Tibet beyond the titanic
+Himalayas. Here is a vast region only one-twentieth of which is covered
+with vegetation. Chains of mountains with snow-capped peaks encircle it,
+and spurs from the main ranges, together with lesser ridges and isolated
+elevations, diversify its surface.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_98" id="pg_98">98</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Amidst these desolate wastes are fertile valleys which are capable of
+producing excellent crops; in many other sections good crops are
+produced by very primitive methods of irrigation. As a whole the plateau
+may be classed among the infertile regions of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>On account of its great elevation, Tibet is often called the roof of the
+world. Starting from its borders several large rivers break through its
+rocky ramparts, among them the Indus, Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Hoang.
+Some of the plains of the great plateau range from fifteen to eighteen
+thousand feet above sea level. Scattered over these are single lakes and
+chains of lakes, many of which are salt. These vast areas, storm-swept
+in winter and baked by heat in summer, are frequented by bandits and
+nomads. They live in tents made of the almost black hair of the yak, and
+move from place to place with their flocks and herds to seek food for
+their animals. The stable population resides chiefly in the few cities
+and villages.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly a thousand years a veil of religious mystery has shrouded
+this section of the world; and the sacred city of Lasa with its holy
+places has been doubly guarded against the visits of foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>This mysterious land has been able to maintain its position of isolated
+seclusion because of the high mountain barriers that are massed in a
+series of gigantic walls on all sides. It is approachable only through
+narrow passes that are constantly guarded.</p>
+
+<p>Our knowledge of the "forbidden land," as it is called, has been
+obtained chiefly from adventurers who have travelled through it in
+disguise, and from a few others who took more desperate chances by
+forcing their way in. Among these may be mentioned Bower, Thorald, the
+Littledales, Rockhill, Captain Deasy, Sven Hedin, and Walter Savage
+Landor. Landor was taken prisoner by the Tibetans and suffered at their
+hands horrible tortures, from the effects of which he will never
+recover.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_99" id="pg_99">99</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:605px'>
+<a name="illus-023" id="illus-023"></a>
+<img src="images/w099.jpg" alt="Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India" title="" width="605" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w099-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_100" id="pg_100">100</a></span>Because the Tibetans for many years had insulted the government of India
+and had seized territory claimed by it, English troops under Colonel
+Younghusband were sent against the invaders in 1903, and after several
+severe battles reached the forbidden city of Lasa, where a forced treaty
+was negotiated and signed. But on the withdrawal of the English troops
+the policy of exclusion was immediately resumed. Russia to-day has much
+greater influence in Tibet than has England.</p>
+
+<p>The present condition of Tibet resembles in many respects that of Europe
+during the Middle Ages. The country is under the suzerainty of China,
+which has a representative called an amaban and several thousand troops
+at Lasa to maintain its claim.</p>
+
+<p>Though an extremely trying climate prevails on these highlands, the
+hermit-like, priest-ridden people know no better home and are contented
+with their lot. Of its three and one-half million inhabitants, one in
+seven belongs to the priestly class called lamas.</p>
+
+<p>At the head of this priesthood, as well as at the head of the state, are
+two leaders, the chief one, the Dalai Lama, or "ocean of learning," and
+the other the Bogodo Lama, or "precious teacher." With their
+subordinates, these two are supposed to have power not only over life
+and death, but over the reincarnation of the soul and entrance to the
+regions beyond rebirth.</p>
+
+<p>This isolated table-land is the seat of a former Buddhism better known
+by the name of Lamaism. A deep but crude religious feeling tainted with
+the grossest superstitions pervades the whole people, whose ignorance of
+other learning is appalling.</p>
+
+<p>When a person dies a lama must be present to see that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_101" id="pg_101">101</a></span> soul is
+properly separated from the body and to direct the spirit on its journey
+to paradise; the lama must also influence its rebirth in a happy
+existence and provide for its entrance upon Nirvana, or eternal rest.</p>
+
+<p>Many a mountain contains hollowed-out cells in which hermit monks spend
+their lives in silent meditation. On an island in one of the lakes,
+where they can be reached only when the lake freezes, reside twenty
+monks. In the midst of this wild and majestic scenery each rock and
+stream has its deity and saint, together with its appropriate legend.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Buddhist monks do not believe in God as a creator, their
+religion demands audible and written prayers; indeed, prayer-wheels are
+frequently used to facilitate the repetition of prayers. Prayers
+numbering hundreds and even thousands are carefully written and placed,
+rolled up, in drum-wheels, which are revolved by wind, water, or hand
+power. Each revolution of a wheel is supposed to say all the prayers
+enclosed in it.</p>
+
+<p>Many prayer-wheels, each with appropriate prayers, are mounted on axles
+and placed convenient to frequented paths so that they may be whirled
+around by those who pass by. Others provided with suitable fans are
+placed where they may be revolved by the wind. Sometimes water power is
+made to turn the wheels, but most of them are made of a size convenient
+to be carried about and operated by hand.</p>
+
+<p>The capital of Tibet and seat of the Dalai Lama is Lasa, situated in a
+plain nearly twelve thousand feet above sea level. The city is
+surrounded by a marsh and is reached by a causeway raised above the
+morass. It has wide and regular streets, the principal buildings being
+made of stone, but the majority of the structures are adobe and
+sun-dried brick.</p>
+
+<p>This interesting city contains forty-five thousand inhabitants,
+two-thirds of whom are monks. Streams formed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_102" id="pg_102">102</a></span> the melting snow course
+down the surrounding mountains, flooding the plain. At a distance the
+city presents an imposing appearance with the adjacent Potala as the
+crowning glory.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the city stands a cathedral, called the Jo-Kang, which
+contains one of the most renowned statues of Buddha. This image, of life
+size, is an object of the greatest reverence and adoration. It is made
+of a composition of metals, gold and silver predominating. Priests are
+always in attendance and lamps are constantly burning before it. The
+roof of the temple is gilded and the interior is richly furnished.</p>
+
+<p>Situated in the suburbs, on a rocky elevation above the plain which
+overlooks the city, is a wonderful group of buildings forming the
+Potala, or palace of the Dalai Lama. This huge, conglomerate structure
+of granite rising story above story to an immense height fascinates the
+beholder, who marvels at the skill and patience of the builders.</p>
+
+<p>As though to heighten its beauty, the Potala is separated from the city
+by a park of grass and trees about a mile wide, making the stately
+edifice look like a huge diamond encircled with emeralds. Nothing but a
+blind religious zeal could have brought to completion such a series of
+connected edifices with their miles of halls, courts, corridors, and
+labyrinthine passageways.</p>
+
+<p>Scattered throughout Tibet are upward of three thousand monasteries, or
+lamaseries. Some of them are built in remote and inaccessible places and
+contain as many as seven thousand monks. Each lamasery has set apart for
+its use the best land in that vicinity, the cultivation of which is done
+by the common people, who are little better than serfs, or peons.</p>
+
+<p>It is a notable fact that in this strange land there are many more men
+than women, although the reverse would be expected.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_103" id="pg_103">103</a></span> The support of the
+hordes of lazy monks is a great incubus and retards the development of
+the country.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-024" id="illus-024"></a>
+<img src="images/w103.jpg" alt="The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but furnishes milk, butter, and meat" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but furnishes milk, butter, and meat</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w103-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The use of water for cleansing purposes seems to be no part of the
+religion of the people; they never bathe their bodies and seldom wash
+the face and hands. To protect themselves from the biting cold they
+smear their faces with rancid butter, which, catching the smoke and
+dust, adds to the effectiveness as well as the strength of the odor.
+Their homes and places of worship reek with dirt and filth; small-pox,
+ailments of the eyes, and other contagious diseases are prevalent.
+Harelip, in a great measure due to lack of proper nutrition, is a very
+common ailment.</p>
+
+<p>In leather and inlaid work the Tibetans show great skill, much of the
+decorative work on the handles of their swords<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_104" id="pg_104">104</a></span> and daggers being very
+artistic. The common people live in constant terror of evil spirits in
+this world and of terrible punishments in the hereafter; the educated
+classes believe they can drive off or propitiate all evil influences in
+this world, but fear they may be changed in a future rebirth to some
+vile form of being. In general, the people are treacherous and cowardly.
+For weapons of defence they use matchlocks; in firing them, the weapon
+is held directly in front of the nose.</p>
+
+<p>Of domestic animals the yak is one of the most useful, since it not only
+serves as a beast of burden but furnishes rich milk, butter, and meat.
+The long hair of the animal is used for making ropes, tents, and cloth.</p>
+
+<p>The yak resembles the ox in body, head, and legs; but it is covered with
+long, silky hair which hangs like the fleece of an Angora goat. The
+long, flowing hair of the tail reaches nearly to the ground. Thousands
+of these tails find their way to India where they are used for various
+household purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Wild yaks are found in considerable numbers near the limits of perpetual
+snow, but at the approach of winter they descend to the wooded valleys
+just below the snow line. During the summer they pasture on the higher
+elevations. In their wild state yaks are fierce and dangerous. Being
+accustomed to high elevations, they fall sick and die when removed to
+the lowlands.</p>
+
+<p>Milk is obtained not only from the yaks but from the sheep and goats.
+The sheep, being of large size, are frequently used to bear small loads.
+Many horses are raised, but they are used chiefly for riding.</p>
+
+<p>Tibet is rich in gold, and for thousands of years the precious metal has
+been washed out of its surface by the crudest of methods. In fact, gold
+is washed from every river which has its sources in the Tibetan plateau.
+Most of it in time finds its way to China. Silver, copper, iron,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_105" id="pg_105">105</a></span> lead,
+and mercury abound in the southeastern part and considerable quantities
+are mined.</p>
+
+<p>Traffic is carried on by means of caravans, the most common pack animal
+being the yak. Almost all the commerce is controlled by Chinese
+merchants, and the chief article of trade is tea, which is received in
+exchange for wool, hides, musk, amber, and gold. The tea is an inferior
+kind known as "brick tea," being composed of the refuse, stems, and
+leaves of the plants cemented with rice water and pressed into hard
+bricks. This kind of tea is preferred by the Tibetans, who brew it with
+butter and other ingredients and consume the entire concoction. The tea
+trade amounts to several million pounds annually.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_PRIMAL_HOME_OF_THE_SARACEN_3119" id="THE_PRIMAL_HOME_OF_THE_SARACEN_3119"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+<h3>THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Who has not had the youthful imagination fired by the "Arabian Nights"?
+The simplicity and lifelike reality of these interesting stories, made
+even more fascinating by their Oriental color, appeal both to young and
+old.</p>
+
+<p>So great has been their popularity that few works have been translated
+into so many different languages, while their influence on the
+literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more
+than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set
+forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and
+revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner
+the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the
+senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely
+characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_106" id="pg_106">106</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly
+storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is
+the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million
+converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.</p>
+
+<p>We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on
+ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we
+shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we
+shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic
+and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand
+years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and
+polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.</p>
+
+<p>In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration,
+art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests
+was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by
+the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem,
+for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth
+await those who fight in the holy cause.</p>
+
+<p>By nature the Arab is active, vivacious, and keen-witted. He is proud of
+his lineage, earnest, and hospitable. The mother not only takes care of
+the home but educates the children; and, strange as it may seem to the
+outside world, illiteracy is practically unknown to Arabia.</p>
+
+<p>To the Arabic race we are indebted for our knowledge of arithmetic, and
+many of the principles of algebra and geometry. The pendulum, the
+mariner's compass, and the manufacture of silk and cotton textiles were
+introduced into Europe by the Arabs. They claim to have used gunpowder
+as far back as the eleventh century. In the year 706 paper was made at
+Mecca and from there its manufacture spread all over the western world.
+To them we owe many of the useful arts and practical inventions which
+were later brought to perfection by other nations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_107" id="pg_107">107</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-025" id="illus-025"></a>
+<img src="images/w107.jpg" alt="Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w107-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_108" id="pg_108">108</a></span>Now, no one is quite certain about the Saracens as a people because the
+name has been very loosely used. It was applied by Roman soldiers to
+several wandering tribes of Arabs who were much accustomed to mistaking
+other people's flocks of sheep and herds of cattle for their own. Most
+likely there never was a Saracenic Empire. But there certainly was a
+time when Arabians controlled not only the Arabian peninsula, but also
+Syria and the fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well;
+and that great region became known as the "Land of the Saracens." From
+Damascus to Bagdad, and from the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Gulf of Oman, the
+Moslem was all-powerful.</p>
+
+<p>Let us glance at the country itself. In the first place, Arabia is not a
+nation but a country made up of petty states&mdash;some independent, some
+controlled by the sultan of Turkey; two or three are included in the
+British Empire. But the country itself is very far removed from the rest
+of the world so far as accessibility is concerned; and although its
+coast is scarcely a gunshot from the greatest trade route of the East,
+Arabia is to-day one of the least-known countries in the world.</p>
+
+<p>In general, the country is a moderately high table-land bordered by low
+coast plains. Much of it is an out-and-out desert; all of it is arid.
+Long ago it was divided into Arabia Petr&aelig;a, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia
+Felix&mdash;that is, the rocky, the desert, and the happy. It is needless to
+say that Arabia the happy was the part receiving enough rainfall to
+produce foodstuffs.</p>
+
+<p>The coast-line of this great peninsula is nearly as great as that of the
+Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States; but in its entire extent,
+not far from four thousand miles, there is scarcely a harbor in which a
+good-sized fishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_109" id="pg_109">109</a></span> schooner could find safe anchorage. Even at Aden a
+steamship cannot approach within a quarter of a mile of the shore. So
+one will not be far out of the way in designating Arabia as an
+impassable country with an impossible coast.</p>
+
+<p>It is estimated that about seven millions of people live in the entire
+peninsula. To say that these belong to the Semitic race is merely to say
+that they are dark-skinned and black-haired. The Arab, whether a
+merchant dwelling in a city along the coast, or a Bedouin wandering with
+flocks and herds, is a product of the desert and of the teachings of
+Islam. His black eyes twinkle with shrewdness and he is a past master of
+craftiness. As a trader he is unsurpassed, and Arab traders control the
+interior commerce of western Asia and northern Africa just as the
+Chinese control the trade of southeastern Asia.</p>
+
+<p>As a Bedouin of the desert the Arab is supreme in his way. Savage and
+blood-thirsty by nature, if there is no caravan to rob or common enemy
+to fight, neighboring tribes easily find cause for fighting one another.
+Usually a quarrel over pasture lands in the same locality furnishes an
+excuse for a feud that results in the extermination of one tribe or the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>A hatred of those who are not followers of the prophet is a heritage of
+all Arabs. The merchant class, who are wealthy and usually educated, may
+have trained themselves to conceal it, but they possess it. Even to the
+most liberal Arab, one who is not of the faith of Islam is a "dog of an
+unbeliever." Among Bedouins, not to rob the caravan containing the
+belongings of a Christian would be a sin. There is one exception,
+however; if a Bedouin sheik agrees to convoy a party of "unbelievers,"
+together with their valuables, over a robber-infested route, he will
+carry out his bargain faithfully.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_110" id="pg_110">110</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Family ties among the Bedouin Arabs are much the same to-day as they
+were two thousand years ago. The great-grandfather, grandfather, or
+father, as the case may be, is the head of the family, and his will is
+law. The tribe is governed by a sheik, who is simply a "boss." He does
+not inherit his office, nor is he elected to it by popular vote; he
+elects himself because he is the best man, and he "holds over" for the
+same reason.</p>
+
+<p>The family mansion of the Bedouin is a tent made of goat-hair cloth.
+Some tents occupy as much ground as is covered by a small cottage. The
+tent of a sheik may be richly furnished with rugs and silk porti&egrave;res;
+ordinarily, a coarse hearth-rug and a divan cover are about the only
+furnishings. The cooking utensils are primitive&mdash;one or two kettles to a
+family; and of tableware there is practically nothing more than one or
+two platters. Meat is freely eaten and coffee is commonly a part of each
+meal. In the place of bread, flour about as coarse as oatmeal is mixed
+to a paste, rolled or beaten into thin cakes, and cooked in hot butter.
+Dates are almost always a part of the food supply.</p>
+
+<p>The camel has first place in the wealth of the Bedouin, but sheep and
+goats in many instances form a part of his herds. The tents of a family
+are pitched where the grazing is good and the families move about as
+they will. All disputes are settled by the sheik, and he is apt to
+emphasize his decisions by the free use of his lance shaft. Whenever it
+becomes necessary because of poor grazing, the whole clan or tribe may
+move to a distant place. All household goods are wrapped in packs or put
+into saddle bags. Two or three camels will readily carry the tent and
+luggage of a family. The women are carried in litters; the men ride
+camels. Horses are rarely ridden at such times.</p>
+
+<p>If a caravan is to be plundered, however, the best horses<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_111" id="pg_111">111</a></span> are used, and
+in addition to his lance the raider carries a heavy knife. Perhaps a few
+firearms may be carried, but they are generally either flintlocks or the
+older matchlocks. It is only within a few years that the modern rifle
+with metal cartridge has found favor with the Bedouin.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-026" id="illus-026"></a>
+<img src="images/w111.jpg" alt="A group of Arabs with their dromedaries" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A group of Arabs with their dromedaries</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w111-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The great Arabian peninsula, seemingly so far out of the world, produces
+many things, some of which the world cannot do well without. First of
+all, it is the home of the camel. Perhaps a more awkward and ungainly
+animal has not been domesticated, but certainly none is more useful. We
+are told by students of natural history that the camel is the descendant
+of the llama kind which seems to have originated in the South American
+Andes. Just how or when the descent from the New World, which is really
+the Old World, to the Old World, which is really the New World, was made
+we<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_112" id="pg_112">112</a></span> are not informed; nevertheless, it looks as though the natural
+history student has the right end of the argument. After the animal got
+to Arabia it "developed." And while the result may not have been very
+artistic, no one will deny that it was good workmanship; for the world
+has never produced a more useful helper to mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Practically all the riding animals are of the one-hump or Arabian
+species. They are much larger and stronger than the two-hump animals.
+One variety is slim and comparatively light in weight. These animals, as
+a rule, are trained to a swift gait, and are used solely as riding
+animals. They are called dromedaries, a word that means swift-runner.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic
+cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for
+their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A
+well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a
+pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the
+camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized.
+The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is
+used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in
+high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. Ordinarily, however, camel's hair
+is coarse and is used for the cheapest textiles. Arabia is the source
+from which a large proportion of the camels used in the caravan trade of
+Asia and Africa is obtained. Fermented camel's milk is much used all
+over western Asia.</p>
+
+<p>The Arabian horse has been famous in literature and in song for more
+than two thousand years. The district of Nejd has been the chief
+breeding locality for these horses for many centuries. Contrary to
+tradition, however, even the finest animals are neither so large nor so
+swift as American thoroughbred horses. The qualities that have made the
+Arabian horse famous are its beautiful proportions, endurance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_113" id="pg_113">113</a></span> and
+intelligence. Young colts mingle freely with their owners and
+attendants, and they need, therefore, only the training to make them
+saddle-wise; they require no "breaking." Brought up with the family and
+treated with the greatest kindness from its birth the colt learns to
+regard his master as his best friend.</p>
+
+<p>Ordinarily but little water is given them, and they are so well trained
+that a good animal will go a whole day in summer and two days in winter
+without drink. The pure, full-blood Arabian is never sold. It may be
+acquired only by gift, by capture in war, or by legacy. Animals of mixed
+breed, however, are freely sold, most of them going to Turkey and to
+India.</p>
+
+<p>Mocha coffee is another product for which Arabia is renowned. The coffee
+berry bearing this name is of the peaberry variety&mdash;that is, only one of
+the two seeds within the husk comes to maturity. Most of the coffee is
+grown in Yemen and the adjoining vilayets, and it received its name
+because it was formerly marketed at the port of Mocha. Of late years it
+has been shipped from Hodeida.</p>
+
+<p>The business is in the hands of Arab merchants, and the coffee is
+carried to Hodeida by caravans. On its way it is carefully sorted by
+hand into three or more grades. The finest grade is sold to wealthy
+Turkish customers at from three to five dollars per pound; the inferior
+grades command prices varying from thirty cents to twice or three times
+as much. Very little of the product ever passes outside of Turkey. All
+the Mocha coffee grown in Yemen would not much more than supply New York
+City.</p>
+
+<p>The pearl fisheries along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are also
+controlled by Arab traders. From there are obtained some of the finest
+pearls to be found, and also many tons of mother-of-pearl shells. The
+yearly product of the fisheries is thought to exceed more than two
+millions of dollars<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_114" id="pg_114">114</a></span> in value. The pearls are found in a species of
+oyster, and to obtain them the divers must go to the bottom in from
+thirty to ninety feet of water. Expert divers can remain under water as
+long as two minutes.</p>
+
+<p>The oysters are taken ashore to be opened, and Turkish inspectors are on
+hand to levy a tax on the product. A few pearls may escape him,
+especially if he is temporarily blinded by the glare of several
+piasters; but the pearl industry is taxed for about all that it is
+worth.</p>
+
+<p>Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, is the city to which
+every disciple of Islam is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once
+in his lifetime. The chief income of the inhabitants of Mecca is
+obtained by renting rooms and entertaining the visiting pilgrims who
+flock thither.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the city is the so-called Sacred Mosque, or area, which
+is entirely enclosed by a covered structure of colonnades having
+minarets and cupolas. Within the centre of this enclosed space is a
+cube-shaped building called the Kaaba, which contains the famous sacred
+Black Stone. This stone, probably of meteoric origin, gives to the
+building its sanctity, and is an object of the greatest veneration to
+every pious Moslem, who kisses it repeatedly. There is also within the
+enclosure a building containing the holy well, Zemzem, the only well in
+Mecca.</p>
+
+<p>No unbeliever is permitted to enter the sacred enclosure, much less to
+pollute the Holy Kaaba by his presence. A few infidels disguised as
+pilgrims, at the risk of their lives, have visited this sacred place.</p>
+
+<p>The preparations for pilgrimage are unique. The pilgrims assemble near
+Mecca during the holy month and begin the sacred rites by bathing and
+assuming the sacred garb. This suit consists of two woollen wrappers,
+one worn around the middle of the body and the other around the
+shoulders.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_115" id="pg_115">115</a></span> With bare head and slippers covering neither heel nor instep
+the pilgrim sets forth on his holy journey.</p>
+
+<p>While wearing this dress he is admonished to bring his thoughts into
+harmony with the sanctity of the territory he now traverses. He is not
+to shave, anoint his head, pare his nails, or bathe until the end of the
+pilgrimage. Among the various rites to be performed after reaching Mecca
+is walking seven times around the Kaaba, first slowly, then quickly.
+Before leaving the city the pilgrim drinks water from the holy well,
+Zemzem.</p>
+
+<p>Many pious pilgrims visit Medina, now the terminus of a railway, before
+going on to Mecca. This is another of the sacred cities of Islam, since
+it is the scene of Muhammad's labors after his hegira from Mecca; it
+also contains his tomb. Formerly no unbeliever was permitted to traverse
+the streets of Medina or look upon the tomb of the great prophet, but
+tourists are now allowed within the gates. The city is enclosed by a
+wall forty feet high which is flanked with thirty towers. Two of its
+four gates are massive structures with double towers. Like Mecca, Medina
+is supported chiefly by pilgrims.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_SAHARA_3411" id="THE_SAHARA_3411"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+<h3>THE SAHARA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>An expanse of land as large as the main body of the United States
+stretches across the northern part of Africa. From the Atlantic Ocean to
+the Red Sea, and from the foot of the Atlas Mountains to the Sudan, it
+is a weird panorama of rock waste&mdash;level, rugged, shingly, and
+mountainous, according to locality. In places only it is penetrated by
+large and permanently flowing streams. On the eastern borderland the
+Nile pours a mighty flood, winding a sinuous passage<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_116" id="pg_116">116</a></span> along its
+self-made flood-plain, the Egypt of history. In the west the Niger has
+forced its way into the confines of the desert and then, as if rebuffed,
+turns its course southward.</p>
+
+<p>This great domain of the simoom has every diversity of surface. The
+higher summits of the Tarso Mountains are eight thousand feet above sea
+level; the Shott, a chain of salt lakes south of the Atlas Mountains,
+are about one hundred feet below sea level. The depression in which
+these lakes is situated probably was once the head of the Gulf of Sidra;
+but the never-ceasing winds have partly filled the depression, cutting
+off the head of the gulf in the same manner that wind-blown sands
+severed what is now Imperial Valley from the Gulf of California. Around
+the briny lakes are marshes of quicksands, and woe betide the luckless
+traveller who strays to the one side or the other of the beaten trails.
+Unless help is at hand, life will have neither joys nor troubles for him
+after a few brief minutes of struggle.</p>
+
+<p>The Sahara proper begins at the south slope of the Atlas Mountains.
+Where there are no Atlas Mountains, it begins almost at the
+Mediterranean's edge. In the valleys of the Atlas and along the
+Mediterranean coast there is a strip of fertile land, wide here, narrow
+there, that produces grain and fruit. The Arabs call it the
+<i>Tell</i>. "Beyond the Tell is Sah-ra," or the Sahara. This is the name
+which the Arabs apply to the archipelago of fertile spots, or oases.
+Beyond the zone of oases is the desert. One becomes instantly and
+painfully aware that it is a desert on leaving the last oasis. Go a
+thousand miles southward, eastward, or westward from Tripoli, and one
+encounters but a single thing&mdash;an ocean of orange-colored rock waste,
+the Guebla of the Arabs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_117" id="pg_117">117</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:605px'>
+<a name="illus-027" id="illus-027"></a>
+<img src="images/w117.jpg" alt="On the sands of the desert" title="" width="605" /><br />
+<span class="caption">On the sands of the desert</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w117-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_118" id="pg_118">118</a></span>The desert is a desert for want of water only. There is no lack of
+nutrition in the soil, nor is there anything in surface or temperature
+that makes a desert unproductive. Temperature and winds reach great
+extremes in fierceness, however. The temperature of the air in the
+noonday sun will often exceed one hundred and forty-five degrees; it may
+reach one hundred and fifty-five degrees. In the shade it frequently
+climbs to one hundred and thirty degrees in the vicinity of the tropics.
+Unless one is at a considerable altitude there is not much relief at
+night, though the thermometer may drop to ninety degrees. Farther north,
+however, and at an altitude of five thousand feet or more, the
+temperature of the night is even more cruel than that of the day.
+Immediately after sunset a sharp chill becomes perceptible. At first it
+is a welcome relief from the intolerable heat. By nine o'clock it begins
+to cut like a stiletto, and at midnight the water suspended in shallow
+dishes clinks into ice. The drivers burrow deep into the sand and wrap
+woollen baracans about them; the camels shiver and even blubber like
+whipped bullies.</p>
+
+<p>The air is so dry, however, that the extreme heat of day is by no means
+insupportable. Sunstroke is almost unknown, and even the tragedy of
+perishing for want of water is very rare; for the caravan drivers know
+just where to find water, and there are many hidden watering places that
+are known to the crafty Tuaregs and Bedouins. Many of the watering
+places are wells that have been sunk in various localities along the
+caravan trails. The intense heat, great depth of rock waste, and dry air
+are not favorable to the above-ground flow of rivers. But nearly every
+river has an underground flow that is pretty likely to exist all the
+year round.</p>
+
+<p>One may follow a stream of considerable volume down the southern slope
+of the Atlas Mountains. The volume of water grows less and less until at
+last it apparently disappears. Not all is lost by evaporation, however;
+possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_119" id="pg_119">119</a></span> the greater part sinks into the porous rock waste. And the
+rock waste?&mdash;perhaps it may be twenty, fifty, or one hundred and fifty
+feet deep. At all events, the water sinks until it reaches bed rock or
+clay through which it cannot pass. Then it flows along what may once
+have been an above-ground channel until fierce winds and cloud-bursts
+buried it deep.</p>
+
+<p>But the half-savage dwellers of the desert know just where to tap these
+underground reservoirs and streams; even the dumb animals know
+instinctively where to look for water. It is merely a question of
+instinct coupled with experience, and the animal's judgment is about as
+good as the man's. When one finds the spot, it is necessary only to dig.
+The water may be two feet below the surface or it may be ten feet. When
+the moist sand is reached the task is half over. A foot or two more and
+the hole begins to fill. The water is hot, brackish, and repulsive to
+the taste, but it is water&mdash;and in the desert, water is water!</p>
+
+<p>The simoom is also an institution of the desert. The simoom is
+unmistakably a wind, and surely no one who has not had the experience
+can appreciate it. Even the West India hurricanes or the typhoons of the
+China Sea are more kindly. They have plenty of destructive energy, it is
+true, but the simoom has all this and much else besides. It comes not
+without warning, but the warning and the wind are not far apart. The
+approach of the simoom is a dense black cloud of whirling and seething
+fine dust. As it strikes one, the choking, suffocating blast of hot air
+and dust overcomes everything that has life. The caravan men and the
+animals as well turn their backs to the wind and lie down with faces
+close to the ground. In a minute or two the full strength of the blast
+is on and the simoom is picking up not only the fine rock waste, but the
+coarser fragments as well, and is hurling them along at Empire State
+Express velocity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_120" id="pg_120">120</a></span> One might as well try to face a hail of leaden
+bullets. It is a cruel blast that neither animal nor human being can
+withstand. The camels crouch with their heads pointing away from the
+wind and nostrils close to the ground; their drivers lie prone with
+faces in little hollows scooped in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the full blast of the simoom may last an hour&mdash;perhaps two or
+even three hours. In lighter strain it may continue a whole day. When,
+finally, it ceases the air is thick with fine dust; one can see scarcely
+a rod away. Sun and sky are hidden, and the blackness of a tornado or of
+a London fog prevails. The fine dust floating in the air may not settle
+for several days. Perhaps a week afterward there may be a haze that
+partly obscures the sun. The dust, finer than the finest flour, pervades
+everything in the desert. One's clothing is full of it; one's hair
+becomes harsh and matted; the skin becomes rough, cracks and peels; the
+eyes are inflamed; mouth, lips, and nostrils are swollen. But the great
+bodily discomfort resulting from the simoom does not last forever; it
+gives place to bodily irritation of some other sort, which is indeed a
+grateful change merely because it is a change.</p>
+
+<p>The sand dunes of the Sahara are interesting to those who are not
+compelled to travel among them, but to the unfortunates who traverse
+them they are almost heart-breaking. Imagine oneself standing on an
+elevation a few hundred feet higher than the surrounding country. There
+is but one landscape&mdash;waves upon waves of the loose rock waste, for
+convenience called sand, as far as the eye can reach. Sometimes the
+waves are in long windrows, but oftener they are short and choppy like
+the surface waves of midocean.</p>
+
+<p>Unlike the ocean waves, in which only the form moves forward, while the
+water composing it moves up and down only, the sand dune and the
+material of which it is composed<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_121" id="pg_121">121</a></span> are both moving in the direction of
+the wind. A breeze even of five or six miles an hour will keep the
+lighter surface dust moving freely, while a twelve-mile wind will not
+only sweep along much larger particles but it also carries more of them.
+And just as the surface, or "skin," friction forms waves at the surface
+of water, it also piles the desert sand in wave-like dunes.</p>
+
+<p>The loose bits of rock waste are carried along, up the windward slope of
+the dune until they roll over its crest, where, no longer impelled by
+the wind, they come to rest. Thus, the crest, built forward by new
+material constantly added, is advancing. Valleys are filled; old stream
+channels are obliterated; and the inequalities of the surface are
+levelled off until the whole landscape is one of shifting, drifting
+sand.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the Sahara and the arid lands
+southward to the Sudan are by no means destitute of life and wealth. It
+is an almost universal custom to speak of the barren condition of the
+desert. The contrary is the truth; there is no soil elsewhere so fertile
+and productive. It is vastly superior even to the soil of the lands
+reclaimed from the bottom of the North Sea.</p>
+
+<p>Water is the magic wand that makes the sands of the Sahara bring forth
+crops that are marvellous both in quantity and quality. No fruit grown
+elsewhere in the world can compare with that grown on desert lands, and
+the French engineers are planning the means whereby water may be
+obtained. Surface water that is available to irrigate the wastes of the
+Sahara does not exist. The level of the Nile is so far below the surface
+on both sides of its own flood-plain that its waters cannot be used for
+the reclamation of any part of the Libyan Desert, and the same is
+practically true of the Niger, which barely more than touches the
+borders of the Sahara. The few wadys, or "dry washes," are destitute<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_122" id="pg_122">122</a></span> of
+water except when a cloud-burst may fill them; but this happens at
+intervals of years only.</p>
+
+<p>The engineer takes into his confidence a caravan driver&mdash;perhaps an
+Arab, possibly a Berber, but quite as likely a slave. And the long
+experience has taught the caravan man where to find the precious water.
+The engineer then brings his science into play and drives an artesian
+well. The well thus driven may be a "gusher," but for most of them pumps
+are required to raise the water to the surface. The best well, however,
+furnishes water enough to irrigate but a very small area. Indeed, all
+the lands of the Sahara together irrigated by artesian wells would make
+an area scarcely larger than the State of Delaware, and all the water
+thus obtained would not supply New York City!</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the water obtained by artesian wells has proved a great
+blessing to the dwellers of the desert. If the water is found along one
+or another of the numerous caravan routes, an increase in caravan
+commerce is apt to result, for along many routes the volume of caravan
+commerce depends very largely on the number of wells. The location of
+artesian wells has also led to the opening of trade along new routes as
+well, for wherever water can be found there will be camels to drink it.</p>
+
+<p>The date palm is essentially a plant of the desert, or, rather, of the
+oasis. Nowhere else does it grow in such profusion as in northern
+Africa. The number of productive trees there is estimated to be anywhere
+from ten million to twenty million, though the estimate is but little
+better than a guess. At its full growth the date palm is a most
+beautiful object. Usually the feathered tops of the trees are the only
+foliage to relieve the harsh landscape. Like the bamboo, every part of
+the tree is used. The leaves may be made into fans, or shredded and
+woven into mats. The wood is used in making the framework of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_123" id="pg_123">123</a></span> buildings,
+and the waste material is very handy as fuel. A refreshing fermented
+drink and a most vile liquor are prepared from the juice. But the fruit,
+when properly prepared, is the chief food of many thousands of men and
+beasts. Even the stones, or "pits," of the dried fruit are useful; those
+which are not sent to Italy to be used for adulterating coffee are made
+into an "oil-meal" for fodder.</p>
+
+<p>Esparto grass, called "alfa" or "halfa" by the Arabs, is another unique
+product of the Sahara. In spite of its name, it is not a grass but a
+flowering plant whose stalk has a tough fibre useful in making cordage
+and paper. When the plant turns brown and has become dry to the root,
+the esparto picker gets busy.</p>
+
+<p>By four o'clock in the morning he is at work, his heavy woollen baracan,
+or blanket, wrapped tightly about him, for the air is not only chilly
+but almost freezing cold. By sunrise the chill begins to disappear, and
+a few brief moments is the only interval between piercing chill and
+midsummer heat. The baracan is quickly shed and the fez, if the picker
+is rich enough to possess one, is discarded for an esparto hat with rim
+of mammoth proportions. Esparto grass sandals protect his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Almost all the animal life of the Sahara is deadly, and the esparto
+grass picker is constantly facing danger. The clump of esparto, into the
+bottom of which he must reach to cut the mature stalks, is quite likely
+to be the lair of a poisonous viper; and if the reptile sinks its fangs
+into the flesh of the unfortunate picker, long weeks of suffering and
+disability&mdash;perhaps death&mdash;are in store for him. Between the bite of a
+rattler and that of an esparto viper there is little to choose.</p>
+
+<p>The scorpion is another peril to the esparto picker. The great
+rock-scorpion of the Sahara is about as ugly as the centipede of Arizona
+and Mexico; in size it is also about as<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_124" id="pg_124">124</a></span> large&mdash;from six to ten inches
+in length. Its sting, too, is about as dangerous as the fangs of the
+rattler. But the esparto picker has a method of heroic treatment for
+both the bite of the viper and the sting of the scorpion. He squats
+calmly upon the sand while a brother picker cuts out the flesh that has
+been pierced. If he survives the twenty-four hours following, he is
+pretty likely to pull through. If not&mdash;well, the vultures know when and
+where to look.</p>
+
+<p>The esparto grass is delivered to the nearest local market compressed in
+bales of five or six hundred weight, held together by a coarse netting
+of esparto weave, and shipped to Europe. Nearly all of it goes to Great
+Britain. There it is shredded and made into cordage, coarse cloth, or
+paper.</p>
+
+<p>But the esparto has a rival so far as its use in making paper is
+concerned. The wood pulp of Norway and the United States is slowly
+displacing it, and in time esparto will be but little used except for
+making cordage or gunny cloth. Already the French Government is having
+troubles of its own in providing employment for the esparto pickers, but
+it is not likely that such a useful plant will be discarded; on the
+contrary, its use is likely to increase in the future.</p>
+
+<p>The camel is the institution upon which the commerce of the desert
+depends. A more awkward, ungainly beast can hardly be imagined&mdash;a
+shambling collection of humps, bumps, knobs, protruding joints, and
+sprawling legs seemingly attached to a head and neck in the near
+foreground. But that shambling gait will carry a load three times as
+heavy as the stoutest pack mule can bear, and it will carry it twice as
+far in a day.</p>
+
+<p>A horse or a mule must be fed twice a day, but a camel will worry along
+for a week at a time with nothing more substantial than its cud. Horses
+and mules cannot traverse regions where the watering places are more
+than twelve hours<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_125" id="pg_125">125</a></span> apart, unless water be carried in storage; but the
+camel is its own storage reservoir, and can carry a supply sufficient to
+last for ten days.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of his week of fasting the hump of the camel has shrunken to
+a fraction of its former size. When the animal has a few days of feeding
+the hump grows to its former proportions again. Indeed, the hump is
+merely a mass of nutrition ready to be formed into flesh and blood.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-028" id="illus-028"></a>
+<img src="images/w125.jpg" alt="A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w125-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Within the paunch of the animal and surrounding its stomach are great
+numbers of cells capable of holding seven or eight gallons of water.
+When the camel drinks copiously these cells become filled and afterward
+slowly give up the water as the stomach requires. It may be truly said
+that the camel is a camel because of the desert and not in spite of it.</p>
+
+<p>The sparse population of the Sahara&mdash;Arabs, Berbers, and negroes&mdash;are
+dependent upon the camel, for until the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_126" id="pg_126">126</a></span> railway shall traverse the
+Sahara the camel will be practically the only means of transportation.
+The camel's flesh furnishes about the only meat consumed by the dwellers
+of the desert, for ordinary cattle can live only in a few localities
+along the desert border lands.</p>
+
+<p>The native people of the desert are mainly of the race to which the
+Arabs also belong, although there are many Arabs and negroes. The
+Tuaregs and Bedouin Arabs are the best known. The Tuaregs are thought to
+be the descendants of the Berbers and of the same race as the
+Carthaginians, whom the Romans many times defeated but never conquered.
+They have whiter skins than the Arabs and in appearance are perhaps the
+finest peoples of Africa. They are also the most ferocious and
+blood-thirsty villains on the face of the earth. Many of them live in
+the white-walled cities such as Ghadames, Kand, and Timbuktu&mdash;all large
+centres of population.</p>
+
+<p>Their government is well organized. Each of the larger tribes is
+governed by a sultan, and in each there are several castes&mdash;a sort of
+nobility of unmixed Tuareg blood being at the head and negro slaves at
+the lower end of the social ladder. The families of the highest caste
+are usually well-to-do, and both the men and the women are taught to
+read and write. The garments usually worn by a Tuareg man consist of
+white trousers, a gray tunic with white sleeves, sandals of ornamented
+leather, and a white turban. When away from home the Tuareg covers the
+lower half of the face by a cloth mask.</p>
+
+<p>The usual occupation of the Tuaregs is twofold&mdash;to guard caravans or to
+rob them. The average Tuareg is perfectly indifferent as to which he
+does. A caravan from the Sudan enters, we will say, Kano. The garfla
+sheik pack master, or superintendent, goes at once to the financial
+agent of the sultan and pays the usual liken, or tariff<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_127" id="pg_127">127</a></span> charges. Then
+he goes to the sultan himself and incidentally leaves in his possession
+a generous money present. Then, if he desires, he may hire half a dozen
+or more guards.</p>
+
+<p>The hiring of these will insure the caravan against theft or robbery on
+the part of the predatory bands living at Kano. The guards will also
+faithfully defend the caravan in case of attack by Bedouin Arabs. On the
+other hand, should the garfla sheik forget the present to the sultan, or
+neglect to hire guards, those same Tuaregs would be the first to attack
+and loot the caravan.</p>
+
+<p>The Bedouin Arab is the chief trial of the caravans. He is always a foe
+to them; and although he ostensibly herds camels and horses, his real
+occupation is robbery and pillage. For days nomadic Arabs will follow a
+caravan, keeping always out of sight. Most likely a band of a dozen or
+more mounted on swift horses will survey the caravan from a distance at
+which they are not likely to be discovered. Then they make their way
+ahead of it to some point where a dune or a gully will conceal them.
+Then, just as the end of the caravan drags by, there is a sudden sortie
+and a rattling musket fire. And before the guards can gather to the
+defence half a dozen camels are cut out of the train, a driver or two is
+shot down or pierced with assegais, and both the robbers and their loot
+are beyond the reach of the guards.</p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the greatest value of the desert is its effect upon the
+climate of Europe. Hot winds blow from the Sahara in all directions; the
+northerly winds, crossing the Mediterranean, are not only tempered
+thereby, but the desert blasts tempered and filled with moisture finally
+reach the southern slopes of Europe, where they convert the nutrition of
+the soil into bountiful crops of corn, wine, and oil.</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of the great African desert is already in<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_128" id="pg_128">128</a></span> sight, and the
+railway will be its master. The Cape to Cairo line is no longer a vision
+of the future; the ends of its two parts are rapidly shortening the
+interval that separates them and they are almost in sight of each other.
+When the lines that are projected from the Mediterranean coast shall
+have traversed the stronghold of the Tuaregs to penetrate the wealth of
+the Sudan and the Kongo, the Sahara will have become merely an incident.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="POLAR_REGIONSmdashTHE_CONQUEST_OF_THE_ARCTIC_3773" id="POLAR_REGIONSmdashTHE_CONQUEST_OF_THE_ARCTIC_3773"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+<h3>POLAR REGIONS&mdash;THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Excepting the arctic and the antarctic regions, with their
+fortifications of eternal ice and snow, intrepid explorers have made
+known nearly every part of the world. There Giant Frost guards his
+frozen secrets and defies man to wrest them from him. Many a hero has
+perished in endeavoring to solve the Sphinx-like riddle of northern
+lands and seas. Many a gallant ship has found its grave in northern
+ice-clad waters. Yet there has never been a lack of adventurous spirits
+to continue the work.</p>
+
+<p>But one after another the strongholds of nature have gradually yielded
+to persistent attacks. Especially is this true of the arctic regions, of
+which not more than two million square miles of sea and land remain to
+be explored.</p>
+
+<p>Buffeted by adverse winds and floating ice-fields, venturous explorers
+have drawn nearer and nearer to the north pole. Again and again, the
+attack has been renewed, until, after half a lifetime, Robert E. Peary,
+an officer of the United States navy, made a brilliant dash and planted
+the national ensign at the pole.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_129" id="pg_129">129</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The story of arctic exploration and discovery is filled with interest.
+It is pathetic, tragical, and calculated to awaken the deepest emotions.
+Nevertheless, it is enlivened by brilliant exploits, deeds of daring,
+and acts of heroism.</p>
+
+<p>For many years the search for a northern passage to India in the
+furtherance of commerce was the chief incentive to arctic exploration.
+Even more than a century before Columbus discovered America, two
+Venetian brothers named Zeno sought a northwest passage to the Orient,
+believing that the difficulties in navigating it would be offset by the
+shortening of the route.</p>
+
+<p>The success achieved by Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth
+centuries in discovery, conquest, and colonization incited England to
+find a northwest passage, in the hope that such a route, by shortening
+the distance to the East Indies, would extend her commerce.</p>
+
+<p>After the discovery of the mainland of North America, Sebastian Cabot,
+under the patronage of Henry VII, planned a voyage to the north pole,
+thinking that would be the best route to ancient Cathay. He proceeded
+only as far as Davis Strait; then, becoming discouraged by the immense
+fields of ice, he turned the prow of his vessel homeward.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterward the Muscovy Company of London sent out an exploring
+expedition with instructions to find a northwest passage. This
+expedition, taking a different route from its predecessors, reached Nova
+Zembla. But the ice-fields forced the vessel back to the shores of
+Lapland, and the ship was never spoken of again. Years afterward the ship's
+company were found frozen in death.</p>
+
+<p>Next in importance came the renowned Frobisher, a strong advocate of a
+northwest route. He made three voyages to the Arctic Ocean, the last two
+being under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Frobisher believed that
+fabulously rich fields of gold existed in the north, and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_130" id="pg_130">130</a></span> expedition
+was organized for the purpose of discovering them. His search for
+precious metals was fruitless, but he added much to the world's
+knowledge of polar regions, and he has been remembered in the strait
+that bears his name.</p>
+
+<p>The Muscovy Company again sent out an exploring vessel, this time under
+the able navigator Henry Hudson, with orders to go "direct to the north
+pole." He did his best to carry out his instructions and, sailing along
+the northern shore of Spitzbergen, reached latitude 81&deg; 30' north.
+Finding the route utterly impracticable, he returned home. In all,
+Hudson sailed on four voyages of discovery, twice in the employ of
+English companies and twice in the employ of the Dutch East India
+Company.</p>
+
+<p>In one of his voyages under the Dutch, after advancing as far north as
+he deemed prudent, he turned southward and cruised along the Atlantic
+coast. Entering New York Bay, he proceeded up the broad river that now
+bears his name, believing at first that he had found the coveted short
+route to India. Soon he was undeceived, for as he went farther up he
+found the seeming passage to be merely a large river. He gave his
+employers such a glowing account of the valley of the Hudson River that
+the merchants of Holland sent out ships to establish trading posts along
+the river and to trade with the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>On his fourth voyage, while seeking a passage northwest, he discovered
+the strait and the bay both of which bear his name. Desiring to continue
+his explorations the next year, he sailed westward on the bay and
+wintered on the island of Southampton. In the spring he again tried to
+find the long-wished-for passage.</p>
+
+<p>The long, cold winter and lack of suitable food told heavily on his men.
+They became badly demoralized and declared that they would not remain
+longer in such an inhospitable region. When Hudson insisted, the men
+mutinied. Seizing<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_131" id="pg_131">131</a></span> their commander, they placed him with his son and
+five sailors in an open boat and sailed away. After this cruel act of
+the mutineers, no trace of Hudson or those who were with him was ever
+found. But Hudson's fame will never die. Historians will ever laud his
+achievements, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the map of the
+world. The ringleader of the mutineers with five of his companions was
+afterward killed by the natives, and several of the others starved to
+death. The rest of the crew succeeded in getting the ship back to
+England; there they were tried, found guilty of mutiny, and sent to
+prison.</p>
+
+<p>In 1616 the intrepid William Baffin took up the search. He penetrated
+the bay bearing his name and explored the passages of water westward to
+the mouth of Lancaster Sound.</p>
+
+<p>Later the Russians became interested in exploration. Among the explorers
+Captain Veit Bering of the Russian navy was the most eminent. In the
+early part of the eighteenth century Bering was commanded by Peter the
+Great to take up the search for the long-sought passage. He explored the
+northeastern coast of Asia as far north as sixty-seven degrees latitude,
+discovering a fact hitherto unknown, that North America is separated
+from Asia by a narrow passage of water containing small islands. The
+passage received the name Bering Strait from its discoverer, and the
+same name was bestowed upon the sea leading to it.</p>
+
+<p>About ten years afterward Bering determined to explore the northwest
+coast of North America. He landed twice upon the coast, but, being
+driven back by violent storms, was at length wrecked on an island, where
+he died. His crew, though suffering terrible hardships, lived through
+the winter. With the coming of spring, however, they rigged a craft from
+the stranded vessel in which a few survivors reached the coast of Asia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_132" id="pg_132">132</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In 1743 the British Government offered a reward of twenty thousand
+pounds for the discovery of a northwest passage by the way of Hudson
+Bay. Thirty-three years afterward a like reward was offered for the
+actual discovery of the north pole and the same amount for the
+exploration of any navigable passage. The sum of five thousand pounds
+was also offered to any one who should approach within one degree of the
+north pole. These standing rewards greatly stimulated arctic
+exploration.</p>
+
+<p>Of the many voyages of exploration that followed, Sir John Franklin's
+last expedition was the most tragical. This expedition was fitted out by
+the British Government with the necessary supplies and scientific
+instruments for a three years' cruise. Two stanch vessels, the <i>Erebus</i>
+and the <i>Terror</i>, both of which had been previously employed in
+antarctic exploration, were selected to stem the ice-fields of the
+north, and a tender with extra supplies accompanied them as far as Davis
+Strait. The vessels were last seen in Lancaster Sound moored to an
+iceberg, where they were spoken to by a whaling ship homeward bound.</p>
+
+<p>Three years having passed and no tidings having been received from the
+expedition, all England became extremely anxious concerning the safety
+of the explorers. The British Government then sent out two vessels to
+seek Franklin, but no trace of the missing commander or his men was
+found.</p>
+
+<p>The government then redoubled its exertions, supplemented by private
+parties, and in 1850 no less than twelve vessels were vigorously
+searching the arctic lands and waters for their lost brothers. Lady
+Franklin spent her fortune in endeavoring to find trace of her noble
+husband.</p>
+
+<p>The heart of humanity was touched with the deepest sympathy and moved by
+the noblest motives. The United States Government, aided also by private
+citizens, fitted out vessels to continue the search. At one time ten of
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_133" id="pg_133">133</a></span> searching vessels met in the Arctic. The results of these
+expeditions were meagre in securing trace of the lost ones, but they
+greatly enriched our knowledge of northern lands and seas.</p>
+
+<p>Not until five years after the <i>Erebus</i> and <i>Terror</i> left England was
+trace of the explorers found. Near the head of Franklin Strait, off the
+shore of King William Land, evidence of an encampment of some of the men
+was discovered, and at Beechey Island, near by, carpenters' tools, empty
+meat cans, and the graves of three of the men threw more light on the
+mystery of the ill-starred expedition. A few years later, at Victory
+Point, Lieutenant Hobson found a record of the death of Franklin, the
+date being July 11, 1847.</p>
+
+<p>Charles F. Hall, a native of New Hampshire, but long a resident of Ohio,
+who had been a reader of arctic literature, became deeply interested in
+the search for Sir John Franklin. Obtaining financial aid from different
+sources, he made four voyages to the arctic, the first being devoted to
+searching for Franklin's men and in solving the mystery of their
+disappearance. His third voyage was the most fruitful one in securing
+results. Hall believed that the Eskimos knew more about the lost
+explorers than they were willing to tell, and that if he could but gain
+their confidence he could extract from them the story. In furtherance of
+his plan, he resolved on his third voyage to live with them several
+years. In 1864 he started on this voyage north. On his arrival in the
+arctic he sought out the natives and made himself one of them, adopting
+their mode of life and food.</p>
+
+<p>He spent five years living and travelling with them. Having won them
+over, he obtained the story of the ill-fated explorers. He learned that
+one of Franklin's vessels had actually made the northwest passage to
+O'Reily Island, southwest of King William Land. Five men remained on
+board alive, but the vessel was abandoned by the crew. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_134" id="pg_134">134</a></span> next spring
+the Eskimos found it in good condition frozen fast in the ice.</p>
+
+<p>The skeletons of Franklin's men were found scattered over King William
+Land, where they had perished one after another from starvation and
+cold. Some had engaged in conflict with the natives in endeavoring to
+secure food, but being weak from hunger were unsuccessful. Of the one
+hundred and five men who accompanied Franklin not one was ever found
+alive.</p>
+
+<p>During the year 1850 the problem of the northwest passage was solved by
+Captains M'Clure, Collinson, and Killet. South of Melville Island,
+M'Clure, who had sailed through Bering Strait, met the ship of Killet
+which had come through Lancaster Sound. M'Clure, having wintered near
+the connecting waters, had really established the existence of the
+passage by observation before the meeting. Twenty days later Collinson
+came up in his ship. Finding the problem of the northwest passage
+solved, he turned to the southeast and completed the passage in another
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>It thus became evident that so far as commercial purposes were concerned
+a northwest passage was impracticable and that further northern
+exploration must be considered in the light of scientific and geographic
+value only.</p>
+
+<p>Hall's labors did not cease with his discovery of the Franklin
+expedition. He became an enthusiast concerning the arctic and seemed to
+enjoy its weird icy scenery and attendant perilous excitement. Believing
+that he could reach the north pole if he had a properly equipped
+expedition, he planned a fourth voyage and appealed to Congress for
+assistance.</p>
+
+<p>A generous appropriation was made by Congress, and on July 3, 1871, the
+expedition set sail from New London, Conn., carrying a full crew and
+several scientists. The vessel, which was named the <i>Polaris</i>, touched
+at several<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_135" id="pg_135">135</a></span> places on the western coast of Greenland to secure
+additional dogs and skins suitable for arctic clothing, and then steamed
+north as far as seemed safe, to establish winter quarters preparatory to
+making a dash for the pole in the spring.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel passed through Robeson Channel into the polar ocean, reaching
+82&deg; 11', then the highest point ever reached by a ship. Not finding a
+good harbor, Hall sailed south about fifty miles. He anchored near the
+Greenland shore to the lee of a stranded iceberg. Building material for
+a house and part of the stores were removed to the land in case anything
+happened to the ship. Then the ship was banked up with snow and part of
+the deck was covered with canvas to keep out the cold.</p>
+
+<p>The weather being propitious, Captain Hall thought best to take a sledge
+journey to find the lay of the country. He ordered the dogs to be well
+fed, and accompanied by two other sledges advanced northward about fifty
+miles, making side trips to take observations. At the end of two weeks
+he returned seemingly perfectly well, but in a few hours complained of
+illness. Thirteen days afterward he died. The date of his death was
+November 8, 1871, just a little more than four months from the time he
+left the port of New London buoyant with hope.</p>
+
+<p>The command of the expedition now devolved on Captain Buddington, a man
+of dissipated habits and lacking in discipline. During the winter and
+spring severe storms crashed the ice-pack against the sides of the
+vessel, causing it to leak. In the meantime exploring parties were sent
+out with sledges and boats, gathering not a little knowledge concerning
+the west coast of Greenland. Then the vessel began to leak badly, and
+Captain Buddington ordered all hands on board for return home.</p>
+
+<p>Great fields of ice still covered the sea, and it was with extreme
+difficulty that the vessel made its way through them<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_136" id="pg_136">136</a></span> southward. A
+severe gale damaged the vessel still more, and as it seemed certain that
+it could not float much longer, preparations to abandon it and to move
+at once to the ice-floe were made.</p>
+
+<p>At the dead of night, in the face of a fierce gale, a part of the ship's
+company and stores were transferred to the ice. Then the heaving billows
+broke the vessel loose from the floe, separating the men on the ice from
+those on the vessel. With eighteen companions Captain Tyson lived on the
+ice-floe which moved southward, breaking off piece after piece, for a
+period of six and one-half months, suffering incredible hardships from
+cold, hunger, and constant fear. Finally, they were sighted off the
+Labrador coast by the ship <i>Tigress</i> and rescued in a starving
+condition. The story of this ice-floe journey of one thousand three
+hundred miles is one of the most thrilling in maritime annals.
+Fortunately, there were two Eskimos on the ice-floe skilled in the
+capture of seals, else the entire company would have starved to death,
+since but a small portion of the provisions had been transferred to the
+floe when the vessel parted from it. The devices for sustaining their
+lives during the journey form interesting reading. Strange to relate, no
+one was seriously ill and no deaths occurred during this remarkable ice
+voyage.</p>
+
+<p>After drifting a while the <i>Polaris</i> was purposely beached on the
+Greenland shore and the stores placed on land, where a house was built
+in which to spend the second winter. In the spring two boats were
+constructed in which the company started southward along the coast,
+where they were finally picked up by a whaling vessel.</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of the northeast passage was not achieved until the latter
+part of the century. In 1878 Baron Nordenskjold, a Swedish explorer
+commanding the <i>Vega</i>, entered the Arctic and sailed eastward along the
+Russian and Siberian coast. Nordenskjold was the first navigator to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_137" id="pg_137">137</a></span>
+double Cape Chelyuskin, the northern cape of Asia. The <i>Vega</i> reached
+Bering Strait where she was nipped by the ice-pack. In the following
+spring she reached Japan in safety.</p>
+
+<p>In 1879-80 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka set out on an overland
+expedition northwestward for Hudson Bay, to gather knowledge concerning
+the great Arctic Plain of North America. Schwatka's was probably the
+longest sledge journey ever made up to that time. With a small party of
+men, his dog sledges covered a distance of three thousand miles.
+Schwatka found the skeletons of several members of Sir John Franklin's
+party. These he buried on King William Land.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-029" id="illus-029"></a>
+<img src="images/w137.jpg" alt="Peary&#39;s ship, the _Roosevelt_" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Peary&#39;s ship, the _Roosevelt_</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w137-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>In 1881 the De Long expedition, in the steam cruiser <i>Jeannette</i>, met
+disaster off the Siberian coast. The <i>Jeannette</i> was sunk and her
+officers and crew in three boats<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_138" id="pg_138">138</a></span> abandoned her. One boat was never
+heard of afterward. De Long and his party starved in the delta swamps of
+the Lena River. Chief Engineer Melville and his party were rescued in
+the Lena River.</p>
+
+<p>In 1881 also the International Polar Conference attempted to establish a
+chain of stations around the pole as far north as possible. The United
+States and several of the European nations were represented in the
+organization. Two expeditions were sent out by the United States; one at
+Point Barrow, under Lieutenant Ray, the other at Lady Franklin Bay,
+opposite the Greenland coast, in latitude 81&deg; 40'. The latter was in
+charge of Lieutenant, now General Greely. In a sledge journey along the
+north coast of Greenland, Lockwood and Brainard reached the latitude of
+83&deg; 24'. The observations of Greely and Ray added not a little knowledge
+concerning the meteorology and tides of the arctic regions. The sledge
+journey of Lockwood and Brainard practically established the fact that
+Greenland is an island.</p>
+
+<p>Of all attempts to reach the pole, the most daring was that adopted by
+S. A. Andree, a Swedish explorer. Andree had been to the polar regions
+before, and being something of an aeronaut, believed that he could reach
+or pass over the pole in a balloon. In carrying out his plan he had
+constructed a monster balloon capable of floating in the air thirty
+days, due allowance being made for the daily escape of gas by permeation
+through the envelope. This balloon, with necessary accessories, was
+shipped to Danes Island, one of the Spitzbergen group. Everything being
+ready July 11, 1897, Andree set forth on his perilous trip accompanied
+by two companions. The balloon carried a load of about five tons,
+including food, clothing, ballast, scientific instruments, and men.</p>
+
+<p>On being let loose the balloon arose six hundred feet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_139" id="pg_139">139</a></span> and then
+descended to the surface of the sea owing to the entanglement of the
+guide ropes and ballast lines. Three heavy guide ropes nine hundred feet
+long were used, to which were attached eight ballast lines two hundred
+and fifty feet long. The ropes were cut and ballast was thrown out, when
+the balloon again rose and the wind bore it away over a mountainous
+island one thousand five hundred feet high. In an hour it had passed
+below the northeastern horizon. Three message buoys were dropped on the
+day of Andree's departure, reporting fine weather, all well, and
+altitude eight hundred and twenty feet; from that time on no traces of
+the daring unfortunates have ever been found.</p>
+
+<p>Fridtjof Nansen, who had spent some time in the exploration of
+Greenland, had also reached the conclusion that a polar current sweeps
+across the Arctic Ocean from Bering Sea to the north coast of Greenland.
+He therefore set out with a picked crew in a small steamship, the
+<i>Fram</i>,1893, entering the Arctic at Bering Strait. After the <i>Fram</i> had
+been caught in the ice-pack, Nansen and his companion, Johansen, started
+toward the north pole with dog sledges. They reached latitude 86&deg; 14';
+finding that the ice was drifting southward, they made for Franz Josef
+Land, where they spent the winter, and then started for Spitzbergen. On
+their way they were found by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth
+expedition, by whom they were rescued. The <i>Fram</i> also returned safely.
+The existence of the polar current was not established.</p>
+
+<p>In 1900 Captain Cagui, a member of the Abruzzi Polar Expedition,
+starting from Franz Josef Land, made a dash across the ice toward the
+pole. He succeeded in reaching latitude 86&deg; 34', the nearest approach to
+the pole up to that time.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few years afterward, 1905-6, Amundsen, in the steamer <i>Gjoa</i>,
+found a more southerly northwest passage<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_140" id="pg_140">140</a></span> from King William Land than
+that followed by Collinson. It was comparatively free from ice. Amundsen
+was the first to penetrate the northwest passage in a continuous voyage.
+The result showed plainly that as a commercial route the northwest
+passage was out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>The man who finally succeeded in reaching the pole is the intrepid
+arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy. In the
+first record-breaking trip Peary started in July, 1905. Sailing through
+Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Smith Sound, and Robeson Channel to Grant
+Island, which lies west of the northern part of Greenland, he went into
+winter quarters at Cape Sheridan.</p>
+
+<p>In the early spring, when the daylight was an hour long, Peary set out
+for the north pole over the ice-clad ocean with sledges drawn by dogs.
+Delayed by storms and open water in some places, he succeeded after
+incredible hardships and suffering in reaching 87&deg; 6', the highest point
+up to that time reached by man, a distance only two hundred miles from
+the north pole.</p>
+
+<p>In previous trips Peary had crossed the northern part of Greenland twice
+at the risk of his life, each time bringing much knowledge of the north
+coast of Greenland. During one of his voyages Peary brought home three
+meteorites. The largest, weighing more than thirty-six tons, is now in
+the Museum of Natural History of New York City. These are among the
+largest meteorites ever found, and it is an interesting fact that so
+many were found in Greenland.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_141" id="pg_141">141</a></span>Peary's last and successful trip began when the steamship Roosevelt,
+commanded by Captain Bartlett, sailed out of New York harbor, July 6,
+1908. The vessel traversed Baffin Bay and reached Cape York August 1. At
+Etah, an Eskimo settlement, three weeks were consumed in storing
+supplies and selecting Eskimo guides and purchasing dog-trains. The
+Roosevelt then proceeded northward through the narrow strait that
+separates Greenland from Grant Land. The party went into winter quarters
+near Cape Sheridan at the head of the strait. The winter was spent in
+exploration and in preparation for the sledge journey. The necessary
+supplies for the journey were carried to Cape Columbia, the northerly
+point of Grant Land. The sledge party started northward from Cape
+Columbia February 28&mdash;seven members of the expedition, seventeen
+Eskimos, and nineteen sledges.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-030" id="illus-030"></a>
+<img src="images/w141.jpg" alt="Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on the Roosevelt" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on the Roosevelt</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w141-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_142" id="pg_142">142</a></span>When the expedition reached latitude eighty-eight degrees, Captain
+Bartlett and Professor Marvin, with most of the Eskimo guides, were
+ordered back; Peary with his companion, Hensen, and several Eskimos
+started on the final dash. Fortunately the ice was smooth, and but few
+breaks, or "leads," were encountered. It was not difficult to make
+twenty-five miles or more a day during several days of the journey. At
+last a temporary break in the clouds gave Peary an opportunity for
+observation, which showed his latitude to be 89&deg; 57'. Ten miles more
+were made, and another observation showed that the party had actually
+gone several miles beyond the pole.</p>
+
+<p>A cairn of ice blocks and snow bearing the American flag was erected
+approximately at the pole, April 7, 1909, and the party started on the
+return trip. There being a plain trail and smooth ice, the return trip
+was made in about half the time required for the outward trip. The
+reserve party was joined at Cape Columbia, and all hands returned to the
+<i>Roosevelt</i>, which was at anchor near Cape Sheridan. The only fatality
+of the expedition was the death of Professor Marvin, who was
+accidentally drowned while on his return to Cape Columbia.</p>
+
+<p>The open polar sea which had been observed by Kane and several other
+explorers was closed by ice at the time of Peary's dash; indeed, the
+entire route lay over ice and snow that apparently was several years
+old. After leaving Cape Columbia no land sky was seen anywhere about<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_143" id="pg_143">143</a></span>
+the horizon. A single sounding was made about five miles from the pole,
+but no bottom was found at fifteen hundred feet, the length of the
+sounding wire.</p>
+
+<p>For his services Peary received the medal of the Royal Geographical
+Society, and an admiral's commission from the United States Government.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the desolation that pervades polar regions, the resources
+are considerable and have attracted much commercial activity. For many
+years whale oil was about the only illuminating oil used by most of the
+world, and the chief supply was obtained from the whales slaughtered in
+north polar regions.</p>
+
+<p>Holland sent whaling ships to the arctic as early as 1613, and for two
+centuries whaling fleets of different nations frequented these seas.
+During the early part of the seventeenth century&mdash;the most profitable
+period&mdash;upward of three hundred Dutch ships and fifteen thousand men
+annually visited Spitzbergen. It is estimated that in two centuries
+America, England, and Holland obtained from the arctic regions products
+amounting to one thousand million dollars, the greatest items by far
+being whale oil and whalebone. Great quantities of fossil ivory have
+been obtained from the New Siberian Island, the very soil of which seems
+in great part to be made up of the bones and tusks of the extinct
+mammoth.</p>
+
+<p>Much valuable scientific information has been gained by meteorological
+and magnetic observations. The north magnetic pole, toward which the
+north-seeking end of the compass needle points, has been located on the
+west side of Boothia Peninsula. At this place the dipping needle stands
+vertical. It must be borne in mind that the north pole of the earth and
+the north magnetic pole are two entirely different points. As a matter
+of fact, if the mariner be in the arctic waters north of Boothia
+Peninsula his compass points south.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_144" id="pg_144">144</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The arctic currents have been carefully studied with valuable results,
+and it has been found that the drift of the polar ice-floe is constantly
+to the eastward. Snow-white arctic reindeer in considerable numbers have
+been recently found; and Peary found seals within two hundred miles of
+the north pole. The Greenland seal seems to enjoy seas filled with ice,
+spending part of the time in the water and part on the ice-floe.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-031" id="illus-031"></a>
+<img src="images/w144.jpg" alt="Musk ox" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Musk ox</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w144-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>It is now known that Greenland is an ice-capped island very sparsely
+inhabited along the coast by Eskimos. A few hundred of these hardy
+people live along the Greenland coast from Cape York up to latitude
+seventy-eight degrees, cut off by the surrounding ice-cap from the rest
+of the world. They are the most northern known inhabitants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_145" id="pg_145">145</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Peary found the northern coast of Greenland well stocked with both
+animal and vegetable life. Bears, wolves, hares, and musk oxen were seen
+in considerable numbers.</p>
+
+<p>A most important fact discovered by Hall was that the most northerly
+part of Greenland is comparatively free from ice, the largest known area
+of bare ground of that continent. This fact accounts for the profusion
+of animal and vegetable life existing there.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting of land animals found in the north is the
+musk ox. When fully grown and in good condition this animal weighs five
+hundred pounds and upward. When the musk oxen are attacked by wolves or
+dogs they form themselves into a circle with their heads on the outside
+and conceal their calves under their bodies. Their hair, being long,
+reaches nearly to the ground and forms a curtain which completely
+conceals the calves from view. Their food is moss and lichens which grow
+on the rocks. This they obtain by scraping away the snow with their
+sharp hoofs. The flesh of the musk ox, though musk-like in flavor, is
+not repulsive to the taste, and several explorers have been saved from
+starving by using the flesh for food.</p>
+
+<p>The chief obstacles to arctic exploration are the long winter night,
+during which all must remain idle, and the necessity for carrying all
+provisions. No one who has not wintered beyond the arctic circle can
+have a realization of the influence on the nerves of continual darkness
+for months, an influence that has driven many men insane. Combine the
+darkness with the weird scenery and the fierce storms that prevail
+during the long winter, and it requires a strong will and abiding faith
+not to be seriously influenced. The extreme cold is not hard to endure
+if one clothes himself in the manner of the Eskimos.</p>
+
+<p>Provisions and supplies must be carried by dog sledges, and the
+management of the dog teams is very difficult for<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_146" id="pg_146">146</a></span> those who have not
+been trained to the work. Shetland ponies have been tried as draught
+animals. Captain Evelyn Baldwin was the first to use them in polar
+exploration; others have used them, but less successfully.</p>
+
+<p>Good coal is found in abundance on many of the islands of the arctic.
+Its outcroppings are found on Disco Island, west of Greenland, and
+excellent coal is found in many places in Spitzbergen, where at the
+present time two companies are mining it, one American and the other
+English.</p>
+
+<p>Spitzbergen is sometimes called No Man's Land, since Norway and Sweden
+have not been able to agree in regard to its possession. Lately the
+islands of this archipelago have become favorite resorts for summer
+excursionists who can here have the arctic scenery and experiences with
+but very few discomforts. Ptarmigan, geese, ducks, and many other kinds
+of birds are found on these islands. Large quantities of eider-down have
+been obtained annually from this section, but the rapid destruction of
+the ducks by hunters has lessened the industry and will probably
+annihilate it. There being no law to regulate hunting, sportsmen
+wantonly kill the wild animals, especially the reindeer and bears, in
+great numbers.</p>
+
+<p>We owe much to dogs in arctic explorations. It would have been
+impossible to penetrate to the interior of arctic lands or to traverse
+the frozen seas but for the services of the faithful dogs trained to
+draw sledges. Many of these animals have suffered from overwork and have
+perished from starvation; others have been sacrificed for food in dire
+extremities to preserve the lives of their masters. Surely arctic
+service has proved as destructive to the poor dogs as to men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_147" id="pg_147">147</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width:20%; margin: 1em auto 1em 0" />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Isolated masses of native iron are usually of meteoric
+origin, but to determine whether or not the native iron fell from the
+sky a portion of the surface is ground off and polished; then the
+polished surface is etched with acid. If crystalline lines are plainly
+brought out, there can be no doubt of its being of meteoric origin.
+</p><p>
+The following excerpt from the American Museum Meteoric Guide will make
+the matter clear: "The iron of meteorites is always alloyed with from
+six to twenty per cent of nickel. This 'nickel-iron,' as it is commonly
+called, is usually crystalline in texture, and when it is cut, polished,
+and 'etched' a beautiful net-work of lines is brought out, indicating
+plates which lie in positions determined by the crystalline character of
+the mass. This net-work of lines constitutes what are called the
+Widmannstattian figures, from the name of their discoverer. When these
+figures are strongly developed the meteoric origin of the iron cannot be
+questioned, but their absence does not necessarily disprove such an
+origin. Native iron of terrestrial origin is extremely rare."</p></div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="POLAR_REGIONSmdashANTARCTICA_4348" id="POLAR_REGIONSmdashANTARCTICA_4348"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+<h3>POLAR REGIONS&mdash;ANTARCTICA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>A continent twice the size of the United States lies sleeping beneath a
+mantle of snow and ice at the south pole. No vegetation save a few
+mosses and lichens exists anywhere on this vast expanse. No four-footed
+animals rove over it; no human beings inhabit it.</p>
+
+<p>Hundreds of thousands of square miles of pack-ice, glaciers, and
+ice-walls jealously guard it on all sides. On one side, for a distance
+of five hundred miles, extends a great ice barrier whose perpendicular
+ice-wall is from thirty to three hundred feet in height. Behind this
+wall are vast ice-fields, and beyond these immense plateaus of ice
+having an elevation of six thousand to twelve thousand feet where fierce
+winds and a biting cold prevail. On these elevated plains the
+thermometer stands in the middle of summer sometimes as low as forty
+degrees below zero.</p>
+
+<p>Great fields of ice and huge icebergs cover the sea in all directions
+and in winter extend far beyond the antarctic circle. In these regions
+the ice forming on the surface of the ocean attains a thickness varying
+from five to seventeen feet. Long ranges of snow-clad and ice-mailed
+mountains are found with ermined peaks towering from ten thousand to
+fifteen thousand feet in height.</p>
+
+<p>A long winter night, with its intense darkness relieved at times by the
+light of the moon and brilliant chromatic displays of the aurora
+australis, succeeds a day of perpetual sunshine. All these are on such a
+scale of sublimity that no pen can adequately describe nor brush portray
+them. Nowhere else on the face of the globe does there exist such a wide
+expanse of utter desolation. Yet an undefined attraction lures bold men
+to fathom the mysteries of these forbidding<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_148" id="pg_148">148</a></span> regions. Dating from 1772,
+many exploring expeditions have visited the south polar regions in the
+interests of science.</p>
+
+<p>The compass is the mariner's guide across the trackless ocean, and it is
+essential to find out everything possible about that mysterious agent,
+magnetism, which directs the compass needle by its attractive force. The
+earth itself is a huge magnet with positive and negative poles. The
+poised needle of the compass maintains its relative position because of
+the magnetic poles of the earth, one located in the north polar regions,
+on the western side of the peninsula of Boothia, and the other in the
+south polar regions, on Victoria Land. Except in a few localities the
+compass needle does not point due north and south&mdash;that is, toward the
+real poles of the earth, but toward the magnetic poles. And these
+magnetic poles are ever shifting, as is shown by the changing direction
+of the compass needle, which year by year increases or decreases its
+deviation from true north and south.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to chart the variations of the magnetic needle for the
+use of the navigator. To observe the deviations and to locate the south
+magnetic pole have been the chief objects of south polar expeditions for
+several years, geographical information being of secondary importance.</p>
+
+<p>The marine life of the south polar regions is abundant. In the latter
+part of the eighteenth century ships sailing in the regions north of the
+antarctic circle discovered whales and fur-bearing seals. Soon sealers
+and whalers of different nations began to frequent the prolific new
+regions. Then various European nations and the United States sent out
+exploring expeditions to the south polar regions to gather scientific
+and geographical information as well as to assist the charting of coasts
+and the determination of magnetic variations.</p>
+
+<p>On account of their uninhabitability, their difficulty of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_149" id="pg_149">149</a></span> access, and
+their unknown commercial value, the antarctic lands have claimed far
+less attention than the north polar regions. The famous explorer,
+Captain James Cook of the royal navy, was commissioned by the British
+Government to undertake various exploring expeditions, and in carrying
+out his instructions he made several voyages to the antarctic. In 1773,
+with his two vessels, <i>Resolution</i> and <i>Adventure</i>, he crossed the
+antarctic circle&mdash;so far as is known, the first time that it had been
+crossed by a human being. He continued farther southward, but finding an
+alarming increase of pack-ice and icebergs, he soon retreated north. In
+January of the following year he succeeded after a third trial in
+reaching latitude 71&deg; 10' south, the farthest south attained during the
+century.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-032" id="illus-032"></a>
+<img src="images/w149.jpg" alt="An antarctic summer scene" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">An antarctic summer scene</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w149-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_150" id="pg_150">150</a></span>In 1839 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government under
+Captain Charles Wilkes. The exploring squadron consisted of five ships
+and more than four hundred officers and men, scientists, and crews.
+Wilkes was the first to discover the so-called mainland of the antarctic
+continent, in January, 1840. He then followed along this unknown
+coast-line amid icebergs, fogs, and storms for over fifteen hundred
+miles, taking such observations as were possible. For his polar
+achievements in discovery and exploration he was awarded a gold medal by
+the Royal Geographical Society. Considering that he was supplied with
+improperly equipped ships, he certainly accomplished wonders.</p>
+
+<p>The British Government, realizing the necessity for better magnetic
+charts of the south polar regions, and urged by the scientific societies
+of England, sent out a second expedition to the antarctic under the
+command of Sir James Ross. The expedition sailed from England in the
+fall of 1839 in the <i>Erebus</i> and <i>Terror</i>, both of which were
+subsequently lost in the unfortunate Franklin expedition.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> On this
+voyage Ross made many discoveries, the most important of which was
+Victoria Land. On this land is the south magnetic pole toward which the
+south-seeking end of the needle always points. Ross greatly desired to
+plant at the south magnetic pole the flag that had been displayed at the
+north magnetic pole in 1831, but he was unfortunately caught in the
+pack-ice and compelled to abandon the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>Two volcanic mountains were discovered on an island near Victoria Land.
+These mountains Ross named Erebus and Terror from the two ships in which
+he sailed. The former, thirteen thousand feet in height, was in violent
+eruption, and the latter, ten thousand feet high, was quiescent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_151" id="pg_151">151</a></span></p>
+
+<p>An expedition which has accomplished very great results in antarctic
+research was sent out under Captain Robert F. Scott of the British navy
+in the vessel <i>Discovery</i>. Through the influence of the Royal
+Geographical Society this expedition was admirably financed, the English
+Government and private parties contributing four hundred and fifty
+thousand dollars toward its equipment.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Discovery</i> left Cowes, England, in the summer of 1901, and, after
+making a series of magnetic observations south of Australia, steered for
+the south polar regions. Pack-ice was met almost at the antarctic
+circle, but Scott gradually worked the vessel through the pack and
+reached the base of Mount Terror where he landed a party. Then with the
+remainder of his men he coasted eastward along the great ice barrier for
+five hundred miles. It was found that the barrier had receded thirty
+miles since its front was examined by Ross in 1841 and that its front is
+wearing away at the rate of one-half mile a year. A captive balloon was
+used in making investigations of the ice front. If the unfortunate case
+of Andree be excepted, it was the first time that the balloon was used
+in polar research.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel remained in a safe harbor near Mounts Terror and Erebus,
+where it lay frozen in for two winters. Every precaution was taken to
+insure the safety of the land party in case the ice should break up and
+force the ship out of the harbor. Suitable huts were erected on shore
+and a portion of the provisions was landed. Magnetic observations and
+other scientific work were carried on daily.</p>
+
+<p>During the warmer season of the year many journeys were made into the
+interior. In order to be able to advance as far as possible, sledge
+journeys were made along a selected route to establish provision depots.
+This being done, Captain Scott with two companions and nineteen sledge
+dogs started for a protracted journey into the interior. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_152" id="pg_152">152</a></span> travelled
+three hundred and fifty miles inland over the great ice-field but did
+not even then reach the end of it. Then, having lost most of the dogs,
+and the provisions being low, the party set out on their return to the
+ship.</p>
+
+<p>The few remaining dogs being disabled, the men were obliged to haul the
+sledges. Having suffered great hardships, the party reached the vessel
+after an absence of three months.</p>
+
+<p>On this journey a long range of mountains with many high peaks was
+discovered. The highest peak, fifteen thousand one hundred feet, was
+named Mount Markham. The latitude reached was 82&deg; 17' south, being the
+farthest distance south attained. On a subsequent journey a plateau of
+nine thousand feet elevation was reached, where the evenness of the ice
+surface for miles seemed scarcely broken. The length of this journey was
+three hundred miles.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the second winter two relief ships appeared at the edge of
+the ice with orders that Captain Scott should return home at once. The
+<i>Discovery</i> was still sealed up in the harbor with solid ice from twelve
+to seventeen feet thick, and it was a problem how to free the vessel.
+The solid ice extended out more than six miles from the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>The crews set resolutely to work making holes in the ice in a direct
+line from the imprisoned vessel to the open water. In these holes
+powerful explosives were placed which cracked the ice. This labor
+consumed some nine days. Then the great ocean swells broke up the ice,
+freeing the vessel. The <i>Discovery</i> forthwith sailed for England by way
+of Cape Horn, arriving home in September, having gathered much valuable
+information during her sojourn in the south polar regions.</p>
+
+<p>Although practically no vegetable life has been found in these regions,
+an abundance of animal life exists in or contiguous to the sea,
+dependent on shrimps, fish, and such<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_153" id="pg_153">153</a></span> other life as the sea affords.
+Seals, penguins, petrels, cormorants, and gulls are found in
+considerable numbers. In fact, no persons tarrying in these regions need
+starve for lack of food, such as it is.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-033" id="illus-033"></a>
+<img src="images/w153.jpg" alt="The penguin defies the cold" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The penguin defies the cold</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w153-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>During the two years spent by the <i>Discovery</i> in the south polar ice,
+seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
+the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
+it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
+material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
+excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
+served daily.</p>
+
+<p>Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
+used as fuel when the coal began to give out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_154" id="pg_154">154</a></span> Penguins are strange,
+interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
+of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
+rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
+a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
+orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
+walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
+average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
+is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
+excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
+at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
+equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
+were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
+seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.</p>
+
+<p>When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
+eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
+of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
+below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
+it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
+completely covers it up.</p>
+
+<p>After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
+around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
+cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
+thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
+food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
+frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
+fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
+killed by kindness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_155" id="pg_155">155</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest
+Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
+those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
+member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
+the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
+in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
+expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Nimrod</i>, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
+and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
+than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
+main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
+not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
+scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
+"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
+Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
+New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
+she was towed to the antarctic circle.</p>
+
+<p>The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
+Island, near the winter quarters of the <i>Discovery</i>, in McMurdo Bay,
+about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
+curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
+known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
+most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also
+the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two
+thousand miles from New Zealand.</p>
+
+<p>In the following March a party of six&mdash;David, Mawson, Mackay, Adams,
+Marshall, and Brocklehurst&mdash;prepared for the ascent of Mount Erebus, the
+volcano, then active, discovered by Ross and named after one of his
+ships. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_156" id="pg_156">156</a></span> crater rim was only a few miles distant, and during the
+first three days the party could be seen from the camp by means of a
+powerful telescope&mdash;tiny black specks struggling up the ice-clad slopes.
+Three craters were discovered, the youngest and highest of which was
+found to be thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty feet above sea
+level.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> During the ascent the party nearly perished in a gale which
+blew their tents into tatters. The crater rampart was finally reached,
+however, and a number of excellent photographs were made.</p>
+
+<p>During the entire stay at Ross Island the steam column from the crater
+furnished the means whereby the direction of the upper currents of air
+might be instantly noted, and the condition of activity did not differ
+materially from that observed in Stromboli. When the barometer was low
+the steam column was heavier and denser; the glow of light was also
+brighter. With a high barometer, on the contrary, the conditions were
+reversed, the steam column was insignificant and the glow was scarcely
+visible. As a rule, the ascending column of steam was projected three
+thousand feet or more before it was caught by the upper air current.
+Measurements showed the principal crater to be half a mile in diameter
+and nine hundred feet deep. Great deposits of sulphur and pumice were
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>In the last week of October a party composed of Shackleton, Adams,
+Marshall, and Wild started on the trip to discover the south pole. The
+journey to the point farthest south occupied seventy-three days. After a
+few days out from the winter quarters no bare rock was seen&mdash;the
+landscape being one of ice and snow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_157" id="pg_157">157</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Shackleton's journal of January 8 notes the fierce gales blowing at the
+rate of seventy or eighty miles an hour, while the temperature had
+dropped to "seventy-two degrees of frost." "We are short of fuel," he
+writes, "and at this high altitude, eleven thousand six hundred feet, it
+is hard to keep any warmth in our bodies between the scanty meals. We
+have nothing to read now, having left behind our little books to save
+weight, and it is dreary work lying in the tent with nothing to read,
+and too cold to write much in the diary."</p>
+
+<p>"It (January 9, 1909) is our last day outward. We have shot our bolt and
+the tale of latitude is 88&deg; 23' south. We hoisted her majesty's flag,
+and the other Union Jack afterward, and took possession of the plateau
+in the name of his majesty. While the Union Jack blew out stiffly in the
+icy gale that cut us to the bone we looked south with powerful glasses,
+but could see nothing but the dead white snow-plain. There was no break
+in the plateau as it extended toward the pole, and we felt sure that the
+goal we have failed to reach lies on this plain. We stayed only a few
+minutes, and then taking the queen's flag, and eating our scanty meal as
+we went, hurried back and reached our camp about 3 P. M. Whatever
+regrets may be, we have done our best." On their return journey the
+party killed the two surviving ponies for food.</p>
+
+<p>Early in October, 1908, a party consisting of David, Mawson, and Mackay
+started on their journey to locate the south magnetic pole. Like the
+journey of the southern party, it was a trip of hardship, intense cold,
+and physical suffering. On January 16, 1909, partly by experiment and
+partly by calculation, the point of vertical position of the needle was
+found in latitude 72&deg; 25' south, longitude 155&deg; 16' east. The position
+found by Professor David was very close to that obtained by Scott of the
+<i>Discovery</i> expedition and about<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_158" id="pg_158">158</a></span> forty miles from that which Ross
+calculated in 1841. In the interval of nearly seventy years, it is safe
+to assume that the position of the south magnetic pole has shifted forty
+miles.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the knowledge obtained in other directions, Shackleton
+frankly admits that the secret of the great ice barrier cannot be
+learned until the structure and trend of the mountain ranges which seem
+to form its edge are traced. The investigations showed, however, that it
+is composed of densely packed snow. It was found that at least one part
+of the ice barrier is receding, and that Balloon Bight, noted by Captain
+Scott, had disappeared in consequence of the recession. Not the least
+important part of the exploration was the discovery of forty-five miles
+of coast. Shackleton also was able to strengthen the opinion that
+Emerald, Nimrod, and Dougherty Islands do not exist.</p>
+
+<p>The hardy Shetland and Manchurian ponies, first used by Evelyn Baldwin,
+proved a valuable equipment in polar research. Shackleton's gasoline
+motor-car and Scott's captive balloon were of considerable but limited
+use.</p>
+
+<p>During 1910 and 1911 three different nations&mdash;England, Norway, and
+Japan&mdash;were represented by expeditions in south polar regions. The
+Norwegian expedition under Captain Roald Amundsen was especially
+equipped for quick travel, having eight sledges and more than one
+hundred trained dogs.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition made its way to the head of Ross Sea, a large bay of the
+Antarctic plateau, nearly due south of New Zealand. The camp there was
+made the base of supplies. Depots for provisions were first established
+in latitudes 80&deg;, 81&deg;, and 82&deg;.</p>
+
+<p>A start for the pole was made September 8 with eight men, seven sledges,
+and ninety dogs. The weather was too severe for the dogs, however, and
+the party returned to camp. By the middle of October summer weather had
+set<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_159" id="pg_159">159</a></span> in, and on the 20th of the month five men, four sledges, and
+fifty-two dogs started on the poleward trip. Three days later they
+reached and passed the first depot; on the 31st the second depot was
+reached; and on November 5 the sledges reached the third depot in
+latitude 82&deg;. Additional supplies were thereafter cached, in depots
+about one degree apart, to be used on the return trip. Snow cairns were
+built at frequent intervals to mark the trail. The last cache of
+supplies was left at latitude 85&deg;.</p>
+
+<p>From this point the way was a steep and difficult climbing over the
+range, or barrier, that had proved so difficult for Shackleton. Peaks in
+height from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet loomed up on every
+side, and glacier surfaces proved to be the easiest paths.</p>
+
+<p>When a height of nine thousand feet had been reached the rugged upraise
+opened out into a nearly level plateau. On December 10 observations
+showed latitude 89&deg;, and on the 14th of the month the party reached
+latitude 90&deg; and achieved the conquest of the South Pole. The Norwegian
+flag was planted, and after three days spent in checking observations
+the party returned in safety. The expedition returned by way of
+Tasmania. The vessel employed was the <i>Fram</i>, the small steamship used
+by Nansen.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Scott, who commanded the <i>Discovery</i> in the expedition of 1901,
+went with the men in his command to Ross Sea and made his head-quarters
+near the head of that body of water. He at once sent out exploring
+parties, one of which started for the pole. According to reports made in
+April, 1912, he had accomplished a great deal of work in surveys and
+geological research, probably more than all that of his predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>The same reports brought also word that the Japanese expedition under
+Lieutenant Shirase had surveyed a considerable extent of the Antarctic
+coast.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_160" id="pg_160">160</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width:20%; margin: 1em auto 1em 0" />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> In April, 1831, Ross had the honor of fixing the location
+of the north magnetic pole on the Boothia Peninsula in latitude 70&deg; 5'
+north and longitude 96&deg; 46' west.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> According to the observations of Ross its altitude was
+twelve thousand three hundred and sixty-seven feet. Inasmuch as a change
+in altitude results from each eruption, both determinations may be
+correct. The admiralty charts give twelve thousand nine hundred and
+twenty-two feet, the determination of the expedition of 1901.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="ICELAND_THE_MAID_OF_THE_NORTH_4750" id="ICELAND_THE_MAID_OF_THE_NORTH_4750"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+<h3>ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Several thousand years ago a mighty conflict occurred between the sea
+and the subterranean forces in the north Atlantic five hundred miles
+northwest of Scotland. A violent earthquake rent the rocks of the ocean
+bed, and through the broken floor there issued tremendous floods of
+molten lava. The great conflict manifested itself in explosions of
+steam, gigantic streams of red-hot lava, frothy pumice, and volcanic
+ashes. For miles around the water of the sea was seething and boiling.</p>
+
+<p>After awhile the turbulence of the fiery mass was subdued and it stood
+congealed in the varied forms of rugged peaks, contorted ridges, and
+deep valleys, subsequently to be seamed and further distorted by
+earthquakes and piled higher by further volcanic outbursts. A new island
+had been born.</p>
+
+<p>Ages rolled on; vegetation appeared as the volcanic rock disintegrated;
+crystal lakes were formed and rivers, fed by frequent rains and melting
+snows, flowed to the sea. This comparatively new island is Iceland. The
+book of nature here is open; the print is clear; and the language is so
+plain that he who can read may learn the story.</p>
+
+<p>The internal fires of the earth seem to have taken their final great
+stand in this far-off northern land and have waged a titanic battle to
+the death, as may be seen in many places. In the northern part of the
+island one may find acres of burning sulphur beds, small geysers, and
+mud caldrons, all of which attest to the slowly dying volcanic forces
+beneath. Although a comparative calm now exists,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_161" id="pg_161">161</a></span> an exciting cause may
+at any time awaken the slumbering volcanoes and again renew the work of
+destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Fossilized forests are found, but of trees different from those now
+existing. Climate and vegetation materially changed as century succeeded
+century.</p>
+
+<p>The written history of Iceland begins about the year 860, when a viking
+living on the Faroe Islands who was on his way home from Norway, being
+driven far northward of his course, came to an unknown coast. Climbing a
+high rock and looking around, he beheld no signs of life; before he
+could return to his ship, however, a sudden storm came on, covering the
+ground with a mantle of snow. From the latter circumstance he named the
+country Snowland.</p>
+
+<p>Four years after a Swedish master-mariner was driven by stress of storm
+to this same land, and, building a house, spent the winter there. During
+the following summer he sailed around the land, demonstrating that it
+was an island, and called it after his own name, Gardar's Island. On his
+return home he gave such a favorable account of the island that a famous
+Norwegian viking named Floki determined to seek it and to take
+possession. Having gathered his family and followers, and taking on
+board some live stock, he set sail for the unknown land by way of the
+Faroe Islands.</p>
+
+<p>The compass had not then been invented, but knowing that ravens by
+instinct seek the nearest land when freed on the ocean, he provided
+himself with three of these birds to serve as guides.</p>
+
+<p>He remained awhile at the Faroe Islands and then boldly sailed
+northward. When he was several days out he uncaged one of the ravens,
+which immediately took its flight back to the Faroe Islands. Later, he
+set free a second bird. This one, after hovering high in the air for
+some time, seemed bewildered and returned to the ship. Still later, the
+third<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_162" id="pg_162">162</a></span> raven was set free, which at once flew northward. By pursuing the
+course taken by the last bird, Floki soon reached the desired land.</p>
+
+<p>The winter that followed was very severe. Deep snows covered hill, rock,
+and valley, and ice blockaded the fiord. Floki had neglected to harvest
+the wild grass, and as a result his cattle died. Disheartened by his
+losses, he returned to his native land, naming the island which he
+abandoned Iceland.</p>
+
+<p>A few years later another Norse rover, who had slain an enemy and was
+threatened with vengeance by the relatives of the victim, took refuge on
+the island where he spent a year. He liked the country so well that he
+returned home and induced his retainers to accompany him back to his
+safe retreat. Approaching the land, he threw into the sea the sacred
+columns which his vessel bore, so that he might learn the will of the
+gods where to land and found a colony. A violent storm arising, the
+pillars drifted out of sight, so he sought the nearest harbor and there
+he established a temporary camp.</p>
+
+<p>Three years afterward the pillars were found on the desolate shore of a
+lava stream on the west side of the island. Near by was a rivulet from
+whose bed a spring gushed forth emitting clouds of steam. Thither the
+colony removed and the present capital, Reykjavik, was founded. The name
+Reykjavik means "smoking bay." Other vikings followed and selected such
+parts of the island as they considered best.</p>
+
+<p>Harold, the king of Norway at this time, determined to curb the
+rebellious spirit of the chiefs under him. So, many of the sturdy
+Norsemen, chafing under his arbitrary rule, collected such of their
+property as they could carry and, putting it on board their stanch
+vessels, sailed away to the land of refuge.</p>
+
+<p>At this period of history nearly all nations considered that<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_163" id="pg_163">163</a></span> might made
+right; but no class of plunderers excelled the Norsemen, who were wont
+to make periodical raids on the various seaport cities and towns of
+Europe. They swooped upon them, pillaging and killing the inhabitants,
+and then fled in their swift vessels with booty and captives before they
+could be intercepted. The audacity of the Norse vikings knew no bounds.
+They pillaged Paris, Bordeaux, Orleans, and nearly every other city of
+France accessible by water. Their hands fell heavily on the coasts of
+Spain and the British Isles.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-034" id="illus-034"></a>
+<img src="images/w163.jpg" alt="Street in Reykjavik, Iceland" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Street in Reykjavik, Iceland</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w163-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>At one time a band of these fearless sea-robbers made their lairs in the
+Shetland and Orkney Islands and even plundered<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_164" id="pg_164">164</a></span> the coast of Norway, the
+abode of their kinsmen. Their conduct so exasperated Harold that he
+determined to destroy the freebooters of the Orkneys root and branch.
+Gathering a large fleet, he relentlessly pursued the raiders up every
+bay and inlet. Leaving the ships, he chased them among the rocky islands
+and the sinuous fiords. When they were overtaken the pursuers showed
+them no mercy. A few escaped, and, stealing away under the cover of
+darkness, the hunted sea-robbers fled in their ships to Iceland.</p>
+
+<p>All the while the tide of immigration was augmented by the migrations of
+disaffected nobles from Norway. This naked volcanic island had more
+attraction for them than their own country where freedom was denied
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Sixty years after the first settlement fifty thousand people had made
+their homes in Iceland. The inhabited parts were along the coast, in the
+river valleys, and in the vicinity of the fiords, rarely extending
+farther than fifty miles inland.</p>
+
+<p>In order to better maintain rights and settle disputes, in 930 the
+chiefs or nobles established an aristocratic republic and adopted a
+constitution. The republic existed four hundred years. Many just laws
+were enacted, some of which England was glad to borrow. The legislative
+meetings were held in Thingvalla, a picturesque valley thirty-five miles
+east of Reykjavik. This valley was formed by the sinking of a lava area
+of fifty square miles. In the middle of the valley, flanked by two huge
+jagged walls of lava, is a triangular floor of lava like a large
+flatiron having separating chasms meeting at the apex. Here the Althing,
+or general assembly, met annually to make laws and settle disputes.
+Toward the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a
+beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five
+miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The
+scenery here<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_165" id="pg_165">165</a></span> is one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by,
+a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy
+water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom
+of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a
+legislative assembly.</p>
+
+<p>Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of
+Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the
+re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by
+Denmark in 1874.</p>
+
+<p>Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million
+crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights
+advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change
+their names when they marry.</p>
+
+<p>Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of
+it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.</p>
+
+<p>It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with
+vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined
+chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large
+desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse
+is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields,
+one of which occupies four thousand square miles.</p>
+
+<p>Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so
+severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the
+warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding
+waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic
+ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter
+snowstorms even in August.</p>
+
+<p>The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the
+white and the blue. These animals probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_166" id="pg_166">166</a></span> drifted on the ice from
+Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because
+they attack the sheep.</p>
+
+<p>The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The
+horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked.
+Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large
+numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines.
+There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark galleries.</p>
+
+<p>Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone
+Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to
+one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most
+prominent are east of Reykjavik.</p>
+
+<p>According to its area probably no other part of the world except the
+island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and
+cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within
+the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic
+eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously;
+the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and
+the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke
+accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed
+the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth
+heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere
+became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was
+darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder.
+Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles
+wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar
+Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and
+spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted
+the vegetation<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_167" id="pg_167">167</a></span> far and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand
+head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-035" id="illus-035"></a>
+<img src="images/w167.jpg" alt="North Cape, Iceland" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">North Cape, Iceland</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w167-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Iceland is well watered, having many streams, all of which are rapid,
+for the greater part flowing over beds of lava and quicksand. In some of
+the wider fords stakes have been set so that the traveller may not get
+lost in crossing them on horseback during a dense fog. In the summer the
+frequent rains make travelling very unpleasant unless one is suitably
+equipped with water-proof garments. In the Hvita, or White River, is the
+celebrated Gullfoss&mdash;literally, "goldfall"&mdash;a fall that rivals Niagara
+in the height of its two cataracts.</p>
+
+<p>A few garden vegetables excepted, little or no agriculture<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_168" id="pg_168">168</a></span> is
+attempted; the chief dependence of the people is the rearing of sheep,
+cattle, and horses, fishing, and the collecting of eider-down. The
+streams are filled with excellent fish, including the salmon; off the
+coast are codfishing grounds equal to, if not surpassing, those of
+Newfoundland.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable mineral is sulphur, the supply of which appears to be
+inexhaustible. The chief exports are wool, oil, fish, horses,
+eider-down, knit goods, sulphur, and Iceland moss.</p>
+
+<p>Transparent calcite, a mineral commonly called "Iceland spar," is found,
+one mine of which furnishes an excellent quality. It is highly prized by
+mineralogists on account of its double refractive qualities. If a piece
+of this mineral be placed over a word, the letters forming it will
+appear double. Iceland spar is used chiefly in the optical instrument
+known as the polariscope.</p>
+
+<p>Eider-down consists of the soft, fine feathers growing on the breast of
+the eider-duck, great numbers of which frequent the coast and lakes of
+Iceland. This duck is wild except at the nesting season; then it is as
+tame as the domestic fowl and makes its nest not only around and on top
+of the buildings but frequently inside them. A heavy fine is imposed on
+any one killing a duck at this season.</p>
+
+<p>When about to lay, the duck carefully lines her nest with down plucked
+from her breast. Then people remove it from the nest and the duck pulls
+more down from her breast to replace that taken. This process is
+repeated several times. When the duck has stripped her own breast the
+drake comes to the rescue and furnishes down from his. A certain number
+of the eggs are also taken. These, though inferior to those of the swan,
+are esteemed a great delicacy. Swans also are killed on many of the
+lakes.</p>
+
+<p>Iceland is the resort of the fishing fleets of several nations; the
+value of the annual catch averages about ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_169" id="pg_169">169</a></span> million dollars. Much of
+the catch consists of food fish, but many are caught for the oil.</p>
+
+<p>The only trees found growing on the island are birch and ash, and they
+seldom exceed ten feet in height. A few juniper bushes and willows are
+found here and there.</p>
+
+<p>In the remote and isolated sections most of the dwellings are built of
+blocks of lava laid one upon another, making a wall six feet thick. Upon
+these are placed rafters made from ribs of whales, drift-wood, or
+anything else that will answer the purpose. The roof is then covered
+with grass and turf. In the hamlets many of the houses are constructed
+of imported lumber, there being no trees of sufficient size on the
+island for building purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants are very hospitable and every house is open to the
+traveller. They live in a simple manner, drink sour whey and milk, eat
+rancid butter, fish, mutton, and occasionally the lichens called Iceland
+moss. When well cooked, the last named is quite palatable. It is also a
+sovereign remedy for bronchial ailments.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding their many privations, the people are loyal to their
+country and lovingly call it "The Maid of the North." They lead pastoral
+lives and their customs are much like those of the Homeric age.
+Story-telling is much appreciated by all classes. There are wandering
+minstrels who gain their livelihood by going from house to house to
+recite the stories in prose and poetry which they have learned by heart.
+Spindle and distaff are used in spinning the wool into yarn, which is
+then knit or woven into cloth on a hand loom.</p>
+
+<p>Education is universal, and no child of twelve years can be found who is
+unable to read or write. The families are so isolated that there are few
+schools outside of the capital; but the parents diligently teach their
+children whatever they themselves have learned.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_170" id="pg_170">170</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the long winter evenings one member of the family reads aloud
+while the others are busily at work, the men making nets and ropes, or
+removing the wool from the sheepskins, the women embroidering, sewing,
+or using spindle and distaff.</p>
+
+<p>In no other country of Europe are so many books and papers published in
+proportion to the population as in Iceland. On the average one hundred
+books are issued annually from Icelandic presses. Several excellent
+newspapers and periodicals are also published.</p>
+
+<p>Every Icelander to-day knows perfectly the sagas, the legendary stories
+that commemorate heroes and heroic deeds and which are so dear to his
+heart. It is not uncommon to find an Icelander who is well versed in the
+ancient classics or one who can speak several languages. They are well
+acquainted with the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, which have been
+translated into their own language. During the twelfth and thirteenth
+centuries Iceland produced a literature equal to that of any other
+nation in Europe within the same period.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="GREENLAND_5068" id="GREENLAND_5068"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+<h3>GREENLAND</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The history of Greenland really begins about the year 986 A. D., when
+Eric the Red, a chieftain who had been banished from Iceland, landed on
+the island with some of his followers and made it his permanent
+residence. At different times these hardy and daring seamen made
+expeditions to the eastern coast of North America, and sailed as far
+south as Chesapeake Bay. They attempted to found a colony on the east
+coast at a point thought to be on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_171" id="pg_171">171</a></span> coast of New Jersey but, after
+contending with the savages for some time, deemed it best to abandon the
+project and to return to their Greenland home. The location at which
+they attempted their colony is by no means certain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-036" id="illus-036"></a>
+<img src="images/w171.jpg" alt="Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w171-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>All this island, a half million square miles in area, except a small
+part of the southern coast line and a larger area in the north, is
+covered by an immense glacier. And this field of ice, like a huge piece
+of plastic wax, is constantly moving from the interior down toward the
+sea. As it approaches the ocean it divides into branches which flow down
+the numerous fiords and valleys into the sea. As the fronts of the
+branch glaciers are pushed out into the water their ends are broken off
+by the buoyancy of the water. These glacial-born masses then float away
+as icebergs, carrying with them on their southward journeys the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_172" id="pg_172">172</a></span> rock
+waste&mdash;moraine detritus it is called&mdash;gathered by the parent glaciers.</p>
+
+<p>When these floating leviathans are off the coast of Newfoundland, they
+encounter the waters of the Gulf Stream, melt, and scatter their d&eacute;bris
+of stony matter over a large area of the ocean bed. This process, having
+gone on for thousands of years, has shoaled the ocean in certain parts,
+forming the so-called Banks of Newfoundland.</p>
+
+<p>A gelatinous slime filled with minute animal life forms on the bottom of
+the ocean in the arctic; the cold currents flowing south carry some of
+it along with them, and much of it is lodged on the stony bottoms of
+these banks. Fish, especially the cod, are fond of this gelatinous
+substance, and throng thither at certain seasons of the year in
+countless numbers to feed upon it.</p>
+
+<p>One ignorant of the currents of the ocean might be puzzled at times in
+observing that an iceberg floats southward at the same time that pieces
+of wood are floating northward, both apparently acted upon by the same
+current. This may be explained by recalling that warm water is lighter
+than cold and hence is found as the upper layer when a cold and a warm
+current are flowing in different directions, one upon the other. It
+should be borne in mind that seven-eighths of the floating iceberg is
+under water, leaving but one-eighth above the surface. The Gulf Stream
+drift spreads out as it travels northward, and, being much shallower
+than the arctic currents, carries floating objects northward on the
+surface, while the deeper and more powerful arctic currents force the
+huge masses of ice southward.</p>
+
+<p>When the warm air over the Gulf Stream comes in contact with the
+floating ice it is chilled, and the moisture which it holds is condensed
+into fog. The fogs in turn, which are off the Newfoundland coast, being
+in the line of steamship communication between Europe and America, are a
+constant<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_173" id="pg_173">173</a></span> menace to navigation. The near presence of ice is usually
+detected by a greater chilliness in the air. In order to avoid
+collisions with one another, and also with icebergs, a ship constantly
+sounds its sirens and fog horns as warnings while in the fog belt. The
+signal of another steamship is a warning of the one; the answering echo
+announces the nearness of the other.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:376px'>
+<a name="illus-037" id="illus-037"></a>
+<img src="images/w173.jpg" alt="A large iceberg" title="" width="376" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A large iceberg</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w173-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The high interior of Greenland, about ten thousand feet in altitude, is
+thought to result largely from the accumulation of ages of snow and ice,
+only a part of which melts or moves oceanward to form glaciers. No other
+part of the world is such an absolute desert as the greater part of this
+island. Animal and vegetable life are wholly absent.</p>
+
+<p>The colony which was planted in Greenland by Eric the Red, and
+subsequently augmented by other Norsemen, continued to prosper for four
+hundred years. At the end of that period there were about two hundred
+villages, twelve parishes, and two monasteries. These, however,
+disappeared. The hostility of the Eskimos in part accounts for<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_174" id="pg_174">174</a></span> their
+extinction, but an encroachment of ice from the north, which encompassed
+the southern part of the island, is thought to have been also a factor.
+The fact that foreign trade with Greenland was forbidden by the mother
+country may account in part for the gradual disappearance of the colony.
+At all events, intercourse with Europe seems to have been cut off. This
+condition continued for upward of two centuries, and when intercourse
+with the mother country was again possible there was no Greenland
+colony. Perhaps the finding of "white" Eskimo in Victoria Land may
+explain this disappearance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-038" id="illus-038"></a>
+<img src="images/w174.jpg" alt="A group of Eskimos in south Greenland" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A group of Eskimos in south Greenland</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w174-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Subsequently the island was again colonized, but concerning<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_175" id="pg_175">175</a></span> the
+disappearance of the former inhabitants history is silent. The mute
+testimony of a few ruined buildings and relics is all that has been
+found to give the least shadow of information as to the final struggle
+of the wretched colonists. We only know that they mysteriously
+disappeared. But the great glacial cap is slowly receding and ages hence
+more ground will be laid bare.</p>
+
+<p>The present inhabitants number about ten thousand, most of whom are
+Eskimos. They are lacking in thrift and live chiefly by hunting and
+fishing. Among the wild animals living here are the arctic fox, the
+arctic hare, the musk ox, the seal, the polar bear, the ermine, and the
+walrus.</p>
+
+<p>The principal resources of the island are sealskins, eider-down, oil, and
+cryolite.</p>
+
+<p>Cryolite is a mineral from which common soda is easily extracted, and
+also from which the light silver-like aluminum was formerly prepared.
+The mines near the village of Ivigtut furnish practically the world's
+supply of this mineral. Formerly it was carried to Philadelphia, but in
+recent years not much is used. The fisheries are a monopoly of Denmark,
+and each station is visited from one to three or four times a year.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="WHERE_THE_TWO_GREAT_OCEANS_MEET_5193" id="WHERE_THE_TWO_GREAT_OCEANS_MEET_5193"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+<h3>WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Perhaps there is no section of the globe about which most well-informed
+persons know so little as the southern part of South America. Judged by
+the reports of early discoverers and explorers, this region until
+recently has been considered a desolate stretch of snow mountains,
+barren plains, and extensive morasses, sparsely inhabited by a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_176" id="pg_176">176</a></span>
+thousand human beings of the lowest type and worthless to civilized man.</p>
+
+<p>Such a picture is but partly true. Many of the highest mountains are
+snow-capped throughout the year and are scored by immense glaciers which
+are constantly moving down their grooved sides; but there are also
+heavily forested slopes flanked by valleys and plains covered with rich
+grasses, making most excellent pasturage. The best land, comprising a
+large area, is now occupied as grazing grounds principally by sheep
+farmers.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of the sixteenth century it was rumored that a water
+passage traversed the southern part of South America. This rumor was
+proved true in 1520, when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in
+the service of Charles V of Spain, sailed through the strait which now
+bears his name. He called the passage Todos los Santos&mdash;literally, "All
+Saints"&mdash;but later the name was changed to commemorate the bold captain
+who discovered the route.</p>
+
+<p>Magellan was the first not only to sail through the strait, but to cross
+the broad Pacific Ocean, which was so named by him on account of the
+quietness of its waters. Because he saw the fires built by the natives
+blazing on the islands along the south side of the channel, he called
+them Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire."</p>
+
+<p>The Strait of Magellan varies from three to seventy miles in width. The
+scenery along its shores, low and treeless in the eastern part,
+elsewhere is mountainous and heavily wooded&mdash;mainly with beech. In
+various places lofty precipices rise abruptly from the water's edge;
+throughout most of its extent the shore line is rock-bound and studded
+with islets.</p>
+
+<p>A more picturesque route, and one abounding in the grandest and most
+stupendous scenery in the world, is that from the Pacific by way of
+Smyth Channel, the entrance to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_177" id="pg_177">177</a></span> which is four hundred miles north of the
+entrance to Magellan Strait. By this route one follows a series of
+channels and reaches the strait proper near Desolation Island. On
+account of the dangers besetting this course, underwriters refuse to
+insure vessels taking it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-039" id="illus-039"></a>
+<img src="images/w177.jpg" alt="The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">_Copyright, Underwood &amp; Underwood, New York_<br />The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w177-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>It remained for a Hollander named Schouten to discover Cape Horn, in
+1616, and thus find a safer way for sailing vessels going from the one
+great ocean to the other. Schouten named the cape "Hoorn," from his
+native city in Holland. Afterward the name was shortened to Horn, which
+is applied both to the cape and to the island from which it projects.
+Since the western entrance to the strait is subject to rough,
+tempestuous weather and strong currents, very few modern sailing vessels
+take the shorter course, preferring to double the cape. Though doubling
+the cape is the safer route, yet this passage itself is beset by
+dangerous storms and tempestuous seas. Fortunate is the sailing master
+who rounds the Horn with pleasant weather.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_178" id="pg_178">178</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Some of the smaller islands of the archipelago are densely wooded and
+practically unexplored. Gold has been found on the beaches of several of
+the islands in paying quantities, and these placers have been worked
+successfully for several years. On the islands are found wild
+strawberries of great size and fine flavor, wild raspberries,
+gooseberries, grapes, and celery; in the spring the pastures are covered
+with a variety of wild flowers. A profusion of ferns is seen almost
+everywhere. Wild geese and swans are found on the lagoons and lakes in
+large numbers.</p>
+
+<p>Once upon a time Patagonia, as the southern part of the continent is
+popularly called, was regarded as a waste; now it is recognized as a
+wonderfully fertile region, and is being rapidly settled. European
+colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous.
+The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by
+King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know
+the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth.
+The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and
+ostrich feathers.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those
+brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders
+and excel in the use of a peculiar lasso called the bolas. It consists
+usually of three balls of stone or metal covered with rawhide and
+attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In
+fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is
+indispensable. The operator, holding one of the balls, swings the others
+over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them
+go. If well aimed, the connected balls circle around the legs of the
+animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South
+American Indians, they go about well<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_179" id="pg_179">179</a></span> clothed. Occasionally they kill
+their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and
+clothing is the guanaco.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for
+centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superstitious
+dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded
+mountain slopes of the Cordillera.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:294px'>
+<a name="illus-040" id="illus-040"></a>
+<img src="images/w179.jpg" alt="Fuegians" title="" width="294" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Fuegians</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w179-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those
+of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish.
+The canoe Indians, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_180" id="pg_180">180</a></span> those in the western part are called, build boats
+of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet
+long, and in the centre a quantity of earth is carried, upon which a
+fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal
+relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their
+time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish
+may be obtained. At night they generally go on shore to sleep. A hole
+scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent
+down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for
+warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing
+that if they do not move on an evil spirit will catch them.</p>
+
+<p>In the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego and on some of the other larger
+islands two tribes of Indians are found whose subsistence consists of
+sea food, guanacos, and such sheep as they can steal. These tribes are
+continually at enmity with the white settlers and will kill them
+whenever possible.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of cloudy weather and cold winds, which are common a part of
+the year, the climate of Patagonia is milder than that of places much
+farther north, and the sheep require no feeding during the winter
+season. In the matter of sheep farms this section rivals Australia,
+since there is no fear of drought. The grass continues green the year
+around, and the sheep easily fatten upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The drawbacks to successful sheep-growing are many and the business
+requires constant vigilance. Vultures, foxes, wild dogs, pumas, and
+Indians make serious inroads on the flocks. The wild dogs live in the
+surrounding forests and from time to time rush out in packs of from ten
+to thirty and attack the sheep. Notwithstanding all these troubles,
+however, the profits of sheep-growing are large.</p>
+
+<p>Russians, Germans, French, Australians, English, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_181" id="pg_181">181</a></span> Scotch, many of
+whom have amassed large fortunes in a few years, are engaged in this
+lucrative business. As in all other sheep-raising countries, the collie
+is an invaluable aid to the shepherds. Not only are the principal
+islands chiefly devoted to sheep-raising, but a considerable part of the
+southern mainland is also devoted to this industry. On the island of
+Tierra del Fuego alone there are upward of a million sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the land is leased from the government for a long term of years.
+Many of the proprietors have enclosed their holdings with wire fences,
+thereby lessening the expense of caring for their flocks. Some of the
+holdings range from twenty-five thousand to more than two million acres.</p>
+
+<p>Southern Patagonia has immense numbers of guanacos, or wild llamas.
+These animals frequent the Andean slopes and the adjacent pampas. During
+the winter season they come down to the lowlands to drink in the
+unfrozen lakes and feed upon the herbage. During severe winters
+sometimes hundreds are found dead from starvation in the valleys near
+the frozen lakes.</p>
+
+<p>Thousands of wild cattle are found on the eastern slopes of the Andes,
+but they are difficult to capture; they are exceedingly wary and can
+scent a man far off. In agility in climbing the steep, rough places they
+equal the goat. If one of their number is killed the whole herd deserts
+the locality at night. When wounded they are fierce fighters, if forced
+into close quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Punta Arenas, or "Sandy Point," is on the north side of the Strait of
+Magellan and is Chilean territory. It is a new town cut out of the
+woods, and even yet many of the streets are diversified by the stumps of
+big beech trees. The place is an important coaling and provision station
+and, next to Honolulu, the most important ocean post-office in the
+world. It has a population of twelve thousand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_182" id="pg_182">182</a></span> and is the capital and
+centre of the great wool industry of the Territory of Magellan, which
+comprises a majority of the islands south of the mainland, together with
+the southern part of Patagonia.</p>
+
+<p>A few years ago, in order to encourage the building up of Punta Arenas,
+the government offered a lot free to any one who would erect a building
+on it. Many accepted the offer, and to-day some of the lots in the
+business part of the town are very valuable. Although most of the
+buildings are constructed with regard to economy rather than beauty, yet
+some of the business blocks will compare favorably with those of the new
+cities in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>Like several Australian cities, Punta Arenas was a convict colony. It
+was founded as such in 1843, and so remained until the European
+steamships began to thread the strait instead of doubling the Horn. Then
+it became a coaling station, a supply store, a half-way town, and an
+ocean post-office. All this business was previously carried on at the
+Falkland Islands, but the route through the strait settled the business
+for both places. The Falkland station was abandoned; Punta Arenas became
+a thriving town. A ticket-of-leave was given to each convict who
+consented to join the Chilean army.</p>
+
+<p>The town forthwith blossomed into a typical frontier settlement&mdash;banks
+and gambling dens, churches and saloons, schools and bullfights. Every
+race of people and almost every industry is represented there. The
+Spanish see to it that the Sunday bullfights are correct; the French
+insure the proper social functions; the Germans manage the banks; and
+the Americans take the profits of the railways, telegraph lines, and
+flour-mills. As to latitude, Punta Arenas is cold and inhospitable; but
+for business and social affairs, it is very, very warm, especially in
+the matter of social affairs.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_183" id="pg_183">183</a></span>
+<a name="RECLAIMABLE_SWAMP_REGIONS_5406" id="RECLAIMABLE_SWAMP_REGIONS_5406"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+<h3>RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>If only Dame Nature had distributed the rainfall of the United States a
+bit more evenly, land enough to feed about fifty millions of people
+would not have required an expenditure of half a century of time and
+several hundred millions of good, hard dollars. One must bear in mind,
+however, that if Dame Nature had done otherwise, it is just as likely
+that the same time and the same amount of money would have been required
+elsewhere for those same fifty millions of people.</p>
+
+<p>The reclaimable swamp lands of the United States east of the Rocky
+Mountains aggregate about one hundred and twenty thousand square miles
+in extent&mdash;an area nearly equal to that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
+combined. Of this, Louisiana has about fifteen thousand square miles, a
+tract about as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
+combined, and Florida has about half her entire area in swamp land. West
+of the Rocky Mountains, California takes the lead, with enough swamp
+land to make a state of respectable size.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of California, if the "forty-niners" could have waited about
+a thousand years they would have found the precious swamp lands all
+properly filled in for them and ready for use; for the Sacramento and
+San Joaquin Rivers long since have been working at the task of filling
+up the big hollow between the mountain ranges. But the rivers are a
+trifle slow, and Californians are always in a steaming hurry. So Uncle
+Sam's engineers are driving their reclamation schemes with railroad
+speed. A few years ago these<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_184" id="pg_184">184</a></span> lands were worth nothing; drain them and
+they are worth one hundred dollars per acre; improve them according to
+modern farming science and they are worth ten times as much.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-041" id="illus-041"></a>
+<img src="images/w184.jpg" alt="The Everglades of Florida" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Everglades of Florida</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w184-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>In many instances even the quick methods of the reclamation authorities
+are too slow for the California farmer, and so he takes matters into his
+own hands. First he acquires his land; then he mortgages all his worldly
+possessions to surround the land with a ditch deep enough and wide
+enough to make a dike high enough to keep out flood waters. His land
+after draining is full of the stuff for which he otherwise would pay
+thousands and thousands of dollars. Phosphates and lime form the
+coverings of minute swamp life and nitrogen compounds are a part of
+their bodies. The polders of Holland are not richer than this swamp
+land;<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_185" id="pg_185">185</a></span> indeed, they are not so rich. One or two crops will pretty nearly
+extinguish the mortgage and three or four more will put the owner on
+"Easy Street."</p>
+
+<p>In the bottom-lands of the Sacramento River is an island that for fifty
+years went a-begging. Then a company with a shrewd head bought it, diked
+it, and drained it. Now the island has immense celery beds and the
+largest asparagus farm in the world. The celery and canned asparagus are
+shipped to the produce markets of New York City.</p>
+
+<p>Another great swamp area covers a large part of Louisiana, Mississippi,
+and Arkansas. This swamp was made when the head of the Gulf of Mexico
+reached half-way up to St. Louis, for the delta of the Mississippi River
+has been travelling leisurely southward for several thousand years&mdash;so
+leisurely, in fact, that Iberville and Bienville opened the region to
+settlement fifteen hundred years or more too soon. But Uncle Sam is
+taking a hand here likewise, and in another fifty years a population
+half as large as that of New York may not only live comfortably but get
+rich on the reclaimed lands of this and adjacent coast swamps.</p>
+
+<p>The Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia all have large areas of coast
+marshes&mdash;"pocosons" they call them&mdash;only a small part of which has been
+reclaimed. Formerly these were the property of the general government;
+then they were given to the States with the understanding that they were
+to be reclaimed. Large tracts were sold to speculators for a few cents
+an acre, and there you are! Few States are rich enough to handle
+extensive reclamation enterprises, and so the general government stepped
+in again and assumed the responsibility. That means that the work of
+reclamation will be skilfully and honestly done. Uncle Sam may play some
+questionable politics, but he never mixes politics and government
+business.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the swamp lands of the United States, the region<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_186" id="pg_186">186</a></span> in Florida
+known as the Everglades is the most interesting and the most romantic.</p>
+
+<p>Ponce de Leon, an aged Spanish governor of Porto Rico, who was seeking
+the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, discovered&mdash;not the long-sought
+fountain, but a peninsula decked with such a profusion of flowers that
+he named the country Florida.</p>
+
+<p>From that time until years after it was ceded to the United States
+Florida was repeatedly baptized in blood. From the first there were
+encounters between the Spanish and Indians in which no quarter was given
+on either side. Later, an exterminating warfare broke out between the
+French and Spanish when a Huguenot colony was massacred and not a man,
+woman, or child spared. In 1586 St. Augustine was burned by Sir Francis
+Drake, and a century later it was plundered by English buccaneers. Still
+later, frequent contests were waged between the English colonies and the
+Spanish in Florida.</p>
+
+<p>Previous to the acquisition of Florida by the United States hostile
+Indians, together with fugitive whites and renegade negroes who had
+joined them, made many raids upon the settlements in Georgia, robbing
+and burning plantations, murdering the whites, and carrying off the
+slaves. Retaliation to a certain extent was meted out to the
+blood-thirsty savages until Spain was glad to cede the peninsula to the
+United States in 1819 for five million dollars. Thereby she ridded
+herself of her troublesome prot&eacute;g&eacute;s. The Indian raids still continued
+after the acquisition, and the United States Government therefore sent
+troops into Florida to punish the treacherous savages, who gradually
+retreated southward until they reached the Everglades. There they made
+their final stand.</p>
+
+<p>In these almost inaccessible sinuous water passages and the dense island
+vegetation for a long time the Indians baffled<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_187" id="pg_187">187</a></span> our ablest military
+officers. A seven years' contest followed which cost the United States
+fifteen hundred men and nearly twenty million dollars.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-042" id="illus-042"></a>
+<img src="images/w187.jpg" alt="Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w187-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>After much negotiation and no end of trouble the Indians&mdash;they were the
+Seminoles&mdash;ceded their lands to the United States on the promise of an
+annuity of twenty-five thousand dollars and suitable lands in the Indian
+Territory. About four thousand of the Seminoles were then removed to
+their new homes; a small remnant refusing to emigrate were left behind.</p>
+
+<p>The name Everglades is applied to a vast swamp containing a multitude of
+shallow lakes studded with numerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_188" id="pg_188">188</a></span> islands. The region embraces most
+of the southern part of Florida. The water of the lakes, of which Lake
+Okechobee is the largest, varies in depth from a few inches to ten feet.
+The region itself has an area six times that of the State of Rhode
+Island, and on account of the difficulty in traversing it is but
+imperfectly known. Countless winding intricate water channels extend in
+every direction. Many of these are filled with tall sawgrass which,
+growing from the bottom, greatly impedes the passage even of small
+boats. The average elevation of the Everglades above sea level is
+scarcely twenty feet. The water is both clear and wholesome, but the
+surface is so nearly a dead level that the current is imperceptible; it
+can be distinguished only by noting the position of the grass.</p>
+
+<p>The islands are covered with a dense growth of oak, pine, cypress, and
+palmetto trees, together with a jungle of luxuriant tropical vines and
+shrubs. They range in size from one to one hundred acres and are but
+slightly elevated above the surrounding waters.</p>
+
+<p>About three hundred Seminole Indians inhabit the interior and live by
+hunting and fishing. Deer, bears, otters, panthers, wild cats, and
+snakes frequent the land; alligators, crocodiles, fish of various kinds,
+and waterfowl dwell in the water. In the western part of the Everglades
+is Big Cypress Swamp and in the extreme southern part Mangrove Swamp,
+where myriads of mosquitoes are hatched out. Extending along the eastern
+side of the Everglades is a long, narrow belt of dry, fertile land which
+is utilized for farming purposes.</p>
+
+<p>A far-reaching project to reclaim the Everglades has been proposed.
+Unlike the Western projects, the problem is to get rid of water and not
+to supply it. The plans for reclamation include the construction of
+drainage canals and the clearing of the jungle growths. It is purposed
+to use<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_189" id="pg_189">189</a></span> the land thus reclaimed for sugar growing. At the present time
+the United States is importing annually over two hundred million
+dollars' worth of sugar; it is estimated that by draining only a part of
+this vast area and planting it to sugar cane the local demands could not
+only be supplied but a large surplus for export would result.</p>
+
+<p>The possibilities of this region, when properly drained and cleared of
+its superfluous vegetation, are almost beyond computation. It has a rich
+soil, abundant moisture, and almost tropical climate. Reclaimed land of
+this character is suitable for raising not only sugar cane and
+subtropical fruits, but a great variety of other crops. It is estimated
+that the cost of reclaiming the Everglades, so that the land may be made
+productive, need not exceed one dollar per acre.</p>
+
+<p>A great impetus has been given to southern Florida by that wonderful
+achievement of engineering, Mr. Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast
+Railway. This railway stretches in a direct line along the coast from
+Jacksonville to the southern part of the State, and has been extended
+along the Florida Keys to Key West. When all arrangements are completed,
+the trains will be ferried across Florida Strait between Havana and Key
+West, and freight will be sent from points in Cuba to New York and
+Chicago without reloading.</p>
+
+<p>The building of the Florida East Coast Railway is one of the great
+engineering feats of the world. In its construction from key to key
+thousands of tons of rock and cement were dumped into the water on which
+massive viaducts in fifty-foot spans have been built to carry the
+road-bed. These solid archways, rising from twenty to thirty feet above
+the water, defy tides and storm waves. This railway has become one of
+the chief factors in developing the resources of southern Florida and
+hastening the reclamation of the Everglades.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_190" id="pg_190">190</a></span>
+<a name="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashNATURAL_BRIDGES_5599" id="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashNATURAL_BRIDGES_5599"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+<h3>STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS&mdash;NATURAL BRIDGES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almost any unusual form in nature is apt to attract the eye and interest
+the beholder; and when such natural objects resemble artificial ones or
+bear a fanciful resemblance to animals the similarity intensifies the
+interest and almost always leads one to apply fanciful names to them. In
+wandering along a rocky shore one instinctively searches for the curious
+formations carved out by the unceasing action of the waves; and in
+journeying through rugged sections of mountain country each unusual rock
+formation rivets the attention at once.</p>
+
+<p>Caves especially have a peculiar attraction of awe and curiosity
+combined. Such natural objects as Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Luray Cave
+in Virginia, Calaveras Cave in California, the Garden of the Gods in
+Colorado, the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and
+Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa are visited annually by many
+thousands of people. And no wonder that all mankind, from the savage to
+the most civilized, is charmed with natural arches spanning great
+chasms. No cyclop&aelig;dia of natural wonders fails to give at least a brief
+description of the Natural Bridge of Virginia which spans a small stream
+that flows into the James River. So great a wonder was the structure
+regarded to be even in colonial times that it then claimed marked
+attention. Thomas Jefferson became so much interested in this natural
+wonder that he applied to George III for a reservation of land that
+should include the bridge, and in 1774 his request was granted. To
+accommodate distinguished strangers who might visit the bridge,
+Jefferson built near by a log cabin of two rooms. Concerning it he said:
+"The bridge will draw the attention of the world."<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_191" id="pg_191">191</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-043" id="illus-043"></a>
+<img src="images/w191.jpg" alt="The Devil&#39;s Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Devil&#39;s Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w191-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_192" id="pg_192">192</a></span>Chief-Justice Marshall described it as "God's greatest miracle in
+stone." And Henry Clay said it was "the bridge not made with hands, that
+spans a river, carries a highway, and makes two mountains one." On the
+rocky abutments are found carved the names of many persons. Among them
+is that of Washington. In his youth, laboriously cutting places for his
+hands and feet, he climbed up the face of one of the steep abutments and
+cut his name above all others, where for seventy years it stood
+unsurpassed in height. In 1818 a daring college student climbed from the
+foot to the top of the rock, thus outranking all others.</p>
+
+<p>The Natural Bridge is composed of blue limestone; it is two hundred and
+fifteen feet high, ninety feet wide, and spans a chasm eighty-five feet
+across. A public highway lined with trees passes over the top. The
+bridge itself is all that remains of the roof of what once was a
+limestone cavern.</p>
+
+<p>The southeastern part of Utah is overlaid with strata of red and yellow
+sandstone hundreds of feet deep. Ages ago this whole region was elevated
+and thereby was distorted by the internal forces which pushed it upward.
+Subsequently wonderful transformations were wrought. The flowing streams
+gradually bored through portions of the soft, uplifted sandstone,
+forming arches and digging deep canyons, while the air and rain rounded
+off the rugged parts into graceful shapes.</p>
+
+<p>Wonderful as is the famous Natural Bridge of Virginia, the natural
+bridges of Utah are still more wonderful. In White Canyon of
+southeastern Utah are Edwin, Carolyn, and Augusta Bridges&mdash;magnificent
+structures of pink sandstone<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_193" id="pg_193">193</a></span> carved in lines of classic symmetry and
+possessing gigantic proportions. At least half a dozen natural bridges
+in Utah surpass that of Virginia, not only in beauty and grandeur, but
+also in dimensions. They were discovered by cattlemen in 1895, but they
+did not become known to the outside world until 1909, when the region
+was explored by the Utah Arch&aelig;ological Expedition.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-044" id="illus-044"></a>
+<img src="images/w193.jpg" alt="Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w193-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Of these bridges the Edwin easily ranks first in graceful symmetry; its
+span is one hundred and ninety-four feet, its elevation one hundred and
+eight feet, its width thirty-five feet. Combining grace and massiveness,
+the Augusta stands pre-eminent. It rises in majestic proportions to the
+height of two hundred and twenty-two feet and has a span between
+abutments of two hundred and sixteen feet. The width of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_194" id="pg_194">194</a></span> the road-bed is
+twenty-eight feet and the thickness of the arch at the keystone is
+forty-five feet. The height of the Carolyn Bridge is two hundred and
+five feet and the span one hundred and eighty-six feet.</p>
+
+<p>All these bridges span canyons whose depths correspond to the height of
+the arched structures. In White Canyon, a few miles below Edwin Bridge,
+under its overhanging rock walls, are the ruins of numerous
+cliff-dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>The largest natural bridge in the world yet discovered is the
+Nonnezoshi. It is in Nonnezoshiboko Canyon, Utah, not far from the place
+where the San Juan River enters the Colorado. This mammoth arch is more
+of a flying buttress spanning the canyon than a real bridge. Its height
+is three hundred and eight feet and its span two hundred and eighty-five
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>To visit these bridges from the nearest railway station requires stage
+and horseback riding for upward of one hundred and twenty-five miles.
+The latter part of the journey is made over a faint trail through a
+rugged country; but the scenery amply repays one for the hardships
+endured.</p>
+
+<p>The climatic changes during the ages have been such that this region is
+now almost inaccessible on account of the lack of water, except in the
+early spring when melting snows yield a temporary supply. Even the
+cattlemen pasturing their herds in that section keep them there but a
+few weeks during the year, so scarce is both water and vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>In the main, natural bridges are the result of one or another of several
+causes. A limestone cavern may be partly destroyed by streams of water,
+leaving a portion of the cavern with its roof still in place; the part
+of the roof thus remaining becomes the arch of the bridge. A branch of
+the Southern Railway threads a natural tunnel near Anniston, Ala., and
+the tunnel is the remnant of an old limestone cavern.</p>
+
+<p>In other cases a natural bridge is formed when bowlders,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_195" id="pg_195">195</a></span> or a mass of
+rock, tumbling into a deep crevice is wedged and held in place. In still
+other instances a layer of hard or slowly weathering rock may rest upon
+a layer of rock which weathers rapidly. In such cases, if the rock
+layers form the face of a cliff, natural bridges, caverns, and overhangs
+are apt to result.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashTABLE_MOUNTAIN_OF_CALIFORNIA_5726" id="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashTABLE_MOUNTAIN_OF_CALIFORNIA_5726"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+<h3>STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS&mdash;TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are many table mountains in different parts of the world, but the
+one which I am about to describe is interesting both from geological and
+financial stand-points. The so-called Table Mountain of California is a
+massive natural railway embankment or colossal Chinese wall, extending
+through several counties, but best studied in Tuolumne County.</p>
+
+<p>The mountain is forty miles long, from five hundred to eight hundred
+feet high, and a quarter of a mile wide at the top. For the most part
+the top is bare of vegetation and quite level, though slanting slightly
+toward the south. In places at the base of its precipitous sides, and
+sometimes extending part way up, pine and other trees are found growing.</p>
+
+<p>This gigantic wall, broken through in several places by flowing rivers,
+is nothing more nor less than a mighty stream of congealed basaltic lava
+called latite, which in prehistoric times, rushing down the western
+flank of the high Sierras, usurped the bed of an ancient river channel,
+drinking up the waters and piling up its molten mass bank high.</p>
+
+<p>The bed of the stream being filled with lava, its waters not flowing
+through the gravel, were forced to find other<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_196" id="pg_196">196</a></span> channels. The action of
+the elements during subsequent ages has worn away in great part the
+banks of the pliocene river and eroded in places the solid slate rocks
+to the depth of two thousand feet, leaving this sinuous wall as a mute
+witness of the mighty forces of nature.</p>
+
+<p>On account of the excessive hardness and durability of this kind of
+basalt, this monumental fortress will endure long after the corroding
+tooth of time shall have crumbled to dust the royal pyramids and their
+very memory shall have been lost in oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>Some geologists think there were two volcanic streams of lava, one
+succeeding the other by an interval of thousands of years, the first
+covering the auriferous gravel and the second quenching the waters of a
+subsequent river which had forced a passageway through the first flow of
+lava.</p>
+
+<p>Scores of tunnels have been run into the mountain to get at the gravel
+of this Pactolian river. Millions of dollars of gold have been extracted
+from its bed, and millions more await the tunnel, upraise, and drift of
+the adventurous miner.</p>
+
+<p>Beginning at the top of the mountain and working downward, we find the
+order of materials as follows: A cap of basalt from sixty to three
+hundred feet thick, a bed of breccia of varying thickness, two hundred
+feet of conglomerate andesitic sand (volcanic ash of the miners), a bed
+of pipe-clay, and then auriferous gravel resting on a bedrock of slate.
+In tapping the ancient river-bed considerable water is encountered
+flowing through the gravel. To get rid of this water has been a problem
+of expense and annoyance to the miner.</p>
+
+<p>To measure the time that has passed since this buried river rolled over
+golden sands staggers the intellect. It is estimated that from one
+hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand years must have
+elapsed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_197" id="pg_197">197</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This curiously formed mountain has been likened to a monolithian
+serpent. Where the Stanislaus River breaks abruptly through the mountain
+the eye gazes in wonder from the crest down two thousand feet to a
+seemingly tiny crowded stream below, rushing madly on its way to the
+sea.</p>
+
+<p>Many interesting remains of animals have been found in the gravels under
+this mountain. In running a tunnel under Table Mountain some years ago,
+the miners came across a large mass of tallow weighing about one hundred
+and fifty pounds, and in proximity were the bones and tusks of a huge
+animal. Many bones and tusks of the mammoth and mastodon, not to mention
+the remains of other animals, have been found in the ancient river-bed.
+Probably some of these elephantine animals were sporting in the water
+and dashing it over themselves when the stream of lava, sweeping down,
+overwhelmed them, trying out the tallow and preserving their skeletons
+for the wonderment of civilized man.</p>
+
+<p>At one place in the mountain the deep roar of a waterfall is heard. At
+another, where there is a deep break, is a series of passageways and
+caves where the outlaw Murietta had his hiding-place. In several places
+on the top of the mountain, by striking the foot down hard, a hollow,
+reverberating sound is heard. We give in his own words the account of an
+explorer's visit to the so-called Boston tunnel which runs beneath Table
+Mountain:</p>
+
+<p>"Hearing of a celebrated petrified tree in the Boston tunnel, which runs
+under Table Mountain, I determined if possible to see it and procure
+some specimens. After considerable inquiry I found a miner who said he
+knew where the tree was; that the tunnel in which it was located had
+been abandoned many years ago; that no persons had entered it for years;
+that rocks were constantly falling, making it exceedingly dangerous to
+enter, and that very likely it was so clogged up with rocks that no one
+could get to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_198" id="pg_198">198</a></span> tree. When I had expressed my great desire to see this
+tree, and coaxed him, at length he promised to take me to the tunnel to
+see its condition, but said he would not promise to guide me into it.</p>
+
+<p>"Having dressed ourselves in overalls and jumpers, with candles and
+geological hammers in hand we set out for our destination. On
+approaching the tunnel my guide at once began to throw stones into the
+bushes on either side of the entrance. When asked why he threw the
+stones, he replied that about the mouth of old tunnels rattlesnakes are
+wont to resort to get out of the burning sun.</p>
+
+<p>"Not finding any rattlers, we proceeded down the incline to the mouth of
+the tunnel. Finding the mouth not obstructed, and lighting our candles,
+we entered. Sometimes crawling on our hands and knees over fallen rock
+with scarcely a foot of extra room above our heads, then stooping low,
+then walking upright, again crawling between huge masses of rock and
+earth, and crowding between slanting monoliths, we made our way through
+the mud and water dripping on us from the roof above.</p>
+
+<p>"When part way in, the guide hesitated and declared that we were taking
+our lives in our hands if we went farther; that the five-ton rock lying
+in front of our path had very recently fallen from the roof, probably a
+week before, possibly a day or only an hour before. Pointing to the roof
+with his candle he said: 'Do you see that piece of rock partly detached
+and ready to fall at any moment?'</p>
+
+<p>"Acknowledging the threatening conditions, I urged: 'If not too
+dangerous, I do wish that we might go on until we find the tree.'</p>
+
+<p>"Said he: 'If you promise not to strike any of these rocks with your
+hammer, we will venture a little farther.'</p>
+
+<p>"You may be assured that I not only promised, but obeyed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_199" id="pg_199">199</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"At this juncture, I must confess, a peculiar sensation came over me
+when I thought of the possibility of being buried alive or crushed to
+death in this subterranean cavern, yet pride kept me from showing the
+white feather.</p>
+
+<p>"The guide, going ahead and examining the walls and roof, called back to
+me in a low voice, saying, 'We are now safer.'</p>
+
+<p>"Having traversed the main tunnel for a distance of upward of eight
+hundred feet, and carefully avoiding its branches, we finally came to
+the object of our search. This tree, four feet in diameter, of opalized
+wood, stands upright on the left side of the tunnel. The lava had burned
+off the bark and partly carbonized the outside part, and then the whole
+had subsequently taken the form of opal silica. There is a space of
+about four inches between the tree and the surrounding lava.</p>
+
+<p>"By raising the candles above our heads we could look up the body of the
+tree some thirty feet. When we had broken off some choice specimens from
+the body of the tree with the hammer we left this subterranean world. On
+emerging from the tunnel the guide said: 'Thank God, we again see the
+sunlight.'</p>
+
+<p>"To which I replied: 'Amen.'"</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashGIBRALTAR_5880" id="STRANGE_ROCK_FORMATIONSmdashGIBRALTAR_5880"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+<h3>STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS&mdash;GIBRALTAR</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>A huge projecting limestone rock, in form like a reclining lion, guards
+the entrance to the narrow water passage which separates Europe from
+Africa. This wonderful feature, the Rock of Gibraltar, extends directly
+southward from the mainland of Spain with which it is connected by a
+low,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_200" id="pg_200">200</a></span> sandy isthmus. It is about three miles in length and in breadth
+varies from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile. Two depressions
+divide it into three summits, the highest of which is about fourteen
+hundred feet.</p>
+
+<p>Let us visit the small city lying at its western base and then carefully
+examine this leviathan sentinel that seems to stand guard over the
+narrow strait. The special permission of the military commander to
+examine it or even to remain in the city must first be obtained; we are
+especially warned that cameras are forbidden and all negatives will be
+confiscated.</p>
+
+<p>The north face we find to have an almost perpendicular height of twelve
+hundred feet; its east and west sides also display tremendous
+precipices. The south face is much lower and slopes toward the sea.
+Fortifications of massive walls and the best of modern guns protect the
+lower parts and also the seaward side of the city.</p>
+
+<p>But what are those holes high up on the faces of the rock? They are
+portholes cut through the rock from interior chambers out of which
+cannon can be thrust and discharged at an invading enemy. We are curious
+to learn more about this interesting place, and on questioning our guide
+are told many remarkable stories.</p>
+
+<p>The Rock of Gibraltar is honeycombed with caves, passageways, and
+chambers, some of which are natural and others artificial. We enter the
+largest of these natural caves, St. Michael's, and as we stand in the
+main hall, a spacious chamber two hundred feet in length and seventy
+feet in height, we are amazed at its beauty and grandeur. Colossal
+columns of stalactites seem to support its ornamental roof and all
+around are fantastic figures&mdash;foliage of many forms, beautiful
+statuettes, pillars, pendants, and shapes of picturesque beauty
+rivalling those of Mammoth Cave. St. Michael's Cave is eleven hundred
+feet above sea level and is connected by winding passages with four
+other caves of a similar character.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_201" id="pg_201">201</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:390px'>
+<a name="illus-045" id="illus-045"></a>
+<img src="images/w201.jpg" alt="This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar" title="" width="390" /><br />
+<span class="caption">This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w201-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_202" id="pg_202">202</a></span>To six of the caves distinct names have been given. One of the caves is
+three hundred feet below sea level. About three miles of passageways,
+exclusive of many storage chambers, have been hewn so as to connect the
+different caves and natural passages, and so large have they been made
+that a wagon can be drawn through them. Within this rock are stored
+supplies of ammunition and sufficient provisions to last several years.
+In clambering about the rock we find cannon carefully concealed in
+scores of different places ready for use when needed.</p>
+
+<p>In places the rock is overlaid with thin soil which produces a variety
+of vegetation. There are grassy glens, with trees, and luxuriant gardens
+surrounding pretty English cottages. During the rainy season wild
+flowers in great profusion spring up in all directions, but in the
+summer the rock presents a dry, barren aspect.</p>
+
+<p>This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar and the city
+nestling at its base, Gibraltar. The city has a population of
+twenty-five thousand, of whom several thousand are soldiers forming the
+garrison. The garrison with their artillery, two pieces of which weigh
+one hundred tons each, reinforced with the strongest of fortifications,
+are thought to be capable of withstanding the combined hosts of
+Christendom.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the eighth century the Moors, perceiving the strategic
+importance of the promontory, took possession of it and erected
+fortifications. During the succeeding nine hundred years the fortress
+was besieged no less than twelve times, and on several occasions was
+captured by invaders.</p>
+
+<p>At length it became a possession of Spain, and so strongly was it
+fortified by the Spanish that it was thought to be impregnable. During
+the War of the Spanish Succession,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_203" id="pg_203">203</a></span> however, the combined forces of
+England and Holland laid siege to it, and after a stubborn resistance
+the garrison was forced to surrender. Forthwith the English took
+possession in the name of Queen Anne and, strengthening the
+fortifications, have held the fortress ever since.</p>
+
+<p>Spain was greatly mortified by the loss of this stronghold which she
+deemed rightly belonged to her. Several times during the ensuing
+seventy-five years, single-handed, she laid siege to the citadel in the
+endeavor to win it back, but each time she signally failed.</p>
+
+<p>A seemingly auspicious time arrived in 1779 when she secured the
+co-operation of France. For the succeeding four years a relentless siege
+was laid to the fortress by the combined land and naval forces of Spain
+and France. Both nations summoned to their aid their ablest generals and
+admirals, using every conceivable device and strategy to capture the
+fortress, but all in vain.</p>
+
+<p>During the first years of this siege the supreme command of both land
+and naval forces rested with the Spanish, but, having met with failure
+after failure, they were ready at length to give way to the French, who
+promised to capture the stronghold by constructing a powerful fleet of
+battering-ships, enabling them to fight at close range, so that gun to
+gun and man to man should decide the contest.</p>
+
+<p>The French engineer who prepared the armament cut down the huge bulwarks
+of the sides of ten of the Spanish battle-ships and proceeded to
+reconstruct them within and without. The reconstructed ships were much
+like the <i>Merrimac</i>, that did such destructive work in our Civil War,
+except that they were not armored with iron. Triple beams of heavy oak
+with layers of sand and cork between them were used for encasing these
+huge hulks. For protecting the crews heavy timbers covered with rope and
+hides were used.</p>
+
+<p>On September 12, 1782, fifty line-of-battle ships flying<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_204" id="pg_204">204</a></span> flags,
+together with a fleet of smaller vessels, lined up before the town. This
+formidable fleet was supported on land by an army of forty thousand men
+reinforced with batteries of the heaviest ordnance stretched along the
+shore. To oppose these the English commander, General Eliott, had
+ninety-six pieces of artillery and seven thousand men. So confident was
+the enemy of success that the triple-armored battering-ships moved
+boldly up to within half-gunshot range.</p>
+
+<p>At a signal the English opened fire, which was instantly answered by the
+floating batteries and the whole shore line; four hundred guns were then
+playing on the beleaguered town. Soon death and destruction were made
+evident on both sides. There seemed to be but one thing for the English
+to do to save themselves, and that was to set fire to the enemy's ships.
+Accordingly, furnaces were placed beside the batteries in which heavy
+cannon balls were made white-hot. The guns, shotted with these glowing
+balls, were then turned on the ships. The enemy attempted to guard
+against the hot shot by continually pumping water into the layer of sand
+between the wooden sheathing of the ships, and for a time succeeded in
+extinguishing the fires.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long though before the admiral's ship caught fire, and as
+night drew on, the flames, indicating the position of the Spanish line,
+furnished a mark for the English guns. At midnight ten of the besieging
+ships were on fire. Rockets were thrown up and distress signals hoisted
+to summon aid from their consorts.</p>
+
+<p>The flames mounted higher and higher, illuminating sky, sea, and rock.
+The shrieks of the wounded and dying filled the midnight air. When it
+was found that the ships could not be saved, all discipline was lost and
+a panic ensued. Hundreds perished miserably, while hundreds of others
+threw themselves into the sea. Seeing the terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_205" id="pg_205">205</a></span> destruction wrought
+by firing hot balls, General Eliott ordered his men to man the boats in
+order to save their foes from drowning and burning.</p>
+
+<p>With the greatest heroism they scoured the sea, and, mounting the
+burning vessels, dragged from the decks men deserted by their own
+people. While performing these humanitarian acts several of the English
+perished by explosions. Three hundred and fifty-seven of the enemy were
+saved from a horrible death. The following morning disclosed a sea
+covered with wrecks. A few days more of feeble bombardment ensued; then
+a treaty of peace was signed.</p>
+
+<p>From a strategic stand-point, the Rock of Gibraltar is easily Great
+Britain's most important stronghold, because it guards the trade route
+to her most important possession&mdash;British India. Practically all her
+commerce with her Indian colonies passes through the Mediterranean Sea
+and the Suez Canal. With either one in the possession of an enemy,
+British commerce would not only suffer heavy losses, but it might be
+destroyed altogether. So necessary is the command of the Strait of
+Gibraltar to Great Britain, that to lose the Rock might also mean the
+loss of British India.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time Great Britain is continually adding to the defences
+by building new fortifications and replacing the older guns with the
+latest patterns.</p>
+
+<p>In ancient times the name Calpe was applied to the rock of Gibraltar and
+Abyla to the eminence in Africa on the opposite side of the strait, and
+both of these eminences formed the renowned Pillars of Hercules. For
+centuries no ships navigating the Mediterranean dared sail beyond these
+pillars.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_206" id="pg_206">206</a></span>
+<a name="THE_BAKU_OIL_FIELDS_6061" id="THE_BAKU_OIL_FIELDS_6061"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+<h3>THE BAKU OIL FIELDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train
+for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the
+world&mdash;a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems
+almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this
+entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to
+the Balkan hills.</p>
+
+<p>Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California
+fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the
+surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities,
+passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through
+the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to
+be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating
+purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting
+the gas which rises in the tube.</p>
+
+<p>The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for
+bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on
+its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end
+to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.</p>
+
+<p>Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft
+in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by
+Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of
+the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the
+fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went
+there to pay homage to it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_207" id="pg_207">207</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree,
+shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of
+rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of
+interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to
+lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a
+slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the
+sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge
+iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has
+mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant
+to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.</p>
+
+<p>For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum,
+and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had
+recourse to these springs to obtain supplies of oil for medicinal and
+domestic purposes. Herodotus has given an interesting description of
+them. Even in the early part of the twelfth century petroleum was an
+important article of export from Baku. Crude petroleum was used to
+anoint camels for mange. In the first part of the eighteenth century
+Peter the Great annexed Baku to Russia. After his death it was ceded
+back to Persia; but in 1801 it was again annexed to Russia.</p>
+
+<p>To-day Baku is one of the important commercial cities of the Russian
+Empire. Its shipping is immense and to further its commerce there are
+magnificent docks. The city is built on the shores of a large bay,
+sheltered from adverse winds by an island that acts as a breakwater. The
+water-front has an anchorage for thousands of vessels. One may walk
+along the strand for eight miles and find ships lined up in front of the
+city the entire distance.</p>
+
+<p>The Caspian is filled with various kinds of fish, and while bathing one
+might reasonably have the impression that he was swimming in an
+aquarium. In fact, this place is an ideal<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_208" id="pg_208">208</a></span> one for an Izaak Walton. On
+the islands beyond the peninsula, projecting out from the Baku section,
+petroleum gas has flamed for centuries, lighting the heavens at night
+with a lurid glare that is visible far out at sea.</p>
+
+<p>In Baku Bay, between two peninsulas, there was a spot, now
+commercialized into a producing oil well, where the gas came to the
+surface with sufficient force to upset small boats. Many of the oil
+wells are spouters for a long time after they are first bored, and when
+they cease to spout they can frequently be made to renew their activity
+by deeper boring.</p>
+
+<p>Wells have been pumped for years without the level of the oil being
+lowered in the slightest. Some of the wells which have caught fire
+accidentally have burned for years, sending up their pillars of fire to
+a great height. In a few instances the richest wells have made the
+owners practically bankrupt by overwhelming the buildings on adjoining
+property with sand and petroleum, spreading ruin far and wide before the
+flow could be checked.</p>
+
+<p>A majority of the great oil wells are about ten miles from Baku, and a
+dozen pipe-lines convey the petroleum from them to Black Town, a suburb
+of Baku, where it is stored and refined. From one well alone the
+escaping oil would have brought more than five million dollars had it
+been saved.</p>
+
+<p>Seemingly the crust of the earth for hundreds of miles around acts like
+a huge gasometer pressing down on the pent-up gases with its weight.
+Since the Caspian Sea is eighty feet below sea level, it is probable
+that the land bordering the sea has sunk since the gases and oil were
+formed. And this would, in part at least, account for the enormous
+pressure.</p>
+
+<p>The spouting oil wells are called fountains. Some of them have yielded
+two million gallons each day for months,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_209" id="pg_209">209</a></span> sending up jets three or four
+hundred feet high with a roar that could be heard several miles away.
+Great difficulty was found at first in stopping the flow when necessary
+by capping or gagging the wells, but after a time a sliding valve-cap
+was invented, capable of checking the flow of the most violent well. In
+order to prevent the enormous pressure from bursting the pipe and
+tearing up the ground, as soon as the pipe has been sunk part way the
+earth is excavated around it and the excavation is filled with cement.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-046" id="illus-046"></a>
+<img src="images/w209.jpg" alt="Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w209-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>It is said that one of these gushers threw up in a day more oil than is
+produced by all the wells in the United States. One well spouted oil for
+months before it could be gagged, and in the meantime flooded the
+surrounding country. Millions of gallons were burned to get rid of it
+and millions more were diverted into the Caspian Sea. Two wells are<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_210" id="pg_210">210</a></span>
+reported to have thrown up in less than a month thirty million gallons
+each.</p>
+
+<p>At first sand is thrown out with the oil, and frequently it is ejected
+with such force that a plate of iron three inches thick struck by the
+stream is worn through in less than a day by this liquid sand blast.
+When the wells cease spouting and it is not deemed advisable to bore
+deeper, pumping is employed. Generally the oil coming from the wells is
+conducted into large, carefully tamped excavations in the ground forming
+ponds or lakes. In these huge reservoirs the sand and heavier parts soon
+sink, making the bottom impervious. After the settling the petroleum is
+either pumped into large iron tanks or sent directly to the refinery by
+pipe-lines.</p>
+
+<p>Since petroleum is vastly cheaper than coal, the steamers plying on the
+Caspian Sea and the locomotives of many of the Russian railroads use oil
+for fuel. At one time so great was the accumulation of petroleum that it
+sold at the wells for a few cents a ton. A fleet of tank-steamers
+conveys the oil products to the interior of Russia by the Caspian Sea
+and Volga River route.</p>
+
+<p>The crude petroleum of Baku yields a lower percentage of kerosene than
+the American wells, but it contains more lubricating oil. Millions of
+gallons of lubricating oil are shipped from Baku each year to all parts
+of Europe. On the opposite side of the Caspian there are great cliffs of
+mineral wax such as is obtained from petroleum and used extensively in
+the manufacture of paraffin candles.</p>
+
+<p>More than two hundred different products are made from petroleum, among
+the chief of which are kerosene, lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline,
+vaseline, and paraffin.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_211" id="pg_211">211</a></span>
+<a name="THE_SOUTH_AFRICAN_DIAMOND_FIELDS_6214" id="THE_SOUTH_AFRICAN_DIAMOND_FIELDS_6214"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+<h3>THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many of the great treasure fields of the world have been discovered by
+chance rather than careful search.</p>
+
+<p>The diamonds of the Deccan, India, were trodden under foot for ages
+before they were recognized as diamonds. In Brazil the gold placer
+miners threw away the glassy pebbles as worthless and the black slaves
+used them as counters in their card games. A visitor who was acquainted
+with the diamond fields of India happened one day to notice the shining
+stones which two men were using in a card game at a public-house. The
+brilliancy of the pebbles piqued his curiosity. Having secured some, he
+tested them and found them to be diamonds of the first water. Yet so
+great was the prejudice against the Brazilian diamonds at first that for
+years many were secretly shipped to India and thence sent to the diamond
+market as Indian diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>A trivial circumstance often leads to a marvellous change in the
+conditions of men, communities, and nations. The playful act of a Boer
+lad picking up a shining pebble on the banks of the Orange River served
+as a beacon to lure persons to search for the most precious and hardest
+of gems, the diamond, and thereby transformed South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>It was the beginning of an industry that has already added more than
+four hundred million dollars' worth of wealth to the world and which now
+yields annually twenty million dollars' worth of diamonds. The history
+of the South African diamond mines is a fascinating story from start to
+finish.</p>
+
+<p>A Boer farmer named Jacobs had made his home on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_212" id="pg_212">212</a></span> banks of the Orange
+River not far from Hopetown. Here, living in a squalid hovel, he eked
+out a precarious existence by hunting and grazing. His chief income was
+from the flocks of sheep and goats that grazed on the scanty herbage of
+the veld. Black servants were the shepherds, and the children, having no
+work to employ their time, were free to roam over karoo, and veld, and
+along the river.</p>
+
+<p>What children are not attracted by pebbly streams? Wading in the water
+and skating flat stones on its surface was a joyous pastime for them.
+The banks of the river were strewn with stones of various colors and
+sizes such as would naturally attract the eyes of children.</p>
+
+<p>There were rich red garnets, variegated jaspers, chalcedonies and agates
+of many hues mingled with rock-crystals. The children would fill their
+pockets with these colored pebbles and carry them home to use in play.</p>
+
+<p>One day the farmer's wife noticed an unusually brilliant pebble among
+the other stones that were being tossed about by the children. Soon
+after she told one of her neighbors that the children had found a
+curious glassy stone that sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. On his
+expressing a desire to see the stone, it was brought to him covered with
+dirt. He was attracted by its brilliance and, probably surmising that it
+was more valuable than common quartz crystal, offered to purchase it.
+The good-wife scorned the idea of taking money for a smooth stone, and
+told him laughingly that he was welcome to it.</p>
+
+<p>The stone was sent by post to Grahamtown to ascertain whether or not it
+was of value. To the astonishment of all concerned it was pronounced a
+genuine diamond and was sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. A search
+was forthwith made in the locality for other stones, but none was found.
+Ten months later a second diamond was found thirty miles away on the
+bank of the same river. Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_213" id="pg_213">213</a></span> quite a number of fine diamonds were found
+by prospectors along the Vaal River.</p>
+
+<p>In 1869 a black shepherd boy found a magnificent white diamond which was
+purchased for five hundred sheep, ten oxen, and a horse. The purchaser
+sold the gem for fifty-five thousand dollars, and it was subsequently
+resold for one hundred thousand dollars. This superb gem became famous
+as the star of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>Although a few skeptics said these stones might have been brought from
+the far interior in the crops of ostriches, yet this last great find
+served to attract public notice, and soon thousands of prospectors came
+to seek the coveted gems. Even the stolid Boer caught the excitement,
+and trekked long distances with wife and children to reach the
+captivating fields.</p>
+
+<p>It was a motley throng, like a mighty stream, which poured into the
+valley of the Vaal. Men came hurrying in all sorts of ways, afoot, on
+horseback, and in heavy, creaking ox-wagons. For miles and miles men
+were quickly at work sinking holes into the ground; camp-fires were
+flaming; teamsters were inspanning and outspanning their oxen, and
+wagons were creaking. These, with raucous voices shouting in a babel of
+languages, made a pandemonium exciting enough for the most adventurous.</p>
+
+<p>As far as the eye could reach along the banks of the Vaal were seen
+hives of busy, hopeful men who believed that untold riches were almost
+within their grasp. The hardest of work was but a pastime, for if they
+did not find diamonds to-day, would they not to-morrow? Did not their
+neighbors find them? The next shovelful of earth might contain a
+precious gem. They could hardly afford time to eat or sleep. Flashing
+eyes and elastic steps marked the success of some, while others
+repressed their feelings and kept their own counsel regarding the extent
+of their finds.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_214" id="pg_214">214</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So great did the crowd become that it was necessary to limit claims, and
+at an informal meeting of the prospectors, a digging committee was
+formed to make regulations controlling the working of the digging.
+Thirty feet square was thought to be a reasonable claim for one person.
+Some sought the river's banks to prospect, others the kopjes or hills.
+Some pinned their faith to light-colored ground, others to dark. Fancy
+rather than reason dictated the choice.</p>
+
+<p>The manner of working a claim was simple. The earth was thrown into a
+cradle having a bottom of perforated zinc or of wire mesh. The cradle
+was then rapidly rocked to and fro as water was poured in upon the
+earth. The finer part was washed through the mesh and the worthless
+stones were thrown out by hand. The residue was then removed to a
+suitable place and carefully examined.</p>
+
+<p>Each person most vigilantly scrutinized his hoard, fearing that in an
+unguarded moment a fortune might slip through his hands and be lost.
+Even the stranger passing along was hardly given a glance, so eager was
+each individual in searching for the precious pebble.</p>
+
+<p>There is an entrancing interest in diamond mining far exceeding that of
+gold, for at any moment one is likely to come across a princely fortune.
+The miner is ever hopeful. Communing with himself, he says: "To-morrow I
+may be made independent by a lucky find." And for a time it was merely
+luck, for so irregularly distributed were the diamonds that no knowledge
+was gained as to where they were most likely to be found.</p>
+
+<p>While miners were strenuously working along the rivers, far more
+wonderful diamond regions were soon to be unfolded; regions rich beyond
+the loftiest nights of the imagination and equal to the fabled valley of
+Sindbad the Sailor.</p>
+
+<p>A thrifty Dutch vrau owned a farm, on a volcanic plateau extending for
+miles into the rocky kopjes. Her overseer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_215" id="pg_215">215</a></span> learning that garnets are
+often found associated with diamonds, and noticing some garnets in one
+of the small streams that coursed through the valley, concluded to do a
+little prospecting on his own account. Sinking a hole a few feet in
+depth and sifting the sand and gravel through a common sieve, he came
+across a diamond weighing fifty carats&mdash;nearly half an ounce.</p>
+
+<p>This find caused a rush to the farm to secure claims, and the widow,
+with an eye to business, charged a monthly license of ten dollars. Soon
+this discovery was eclipsed by a more remarkable one at Dutoitspan<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> in
+1870. Although a fair supply of diamonds was found near the surface,
+these diggings seemed to give out as they reached hard limestone.</p>
+
+<p>When nearly all of the prospectors had left the field, having become
+discouraged, one more sanguine than the others determined to find out
+what was beneath this limestone covering. Sinking a shaft, he found that
+the limestone grew so soft and friable that it could be easily dug out
+with a pick. When he had penetrated the limestone covering he came in
+contact with a hard layer somewhat of the nature of clay. This he
+proceeded to break up and sift. During the sifting process he observed
+many sparkling gems. The problem had been partly solved at least.
+Diamonds were to be found in greater abundance below than above the
+limestone covering. On learning of the changed condition of affairs the
+deserting miners hastened back to the diggings in double-quick time.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1871 diamonds were found at Bultfontein<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and on the De Beers
+farm, two miles from Dutoitspan. Five<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_216" id="pg_216">216</a></span> months later another bed of
+diamonds was found on the same farm, lying on a sloping kopje, one mile
+from the first location. This kopje, named Colesberg Kopje, became
+afterward the famous Kimberley mine. The district was immediately
+divided into claims and taken by prospectors.</p>
+
+<p>The climate of this section is exceedingly trying. A blazing sun, clouds
+of suffocating dust, and a scanty supply of muddy water are the
+conditions of the region; it therefore required remarkable physical
+endurance and an indomitable will to achieve results. Sometimes terrific
+thunder-storms with torrents of rain would sweep through the valley. At
+other times great hail-storms would drive both man and beast to the
+nearest shelter. Wind-storms frequently drove blinding clouds of dust
+that penetrated everything.</p>
+
+<p>Very quickly a city of tents sprang up at Kimberley to be superseded
+later by substantial buildings of wood, of brick and iron, and
+well-constructed streets. Water was pumped from the Vaal River through a
+main sixteen miles in length. It was then raised in three lifts by
+powerful engines to a large reservoir five hundred feet above the river.</p>
+
+<p>The introduction of an abundant supply of good water wrought a wonderful
+transformation. Outside the business section the desert was made to
+blossom with flowers in gardens surrounding the hitherto bleak homes.
+Lawns were laid out and vines and trees planted about the houses, making
+the dusty, wind-swept expanse a thing of beauty and comfort.</p>
+
+<p>At length prospectors learned that the diamond-bearing earth was
+confined chiefly to several oval-shaped funnels, ranging in area from
+ten to twenty acres, and that outside these few diamonds were to be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>Now these huge funnels, or pipes, are nothing more or less than extinct
+volcanic craters. The walls, or casings, of these pipes are chiefly of
+shale and basalt filled with hard<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_217" id="pg_217">217</a></span> earth, yellow near the surface and
+bluish deeper down. The latter is called "blue-stuff" and is very
+prolific in diamonds. The diamonds found outside the rim wall must have
+been washed out of the craters or perhaps were thrown out by the
+eruption.</p>
+
+<p>At first it was customary to pulverize the blue-stuff at once, but
+experience showed that a more satisfactory way to work it was to expose
+it for several months to the action of the weather. By this process it
+readily crumbled.</p>
+
+<p>Various devices were used by the different miners to raise the earth out
+of their claims. Some used windlasses; others carried the earth up in
+buckets and tubs, some even by climbing ladders. Surrounding the funnels
+were carts, wheelbarrows, etc., for carrying away the material to the
+depositing grounds, where it was dried, pulverized, and sifted.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the miners found it desirable to employ the native Kafirs to
+work in the pits, since neither the scorching sun nor clouds of dust
+seemed to trouble them.</p>
+
+<p>The deeper the pits were sunk the greater the difficulty became in
+raising the blue-stuff. To add to the difficulties the rim wall of shale
+and basalt began to fall in, and the rain made the claims muddy and
+slippery or filled them with water. At a still greater depth water began
+to seep through the shale wall, and great masses of the rim occasionally
+fell in endangering life and almost precluding further mining unless
+concerted action were taken. So, in order to effect more economical
+methods of working, a consolidation of claims began to take place.</p>
+
+<p>At the Kimberley mine a double platform with staging was built around
+the pit, and a series of wires running from the different claims served
+as trackways on which buckets of the blue-stuff were drawn up by means
+of ropes and windlasses located on these platforms.</p>
+
+<p>When still greater depth had been reached and much of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_218" id="pg_218">218</a></span> the rim wall had
+been precipitated into the pit and rain and seepage water had made the
+pits mud holes, two remarkable persons who were interested in the mines
+took a leading part in solving the difficulties. These persons were
+Cecil John Rhodes and Barnett Isaacs, better known as "Barney Barnato."
+Rhodes owned stock in the De Beers and Barnato in the Kimberley mine. At
+first they were sharp rivals in gaining control, but later they got
+together and consolidated interests.</p>
+
+<p>Cecil Rhodes was an English college student. He had lost his health and
+had come to South Africa at the invitation of his brother, who was
+interested in the diamond mines. Roughly dressed, his clothes covered
+with dust, this shy, pale student, week in and week out, might be seen
+looking after the Kafirs who worked his brother's claim.</p>
+
+<p>Barney Barnato, a young Hebrew of keen foresight, likewise had a brother
+in South Africa. The latter, who was engaged in diamond buying, urged
+Barney to come at once to this famous region, setting forth the
+wonderful opportunities offered for business. Barnato forthwith packed
+his few belongings and took the next steamer for Cape Town. He was only
+twenty years old and was bubbling over with good-natured energy; but he
+was quick to perceive and quick to act.</p>
+
+<p>Although he had but a few dollars with which to start in business, yet
+by indomitable energy and shrewd management he soon acquired sufficient
+money to buy a few small claims in the famous Kimberley mine. To these
+claims he constantly added others until he became one of the leading
+stockholders in the mine.</p>
+
+<p>When the rival mines began to undersell each other and diamonds were
+being sold for but little more than the cost of production, Rhodes
+conceived the plan of consolidating all the mines, thereby forming a
+monopoly to keep up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_219" id="pg_219">219</a></span> prices. By masterly skill he brought this
+about, purchasing some shares outright, and giving shares in the new
+company as payment for others. To make the purchases he negotiated a
+loan of several million dollars through the Rothschilds, the famous
+bankers of London.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-047" id="illus-047"></a>
+<img src="images/w219.jpg" alt="Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w219-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus, after many years of struggle through difficulties that were
+seemingly superhuman, the four great mines, the De Beers, Kimberley,
+Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein, were merged into one great corporation.
+Afterward some others were added, but all bear the name De Beers
+Consolidated Mines, Limited, a corporation which to-day controls the
+diamond market of the world. During the eleven years ending 1899 they
+yielded nearly six tons of diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>Both Rhodes and Barnato acquired immense wealth by<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_220" id="pg_220">220</a></span> their investments,
+but it is doubtful if either gained much happiness from his
+acquisitions. Poor Barnato! He had gained riches and stood among the
+foremost financiers of the world, but at how fearful a cost! His
+overtaxed brain began to give way, and on his way back to England he
+suddenly leaped overboard and was drowned.</p>
+
+<p>Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in enlarging British influence and
+territory in South Africa, and to him England owes a deep debt of
+gratitude. He died in 1902 leaving a portion of his immense fortune for
+scholarships in Oxford, England's great university. Rhodes earnestly
+advocated the building of a railroad from Cape Town to Cairo. Already
+this line has been constructed northward from Cape Town several hundred
+miles beyond Victoria Falls, directly below which it crosses the Zambezi
+River.</p>
+
+<p>Diamonds of various colors are found in the African mines&mdash;brown,
+yellow, pale blue, clear, and black. The black diamonds, called bort,
+are used mainly for arming diamond drills and for polishing other
+diamonds. Green, pink, and mauve diamonds are found occasionally.</p>
+
+<p>The De Beers mines have produced some notable stones. From the Premier
+mine a diamond weighing more than three thousand carats&mdash;one and
+thirty-seven hundredths pounds avoirdupois&mdash;was obtained. This stone,
+more than twice the size of any heretofore found and estimated to be
+worth five million dollars, was insured for two million five hundred
+thousand dollars. It was named the Cullinan, from one Tom Cullinan, who
+purchased the farm on which the Premier mine is located.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Wells, the manager of the Premier, one evening, after a burning
+hot day, when work had been suspended, strolled over to the mine, and,
+while partly walking and partly sliding down into the pit, noticed a
+gleam from a stone half-embedded in the earth. In a moment he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_221" id="pg_221">221</a></span> the
+stone in his hand and his practised eye told him this was the greatest
+diamond the world ever saw.</p>
+
+<p>At first the possession of it seemed more like a dream than a reality,
+and he began to doubt his own sanity. When held up to the blazing
+Southern Cross, it sparkled like the purest crystal, and he knew that
+its value must be reckoned in hundreds of thousands of dollars.</p>
+
+<p>He immediately took the priceless treasure to the company's office where
+it was critically examined. It was then sent for safe-keeping to the
+Standard Bank at Johannesburg, and afterward was forwarded to London.
+For some time it was deposited in a London bank, the name of which was
+kept secret for fear that its great value might tempt criminals. Two
+years after its discovery it was purchased by the Transvaal Government,
+at the suggestion of General Botha, and presented to King Edward VII as
+a crown jewel.</p>
+
+<p>The De Beers Company employs upward of eleven thousand African
+natives&mdash;Kafirs, they are called&mdash;working above and below ground. They
+come not only from the surrounding districts but from regions hundreds
+of miles away. All native laborers are kept in large walled enclosures,
+or compounds, which are covered with wire netting to prevent the
+laborers from throwing diamonds over the walls to confederates outside.
+Twelve such enclosures are owned by the De Beers Company, the largest of
+which occupies four acres and contains ample space for housing three
+thousand natives.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the service of the company each applicant must sign a
+contract to live in the compound and work faithfully at least three
+months. At the expiration of his contract he may leave or make another
+contract, as he wills.</p>
+
+<p>Constant vigilance is maintained in order to prevent stealing diamonds,
+and yet, notwithstanding this watchfulness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_222" id="pg_222">222</a></span> it is estimated that
+hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds are stolen each
+year.</p>
+
+<p>Everything necessary for the sustenance and comfort of the men is
+brought into the compounds, and no one is permitted to leave until the
+expiration of his contract except by permission of the overseer, which
+is seldom given. The men go out of the compounds to their work through
+tunnels and return the same way.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the native Kafirs already mentioned, about two thousand white
+laborers are employed, the greater number being engaged in the offices
+and workshops and on the depositing floors.</p>
+
+<p>Electric lights are used throughout the mines, and underground work is
+carried on both day and night by three shifts. Every known scientific
+device is pressed into service. In all of the deep mines the laborers
+are taken up and down the shafts in cages.</p>
+
+<p>The method of mining and working the diamond-bearing earth at present
+employed is far more economical than in former years. After the blue
+material has been brought up it is carried to the depositing floors
+where it is allowed to remain several months. In the meanwhile it is
+harrowed several times to break the lumps. The part that resists this
+treatment is carried to a mill to be crushed. The disintegrated and
+pulverized material is then carried to the washing machines.</p>
+
+<p>The coarser fragments of the concentrates from the washing machines are
+picked out by hand; the finer are sent to the pulsators. Each
+shaking-table of the pulsators is made of corrugated iron plates in
+several sections with a drop of about an inch from one division to
+another.</p>
+
+<p>A sufficient quantity of thick grease is spread over the plates to cover
+them to the top of the corrugations. The concentrates are continuously
+spread over the upper portion<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_223" id="pg_223">223</a></span> of the table automatically while running
+water washes them down.</p>
+
+<p>Strange as it may seem, the diamonds stick fast to the grease; the other
+material is washed away. It has been found by trial that grease will
+cling to the precious stones but to nothing else. After a few hours the
+grease with the diamonds is scraped off the tables and steamed in
+perforated vessels to separate them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-048" id="illus-048"></a>
+<img src="images/w223.jpg" alt="Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w223-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the De Beers mines has been worked to a depth of about two
+thousand feet with no diminution in the quantity or quality of the
+diamonds. The "pipe" or plug of blue-stuff shows no signs of giving out.
+Nature, in her underground laboratory, works in a mysterious way,
+baffling the astutest students of science to find the process by which
+she is able to manufacture such beautiful gems as the diamond.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_224" id="pg_224">224</a></span> Many
+theories have been propounded to explain the genesis of the diamond, the
+most plausible one being that the crystallization of the carbon is due
+to a very high temperature and tremendous pressure acting on the carbon
+in a liquid form deep down beneath the earth's surface. The crystals,
+intermingled with much foreign matter, are afterward projected upward,
+filling these great volcanic pipes.</p>
+
+<p>In order to produce the most beautiful effect, diamonds are usually cut
+into one or another of three different forms, namely, rose, table, and
+brilliant, the shape and size of the stone determining which form is
+best. The double-cut brilliant is the most common form at the present
+day. The general form of rough, crystallized diamonds is that of two
+square pyramids joined at their bases. The crystals are oftenest found
+octahedral and dodecahedral&mdash;that is, eight and twelve sided, and the
+diamond-cutter takes advantage of these forms in shaping the diamond.</p>
+
+<p>The modern lapidary must have a perfect knowledge of optics and be a
+skilful stone-cutter. The numerous planes or faces which he cuts on the
+surface of the diamond are called facets. In the treatment three
+distinct processes are utilized&mdash;cleaving, cutting, and polishing. The
+lapidary must study the individual character of each stone and determine
+whether to cleave or grind off the superfluous matter so as to correct
+flaws and imperfections. All this calls for the judgment which comes
+only with long experience, for if the cutter errs he may ruin a
+priceless gem.</p>
+
+<p>The grinding and polishing are done by diamond dust mixed with oil
+spread on the upper surface of a grooved flat steel wheel revolving
+horizontally. The diamond, having been set in fusible solder, is firmly
+pressed against the surface of the wheel by a small projecting arm and
+clamp. When one facet has been finished, the diamond is removed from the
+solder and reset for grinding another facet. Thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_225" id="pg_225">225</a></span> the workman continues
+until the grinding and polishing are completed. Infinite patience and
+steadiness of nerve, as well as steadiness of hand, are required for
+such delicate and exact work. Sometimes two uncut stones are cemented
+into the ends of two sticks. Then the operator, using these sticks as
+handles, presses the stones against each other with a rubbing motion,
+the surface of the stones being coated over with diamond dust and oil to
+accelerate the process.</p>
+
+<p>The last cutting of the celebrated Kohinoor diamond cost forty thousand
+dollars. One may understand, therefore, that the expense of cutting a
+large diamond adds materially to its cost. The diamond-cutting industry
+is confined chiefly to Amsterdam, where the work employs several
+thousand persons, mostly Hebrews, the craft having been handed down from
+father to son through several generations. Much fine cutting is now done
+in New York also.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_226" id="pg_226">226</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width:20%; margin: 1em auto 1em 0" />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The term pan is a name applied to a basin or pool in which
+water collects during the rainy season.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Fontein is a word of Dutch origin meaning fountain or
+spring. In this hot and semi-arid country a pan or fontein was a
+necessity to the Boer farmer, whose chief dependence was on his sheep
+and cattle. Hence he was wont to settle near where water could be easily
+obtained.</p></div>
+
+<hr class='major' />
+
+<p class='noindent center' style='font-size:1.6em; margin-bottom:0.5em;'><i>PART II</i></p>
+<p class='noindent center' style='font-size:1.6em'>OCEANIA</p>
+
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_ISLANDS_OF_THE_PACIFIC_6680" id="THE_ISLANDS_OF_THE_PACIFIC_6680"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+<h3>THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Not until four hundred years ago did the body of water now named the
+Pacific Ocean become known to the people of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>A vague knowledge of a sea that washed the eastern shores of Cathay, or
+China, was gained from the reports of the famous Venetian traveller,
+Marco Polo. After spending several years in the Orient, Polo returned
+home in 1295, giving such marvellous accounts of the countries visited
+and things seen that his stories were but half believed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1531, Balboa, a Spanish explorer stationed at Darien, now Colon,
+hearing rumors that a great ocean lay to the opposite side, determined
+to test the truth of the report. Taking with him about three hundred
+men, he laboriously worked his way through the jungles of the isthmus;
+and on reaching the top of the divide beheld for the first time the
+Pacific Ocean. He then hastened forward, and as he reached the shore he
+waded into the water and took possession of it in the name of his
+sovereign. He named it the South Sea.</p>
+
+<p>But the vast extent of this sheet of water did not become well known
+until fifty years later, when brave Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated
+the globe. Two and one-half centuries more elapsed before the memorable
+voyages and discoveries of Captain Cook disclosed the fact that the new<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_227" id="pg_227">227</a></span>
+ocean world was studded with countless islands, and that most of them
+were densely inhabited by savages.</p>
+
+<p>Just how or when all these islands became inhabited is not definitely
+known. Since the Polynesian languages in general are similar, it is
+conjectured that the inhabitants of the islands have a common origin and
+that many of the more northerly groups were peopled by emigrants from
+the south.</p>
+
+<p>In a general way the name Oceania is applied to all of the islands in
+the Pacific, but in a more limited sense only to those lying between the
+American continent and Australasia.</p>
+
+<p>The chief divisions of Oceania are Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia,
+and Polynesia. Australia, the largest body of land, is usually regarded
+as a continent. Nearly all the smaller islands are of coral or of
+volcanic origin; in many instances both agencies have contributed to
+their formation. The coral and volcanic islands seem to be the tops of
+mountain ranges that, little by little, have sunk, until only their
+higher summits are now above sea level.</p>
+
+<p>The central part of the Pacific Ocean is pre-eminently the home of the
+reef-building coral. Countless islands and reefs, wholly or partly built
+up by these tiny creatures, are found widely scattered over an immense
+area limited to one thousand eight hundred miles on each side of the
+equator. All these formations are composed of the compact limestone
+remains of coral polyps.</p>
+
+<p>These polyps have the power of extracting carbonate of lime from the
+sea-water and building it into massive formations which, for the most
+part, are nearly or completely submerged.</p>
+
+<p>The reef-building coral differs very materially in form and appearance
+from the precious or red coral; the former is confined to comparatively
+shallow water, while the latter<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_228" id="pg_228">228</a></span> is found most commonly at a depth of
+six hundred feet or more, and it occurs chiefly in the Mediterranean
+Sea. The common or reef-building coral has but little use except as a
+source of lime, and no intrinsic value except as an object of curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Coral reefs may be arranged under three classes; namely, fringing reefs,
+barrier reefs, and atolls. The first class embraces the shallow-water
+reefs found close to land, either surrounding islands or skirting the
+shores of continents. The reefs of the second class likewise skirt
+islands or continents, but at such distances as to leave a deep channel
+between them and the shore. The third class are called atolls; each is
+irregularly ring-shaped and almost entirely encloses a sheet of water,
+called a lagoon.</p>
+
+<p>The ring-shaped reef, or atoll, is broken in one or more places,
+generally on the leeward side, and built up higher on the windward side.
+The reason for such omissions and buildings is obvious when we remember
+that the coral animal cannot move from its fixed position to seek food,
+but must depend upon the waves to bring it within reach. The water
+dashing up against the reef on the windward side brings an abundance of
+food, while the slight movement of the waves on the leeward side brings
+but little food.</p>
+
+<p>After many years the dead coral is broken off and piled up on the reef.
+In this condition it is cemented by the lime in the sea-water, thereby
+forming a nucleus for land. Then, perchance, a cocoanut drifts upon the
+formation and, finding sufficient nutriment, sends down a root and
+begins its growth. Other cocoanuts are drifted to the newly
+disintegrated coral soil until the tropical vegetation becomes capable
+of sustaining animal life. Or, perhaps, a portion of the ocean bed in
+that particular region is uplifted by the volcanic forces, thus greatly
+enlarging the land area. Attracted by the new land, people from near-by
+islands emigrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_229" id="pg_229">229</a></span> and take possession of the unoccupied area. Thus the
+upbuilding of islands and their occupancy goes on through the centuries.</p>
+
+<p>From the fact that these formations exist at a depth of several thousand
+feet, while coral polyps themselves can live only near the surface, it
+is thought that either the sea bottom must have been sinking for a long
+period of time or else that the cinder cones around which the reefs are
+built must have shrunk away until their tops are below sea level. At all
+events they seem to be due to volcanic movement.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:269px'>
+<a name="illus-049" id="illus-049"></a>
+<img src="images/w229.jpg" alt="A Malay girl" title="" width="269" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A Malay girl</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w229-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Differences in environment produce marked differences on people in
+various parts of the continental world. Likewise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_230" id="pg_230">230</a></span> differences in the
+geological structure of the islands of the Pacific have produced a
+marked influence on the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific. Those
+living on large and mountainous islands, where the productions are
+varied and abundant, are greatly superior mentally and physically to
+those inhabiting the small low-lying coral islands.</p>
+
+<p>In the small islands, where there are few objects of interest and the
+circle of life is necessarily circumscribed and food and building
+material scanty, the inhabitants are dwarfed in intellect and their
+languages limited in vocabulary. The inhabitants of the extensive
+Paumoto group of islands give a striking example of the dreary monotony
+of life on small coral islands. Indeed, coral atolls are lacking in
+pretty nearly all the features that are necessary for a high degree of
+civilization; nature, therefore, reacts, with the result that the human
+life of this region is in a condition of savagery. Many of the natives
+are cannibals.</p>
+
+<p>The natives of Australia are a race that seems to be separate and
+distinct in itself. Wherever they are found their speech and customs are
+so nearly alike that little or no doubt of their common origin exists.
+They are so small in stature that by some scholars they are classed with
+pygmy peoples. They are repulsive in appearance in their native state,
+but when the children are trained by English families they become
+attractive. They are regarded as a very low type of intellect; yet at
+the missionary schools the children seem to learn about as quickly as do
+European children. The children learn to figure readily, but the older
+natives have no names for numbers greater than three or four.</p>
+
+<p>In New Guinea and the adjacent islands is found a race of black peoples
+usually called Negritos, or Negroids. They are black and, like the
+African negroes, have black, kinky hair. They are far superior to the
+native Australians.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_231" id="pg_231">231</a></span> Many of the tribes are good farmers, and cultivate
+crops of sago, maize, and tobacco. On the coasts there are good
+boat-builders and sailors. The greater part of the Melanesian tribes is
+hostile and blood-thirsty; head-hunting is a common practice. In many
+tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo
+Indians of America.</p>
+
+<p>A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule
+the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization.
+They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the
+Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European
+possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no
+superiors.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style='width:239px'>
+<a name="illus-050" id="illus-050"></a>
+<img src="images/w231.jpg" alt="A Malay boy" title="" width="239" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A Malay boy</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w231-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the
+most interesting. In physical appearance they are tall, well-formed,
+dark of complexion, and black-haired. In the northern island
+groups&mdash;Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and others&mdash;which are colonized by
+European and American peoples, the natives have gradually acquired
+western civilization. The number of natives has decreased,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_232" id="pg_232">232</a></span> however, and
+only about one-third of the population of fifty years ago remains
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The animal and vegetable life is peculiar. That of Australia resembles
+the life forms of a geological age long since past; that of the islands
+near tropical Asia is Asian in character. Now there are many large
+islands at a considerable distance from the continent in which many of
+the life forms on the slopes facing Australia are Australian, while on
+the northerly and westerly slopes they are Asian. One cannot be certain,
+however, that these islands were ever a part of the Australian
+continent, or that they were ever joined to Asia. On the contrary it is
+more probable that the life in question was carried by winds and
+currents of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The life forms of the coral atolls are very few in number. So far as
+vegetation is concerned, the cocoa-palm and breadfruit are about the
+only kinds of plant life of importance. A few species of fish and
+migratory birds are the only animals that may be used as food.</p>
+
+<p>The names given to the various divisions of Oceania are more or less
+fanciful. Australasia means Southern Asia; Malaysia, Malayan Asia;
+Melanesia, the islands of the blacks; Micronesia, small islands; and
+Polynesia, many islands.</p>
+
+<p>During the latter half of the nineteenth century practically all of
+Oceania has been divided among European powers. Australia, Tasmania, and
+New Zealand are peopled by colonists from England; but they possess the
+character of a great nation rather than that of colonies. A few of the
+larger islands have become producers of sugar, cotton, and fruit. The
+long distance from the markets for their products is offset by the low
+cost of native labor. The coral islands are almost valueless for
+commercial products; but a few of them are used as coaling stations,
+telegraphic cable stations, or as positions of naval advantage.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_233" id="pg_233">233</a></span>
+<a name="AUSTRALIA_6882" id="AUSTRALIA_6882"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+<h3>AUSTRALIA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Early in the sixteenth century the island of Australia became known to
+the Portuguese; later the Dutch, who had valuable possessions in the
+East Indies, sent exploring expeditions to spy out the new land, and
+named it New Holland. But not until after Captain Cook, of the English
+navy, had explored the eastern part did any one think the country to be
+more than a barren waste sparsely inhabited by savages. Indeed, various
+European nations who were even then seeking lands for colonization
+thought it too worthless to claim.</p>
+
+<p>In April, 1770, Captain Cook made his first landing on the east coast
+and, finding at one place a profusion of beautiful flowers, named the
+indentation Botany Bay. He spent a considerable time in exploring the
+eastern coast and also the Great Barrier Reef. In going through one of
+the passages across the Barrier Reef his vessel ran aground, and in
+order to lighten it he was obliged to throw overboard six of his
+heaviest cannon. In late years efforts have been made to secure these
+cannon as souvenirs, but the search for them has proved unavailing. One
+may easily imagine that they have been long since entombed in thick
+growths of coral.</p>
+
+<p>On his return home, Cook gave such a glowing account of the great island
+that the English Government forthwith sent out a body of soldiers to
+take possession of the country and to make settlements. Because it is
+well watered, the southeastern part was selected as best adapted for
+colonization. For a long time this part of Australia was utilized
+chiefly as a penal colony, but the fruitful land and salubrious<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_234" id="pg_234">234</a></span> climate
+quickly attracted free emigrants from England. Then gold was discovered,
+and thousands of people rushed to the new Eldorado, not only from Great
+Britain but from all parts of the world. Almost in a twinkling it
+changed from "our remotest colony" to a great country producing annually
+millions of wealth.</p>
+
+<p>So far as its surface features are concerned, one may regard Australia
+as a continent not quite so large as the United States. The eastern part
+is diversified by low ranges of mountains fantastically scored and
+carved by rivers which are swift and impassable torrents during the
+season of rains, and trickling streams, or dry washes, the rest of the
+year. This is the region that has produced a wealth of gold and wool and
+a stock of hardy people that for intelligence and strength of character
+can scarcely be matched elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>The central part of the continent is a dish-shaped table-land. Its
+surface is sandy here, stony there, but intensely hot and desolate
+everywhere&mdash;desolate of everything that adds to the comfort of man, but
+full of about everything that contributes to his misery. The "bush"
+which covers so much of this region is chiefly acacia, and the acacia is
+chiefly thorns. The rivers that flow into the interior from the coast
+highlands seem at first sight to be formidable streams so far as
+appearance goes. One, the Murray, is more than a thousand miles in
+length. But even the Murray will match the description which an English
+traveller gave to Platte River&mdash;"A mile wide, an inch deep, and bottom
+on top!"</p>
+
+<p>The few lakes of the interior are great "sinks," or marshes, much like
+Humboldt Sink, in Nevada. They are shallow, reed-grown, and briny, and
+they are bordered by mud flats and quicksands between which there is
+little to choose. An unfortunate victim will sink in the one quite as
+quickly as in the other. But even the lakes are gradually going the way
+of all lakes. In this case, however, their disappearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_235" id="pg_235">235</a></span> is due largely
+to the dust storms that little by little are burying them.</p>
+
+<p>Only a very small part of the central region can be reclaimed; for where
+there is so little rain there can be but little either of surface or of
+ground waters. During the intensely hot summer season the smaller
+streams disappear entirely and the larger ones become a succession of
+stagnant pools along the dry washes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:298px'>
+<a name="illus-051" id="illus-051"></a>
+<img src="images/w235.jpg" alt="A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference" title="" width="298" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w235-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_236" id="pg_236">236</a></span> extent of
+coast, is far richer in resources than the central section. It contains
+not only a greater proportion of land fit for grazing and cultivation,
+but also very rich mines. Perhaps these have not a greater wealth of
+minerals than the mines of the central section, but they are so situated
+that they can be more easily worked.</p>
+
+<p>The great island of Tasmania ought also to be included in the Australian
+continent; for it is separated from it by a narrow and not very deep
+strait. In its general features Tasmania resembles eastern Australia;
+and, indeed, it is one of the most productive and delightful parts of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>Of the whole Australian continent scarcely one part in fourteen is fit
+for human habitation, not because the soil is lacking in elements of
+fertility but because there is not enough rainfall. As a matter of fact,
+the rain-bearing winds bring rain only to the eastern and southeastern
+part of the continent. Any map will show that nearly all the cities,
+towns, herding-grounds, and settlements are in that part of the
+continent, and they are there because the rainfall is there.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of Australia is like the Sahara in one respect; it is a desert.
+Beyond that fact the resemblance between the two ceases; indeed, they
+could scarcely be more unlike; for, while the Sahara is much like any
+other desert, Australia is unlike any other part of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Not very much is known about the interior because but few explorers have
+been able to penetrate the continent. Many have tried to explore its
+fastnesses, it is true, and many bones are bleaching in its furnace-like
+desert. Even a century after the eastern part had become dotted with
+settlements the interior was so little known that the government of
+South Australia offered a reward of ten thousand pounds to any one who
+would start from Adelaide and cross the island due north. Now, ten
+thousand pounds, or fifty<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_237" id="pg_237">237</a></span> thousand dollars, is a large sum of money,
+and there were many efforts to obtain it.</p>
+
+<p>In 1860 an explorer named Stuart, whose name is remembered in a high
+peak which he discovered, traversed more than half the distance. It was
+a record trip, but illness forced Stuart to turn back. Another
+expedition, headed by four plucky men, Burke, Wills, Grery, and King,
+were more lucky on their outward trip. They reached tide-water near the
+head of the Gulf of Carpenteria, thereby accomplishing the task. The
+return trip was tragic. When they had reached the relief depot at which
+they had planned to have supplies awaiting them, they found nothing.
+They wandered about until all but King died from exposure and
+starvation. A year or two later Stuart made a third attempt and found
+what is now an "overland route," for a telegraph line has been built
+along it from Adelaide to the north coast, and this connects with an
+ocean cable to London.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style='width:255px'>
+<a name="illus-052" id="illus-052"></a>
+<img src="images/w237.jpg" alt="A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket" title="" width="255" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w237-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of its<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_238" id="pg_238">238</a></span> most remarkable
+features. Both plants and animals are of the kind that lived many ages
+ago. One of the curiosities of forest life is the "gum," or eucalyptus,
+a belt of which almost surrounds the continent. In its native home the
+blue gum is a most beautiful tree that sometimes grows to a height of
+three hundred feet. When the tree begins its growth the stem is nearly
+square in shape and the leaves are almost circular. After a short time,
+however, the branches and trunk become circular and the leaves long and
+lance-shaped. They hang with their edges instead of their flat surfaces
+to the light, which also is true of many other Australian trees. The
+eucalyptus sheds&mdash;not its leaves every year, but its bark instead.</p>
+
+<p>Many plants which in other continents are small shrubs in Australia are
+trees. The tulip, the fern, the honeysuckle, and the lily are examples.
+They all grow in tree form and are of considerable size. There is no
+turf grass except that which is cultivated. The wild grasses are of the
+"bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that
+they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine grass, bears a name that
+does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a
+growth of thorny "scrub" that has made cultivation both difficult and
+costly. The interior is the "bush" region.</p>
+
+<p>The animal life of the continent is even more singular than the plant
+life. Most of the animals resemble the opossum of North American fauna
+in one respect, the mother carries her young in a pouch or fold of the
+skin under her body. But the opossum itself is not confined to North
+America alone; there are several species in Australia and Tasmania. The
+kangaroos are among the most remarkable animals, not only because of the
+great length and strength of their hind legs, but also because of the
+variety in the sizes of the different species. Some of the smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_239" id="pg_239">239</a></span>
+species are no larger than a small rat; the large-sized species are six
+feet tall when sitting on their haunches.</p>
+
+<p>There are no monkeys and no animals that chew the cud, but there is a
+wonderful variety of birds. Among them is the emeu, a kind of ostrich
+that practically is wingless. Another, the platypus, or duck-bill, has
+the bill and webbed feet of a duck and the body and tail of a beaver.
+Stranger still, the female duck-bill lays eggs, but nurses her young
+after the eggs are hatched! The duck-bill carries a hinged spur on the
+hind legs, which also is a sting that injects a violent poison into
+whatever it strikes. Ordinarily the spur is folded against the leg of
+the animal, but when used as a weapon it stands out like the gaff of a
+fighting cock. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the
+honey-bee of Australia has none.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style='width:239px'>
+<a name="illus-053" id="illus-053"></a>
+<img src="images/w239.jpg" alt="An Australian emeu" title="" width="239" /><br />
+<span class="caption">An Australian emeu</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w239-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The dingo, or wild dog, may not be an especially interesting animal to
+the student of natural history, but it is a very interesting one to the
+herdsman. For of all animals in Australia the dingo is the most
+intolerable nuisance on account of its fondness for mutton. Hunting the
+coyote on<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_240" id="pg_240">240</a></span> the plains of the United States is a pastime, but hunting the
+Australian dingo is a serious and monotonous business. Indeed, the sheep
+and the dingo cannot both remain in Australia unless the former has been
+eaten by the latter. In a single night a dingo will kill a score of
+sheep, and a pack of them will make way with several hundred. In one
+instance two of these pests killed and maimed more than four hundred
+sheep before retribution overtook them.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the troubles of native origin, three very serious pests
+have been imported. One of these, the species of cactus known as the
+prickly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just
+how the prickly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter
+of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant
+produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred
+seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast.
+Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds,
+especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders
+fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great
+interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it
+is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat
+where other plants wither up and perish.</p>
+
+<p>In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz.,
+burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first
+method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs
+together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces
+they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up
+high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the
+platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits,
+filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt.
+Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves
+with arsenic<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_241" id="pg_241">241</a></span> or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants
+have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which
+distributes the deadly substance.</p>
+
+<p>Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to
+have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs.
+When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and
+mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short
+time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but
+ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.</p>
+
+<p>Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had
+spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their
+serious inroads on herbage and grass where the sheep fed. At this stage
+of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers.
+Laws were passed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits.
+Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly
+increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the
+mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.</p>
+
+<p>But the rabbits seemed to have increased a thousand-fold. In despair,
+rabbit commissioners were appointed in each colony to enforce the
+building of high rabbit-proof wire fences, and now thousands of miles of
+wire fences have been built so as to enclose ranges and farms. By means
+of the fences and by the use of various methods of destroying the pests,
+they are now kept in check after causing millions of dollars of damage,
+and at an enormous annual expense to the colonists. In the meantime it
+was discovered that the flesh of the rabbit was excellent food, and the
+slaughter of millions to be preserved has been a noticeable check to
+their increase.</p>
+
+<p>Unlike the American Indians, the aboriginal peoples of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_242" id="pg_242">242</a></span> Australia were
+never troublesome to the European settlers, and although apt to be
+thievish they were not inclined to warlike acts when the European
+settlements were new. The "bushrangers," as they are called, somewhat
+resemble the negro peoples, and are thought to be a part of the black
+race that is found in the island near New Guinea. They are classed as
+Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the
+African pygmies, with whom at least one authority classes them. They are
+materially larger and taller than the pygmies, however, though below the
+average stature of Europeans. At all events they are among the lowest
+type of human beings.</p>
+
+<p>The bushrangers have no fixed habitation; they do not build houses nor
+live in villages; they have no domestic animals except the dingo, and
+they do not cultivate the soil. They live nominally by hunting and
+fishing, but their food consists of about anything that requires no
+weapons beyond the fish-net and the boomerang. They rarely molest larger
+game, though some of the tribes employ a net in which to entrap the
+kangaroo.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the weapons used by savage tribes the boomerang is the most
+interesting. In shape it is a flat strip of hardwood having an angle, or
+else slightly curved in the middle. The interesting feature about it is
+the fact that when skilfully thrown it will return to the thrower unless
+intercepted. A bushranger may be skilful enough to throw the boomerang
+ahead of him so that in its return it will kill a small animal back of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The bushrangers were only too ready to adopt the vices of Europeans, but
+they have not been able to withstand the changes wrought by
+civilization. Their numbers have steadily diminished. In 1880 they were
+thought to be about eighty thousand in number, but at the close of the
+century there were scarcely one-fourth as many. Those who remain are for
+the greater part herdsmen and farm laborers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_243" id="pg_243">243</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:586px'>
+<a name="illus-054" id="illus-054"></a>
+<img src="images/w243.jpg" alt="Homestead and station in Young district, Australia" title="" width="586" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Homestead and station in Young district, Australia</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w243-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_244" id="pg_244">244</a></span>One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the
+habitable part of the continent is the foremost asset of Australia.
+Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates
+activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpassed elsewhere in the
+world. And because of its life-growing and invigorating character it has
+placed the Australian high in the rank of the world's foremost people.</p>
+
+<p>Climate and soil, too, have made Australia one of the foremost
+wool-producing countries of the world. Not far from one hundred million
+dollars' worth of wool and mutton are exported yearly, and much of the
+wool clip is a fine grade of merino. Gold is another product of
+Australia. At the close of the century the mines had produced a total of
+more than one billion dollars' worth of the metal. In round figures, the
+great Thirst Land, with a population of about four millions, scattered
+along the edge of a great desert continent, produces enough wealth to
+sell yearly about three hundred millions of dollars' worth of its
+products!</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing picture of Australia presents, perhaps, the unpleasant
+side of Australian life. But this great Thirst Land, so far from being
+an inhospitable desert, is one of the world's greatest storehouses of
+wealth.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_GREAT_BARRIER_REEF_7194" id="THE_GREAT_BARRIER_REEF_7194"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+<h3>THE GREAT BARRIER REEF</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Within the tropical parts of the great South Sea are submarine gardens
+that in the beauty of their floral forms and their richness of coloring
+rival the most elaborate flowerbeds made by man; in color and variety
+they are fairy<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_245" id="pg_245">245</a></span> regions of exquisite living animal flowers. One of the
+greatest and most attractive of these sea gardens lies off the coast of
+Australia.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the wonderful animal structures in the world the Great Barrier
+Reef of Australia is the most remarkable. It consists of a chain of
+coral islands and reefs parallel to the east coast of Queensland. This
+great reef is about twelve hundred miles long, and the distance from the
+mainland to its outer border is from ten to more than one hundred miles.
+It is far enough off the coast to leave a wide channel between the reef
+and the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Since it is well charted this channel is the route taken by many
+vessels. It is admirably furnished with lighthouses and light-ships, and
+is protected from the huge rolling billows of the ocean by the reef
+itself. There are several breaks in the reef through which vessels can
+pass out into the open ocean.</p>
+
+<p>This mighty barrier, the work of coral polyps, is of special interest
+not only on account of the curious shapes and varied kinds of sea life
+it presents, but because of the commercial value of its products. The
+b&ecirc;che-de-mer, pearl, oyster, and sponge fisheries yield an annual
+revenue of upward of half a million dollars, and when all of the
+resources of the reef are properly exploited the returns will be more
+than doubled.</p>
+
+<p>The habitat of the reef-building coral is in clear tropical waters. The
+polyps thrive best near the surface; they cannot live at a depth
+exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet. The reef-building coral must
+not be confounded with the precious, or red, coral, which flourishes in
+a muddy sea-bottom and is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea.</p>
+
+<p>When alive and in the water, coral polyps present a variety of beautiful
+forms and colors. Living polyps are composed of limestone skeletons
+covering and permeating a soft gelatinous substance which corresponds to
+the flesh of animals.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_246" id="pg_246">246</a></span> When the polyps are removed from the water this
+soon decomposes and disappears; in certain species a part of it flows
+off as a thick liquid.</p>
+
+<p>Fish fantastically striped and of brilliantly variegated colors are seen
+swimming among the coral. In tropical waters many of them have
+fascinating colors and patterns. By simulating the colors of the coral
+polyps they escape the species that prey upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The different kinds of coral are generally designated by common names
+according to the different objects which they resemble. Thus, by
+similarity of form we have <i>brain</i> coral, <i>organ-pipe</i> coral, <i>mushroom</i>
+coral, <i>staghorn</i> coral, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the islands and reefs are the homes of sea fowl and at the
+nesting season are literally covered with their eggs. These fishers of
+the sea have marvellously well-developed faculties for location, since
+each bird goes directly to her nest when returning to the islands. As
+night approaches, when all the birds seek the land, their wild cries are
+deafening.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the islands are turned to profitable account by the export of
+guano. On Raine Island, so extensive are the deposits of guano that a
+railroad has been built to facilitate handling the product.</p>
+
+<p>B&ecirc;che-de-mer, or trepang, is a name applied to the flesh of certain sea
+slugs or sea worms found in the Indian seas. Of this substance great
+quantities are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge
+cucumbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cucumbers." They
+are found clinging to the rocks below low-water mark, and are from one
+to four feet in length. Their food consists of microscopic shell-fish
+which live upon the coral rocks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_247" id="pg_247">247</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:387px'>
+<a name="illus-055" id="illus-055"></a>
+<img src="images/w247.jpg" alt="The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal structure in the world" title="" width="387" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal structure in the world</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w247-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_248" id="pg_248">248</a></span>The trepang exported from this section requires considerable care in
+preparation. After being gathered from the rocks they are cleaned,
+boiled, and partly dried in the air; then they are smoked with mangrove
+wood until dry and hard. The best class of trepang is packed in tin
+cases to keep it perfectly dry, as moisture ruins it. The product is
+marketed chiefly at Hongkong, where it is used in making the gelatinous
+soups for which the Chinese are so famous.</p>
+
+<p>The pearl-shell fisheries yield products of considerable value. The
+average depth from which the mother-of-pearl shell is gathered is seven
+or eight fathoms. Twenty fathoms represents the greatest depth in which
+divers, even in their diving suits, can work, so great is the pressure
+of the water upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The fishery is carried on chiefly for securing the shells, the finding
+of pearls being of secondary importance, since only about one shell in a
+thousand contains a pearl of much value. The shells themselves bring in
+the market from three hundred to eight hundred dollars per ton according
+to quality and size, and are used chiefly for making buttons and small
+ornaments.</p>
+
+<p>The Cairn Cross Islands, a little coral group midway between Cape
+Grenville and Cape York, are especially interesting as the home and
+nesting-place of the Torres Strait pigeons. These large white pigeons
+are highly esteemed for the table. They gather at the islands during the
+month of October and remain until the end of March. The nests are
+usually built in the forked branches of the mangrove trees that form
+extensive thickets along the coast. Each nest contains two white eggs.</p>
+
+<p>The Australian jungle-fowl or scrub-hen also frequents these islands as
+well as the mainland. The nests of these birds are large and unique.
+They consist of huge mounds of dead leaves, grass, sticks, and soft
+earth piled together by the adult birds in shaded and sequestered
+places. The mounds are about twenty feet in diameter and from ten to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_249" id="pg_249">249</a></span>
+fifteen feet high. Several pairs of birds generally unite in their
+construction.</p>
+
+<p>When the mounds are completed the birds burrow holes in the centre and
+deposit their eggs, which are left to be hatched by the moist heat
+engendered by the decaying vegetation. Forty or fifty brick-red colored
+eggs as large as those of a turkey are sometimes found in a single nest.
+Both the eggs and the parent birds are excellent eating.</p>
+
+<p>The Australian bee-eater, a bird of attractive plumage, is found all
+over the northern islets of the Barrier Reef. It has a long, sharp
+curved bill and two long, narrow feathers in its tail. Its beautiful
+green plumage, varied with rich brown and black, and vivid blue on the
+throat, makes it an attractive bird.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-anemones of the Great Barrier Reef are remarkable for both
+beauty of color and structure; some of them measure four or five inches
+across the expanded disk. In Torres Strait are seen brilliant
+sea-anemones around the border of whose disks are jewel-like clusters.
+These beautiful sea animals present the appearance of delicately tinted
+flowers adorned with the most exquisite gems.</p>
+
+<p>Starfish and sea-urchins of all descriptions are found in immense
+numbers. The five-rayed varieties of starfish are universally condemned
+as insatiable foes of the oyster family, and the oyster cultivators
+destroy all they can find. To dismember the body of the starfish by
+pulling off the finger-like rays does not kill the animal, for not only
+does each fish produce new rays but each ray will produce a new
+starfish. The predatory starfish fastens itself to both valves of the
+oyster, forces them open, and consumes the fleshy part. It is
+destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles,
+snails, worms, and small crustacea as well.</p>
+
+<p>The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the
+bivalves the most remarkable for the size and<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_250" id="pg_250">250</a></span> weight of the shells are
+the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that
+their shells have been burned to make lime. A pair of tridachna valves
+often weighs several hundred pounds.</p>
+
+<p>To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special
+attraction.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_GOLD_FIELDS_OF_AUSTRALIA_7354" id="THE_GOLD_FIELDS_OF_AUSTRALIA_7354"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+<h3>THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind
+visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very
+similar. January 24, 1848, was the red-letter day in California's
+history, and the news that transpired that day electrified the world.
+While constructing a saw-mill at Coloma Creek, a branch of the American
+River, John Marshall picked up a handful of gold nuggets in the
+mill-race. At once the gold fever seized all far and near. During the
+ensuing year fifty thousand persons came by sea and by land from the
+States east of the Rocky Mountains, and forty thousand more from other
+parts of the world; all bent upon digging for gold in the new El Dorado.</p>
+
+<p>From far-off Australia came vessels crowded with passengers. Among these
+was Edward H. Hargraves, who had lived for twenty years in New South
+Wales, where fortune had not smiled on him. Hargraves was a keen
+observer and something of a geologist as well. He diligently scoured the
+gullies and canyons in the gold regions of California, and when he quit
+he possessed a good sum of money as a return for his labor. During his
+stay in California he became convinced that gold existed in Australia,
+since many of the formations and strata were similar to those of the
+gold-bearing fields of California.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_251" id="pg_251">251</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After working for nearly two years, he planned to return to his old
+home, implicitly believing that he could win riches and fame by
+discoveries of the precious metal in New South Wales; and as soon as he
+had landed at Sydney he made ready to test his theories. When he
+explained to his friends what he purposed to do and his reasons they
+considered him half crazy. Moreover, rumors that convict shepherds had
+sold gold nuggets to traders in Sydney strengthened his belief that gold
+in paying quantities could be obtained by seeking for it. There were
+rumors also that a gold nugget had been picked up on Fish River.</p>
+
+<p>Procuring a team he set forth on his journey for the Blue Mountains
+lying back of Sydney. On the fourth day out, stopping at an inn kept by
+a widow, he confided to her his mission and enlisted her co-operation.
+He requested a black boy for a guide; but instead she sent her son, who
+was well acquainted with every inch of the region for miles around.</p>
+
+<p>Taking horses, Hargraves and the young man started out from the inn. It
+was a crisp autumn morning succeeding a dry summer. A careful search was
+made up and down canyons and gulches. At length, during the latter part
+of the day, they reached the bank of a dry creek which disclosed strata
+similar to the auriferous gravels of California.</p>
+
+<p>Looking about, Hargraves found a spot in the bed of the creek from
+which, after scooping off the top, he scraped from the bedrock a panful
+of earth. Hastening to the water hole with the loaded pan, he proceeded
+to wash away the soil and lo, in the bottom of the pan were
+bright-yellow particles!</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be made a baronet and both of us will be rich," exclaimed the
+excited Hargraves. He seemed to be walking upon air and could scarcely
+believe his own senses. Nevertheless, he prudently kept his own counsel
+until he had taken out sixty thousand dollars. Then he hastened<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_252" id="pg_252">252</a></span> to
+Sydney to lay the matter before the government. The government gave him
+a reward of fifty thousand dollars for his discoveries and made him
+commissioner of the gold fields.</p>
+
+<p>Hargraves's unexpected find stimulated other persons to search elsewhere
+for the attractive metal, and soon other and far richer fields were
+found. From one locality alone seven tons of gold were obtained in a
+single month.</p>
+
+<p>The whole country now went gold mad. Doctors left their patients,
+lawyers their offices, bakers and butchers their shops, clerks the
+stores, and sailors deserted their ships as soon as they touched the
+wharves&mdash;everybody hastened to the diggings eager to get rich.</p>
+
+<p>When confirmation of the wonderful gold deposits in Australia reached
+the outside world, a grand rush, like that to California, took place.
+New towns and cities sprang up as by magic, and from the increase of
+business the older places rapidly became more populous. Since the time
+of Hargraves's discovery, Victoria has produced the most gold, some of
+the largest nuggets in the world having been found in this colony.</p>
+
+<p>The following story of the gold fields is related in Lang's "Australia":
+While the ship <i>Dudbrook</i> was docked at Sydney, where she was receiving
+her cargo, a sailor boy named Bob heard of the great quantities of gold
+that had been dug out of the mountains. He longed to try his luck at
+mining, but hardly knew how he could get away from the ship without
+being caught.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, while the ship was receiving her cargo, all the old
+crew except Bob had deserted. He hesitated about leaving and seemed to
+find no good opportunity to escape unnoticed. The day of departure
+arrived. The sails were being shaken out by the new crew, which had been
+pressed into service. The little tug that was to tow the big<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_253" id="pg_253">253</a></span> ship out
+of the harbor was beginning to straighten the cable and churn the water
+into foam, but the hawser still held the vessel fast to the wharf. The
+captain shouted "Bob, Bob, get ashore and cast off the hawser."</p>
+
+<p>Bob now saw the long-waited-for opportunity and with alacrity sprang to
+the wharf, but not to release the hawser. He ran along, hidden by the
+jetty, until he reached the shore and then dodged into a house where he
+had friends. The skipper could not stop to hunt up the runaway, so the
+vessel was towed out through the Heads and sailed for Newcastle to pick
+up a cargo for India.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Bob started on foot for the mines and, while on his way,
+picked up one of his old shipmates with whom he formed a partnership. On
+arriving at the diggings, the two staked out a claim and began sinking a
+shaft; but after reaching the bottom no metal greeted their longing
+eyes. Another shaft was sunk and this time they struck it rich.</p>
+
+<p>Within two months each had saved up one hundred twenty pounds of gold.
+Like some of his companions, Bob now concluded to take a short rest and
+go to Sydney for a few days of pleasure. Therefore he changed his gold
+into pound notes, and, stuffing the big rolls into his trousers'
+pockets, started for the city.</p>
+
+<p>Being of an economical turn of mind, he concluded to walk, and taking an
+early start, by the middle of the afternoon he had measured off
+twenty-five miles. The day was hot and the roads dusty; and seeing a
+shady nook, near a creek not far from the roadside, he betook himself
+thither and sat down to wait for a bullock wagon which he had passed two
+hours before. The water in the stream looked cool and inviting, so he
+undressed to take a swim.</p>
+
+<p>In taking off his clothes he pulled out of his pockets the two bundles
+of pound notes and laid them beside his boots. After being in the water
+for some time, he came out; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_254" id="pg_254">254</a></span> looking where he had laid the notes,
+could see them nowhere. Who could have taken them? He saw no one around
+when he undressed, and he had seen no one about while he was bathing.
+Possibly the thief was hiding behind some of the trees near by. Without
+waiting to dress, he searched here and there behind trees and logs, but
+there was no sign of the thief.</p>
+
+<p>He was greatly disheartened at his loss, but, putting on his clothes, he
+came across a ten-pound note which he had concealed in a side pocket.
+This find cheered him up and he resolved to go down to the city
+notwithstanding his loss. The bullock team soon came along and Bob told
+the driver what had happened. They both searched the ground over to
+solve the disappearance of the money, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>When Bob reached Sydney, like other sailors, he visited several barrooms
+where he told the story of his strange loss. In one of the places, in a
+corner, sat an old Scotch crone, smoking her pipe and quietly listening
+to the conversation. At midnight when Bob was about to leave, the old
+woman said, "What will ye gie me if I find yer money for ye?"</p>
+
+<p>"What will I give ye, mother?" cried Bob. "Why, I'll give ye a silk
+dress and a ten-pound note."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bargain!" she cried; and then she told him what to do.</p>
+
+<p>He was to be ready at four the next morning with a horse and trap which
+he could obtain from the landlord. If he would take along an axe, a roll
+of string, and a newspaper, she would find his money for him, she said.</p>
+
+<p>Though much in doubt about the power of such articles to find his money,
+Bob did as old Maggie had directed, and sharply at four in the morning
+the two started back to his bathing place. It took but a short time to
+drive back ten miles to the creek and the hollow log on which Bob sat
+when he pulled off his boots.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_255" id="pg_255">255</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Now, show me the place where ye put the money down," said Maggie.</p>
+
+<p>After carefully looking around she seemed to be satisfied with the
+conditions.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, gie me the paper and the twine," she said. Taking a portion of the
+paper and tying it with a long piece of twine she laid it down just
+where the notes had been placed. Then Maggie said, "Let us seek a shady
+place a short distance away and I'll play ye at cribbage." Bob took
+little stock in these seemingly foolish arrangements; nevertheless he
+determined to be game to the end.</p>
+
+<p>She led the way to a cool place on the creek bank a hundred yards
+distant where they sat down. She then drew out of her pocket a dirty
+pack of cards and a bar of soap punched with holes to be used as a
+cribbage board.</p>
+
+<p>Two games were leisurely played, both of which Maggie won. "Now," said
+she, "Come wi' me." She hobbled back to where the paper tied with a
+string had been left. No paper was in sight, but hanging out of the
+hollow log where Bob had removed his boots was the end of the string.
+Maggie chuckled, and pointing to the log, cried, "Now rip it up wi' the
+axe."</p>
+
+<p>Bob set to work with a will and soon had a big hole chopped out of the
+hollow log, and behold! there were the bank-notes and the newspaper,
+forming a cozy nest for some little speckled native cats calling for
+their breakfast, while farther in were seen two bright balls of fire,
+the mother cat's eyes. The mother cat had run off with Bob's money to
+make a nest for her young ones.</p>
+
+<p>Maggie accepted the ten-pound note but refused the silk dress, telling
+the lad that she had no use for such finery.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the English settled in Australia they introduced merino
+sheep, and during the last quarter of a century the breed has been
+constantly improved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_256" id="pg_256">256</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is estimated that now there are not less than seventy-five million
+sheep in Australia. The two great drawbacks to this thriving industry
+are drought and disease. Some years, owing to the scanty rainfall,
+millions of sheep have starved for lack of food.</p>
+
+<p>Two seasons prevail, the dry and the rainy, the climatic conditions
+being similar to those of California.</p>
+
+<p>The eastern section of this continental island is the only part that is
+adapted both to grazing and to agriculture. New South Wales outranks all
+the other Australian colonies in sheep raising, and Queensland in cattle
+raising.</p>
+
+<p>Almost the entire eastern shore section is well adapted to the
+production of lemons, oranges, and figs, while in the southeastern part
+all kinds of temperate-zone fruits flourish. The production of wheat
+also deserves important attention.</p>
+
+<p>The development of cold-storage transportation has given a great impetus
+to the exportation of frozen mutton and beef to England.</p>
+
+<p>Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, situated on Port Philip Bay, near
+the mouth of the Yarra River, is the largest city of Australia and
+contains nearly half a million people. It is built chiefly upon two
+hills and the intervening valley. The streets are broad and cross each
+other at right angles. Many of the squares are devoted to public parks
+and gardens. There are splendid public and private buildings, including
+an excellent library and an art gallery, both of which are free to all.
+Although less than sixty years old, this young city will compare
+favorably in regard to its buildings and general management with the
+largest cities in both Europe and America.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest city in Australia, Sydney, is the capital of New South Wales
+and has a population of four hundred thousand. It is situated on Port
+Jackson and is said to have the finest harbor in the world. This is a
+completely landlocked sheet of deep water which can be entered only
+through a narrow passage, thus affording protection to the shipping,
+even during the most violent storms, and so large that it could
+accommodate all of the fleets that sail the ocean and have room to
+spare.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_257" id="pg_257">257</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:578px'>
+<a name="illus-056" id="illus-056"></a>
+<img src="images/w257.jpg" alt="Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains nearly half a million people" title="" width="578" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains nearly half a million people</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w257-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_258" id="pg_258">258</a></span>Of Australia's thirteen thousand miles of railways all but five hundred
+miles belong to the colonial government, and are administered in the
+interests of the people. So low are the freight and passenger rates that
+often a tax has to be levied to meet the deficits. More than half of the
+public debt is due to government ownership of the railroads.</p>
+
+<p>Among other prominent places may be mentioned Brisbane, the capital of
+Queensland; Adelaide, the capital of South Australia; and Perth, the
+capital of Western Australia.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="TASMANIA_7610" id="TASMANIA_7610"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+<h3>TASMANIA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>In 1642 a Dutch navigator named Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered the
+island which now bears his name. Tasman did not know that he had
+discovered an island, but thought that he had discovered a part of the
+mainland of Australia; so he named it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of his
+patron, Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East Indies.</p>
+
+<p>Tasmania was once one vast plateau, but in time nature worked away on
+its broad surface; mountains and valleys were chiselled in its face,
+making it a picturesque and diversified island. It is well watered;
+streams abound in every part, and many large lakes are found in the
+interior. The Derwent in the south is the largest river, and vessels may
+go almost to the head of its estuary.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_259" id="pg_259">259</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On account of its beautiful mountain scenery, Tasmania is called the
+Switzerland of Australia. Deep winding valleys, clothed with groves of
+ferns, give added charm to its scenery. In recent years it has become a
+famous summer resort for Australians, many of whom pass a portion of the
+hot season in its wonderful forest solitudes and secluded fern-tree
+vales.</p>
+
+<p>No attempt to colonize Tasmania was made until 1803. In that year four
+hundred convicts were brought there and the vessel containing the
+prisoners sailed up Derwent River and landed them where the city of
+Hobart now stands.</p>
+
+<p>When the convicts landed, they found a very dark-skinned race of natives
+in possession of the land. The natives were low of stature, with ugly
+broad faces, flat noses, and frizzly hair. Their habits were repulsive,
+but they were inoffensive. They lived chiefly on shell-fish and what
+they could obtain from the sea. Occasionally they hunted the kangaroo,
+and unfortunately a kangaroo hunt led to their undoing.</p>
+
+<p>One morning a newly-arrived commander of the convict colony saw a large
+number of natives making toward the camp. He did not know their customs
+and mistook a chase after a kangaroo for an attack on the camp. So he
+ordered the soldiers to fire on the crowd, and, as a result, fifty or
+more were killed.</p>
+
+<p>This was bad enough, but worse was to come; for escaped convicts began
+to rob and murder the natives whenever they could do so. So in time
+there began a bush warfare that almost exterminated the poor natives.
+Finally, the remnant, about two hundred, were put on a transport and
+carried to Flinder Island, where they gradually decreased in number. The
+last native died in 1874.</p>
+
+<p>In 1853, the English government ceased to send convicts to the island,
+and within a few years afterward the blackest<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_260" id="pg_260">260</a></span> plague spot in the world
+became one of the most beautiful colonies on the face of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Tasmania is far enough south of the tropics to have a much greater
+rainfall than most of Australia, but it is not far enough to have a cold
+climate. The generous rainfall covers the whole surface with green.
+There are forests of eucalyptus, or "gum tree," tree ferns, beech, and
+acacia&mdash;just about the same kinds that one finds in Australia.</p>
+
+<p>The animals, too, are much the same as in Australia, and some species of
+them are pouched, like the opossum. Many of them are now rarely to be
+found near the settlements, but one kind is pretty certain to be found
+at all times and seasons&mdash;the Tasmanian devil. This ugly beast is a
+terror to any neighborhood. An English hunter described it by saying
+that it was more bear than wildcat, and more wildcat than bear&mdash;and
+bear-cat it is frequently called. The tiger-wolf is another pest that
+makes great havoc among herds and flocks. Still another pest, also
+called "devil," has bands of black and white on its neck and shoulders,
+a thick heavy tail, and a bulldog mouth. It is a cowardly little night
+prowler with a fondness for young lambs.</p>
+
+<p>As was the case in Australia, the success of sheep-growing and the
+finding of rich gold-mines put an end to the convict colony. Even before
+the mines became profitable the ranchmen were trying to stop the sending
+of convicts to the island; but when the gold fields were found, it was
+stopped in short order.</p>
+
+<p>Very shortly gold-mining became the leading industry. Then tin ore was
+found at Mount Bischoff. Tasmania now produces more tin than all the
+rest of Australasia. In addition to the tin and precious metals, there
+are great beds of excellent coal&mdash;enough for all the smelteries and
+manufactories in the island.</p>
+
+<p>Next to the mines the sheep and cattle ranches bring the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_261" id="pg_261">261</a></span> chief profits
+to Tasmania. But another industry is growing and bids fair to become
+more profitable than either mining or cattle-growing. The fruit of
+Tasmania is of the very finest quality. Moreover, when the fruit is
+ripening in an Australasian spring and summer, all England is shivering
+in midwinter storms. What better business could there be than to ship
+apples and pears fresh from the Tasmanian orchards? Those same apples
+can be shipped half-way round the world and sold in England for a lower
+price than the apples shipped from Buffalo to New York City!</p>
+
+<p>Then there are the peaches, cherries, and strawberries. They find a
+ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time
+Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of
+Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the
+city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are
+low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as
+good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools
+themselves are equal to the best anywhere. Kindergarten, grammar school,
+high school, and university are within the reach of all who desire.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that an enterprising man can go to Tasmania, make his fortune
+in fifteen years, and return to England rich, to spend the rest of his
+days. But why should any one desire to leave such a beautiful island to
+spend the rest of his life in London smoke and fog?</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_262" id="pg_262">262</a></span>
+<a name="NEW_ZEALAND_7726" id="NEW_ZEALAND_7726"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+<h3>NEW ZEALAND</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>By digging at London right through the centre of the earth one would
+emerge about a day's ride, in an automobile car, from the capital of New
+Zealand&mdash;if only the automobile could ride on the water. That is to say,
+England and New Zealand are almost exactly opposite each other on the
+earth. That is the short way, however, and the trip would be eight
+thousand miles. As a matter of fact, the trip by the only available
+route is not far from sixteen thousand miles; for, go either east or
+west as one may choose, the route from London to New Zealand is a very
+roundabout way, and New Zealand is Great Britain's most remote colony.</p>
+
+<p>When Tasman was cruising about the Pacific, or South Sea, he skirted the
+coast of the islands. That was in 1642. About one hundred and forty
+years afterward Captain Cook called at the islands and annexed them as
+an English possession, but the English government refused to take them.
+Early in the nineteenth century missionaries brought the Bible to the
+native Maoris, and at the same time lawless traders carried liquor and
+firearms to those same natives. What was still worse, they kept on
+supplying them with liquor and firearms until there were but a few
+thousand natives left.</p>
+
+<p>The Maoris are the most remarkable native peoples of the Pacific. They
+were not the original people of New Zealand, however, for they drove
+away the black race&mdash;probably like that of New Guinea&mdash;which they found
+there. Like the Hawaiians and Fijians, the Maoris came from Samoa about
+five centuries ago. Their traditions about<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_263" id="pg_263">263</a></span> their journey are clear and
+exact; even the names of the canoes, or barges, in which they made the
+journey are preserved in Maori history. First they went to Rarotonga, an
+island of the Cook group; then they went to New Zealand.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:323px'>
+<a name="illus-057" id="illus-057"></a>
+<img src="images/w263.jpg" alt="Maori pa, or village" title="" width="323" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Maori pa, or village</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w263-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Long before white men had settled in New Zealand, the Maoris had made
+great advances toward civilization. They had become wonderful carvers in
+wood; they were also expert builders, weavers, and dyers. No better
+seamen could be found in the Pacific. War was their chief employment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_264" id="pg_264">264</a></span>
+however, and tribal wars were always going on in some parts or other of
+the islands. One may compare them in progress to the tribes of New York
+just before the Iroquois confederacy was formed.</p>
+
+<p>Two large and a small island make up the greater part of New Zealand.
+North Island is a little smaller than New York State; South Island is a
+little larger; Stewart Island is half the size of Rhode Island.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from these, the Chatham, Auckland, and part of the Cook group&mdash;in
+fact, pretty nearly every outlying group that can be used for cattle and
+sheep growing&mdash;are included in the New Zealand colony. This industry is
+the reason for the existence of New Zealand; it is the great
+meat-producing market of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>The two largest islands of New Zealand form a great plateau. Mountain
+ranges border the edges, and fertile, well-watered lowlands are between
+the ranges. The ranges and valleys, together with hundreds of lakes, are
+beautiful to the eye; they could not be better for a great grazing
+industry. Cook Strait, which separates the two islands, is about sixteen
+miles wide at its narrowest crossing.</p>
+
+<p>North Island has several active volcanoes, and likewise one of the three
+famous geyser regions in the world. There used to be the Pink-and-White
+Terraces also&mdash;terraces of brilliant coloring, like those of Yellowstone
+Park. But a few years ago Volcano Tarawera had a bad fit of eruption,
+and when the eruption was over, Pink-and-White Terraces were covered
+many feet deep with lava and ash.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the higher ranges are snow-clad the year round. The New
+Zealanders do not need to go half-way round the world to spend the
+summer in Switzerland; they have a fine Switzerland at home. Indeed, the
+Alps of Europe are not surpassed by those of New Zealand; and as for
+glaciers, the great Tasman Glacier cannot be surpassed&mdash;twenty miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_265" id="pg_265">265</a></span>
+long, a mile wide, and no one knows how deep. In South Island some of
+the glaciers reach almost to the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:335px'>
+<a name="illus-058" id="illus-058"></a>
+<img src="images/w265.jpg" alt="The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand" title="" width="335" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w265-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>There is some wonderful vegetation in New Zealand and nowhere else will
+one find a greater variety of ferns. Some of them grow in the form of
+trees; some are huge vines; and still others are as fine and delicate as
+the maidenhair fern. Some kinds have fine wiry tendrils that are much
+used for mattresses and cushions. Another plant looks so much like<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_266" id="pg_266">266</a></span> a
+palm that no one ignorant of plants would suspect that it was not a
+palm-tree; but as a matter of fact it is a lily.</p>
+
+<p>So many of the forest trees are evergreens, and so abundant is the grass
+that at all times of the year the islands are green from the mountain
+summits to the sea. Of all the forest trees the kauri pine has been one
+of the most valuable&mdash;has been, because not many trees are left. The
+wood itself is about as easily worked as white pine or California
+redwood. What is still better, it is very tough and durable.</p>
+
+<p>But the wood itself is only a part of the wealth of the kauri forests.
+The bark is full of gum which, when hard, is much like amber. It makes a
+very hard and glossy varnish that commands a high price because of its
+good qualities. In places where old kauri forests have existed, digging
+kauri gum is a profitable employment. Kauri-gum mining does not require
+much capital. A sharp iron rod and a pick are about the only tools
+required.</p>
+
+<p>The gatherer goes about thrusting his rod into the earth at intervals of
+a few inches. When he "feels" a piece of gum with his rod he needs only
+to use his pick to capture it. For many years about a million dollars'
+worth of kauri gum was thus obtained each year. The lumps vary in size
+from that of a hen's egg to masses weighing several pounds.</p>
+
+<p>There are also some strange animals in New Zealand. One curious creature
+is a bird without wings&mdash;the kiwi. The species is one of many similar
+kinds that lived in Australia and New Zealand ages ago. Their remains
+are found in abundance, but the kiwi is the last species now living. It
+has a long, sharp bill and hair-like feathers. A full-grown bird is
+about the size of a bantam fowl. One of the more beautiful birds is a
+dull green parrot, the kea. But the kea is also a wretched pest, for it
+has learned how to kill sheep since the sheep-herders came to New
+Zealand. The kea darts out of the air, fastens its talons in the side of
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_267" id="pg_267">267</a></span> sheep, and quickly makes a gaping hole into the animal's vitals.
+Thousands of sheep are thus killed every year.</p>
+
+<p>There are about one million people in New Zealand, and most of them live
+on the east side of South Island. That is where the grassy lands are;
+and that is why the cattle and sheep are there also. And the people are
+there because of the sheep and cattle. New Zealand is one of the
+greatest grazing regions in the world, and most of the various
+industries in the islands have something or other to do with the
+grazing.</p>
+
+<p>In Australia the sheep are grown almost wholly for wool. That is because
+climate and grasses are just right for the growth of wool. In New
+Zealand the climate and grasses are not very good for wool, but they are
+just right for meat, both mutton and beef. So the commerce of beef and
+mutton is the chief business of New Zealand.</p>
+
+<p>The meat must go a long way before it reaches the people who consume it;
+they live in Great Britain and western Europe. In any case, too, it must
+have a long summer trip; for one cannot go from New Zealand to Europe
+without crossing the Torrid Zone. Even if the meat were sent from New
+Zealand in midwinter it not only has a long trip in the Torrid Zone, but
+it gets to Europe in midsummer.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is very plain that meat cannot be carried for a month or six
+weeks on a steamship without preparation. The preparation is very
+simple; the meat, after dressing, is frozen and it is kept frozen until
+it reaches the people who eat it. There are refrigerating-rooms at the
+slaughter-houses, refrigerator cars to the nearest port, and
+refrigerator ships to London.</p>
+
+<p>Wool is also one of the important products of New Zealand, but it has a
+much coarser and harsher fibre than the fine merino wool of Australia.
+As a rule, sheep that are grown for their wool feed on grass; those that
+are for mutton<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_268" id="pg_268">268</a></span> get their final feeding on turnips; and all England has
+said that turnip-fed mutton is good.</p>
+
+<p>Christchurch, a city of about seventy thousand people, is one of the
+great centres of the wool and mutton industry. The city is there because
+the great Canterbury Plain is one of the finest grazing regions in the
+world. Christchurch is not very old&mdash;it was made a city in 1862&mdash;but it
+has grown pretty vigorously. Its handsome buildings&mdash;churches, college,
+museum, and school-houses&mdash;are as fine as those of any city of the same
+size anywhere. The streets are wide and beautifully kept, and electric
+railways extend to half a dozen suburbs.</p>
+
+<p>Out in the suburbs are the large meat-freezing establishments. In the
+season for export about fifteen thousand sheep are dressed and frozen
+daily in the great plants in and around Christchurch.</p>
+
+<p>The freezing-rooms are kept at a temperature of a cold winter night. In
+a single plant there may be as many as ten or fifteen thousand carcasses
+hanging from great frames, and the walls of the rooms are covered with a
+thick coat of ice and frost. In three days from the time the meat is put
+into the freezing-room it will be ready for its long journey.</p>
+
+<p>Wellington is the capital of New Zealand; it is likewise the windy port
+of the Pacific, for it is in the eye of the "roaring forties," the
+strong west wind of the South Temperate Zone. But Wellington has the
+harbor, and the harbor has the shipping; and because of this Wellington
+is a very rich and prosperous municipality.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the New Zealanders have not much cause to envy the people
+of other lands. Every man and every self-supporting woman can become the
+owner of a homestead; and about one person in every ten has become a
+landholder. The government lets them have the land on very easy terms of
+payment. Women have the same political rights as are<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_269" id="pg_269">269</a></span> possessed by men.
+They can vote, hold public office, and hold property in their own names.</p>
+
+<p>The government has established postal savings banks at which any one may
+deposit money; what is equally good, the money is loaned at a small rate
+of interest to farmers while they are waiting for their crops. What is
+still better, the bank never fails, leaving the depositors to whistle
+for their money.</p>
+
+<p>The government owns and operates most of the railways, telegraph lines,
+and telephone system. There is good service at a low cost. The
+government manages and supports all public schools. Attendance is
+compulsory and practically everything is free from the kindergarten to
+the university. There are old-age pensions for deserving poor people of
+good character; there are likewise prisons for those of criminal
+character&mdash;and the two are pretty apt to get together. "Bad" trusts and
+monopolies have not got the upper hand anywhere in New Zealand and the
+government sees to it that they do not. Great Britain appoints a
+governor of the colony, but the people elect a legislative council and a
+house of representatives.</p>
+
+<p>New Zealand has also something more than productive lands; the colony
+has plenty of coal fields, gold-mines, silver-mines, iron ore, and
+copper ore. Even if all the rest of the world were closed against this
+far-away colony, the New Zealanders could worry along quite well, for
+they easily rank among the most prosperous and well-governed people in
+the world.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_270" id="pg_270">270</a></span>
+<a name="SAMOA_AND_FIJI_7945" id="SAMOA_AND_FIJI_7945"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+<h3>SAMOA AND FIJI</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Samoa, or Navigator's, Islands, discovered by a Dutch navigator in
+1722, attracted but little attention until the introduction of
+Christianity in 1830. Only a few of the group are inhabited; the others
+are chiefly barren rocks.</p>
+
+<p>The islands are of volcanic origin, and earthquakes are frequent, but
+not severe. Fringing coral reefs form barriers that in a great measure
+protect the islands from heavy seas. The group lie on the steamship
+route between Australia and the Pacific coast of North America; hence
+they are important to the United States. The larger islands are
+mountainous and well forested. Some of the mountains attain the height
+of five thousand feet.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the '80's there were three rival chiefs, each of whom wanted to
+be king. As a result, they were at war most of the time, and the
+property of Americans and Europeans suffered greatly. So, in 1889, Great
+Britain, Germany, and the United States formed a joint protectorate over
+them. Ten years later another outbreak was stirred up by foreign
+adventurers; so the islands were annexed to Germany and the United
+States for the sake of peace. The two largest, Savii and Upolu, were
+ceded to Germany; Tutuila and the Manua group were taken by the United
+States. On condition of having a free hand in the Cook group, Great
+Britain gave up all claims.</p>
+
+<p>A rich soil, tropical temperature, and a generous rainfall make the
+islands productive. Americans who live there claim that in no other part
+of the world can the necessaries of life be obtained so easily as in
+Samoa. Savii, the largest island, has a smaller area of cultivable land
+than the others.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_271" id="pg_271">271</a></span> Once upon a time, however, it was the most densely
+peopled and the richest island of all Samoa. Then a volcanic eruption
+covered much of its surface with ash and lava. Perhaps in time the lava
+fields may become good soil, as they have in Hawaii.</p>
+
+<p>Tutuila is one of the four islands belonging to the United States; the
+other three, Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga, belong to the Manua group. All of
+them together are not half the size of Rhode Island. Tutuila is perhaps
+the most important island of Samoa, because of its fine harbor, Pago
+Pago&mdash;Pango Pango, the Samoans pronounce it. Pago Pago is certainly a
+fine harbor. The entrance is so narrow that it can be closed easily;
+then it widens out into a bay two miles long and nearly half a mile
+wide. When the Panama Canal is completed, Pago Pago will be right in the
+track of steamships from Europe and the United States bound for
+Australia.</p>
+
+<p>Apia, on the island of Upolu, is the port of the Germans. The harbor is
+larger, but it is not so well protected. In 1889, when a typhoon struck
+Apia (both the town and the shipping), very few buildings escaped damage
+or destruction. And the shipping?&mdash;well, there was not much left. There
+were six warships and a lot of sailing-vessels in the V-shaped harbor.
+When the storm raged hardest it seemed to grow a bit more furious. Some
+of the vessels dragged their anchors and were piled up as wrecks on the
+beach. Others foundered and went to the bottom with all aboard. Three or
+four managed to get out of the bay into the open sea, where they were
+fairly safe.</p>
+
+<p>But Pago Pago harbor is large and deep. What is still better, it is
+surrounded by bluffs and mountains that will shelter a big fleet against
+even the fury of a typhoon.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the islands are covered with a dense vegetation, tropical and
+richly colored. There is an abundance of hardwood<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_272" id="pg_272">272</a></span> trees, but the
+breadfruit, banana, and cocoa-palm are the most useful. The
+breadfruit-tree grows wild, but it is also cultivated. The fruit is
+about the size of an ordinary cantaloupe. In some species the fruit is
+filled with seeds nearly as large as chestnuts and these are sometimes
+eaten. The best fruit, however, is filled with starchy matter.</p>
+
+<p>It is cooked in many ways, but it is greatly relished when baked in hot
+ashes covered with live coals. After it is thus cooked, it is cut open
+and the rich juicy pulp scooped out. When cooked with meat and gravy it
+is superior to the finest mushrooms.</p>
+
+<p>The cocoa-palm is a source of not a little profit. The thick husk yields
+a fibre that is much used in making coarse mats; the dried meat of the
+nut is the copra of commerce. Large quantities are exported to the
+United States and Europe in order to obtain the oil; and the oil is used
+chiefly to make soap.</p>
+
+<p>The native Samoans are lighter colored than most Polynesians, and are
+the finest native peoples of the South Pacific Ocean. Many years ago
+missionaries and teachers settled in Samoa and they found the natives to
+be pretty apt scholars. By nature they were dignified and polite; they
+also learned quickly the arts of civilized life. Nowadays nearly every
+native village has its church and school-house. The Samoans are fond of
+music and one may hear American hymns and melodies in nearly every
+native house.</p>
+
+<p>The native houses are larger than most of the houses one finds among the
+Pacific islands. Two or more long posts support the ridge pole and a
+great number of shorter posts hold the lower edges of the roof. The roof
+itself consists of closely fitted mats of brush thickly thatched with
+the leaves of wild sugar cane. A well-made roof lasts a dozen years or
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Mats of sugar-cane closely woven are loosely fastened to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_273" id="pg_273">273</a></span> the outer rows
+of posts so that they can be easily put up or taken down. They form the
+side walls of the house. The floor is made of clay, paved with pebbles.
+Usually there is a floor covering of mats. In the centre of the floor is
+a fire pit which serves for the purpose of cooking during the day and to
+drive out the mosquitoes at night. The beds and chairs are mats and the
+pillows are made of bamboo.</p>
+
+<p>The Samoans know how to live well. With each house there is pretty
+certain to be a garden in which yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas,
+fruit, and chickens are grown. Then, there are fish and shrimps that can
+be caught in abundance. But the chief and most highly prized dish is
+called "poi." Taro and kalo are names&mdash;or a name, rather; for they are
+different forms of the same word&mdash;given to several plants that grow from
+starchy bulbs. One kind of taro looks much like a lily that grows higher
+than a tall man. The bulb, or root, is first baked and then ground to a
+paste with water. When thus prepared, it is set aside until it begins to
+ferment; then it is ready to be eaten. A great dish or pot of poi is
+placed on a mat and the family gather around, one after another dipping
+it out with their hands. To foreigners poi has a most unpleasant,
+disagreeable taste. When made into cakes and baked, however, it is much
+relished by foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>Kava is the national drink. It is made from the roots of a shrub
+belonging to the pepper family. The root is ground between stones and
+then soaked in water. After a while it is pounded and rubbed until all
+the milky juice is squeezed out of it. When "extra-fine" kava is wanted,
+young girls chew the root until it has become pulpy. After standing a
+day or two it is strained and is then ready to be drunk. It is a cooling
+and refreshing drink, but if taken too freely is apt to tangle one's
+legs uncomfortably.</p>
+
+<p>On account of its delightful climate and beautiful scenery,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_274" id="pg_274">274</a></span> Samoa is
+one of the most attractive places in the world in which to live. Back in
+the mountains, a few miles from Apia, Robert Louis Stevenson spent the
+last few years of his life, and his body is buried on the top of the
+mountain near by. Stevenson was greatly beloved by the natives, and
+after his death he was mourned by them as one of their very best
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, the Fiji group is the
+most important. All told there are more than two hundred islands, but
+scarcely one-third of them are inhabited, or even habitable. Two of them
+are large. One, Viti Levu, is about the size of Connecticut; the other,
+Vanua Levu, is about two-thirds the size of that State. The famous Dutch
+sailor Abel Janszoon Tasman, whose name is remembered in Tasmania, saw
+the larger islands in 1643. About one hundred and thirty years later
+Captain Cook called at Viti Levu and found himself in the midst of a
+great cannibal feast. In 1840, Captain Charles Wilkes, in charge of a
+United States expedition, explored them; shortly afterward they became a
+possession of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>The larger islands are great domes of lava built up by volcanic
+eruptions; many of the smaller ones are coral formations, and all are
+fringed with coral reefs. Dense forests of tropical vegetation cover the
+larger islands. Cocoanut and other palms are everywhere to be found. A
+species of pine, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand, grows on the
+larger islands. Among the forest trees are also several kinds of
+tree-ferns and a tree-nettle. When the pointed leaves of the latter
+prick the skin they sting the flesh as badly as does a wasp.</p>
+
+<p>The English have done well by both the islands and the islanders. They
+have made the islands yield a good yearly profit to the government
+itself, but they have also made the natives industrious and contented.
+When the first British<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_275" id="pg_275">275</a></span> settlements were made in Fiji, the islanders
+were in a most degraded condition. They did no work except to grow a few
+yams, bananas, and breadfruit. Their chief employment was war, and this
+was carried on, not for conquest, but to capture as many as possible. A
+few captives were held as slaves, but most of them were fattened&mdash;to be
+killed and eaten at the royal feasts.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-059" id="illus-059"></a>
+<img src="images/w275.jpg" alt="Native canoe, Fiji Islands" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Native canoe, Fiji Islands</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w275-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding all this there was the making of a very superior people
+in them; for when the missionaries and the teachers got among them the
+natives proved very apt pupils. Now there are more than twelve hundred
+church buildings&mdash;and a school-house or two for every church. Some of
+the ministers and teachers are English, but there are about four
+thousand native teachers and ministers, nearly all of whom were trained
+for their work in the island schools.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_276" id="pg_276">276</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They are fine farmers, probably the best in the islands of the Pacific.
+They grow bananas, pineapples, peanuts, and lemons for the Australians,
+copra and tobacco for the British, and rice, taro, and garden vegetables
+for themselves. They have learned to irrigate their farms, using open
+ditches and bamboo mains. They make the finest canoes to be found in the
+Pacific. Some of the canoes are barges nearly one hundred feet in
+length; and not even the Hawaiians are more expert in using them.</p>
+
+<p>Not a little profit to the islanders comes from the sea. They are expert
+divers and gather large quantities of pearl shells, which find a ready
+market with the button-makers of Europe. Fish are caught, dried, and
+sold in China. One sea product, the b&ecirc;che-de-mer, a marine animal
+commonly called "sea-cucumber," is highly prized by the Chinese, who use
+large quantities; most of it is gathered by the Fijians.</p>
+
+<p>Sugar, however, is the chief product of the islands, and the sugar
+plantations are owned by great companies that have invested millions of
+pounds sterling in the business. The plantations altogether produce more
+than three million dollars' worth of sugar yearly. The native islanders
+will not work in the sugar fields; so coolies from India were brought to
+the islands to work on the plantations.</p>
+
+<p>Suva (Viti Levu), and Leonka (Ovalu), the two largest towns, are much
+like European cities, except that the houses are low and have large
+yards filled with shade trees and flowers. In the native villages the
+dwellings are much like those in Samoa, though a trifle better, perhaps.
+The side walls are covered with plaited reeds, and the roof is thatched
+with palm leaves securely fastened. In the lowlands it is customary to
+build a platform of rock upon which the house stands and into which the
+foundation poles are set. This is done for two reasons: when a typhoon
+sweeps over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_277" id="pg_277">277</a></span> islands, the lowland coast is sometimes flooded;
+moreover, the wind blows with such terrific force that none but the most
+strongly built house will withstand it.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the floor is a pit, or fireplace, much like the
+cooking-place one sees in Samoa or in Hawaii. Chickens and pieces of
+meat to be roasted are hung from a frame over the pit. Yams and other
+vegetables are boiled in earthen vessels which the native potters make.
+The floors are covered with closely woven mats; and in order to keep
+them clean an earthen vessel filled with water is kept outside so that
+whoever enters the house may bathe his feet. Inasmuch as the natives go
+barefoot one may see the usefulness of this custom.</p>
+
+<p>Great Britain has many islands in this part of the Pacific; Gilbert,
+Ellice, Tonga, Cook, and some of the Solomon group all fly the Union
+Jack. There is an English governor, or "High Commissioner," as he is
+styled, who looks after British affairs in the islands. In Fiji he is
+the real governor, but in many of the islands native chiefs and kings
+govern their peoples about as they please, provided they do not
+interfere with British interests.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_HAWAIIAN_ISLANDS_8183" id="THE_HAWAIIAN_ISLANDS_8183"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+<h3>THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Almost midway between the United States and China a mountain chain more
+than three thousand miles long crosses the tropic of Cancer. Only the
+highest peaks, however, reach above sea level; most of the range is
+fathoms deep in the waters of the Pacific. The eastern end of this great
+chain constitutes the Hawaiian group of islands, or the Territory of
+Hawaii.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_278" id="pg_278">278</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Altogether they are pretty nearly as large as the State of New Jersey,
+or five times the size of Rhode Island. All the islands are very rugged
+in surface&mdash;steep and high cliffs, deep valleys and canyons, and
+stupendous craters that have vomited great floods of lava. A little way
+from shore the Pacific has some of its deepest beds. If the sea could be
+removed the island of Hawaii would be a great dome five miles high.</p>
+
+<p>The coral polyps have added their mite to the building of these islands,
+and coral reefs are the foundation of the coast plain that surrounds a
+considerable part of the girth of each.</p>
+
+<p>An equable climate throughout the year, a soft and balmy air, brilliant
+coloring on bush and tree, magnificent pictures of sea and sky, and of
+mountain and plain, make the islands a veritable paradise.</p>
+
+<p>It is thought that these islands were peopled by Samoan natives about
+the year 600, and that subsequently their number was augmented by
+emigrants from the Fiji and other southern islands. At first there was
+plenty of land for all, but as their number increased, quarrels arose.
+Each island had its king or chief and some of the larger islands had two
+or more. The result was a condition very much like the feudal system;
+each king had petty chiefs, and these, in turn, their retainers, who
+were little better than slaves. Priests, who ranked equal to the petty
+chiefs, directed their pagan worship and occasionally made human
+sacrifices.</p>
+
+<p>The kings were pretty apt to be at war with one another most of the
+time, but, about forty years before the American Revolution, there came
+a great soldier and leader, Kamehameha I. By the aid of European weapons
+and the counsel of foreign friends, he overcame his rivals and brought
+all the islands under his sway.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawaiian Islands were made known to the rest of the world when that
+plucky English sailor, Captain James<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_279" id="pg_279">279</a></span> Cook, was making his third and
+last great voyage of discovery, in which he had set out to find the
+famous and tragic northwest passage. On a roundabout way to Bering
+Strait, he called at the islands which seemed very attractive to him.
+Perhaps it is not quite right to say that he discovered them, for it
+seems very probable that the Spanish explorer Gaetano discovered them in
+1555.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-060" id="illus-060"></a>
+<img src="images/w279.jpg" alt="General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w279-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>It was 1789 when Cook first visited the islands, and after he had
+continued his voyage through Bering Strait, and had failed to find the
+northwest passage, he turned about and sailed for the islands. While
+ashore with a part of his crew at a landing that is now the village of
+Kealakekua, one of the ship's boats was stolen by natives.</p>
+
+<p>Now Cook had learned to manage South Sea islanders in a very practical,
+though not the most tactful, way. When trouble occurred he used to send
+out a strong landing party, seize the king or chief and take him aboard
+the vessel&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_280" id="pg_280">280</a></span> proceeding which usually brought the natives to terms.
+But at this particular time the landing party was driven to the boats
+and Cook was killed.</p>
+
+<p>The group of islands was first named after Lord Sandwich, a patron and
+friend of Cook. At the time of Cook's discovery of the long-forgotten
+islands it was estimated that their population was not far from four
+hundred thousand. Missionaries went to the islands early in the
+nineteenth century and their reports brought many Americans and
+Europeans who settled there permanently. Then the chief business of the
+islands was the ordinary trade with the many whaling vessels that were
+in the Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the islands were under the protection of Great Britain; then
+they became an independent kingdom. When it was found that the lava
+fields made the best sugar-growing soil in the world, American capital
+came in millions of dollars to be invested in great plantations of sugar
+cane.</p>
+
+<p>Trouble between the queen and American business interests became so
+serious in time that the queen was dethroned and the Republic of Hawaii
+was established. The republic was short-lived, however; for when the
+Spanish-American war occurred, it was seen that Hawaii is the key to the
+Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiians, foreigners and natives, had long wished to
+become a part of the United States. So the islands were annexed and
+shortly became the Territory of Hawaii.</p>
+
+<p>There are six large islands&mdash;Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, and
+Lanai. There are many small outlying islets, most of which are not
+inhabited. Wireless telegraph stations connect the principal islands; an
+ocean cable ties the Territory to San Francisco; and steamship lines
+carry on commerce with British, Japanese, and American ports. Even the
+railway-builder has not forgotten Hawaii, for there are not far from two
+hundred miles of railroad, about half of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_281" id="pg_281">281</a></span> which carry the products of
+the sugar and coffee plantations to the near-by ports.</p>
+
+<p>Hawaii, the largest island, is famous for its great volcanoes, Kea, Lo&aacute;,
+and Kilauea. From the village or city of Hilo comfortable coaches take
+visitors over a fine road clear to the crater of Kilauea. At times one
+may stand on the edge of Kilauea's rampart and look down on a lake of
+white-hot, molten lava three miles long and half as wide. Every now and
+then bubbles of gas or steam come to the surface and exploding send long
+threads of viscous lava into the air. Some of the glassy threads are
+fine as the finest silk and a blast of air carries them off to the
+cliff; Pele's hair, they call it, and the sea-gulls gather it to make
+their nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-061" id="illus-061"></a>
+<img src="images/w281.jpg" alt="A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of Mauna-Lo&aacute;, Hawaii" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of Mauna-Lo&aacute;, Hawaii</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w281-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The highest points of Hawaii island are nearly fourteen<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_282" id="pg_282">282</a></span> thousand feet
+above sea level. Below the line of about ten thousand feet easterly
+winds bring an abundance of rain; above that line westerly winds bring
+occasional showers and snow squalls. As a result one may find places
+only a few miles apart, one of which has almost daily rains while the
+other gets none at all along the lowland coasts.</p>
+
+<p>Oahu is the best-known island because of Honolulu, the capital of the
+Territory. A most beautiful city it is; indeed, there is nothing
+elsewhere to surpass it in attractiveness&mdash;wide streets, beautiful
+parks, flower gardens of wonderful plants, fine dwellings, electric
+street cars, good government, and schools that are famous. All these
+things make Honolulu one of the most desirable and attractive cities of
+homes anywhere in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Just back of Honolulu is a volcanic peak with its great crater&mdash;the
+"Punch Bowl," they call it, because of its shape. As one looks down from
+the rim of the Punch Bowl the city is half hidden among its palms and
+algeroba trees. Above the trees are the domes and turrets of the
+National Palace, the government building, and the school-houses. In the
+distance here and there are the great plantations&mdash;sugar, rice, and
+banana.</p>
+
+<p>In the city streets one will see the people of many lands&mdash;Germans,
+English, Americans, native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans,
+Malays, and Hindoos. Many of the native Hawaiians are rich and
+prosperous; some are in business, and others are in professional life.
+Many of the Chinese are well-to-do merchants. The Hindoos, Malays, and
+Japanese were brought to Hawaii to work in the great plantations.</p>
+
+<p>In the native villages one will frequently find a little church building
+and almost always the district school. Perhaps there may also be a
+Chinese store. Black-eyed children are running about dressed in long
+gowns, and some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_283" id="pg_283">283</a></span> them carry little bundles of school-books, each tied
+with stout cord or a leather strap.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawaiians will not work in the sugar and the rice fields, and not
+many will stand the easier labor on the coffee plantations. In
+cultivating their little patches of bananas, breadfruit, cassava, and
+taro, however, they are pretty industrious. When the time of the royal
+feast comes, the natives, or "Kanakas," as they call themselves, get
+busy. The feast certainly is a royal one. Roast pig and roast chicken
+are smoking in a dozen dirt ovens. There are steaming yams and sweet
+potatoes by the bushel, great piles of all sorts of fruit&mdash;and poi. All
+the rest of the food is commonplace; poi is <i>the</i> dish. It is one-finger
+poi, two-finger poi, or three-finger poi, according as it is thick
+enough to be lifted out of the pot sticking to one finger, or so thin as
+to require a dextrous swish of two or three.</p>
+
+<p>Waikiki is the great resort of Honolulu. There is the finest of bathing
+the year round; and what is more interesting, the native surf swimmers.
+With a piece of plank just large enough to support his weight in the
+water, the bather swims out to the reef in still water. Then he, or
+she&mdash;for young girls are most expert swimmers&mdash;makes for open water,
+where the combers are forming. Then, lying flat, bather and plank are
+borne along on the swift rolling surf until both are tossed high on the
+beach.</p>
+
+<p>The aquarium is famous for its unique collection of fish and marine
+animals; it is one of the finest in the world. Near by is the race
+course and amphitheatre. What is still better is the winding road
+through ferns and flowers that leads to the crater rampart, Diamond
+Hill.</p>
+
+<p>Half a dozen miles west of Honolulu one goes by rail around the shore of
+Pearl Lochs, or Harbor. Pearl Harbor is large enough and deep enough to
+float all the warships Uncle Sam will ever own, and the possession of
+this<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_284" id="pg_284">284</a></span> magnificent site for a naval station was a very strong inducement
+to annex Hawaii.</p>
+
+<p>Less than one hundred miles away, at Kalaupapa, on the island of
+Molokai, is the leper settlement. Years ago Chinese settlers brought the
+disease to Hawaii; then the natives began to be stricken, and when it
+was found that leprosy was spreading, the lepers were sent to Molokai.
+For many years they had but little care; the government fed and clothed
+the poor victims and that was about all.</p>
+
+<p>In 1873 Father Damien, a plucky Catholic priest, went to Molokai and
+thereby made himself practically a prisoner for life. Father Damien
+procured physicians, trained nurses, and the best possible care for the
+lepers, and they could at least die in comfort if they could not live.
+Then Father Damien himself was stricken and died. By this time, however,
+the government took the matter in hand. A fine hospital was built and a
+laboratory for the study of the disease was established. Those who are
+able to work can partly support themselves, and they are far better off
+when busy than when idle.</p>
+
+<p>In 1848 the "Great Division" took place; that is, the lands for the
+king, for the public domain, and for the people were set aside, so that
+the people who so desired could own their farms and dwellings. At that
+time the islands were important only as a calling place for whaling
+vessels. At the present time Dame Nature is made to yield annually not
+far from one hundred million dollars' worth of products&mdash;sugar, rice,
+coffee, fruit, and cattle. A few years hence, tobacco, rubber, cotton,
+and honey will be added to the list of exported products.</p>
+
+<p>Americans own the sugar plantations, which are mainly on the lava fields
+of Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui Islands. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate
+the rice along the coast lowlands<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_285" id="pg_285">285</a></span> of Oahu and Kauai. Sheep and cattle
+are grown on Lanai and Niihau.</p>
+
+<p>Uncle Sam has brought some very valuable additions to his public domain,
+but no investment has paid better than Hawaii, the Paradise of the
+Pacific.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="GUAM_8409" id="GUAM_8409"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+<h3>GUAM</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>While cruising in the Pacific Ocean Magellan discovered a chain of
+islands about fifteen hundred miles east of the Philippine group. While
+he lay at anchor, predatory natives stole some of his belongings;
+thereupon Magellan gave them a bad name, and to this day the islands
+bear the name Ladrones, or "thieves" islands.</p>
+
+<p>Guam, the largest island in the group, became more or less important
+just after the Spanish-American War, inasmuch as it was required as one
+of our chain of naval and coaling stations that pretty nearly encircles
+the earth. As islands go, Guam is of fair size, about thirty miles long
+and from three to ten miles in width. It is mountainous and the surface
+is jungle-covered except where the natives have made trails and
+clearings. Fringing coral reefs, broken here and there, encircle the
+island. One of these breaks is opposite a bight in the coast, San Luis
+d'Apra, or Apra, as it is now called; and the bay and channel together
+form a harbor so well guarded that no transport laden with hostile
+troops would ever attempt landing.</p>
+
+<p>In 1668 a mission was established. At this time the population numbered
+about one hundred thousand. The country was so well cultivated that the
+whole island seemed like a beautiful garden, for the people were pretty
+good farmers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_286" id="pg_286">286</a></span> Rice and tropical fruits were cultivated in abundance.
+The natives were also skilful in the making of pottery and they had a
+well-regulated calendar.</p>
+
+<p>For a time they were well disposed toward their intruders; but at
+length, as they began to learn that conversion to the Christian faith
+meant also slavery to the Spanish, they rebelled against a system which
+was so one-sided, and their opposition led to constant strife and
+bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of time the severe treatment of the Spaniards, together
+with contagious diseases introduced, so completely wiped out the native
+population that, at the end of seventy years, scarcely two thousand were
+left. Perhaps no peoples in all the South Sea Islands have suffered more
+keenly from contact with Europeans than these aborigines.</p>
+
+<p>Frightened at the terrible mortality they had caused, the conquerors
+turned to the Philippines to replenish the depopulated island. Tagals
+were brought over to occupy the place of the fast-disappearing natives,
+and with these many of the natives intermarried. The half-castes are
+inferior to the original inhabitants, but they have increased in
+population, and now number ten thousand.</p>
+
+<p>Spain ceded Guam to the United States in 1898. Since the acquisition our
+government has established both day and evening schools for the natives,
+and they are making rapid progress in education.</p>
+
+<p>It is a long journey to Guam&mdash;thirty-five hundred miles almost from
+Honolulu and not quite half as far from Manila. And how to get there?
+Well, it is not an easy matter. If you go to Apia, or to Manila, and
+remain long enough&mdash;perhaps six weeks, maybe six months&mdash;a German
+trading schooner will come along and take you aboard. You get there in
+time; for the trading schooner is likely to make a very circuitous trip,
+calling at a dozen islands to get copra in exchange for cloth, knives,
+and cheap jewelry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_287" id="pg_287">287</a></span> But if one happens to have the right sort of "pull,"
+one can get a pass on an army transport. That means a most delightful
+trip from San Francisco to Honolulu, and thence to Guam. Uncle Sam does
+the square thing by his soldiers, and the army transports that carry
+them to the distant stations are fitted so as to be as comfortable as
+the best liners. There are a big exercise deck and a reading-room with
+plenty of books. Not the least important part of the equipment is a
+self-playing piano and a good assortment of music.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:378px'>
+<a name="illus-062" id="illus-062"></a>
+<img src="images/w287.jpg" alt="Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China" title="" width="378" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w287-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>There is not very much to see after one reaches Guam. One village is
+just about the same as all the others. Perhaps half a dozen huts are
+built of mud, or possibly of coral limestone; the rest are made of
+bamboo frames covered<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_288" id="pg_288">288</a></span> with palm&mdash;all in one room in which the family
+and the pig live.</p>
+
+<p>Aga&ntilde;a, however, is a village of six or seven thousand people. It is laid
+out in streets which are fairly regular. They are deep with dust during
+the dry season, and with mud the rest of the year. There are several
+government buildings which are neat and trim, two or three churches,
+several school buildings, and a few stores. Most of the people one meets
+on the street speak Spanish; a few speak English. English is the coming
+language, however; for the schools are there to stay and every one of
+the fifteen hundred youngsters who attend school carries away a little
+English. A fine road bordered with palms connects Aga&ntilde;a with Apra, seven
+miles south.</p>
+
+<p>There is not much to see in Guam. The scenery is much like that of every
+island in that part of the Pacific. About the only diversion of the
+soldiers stationed there is hunting, which is pretty good if one is
+content to hunt deer and wild hogs. Artistic sportsmen might prefer the
+deer, but all the real fun is the share of the hog-hunters. The hogs are
+savage beasts when cornered; they likewise are full of animal cunning.</p>
+
+<p>Along the coast lowlands one may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated
+as those of Japan or of China. Most of the rice is consumed on the
+island; however, copra, or dried cocoanut, is an export, and its sale
+brings enough money to the natives to purchase the cloth and other goods
+needed. Since American occupation the ca&ccedil;ao tree has been cultivated,
+and cocoa bids fair to be the chief export in the near future.</p>
+
+<p>The government of Guam is better under American rule than at any time in
+the previous history of the island. When the late Admiral Schroeder was
+governor of Guam he consulted his log-book and discovered that he was
+altogether<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_289" id="pg_289">289</a></span> too far away from Washington to be tied to rules and
+regulations, or to be tangled up in official red tape. So he cut the
+tape and used good common sense instead. Perhaps the government was a
+bit patriarchal, but it was good, clean, and wholesome&mdash;and every one
+profited by it.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_PHILIPPINE_ISLANDS_8526" id="THE_PHILIPPINE_ISLANDS_8526"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+<h3>THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our newest possession, the Philippine Archipelago, in a way, is also our
+oldest, for the islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521,
+about twenty-nine years after the great discovery of Columbus. Magellan
+called at several islands, among them Mindanao and Ceb&uacute;. He anchored in
+the harbor on which the city of Ceb&uacute; now stands. He seems to have been
+treated in a very friendly manner by the natives of Ceb&uacute;, but when he
+crossed to a near-by island he was attacked and killed. The friendship
+of the King of Ceb&uacute; was not very steadfast, for after Magellan's death
+several of his officers were put to death by the king's order.</p>
+
+<p>For two hundred and forty years the islands were a possession of Spain;
+then they were captured by a British fleet. They were soon restored to
+Spain, however, and remained a Spanish possession until 1898, when they
+were ceded to us after the Spanish-American War.</p>
+
+<p>There are more than three thousand islands in the archipelago, and they
+are the partly covered tops of a mountainous and rugged plateau. Many
+volcanoes testify to the volcanic origin of the plateau; indeed, the
+surface of the plateau seems to be a thin crust over&mdash;well, over
+trouble; for the dozen or more volcanoes are never quiet long enough to
+be forgotten. Perhaps it was proper to name the islands<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_290" id="pg_290">290</a></span> after Philip II
+of Spain, for he, too, had his full measure of trouble.</p>
+
+<p>The archipelago is of pretty good size. The whole plateau, land and
+water, is about as large as that part of the United States east of
+Chicago; and the islands themselves are pretty nearly as large as the
+State of Texas. Luzon, the largest island, is about as large as
+Pennsylvania, and Mindanao is a bit smaller. Then there are Samar,
+Panay, Palawan, and Ceb&uacute;&mdash;every one large enough to make a State of fair
+size, and every one with enough people to make a State.</p>
+
+<p>There are about seven million people all told, most of whom are of the
+Malay race. As a rule, they are pretty well along toward civilization;
+some of them are educated. There are also tribes of the black
+race&mdash;Negritos, they are called&mdash;who are just plain savages. They are
+the original inhabitants of the islands, and it is most likely that they
+are the descendants of people from New Guinea. In the southwest is the
+Sulu group, inhabited by Malays, called Moros. They are Muhammadans in
+religion and are the last of the Malays who came to the islands.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the Malay peoples, the Tagalogs of Luzon have been the foremost
+to learn the arts of western civilization. They have surpassed their
+near relatives, the Visayans, who live in the central part of the
+islands. Perhaps it is the closer contact with the Spanish that has
+given the Tagalogs their great progress. At all events they have become
+well to do and prosperous as measured by other Malay peoples.</p>
+
+<p>The Moros, who live mainly in the southern part, have scarcely reached
+civilization. In the Sulu islands they have their own government, at the
+head of which is a native sultan. In many parts of the islands there are
+tribes governed by chiefs called "dattos." Some of the natives are
+prosperous farmers, but many of them are savages.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_291" id="pg_291">291</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A great deal has been said about the misrule and cruelty of the Spanish
+governors and officials. Being soldiers and task-masters it is likely
+that they did many things that will not stand the searchlight of
+civilization. But the work of the priests will always leave a pleasant
+flavor. For three hundred years they braved every danger and suffered
+every hardship in their work. For every one that fell a victim to
+disease, or to the bolo, there was another ready to fill his place. They
+not only converted the natives to Christianity, but they also taught
+them to be thrifty farmers and prosperous business men. As a result the
+Filipinos are the only Asian people of considerable numbers that have
+yet become Christians.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-063" id="illus-063"></a>
+<img src="images/w291.jpg" alt="The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles along" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles along</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w291-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>When the Philippine Islands became a possession of the United States,
+one of the first things done was to establish several thousand schools.
+A thousand American teachers<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_292" id="pg_292">292</a></span> were at first employed. Training schools
+for teachers were established, and in the course of a few years more
+than five thousand Filipino teachers were conducting native schools.
+English is taught in all the schools, and there are special schools in
+which agriculture, mechanical trades, and commerce are taught.</p>
+
+<p>There is good reason for all this, for the islands have wonderful
+resources. Gold, silver, copper, and iron are abundant. The forests have
+an abundance of hard woods that sooner or later will find a market both
+in Europe and America. The rice-fields will easily produce enough grain
+for the whole population, and a considerable amount to sell in addition,
+when all the rice-lands are cultivated. For want of good wagon roads and
+railways only a small part of the rice-lands are cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>There is an abundance of good grazing land that will produce meat for
+twice the present population. Most of the cattle now grown in the
+islands are of the kind found in India.</p>
+
+<p>The most common beast of burden, however, is the carabao, or
+water-buffalo. What an ugly looking beast it is! It is as clumsy as a
+hippopotamus, as ugly as a rhinoceros, and as kind and gentle as an old
+muley cow. Harnessed to a dray or a wagon, it shuffles along, its big,
+flat feet seeming to walk all over the road. But those same big feet are
+the animal's chief stock in trade. They enable him to walk through both
+sand and deep mud&mdash;mud so soft and deep that a horse or a mule would
+sink to its body. Nothing but the carabao's flatboat-like feet could
+drag ploughs through the soft mud of the rice-fields.</p>
+
+<p>Carabaos are easily trained to farm work, and even children can drive
+them&mdash;or ride on their backs in going to school. The milk of a carabao
+is as good and wholesome as that of an ordinary cow; the meat is pretty
+tough, but it is not unwholesome.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_293" id="pg_293">293</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One thing, however, the carabao must have, and that is a bath several
+times a day. Deprived of its bath, the animal at first becomes restless;
+then it breaks away in a half-crazed condition for the nearest water,
+where it buries itself, all but its head. Native drivers know just how
+to manage their animals and drive them to the nearest water several
+times a day.</p>
+
+<p>There are horses in the islands, but not many. Most of them are very
+much like the mustang. The Spanish brought Andalusian ponies to the
+islands many years ago, but they did not prove very useful. Within a few
+years American horses were introduced, but they could not live on
+Philippine grasses. Mexican mustangs and Mongolian ponies were much
+better, however, but they are used chiefly as riding animals.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the beasts of burden in the Philippine Islands, none is in the
+same class with John Chinaman. Everywhere his bland smile is seen; his
+patience has no end&mdash;and, apparently, his work has none. The Filipino
+farmer works merely to keep body and soul together; John Chinaman works
+to save hard cash, and he saves it. Wherever there is any money to be
+made, John is pretty certain to be near by. He is the cook and
+"maid-of-all-work" in the house of the foreign resident, the stevedore
+on the dock, the clerk in the forwarding house, the "boss" in the rice
+plantation, the handy man in the tobacco factory, and the store-keeper
+in the remote Filipino village. Sixteen hours of hard work every day and
+Sunday seem to make him grow fat; the rest of the time he just works for
+fun&mdash;and hard cash.</p>
+
+<p>Long before the Chinese coolie came to the United States the Spanish
+raised the cry "The Chinese must go." The Spanish made short work of
+them, killing them by thousands and tens of thousands. But in a year or
+two John was on hand again, smiling and working sixteen hours a
+day&mdash;strictly<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_294" id="pg_294">294</a></span> for cash. And he is in the Philippine Islands to stay.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule the Filipinos rarely live isolated as do the American farmers.
+Almost always they cluster in villages of one or two hundred people. The
+Filipino is not likely to cultivate a big farm. Two or three acres will
+supply the family with all the food required, and the Chinese merchant
+will buy enough of his produce to provide a few dollars in cash and the
+cloth for the family wearing apparel. In the smaller villages there is
+an open place that answers for a street, but the houses are apt to be
+scattered about without much regularity of arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>The houses, like those of the Pacific islands generally, are built of
+bamboo frames&mdash;heavy pieces for the framework itself and woven bamboo
+splints for the side sheathing. The roof is carefully thatched with the
+leaves of the nipa-palm and these are sewn into a thick mat with ratan.
+In places where the ground is likely to be overflowed, each house is set
+on posts so that the floors are several feet from the ground. In this
+case the "pig" does not "live in the parlor"; the pigs and chickens
+occupy the "ground floor." All told, the Filipino village mansion may
+not be very ornate, but it is extremely comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>The larger villages and cities are built much alike. There is a plaza or
+public square. Around the four sides, and facing the plaza, are the
+church, government buildings, and stores. The more pretentious
+residences are near by. Further away these give place to the Filipino,
+or "nipa houses," as they are called. The street surrounding the plaza
+is broad and well kept; elsewhere the streets are quagmires in the
+rainy, and dust holes in the dry season. Pretty nearly always there is a
+Chinese quarter that is crowded and dirty; quite likely, too, the best
+stores in the town are kept by Chinese merchants. That is the way the
+Spaniards laid<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_295" id="pg_295">295</a></span> out their cities and towns in Spain; they did not change
+the plan in the Philippines. The houses built for them in the islands
+are much like those in Spanish towns&mdash;adobe walls plastered with stucco,
+and roofed with tiles.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:381px'>
+<a name="illus-064" id="illus-064"></a>
+<img src="images/w295.jpg" alt="The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila" title="" width="381" /><br />
+<span class="caption">The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w295-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Manila is the capital and commercial centre of the islands. It is a city
+about as large as Seattle, and is situated at the head of a landlocked
+body of water, Manila Bay. Corregidor Island, a little dark-green islet,
+guards the entrance to the bay; and one cannot see the wicked guns that
+are ready to pour a raking fire into a hostile fleet until one is within
+a few hundred yards of the island. The only thing visible at a distance
+is a flag flying from a high mast; but it is the Stars and Stripes that
+bends to the east wind. The bay is a good-sized bit of water, too. In
+the middle of it one can just barely see the gray, misty hills that
+surround it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_296" id="pg_296">296</a></span> Then the shore line begins to take shape and the mouth of
+Pasig River seems to open in front of the incoming steamship. In a few
+minutes the harbor of the city is in sight. Steamships, with their
+painted stacks and funnels, and sailing vessels, with every sort of mast
+and rigging, crowd the harbor. Row-boats by the hundred are moving in
+every direction, and little steam-launches and motor-boats are spitting
+viciously as they go back and forth.</p>
+
+<p>The lower part of the city is almost like Amsterdam; it is traversed by
+canals, great and small, in which are fishing-smacks waiting to have the
+catch taken to market. Puffy, wheezy tugs are making fast to huge
+cascoes, or lighters; for the cargoes must be taken from the docks to
+the steamships and sailing-vessels out in the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>The Pasig is only ten or twelve miles in length. It flows from a near-by
+lake, and both sides of the river are lined with villages, and
+market-gardens, and duck-hatcheries.</p>
+
+<p>The business streets are crowded with carts and drays. Here and there
+are smart-looking carriages carrying well-groomed men, who talk little
+and look rich. There could not be more style and ceremony about them if
+they were in New York, London, or Paris. Trim-looking soldiers in khaki
+uniforms, native Filipinos in white suits, Chinese in silk gowns and
+long sleeves, native women wearing red skirts and black shawls, native
+coolies in loose blouses and short pantaloons&mdash;all go to make up the
+throng of the streets.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the houses are two stories in height with arcades or awnings
+that shelter the sidewalks. And such narrow sidewalks!&mdash;they are hardly
+wide enough for more than three people to walk abreast. But even the
+business houses are built for comfort. The roof has a broad overhang,
+and quite likely there is a covered veranda.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the Filipinos of Manila are educated and prosperous. Their
+houses are said to be furnished in European<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_297" id="pg_297">297</a></span> style, and likewise their
+clothing. Sure enough everything bears a "made in Germany" mark, but
+everything looks distinctly Filipino. The head of the family wears a
+suit of spotless white duck, but it has a military cut&mdash;and perhaps he
+goes about the house barefoot; if so, he knows what real comfort is.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-065" id="illus-065"></a>
+<img src="images/w297.jpg" alt="Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w297-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Mother and daughters wear skirts of beautiful brocaded silk, very wide
+and full; above the skirt is a loose garment much like a shirt-waist cut
+low at the neck, and over this a lace cape with a wide, flowing collar.
+Possibly they wear heelless slippers, but just as likely they, too, are
+barefoot&mdash;when no visitors are present. Perhaps such suits are not quite
+so becoming as the trim, tailor-made suits in New York, but they are a
+lot more comfortable.</p>
+
+<p>A short distance from the Escolta, or chief business street,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_298" id="pg_298">298</a></span> is one of
+the many markets of Manila. The whole space is laid off with rows of
+bamboo booths. Pretty nearly everything to eat, to wear, or to furnish
+the house is on hand&mdash;or rather in loose piles&mdash;fish, duck's eggs, meat,
+rice, pinole, fruit of forty kinds, straw hats, straw sandals, straw
+raincoats, tin ware from America, wooden ware from Holland, and clay
+stoves "made in Manila."</p>
+
+<p>Every alley has its own wares, and John Chinaman with his baskets
+balanced on a long pole puts a finishing touch to the market. A Filipino
+cannot be emphatic in an ordinary tone of voice. Buyer and seller work
+themselves up to high C pitch until it seems as though nothing short of
+a fit would overtake both. Bedlam is turned loose in every part of the
+market. Usually a man and his wife are required to conduct the business
+at a booth. Their bare feet sticking out from the skirts bob up and
+down, beating time to the clatter of their voices.</p>
+
+<p>Here comes a man whose sole stock in trade consists of a single article,
+namely, a python. His goods are twined about a pole with a cross piece
+for a perch, but the snake's tail has a loving twist around the owner's
+neck. What for?&mdash;well, the python has a sweet tooth for rats and mice
+and the sweet tooth of this particular snake is on edge for a square
+meal. Years ago foreign ships brought rats from various countries. In
+the course of time rats and mice became so numerous that it became a
+question whether Manila should exterminate the rats or the rats
+exterminate Manila.</p>
+
+<p>Now, those same ships ought to have brought some cats along, too. But it
+is just as well that they did not, for one python is worth half a dozen
+cats or rat terriers when business is on hand. The only drawback occurs
+when the python insists on getting into bed with his owner to keep warm.</p>
+
+<p>When in Manila, go to Duck-town by all means. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_299" id="pg_299">299</a></span> only a short
+distance from the near-by market. The feeding grounds and hatcheries
+extend for two miles along the river. Hundreds of thousands of ducks are
+reared at the hatcheries, some for eggs, and others for food. The ducks
+are fed on shell-fish, and foreigners imagine that both the meat and the
+eggs have a fishy flavor. Eggs and edible bird's nests are also brought
+from neighboring sea-cliffs to the Manila markets; and both are
+considered great delicacies.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-066" id="illus-066"></a>
+<img src="images/w299.jpg" alt="Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w299-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Manila is the largest city of the Philippines, but there are also
+several other cities of good lusty growth. Bauan, Lipa, Laoag, and
+Batangas&mdash;all in Luzon&mdash;and Ilo-ilo in Panay are growing in population
+and business as the resources<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_300" id="pg_300">300</a></span> of the islands develop. Since the
+American occupation, Uncle Sam has done a great deal to make these ports
+centres of business; harbors have been deepened; railways have been
+extended; good roads have been built; and rivers have been made
+navigable.</p>
+
+<p>There are several exports that will always tend to make the Philippines
+rich. Tobacco is an important crop and the Manila leaf, as it is called,
+is of very fine quality. There are those who whisper it about that much
+of the leaf is shipped to Cuba to be made into "Havana" cigars. Sugar is
+also a great export crop, and when the railways now under way are
+completed sugar will become one of the foremost exports. The export of
+copra, or dried cocoanut, is a leading industry, and the Philippine
+Islands produce a large part of the world's product.</p>
+
+<p>One Philippine product, however, connects the islands with almost all
+the rest of the world, namely, Manila hemp. That is, it is called
+"hemp," but it is not hemp at all; the fibre is obtained from a plant
+very closely related to the banana. White leaves or husks grow closely
+around the stalk of the plant, forming a tightly fitting case. This
+envelope is composed of thousands of long, strong fibres that, when
+cleaned and dried, are the hemp that makes the strongest and best rope
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>After the pulpy leaves are stripped from the stalk, the pulp is squeezed
+out of them and the fibres are left in the sun to dry. The best fibre is
+as soft and fine as silk. Some of it is used in making a fine cloth; the
+coarser fibre is used for rope and hawsers. More than fifteen million
+dollars worth of Manila hemp is sold yearly.</p>
+
+<p>In the treaty with Spain, by which Uncle Sam acquired the islands,
+twenty million dollars was paid to Spain. But the exports from the
+Philippines have averaged nearly thirty million dollars a year ever
+since.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_301" id="pg_301">301</a></span>
+<a name="THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashJAVA_8853" id="THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashJAVA_8853"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+<h3>THE DUTCH EAST INDIES&mdash;JAVA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>The East India Islands is a name which embraces nearly all the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, together with the Philippines. The largest of
+these are New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and Java. Nearly all of
+them, except the Philippines and parts of New Guinea and Borneo, are
+controlled by the Dutch. These fertile islands are a source of great
+revenue to the Netherlands; to the rest of the world they are the chief
+source of sugar, spices, and coffee.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the Dutch East Indies, Java is by far the most beautiful and
+productive; it is a garden of the choicest fruits and flowers.</p>
+
+<p>There are two seasons, a wet and a dry. During the wet season the
+torrential rains are accompanied by thunder and lightning. In some parts
+of the island more than a hundred thunder-storms occur yearly. The
+average rainfall is from sixty to one hundred and eighty-five inches,
+most of the rain falling on the windward side.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the streams are perennial, and their waters are conducted away
+to be used in irrigation, thus bringing under cultivation nearly every
+part of the island. Moreover, the streams themselves hold fertilizing
+material much of which has been thrown out by volcanoes. The irrigating
+water itself furnishes sufficient enrichment for the soil, and but very
+little fertilizing is required. The heat, moisture, and fertile soil,
+coupled with skilful farming, produce bountiful harvests and make the
+whole island a smiling field of verdure and plenty.</p>
+
+<p>The hills and mountains in many places are terraced, so that at a
+distance they look like gigantic staircases carpeted<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_302" id="pg_302">302</a></span> with bright green.
+So fertile is the soil that in some places two or three crops are raised
+each year.</p>
+
+<p>About one-fourth of the surface is covered with forest. Among the most
+valuable trees is the teak-wood, which is extensively used in
+ship-building. It is a more durable timber than oak, since it resists
+decay for a long time, even when wholly or partly submerged in sea
+water. There are vessels afloat to-day which were built of teak one
+hundred years ago.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants, about thirty million in number, are of the Malay race
+and belong to three nations, speaking closely related but different
+languages&mdash;the Sundanese, Javanese, and Mandurese. The island was
+wealthy, populous, and had a high degree of civilization long before it
+was known to Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>Long years ago&mdash;twelve hundred or more&mdash;the Hindoos invaded the country,
+and in the fifteenth century Muhammadans came. They were followed later
+by the Dutch who first gained trading concessions and then gradually got
+possession of the whole island, much in the same way as England secured
+India. Each conquest left its impress on the people; the Muhammadans
+converted the natives to their religion. Buddhism preceded the religion
+of the great prophet, and some of the teachings of Buddha have been
+retained, together with many pagan customs.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch wisely made no effort to Christianize the natives and, until
+recently, they have discouraged all such attempts, believing that they
+could control the people better without disturbing the prevailing
+religious conditions. Indeed, they manage affairs with the natives
+wonderfully well.</p>
+
+<p>The island is divided into "residences," in each of which the laws are
+administered by a native governor. A Dutch resident is employed by the
+colonial government to assist<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_303" id="pg_303">303</a></span> the native governor&mdash;really to see that
+he manages his people justly and fairly, for strict justice has always
+been observed in dealings with the natives.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-067" id="illus-067"></a>
+<img src="images/w303.jpg" alt="A breadfruit tree in Java" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A breadfruit tree in Java</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w303-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The Dutch residents are called "elder brothers." Each resident watches
+his residency with great care to see that the taxes are collected and
+paid to the government, and that the natives are treated with justice.
+He is usually the judge who settles all family quarrels and disputes
+between neighbors. He is just in his judgments and his decisions are<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_304" id="pg_304">304</a></span>
+not questioned. Affairs are managed in much the same way as the "School
+City" or the George Settlement in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time the Dutch are very careful to impress their authority
+on the natives. They require the natives to pay great respect to all
+officers of the colony. A native who comes into the presence of an
+official must have his head turbaned and his attire in proper form.
+Under no circumstances is he permitted to smoke, chew betel-nut, or
+behave carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>The daily work of the natives is very carefully supervised. They are
+taught where to plant, what to plant, and how to plant their crops. The
+"elder brothers" also see that the crops are cultivated with care and
+properly harvested.</p>
+
+<p>Java is ruled by a Governor-General and a council appointed by himself.
+The officers are selected because of their fitness, and most of the
+subordinates must pass a civil service examination. Once in the East
+India service an official is fixed for life, and when he has served his
+time he retires on a pension. Most of the pensioners prefer to remain in
+the island the rest of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The officials and, indeed, all European residents live well. Stone
+houses with marble or tile floors, wide verandas, and large gardens are
+the rule. Breakfast at one o'clock is the substantial meal of the day.
+It marks not the beginning but the end of the day's work. From one to
+five the intense heat keeps every one indoors. At five, official Java
+and all other Europeans bathe, dress, and get ready for dinner. After
+dinner, driving, calling, and gossiping at the clubs is the proper
+thing, and nowhere are people more ceremonious.</p>
+
+<p>The natives have but little ambition and no desire to do anything for
+themselves. Now and then there are exceptions, however; and a native may
+be found pegging away<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_305" id="pg_305">305</a></span> at the studies that will enable him to pass the
+examinations and hold an official position.</p>
+
+<p>As a whole, the native is gentle and polite and yields ready obedience
+to those in authority. He is fond of amusement, feasts, and gambling;
+he, moreover, celebrates every possible event&mdash;his marriage, the birth
+of his children, the building of his home, the rice harvest, a return
+from a journey, a recovery from illness, and even the filing of his
+teeth. If he, perchance, has not sufficient money to hold the
+celebration, he can join with a neighbor, then both will share mutually
+the expense. On all occasions his deportment is quiet, and whether moved
+by joy or anger, no loud language or boisterous laughter is ever heard.</p>
+
+<p>The marriageable age of girls is from twelve to fourteen years, and that
+of boys sixteen. The night preceding the wedding must be spent by the
+couple in watching, in order to avert subsequent unhappiness, and the
+next day they repair to a mosque and are married according to Muhammadan
+rites and customs. To symbolize her total submission to her husband, the
+wife washes his feet. Unfortunately, a divorce can be obtained by the
+husband for a trivial cause by the payment of a small fee. A native, on
+being asked why he got a divorce from his wife, replied, "She ate too
+much and I could not afford to keep her."</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning the highways are thronged with people on their way
+to and from the markets. And the markets?&mdash;well, one is certain to find
+John Chinaman in charge. As a matter of fact, there are more than half a
+million Chinese in the island, and they have the control of the trade
+with the natives. But the native Javanese trudges along, balancing two
+baskets on a long bamboo pole. Women and girls help to make up the
+throng, and they, too, are laden.</p>
+
+<p>At the market pandemonium seems to be loose, and both buyer and seller
+are shrieking at the top of their voices over<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_306" id="pg_306">306</a></span> a bargain price. There is
+no question as to which wins; the Chinese merchant is there for
+business. When the native receives the pay for his produce quite as
+likely as not he makes for the nearest gambling-house and in half an
+hour loses the savings of a month.</p>
+
+<p>To the natives the greatest terrors are lightning and tigers, both of
+which claim hundreds of victims each year. They often refrain from
+killing the tigers, since the tigers kill the wild pigs which destroy
+their crops.</p>
+
+<p>The tiger is killed usually by capturing him in a sort of box-trap, and
+then the trap is taken to the nearest stream, where it is submerged and
+the animal drowned, to avoid injury to the skin, which brings a good
+price. The claws and whiskers are carefully removed and sold as
+fetiches, since they are considered to be very efficacious.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding their hard lot, the people seem happy and there is no
+starvation poverty. They and their ancestors from time immemorial have
+always worked hard under task-masters and they know of no better
+condition. Since their scanty clothing costs but little, if they can
+have enough to eat and a little amusement occasionally, they are
+content. When they have money they spend it recklessly, regardless of
+the future. If the needs of the present are supplied, that is
+sufficient. When misfortune or disaster overtakes them they merely say:
+"It is the will of God."</p>
+
+<p>The temples built centuries ago are among the most wonderful structures
+in the world. They vie in size and grandeur with those of India.
+Thousands of these ruined temples are found scattered everywhere over
+central and eastern Java, and many of them are built on the slopes and
+summits of mountains. These ruins give evidence of the wonderful skill
+in sculpture and building attained by the people in by-gone ages, a
+skill not excelled even in modern times, but lost to the present
+inhabitants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_307" id="pg_307">307</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The ruins of the great temple of Boro-Bodor, situated in the
+south-central part of Java, are among the largest and most striking in
+the world. This temple is square and was built in six terraces or steps
+on the summit of a hill. The first terrace measures about five hundred
+feet on each side, while each of the five decreases in size toward the
+top. The last one is crowned by a cupola fifty-two feet in diameter,
+surrounded by sixteen smaller ones.</p>
+
+<p>Here in this great temple of the dead past may be seen scores of
+statues, showing on their countenances the peace of Nirvana. On both
+inside and outside of the structure are hundreds of images of Buddha and
+carvings of scenes connected with his life. It is estimated that all of
+the sculptures occupy an extent of wall at least three miles in length.
+All the figures are carved from large blocks of lava.</p>
+
+<p>This wonderful temple is built of lava blocks without lime or mortar,
+the huge stones being jointed most accurately by tenons, mortises, and
+dovetails which bind them solidly together.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the temples erected by the Buddhists and Brahmanists were
+destroyed by the Moslem invaders, and others abandoned. All of these
+edifices became, during the succeeding centuries, overgrown with the
+luxuriant tropical vegetation and partly buried. Some of them, like that
+of Boro-Bodor, have been uncovered, displaying hundreds of statues and
+long lines of bas-relief.</p>
+
+<p>Java is one of the most productive regions of the world, otherwise
+thirty millions of people could not live there. The greater part of the
+islands consists of government plantations, but there are more than
+twenty thousand private plantations. The Dutch government has built fine
+wagon roads and miles of railways, otherwise the great crops of rice,
+sugar, coffee, and tea could not be moved to the great trade centres and
+seaports. Rice is the chief crop, but so<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_308" id="pg_308">308</a></span> much is consumed that only a
+little is left for export. The export rice is sold in Borneo. Most of it
+is grown on the low coast plains, and these are watered by a net-work of
+canals.</p>
+
+<p>Coffee is the crop that has made Java famous, and Java coffee is
+regarded the best produced. A few years ago it was the custom to sort
+the coffee with great care and then to store it several years in order
+to improve the flavor. The coffee thus seasoned was known as "old
+government" coffee. Much of the crop is now grown by private owners and
+is known as "private plantations" coffee.</p>
+
+<p>Sugar has become the foremost export crop. Most of it goes to Europe; a
+small part of it is sent to the refineries of the United States. The
+great sugar plantations are likewise on the lowlands. Most of the
+plantations are owned by wealthy Hollanders, or by Dutch companies. The
+cane grows taller than that of the Cuban plantations; usually it is
+twice the height of the native laborers and grows so thickly as to make
+the field like a jungle. It requires a great sum of money to carry on a
+sugar plantation, for thousands of dollars must be spent in preparing
+the land.</p>
+
+<p>But when one sees the great mills with their ponderous machinery, the
+thousands of native workmen, and the train loads of sugar which seem to
+be swallowed by the great steamships, one cannot help thinking that the
+sugar-planters make a lot of money in their business. Their homes, many
+of them, are beautiful palaces&mdash;as costly as can be found anywhere in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Indigo is another famous product of Java. The indigo plant would look
+like a rank bunch of weeds were it not planted in rows. The leaves,
+which contain the coloring matter, are picked two or three times a year
+and soaked in water. When they begin to rot, the coloring matter leaves
+the plant and mixes with the water, from which it is afterward<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_309" id="pg_309">309</a></span>
+separated by boiling. The coloring matter itself is called indigo; it is
+a beautiful blue used for dyeing yarns and cloth. The blue cotton cloth
+so much worn by the Dutch peasants is colored with indigo, and both the
+cloth and the dye find a market in pretty nearly every country in the
+world.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:390px'>
+<a name="illus-068" id="illus-068"></a>
+<img src="images/w309.jpg" alt="Coffee-drying in Java" title="" width="390" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Coffee-drying in Java</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w309-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Years ago an enterprising Dutch botanist brought to Java some cinchona
+trees from South America. The experiment was successful and so many
+trees were afterward planted that Java now furnishes about half the
+world's supply of quinine, which is extracted from the bark of the tree.</p>
+
+<p>Tobacco is extensively grown in Java, but one does not hear much about
+it, because a great deal of it is sold as "Sumatra" leaf. Tea-growing
+has become a great industry<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_310" id="pg_310">310</a></span> in Java and the tea in quality is as fine
+as that grown in China. Women and girls are the pickers. They work with
+head and arms bare, each wearing a loose gown resembling a Japanese
+kimona without sleeves. As fast as they are picked the leaves are piled
+on squares of white cloth. When the cloth contains enough to make a
+bundle of good size the picker carries it on her head to the factory,
+where the leaves are first wilted, rolled into compact form and then
+dried on great stone floors that are shielded from the sun. The hundreds
+of pickers with their brightly colored gowns and white bundles, form a
+wonderful kaleidoscope picture.</p>
+
+<p>In recent years petroleum, long known to the natives, has added much to
+the wealth of Java. The thrifty Hollander studied well-drilling in
+Pennsylvania and California; then he put his training to work on the
+Javanese oil-fields. As a result Java is beginning to supply not only
+the East Indies, but also Japan with coal-oil.</p>
+
+<p>Years ago travellers used to tell marvellous stories about a certain
+poison valley of Java in the centre of which stood an upas-tree. The
+tree itself was famed for the deadly effects of its poisonous
+exhalations, which killed man, beast, or bird that came near it. These
+stories proved to be mere fabrications. They grew out of the fact that
+near by was a valley from which arose at times carbonic-acid gas in
+sufficient quantity to kill small animals running over certain low
+places. But the upas played no part, though the juice of the tree is
+poisonous.</p>
+
+<p>Batavia is the capital of the Dutch East Indies. It is on low, flat
+land, half a dozen miles from the artificial harbor which has not long
+been finished; for the old port had but little protection from stormy
+seas and high winds. The swampy land on which the city is built has been
+drained by canals. Excepting the business streets, the city is almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_311" id="pg_311">311</a></span>
+hidden by the gardens with their profusion of plants. It is the
+Amsterdam of the Old World; and one will find as good wares in Batavia
+as in Holland. During the eruption of Krakatoa, Batavia was buried deep
+in dust and ragged cinders of lava. More than twenty thousand dead were
+under the heaps of ash.</p>
+
+<p>Surabaya is larger than Batavia and has a population of more than one
+hundred and fifty thousand. But Surabaya has not much trade with Europe;
+its commerce is mainly with the ports of Asia. The harbor is good and it
+has become the chief naval station of the Dutch East Indies.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch authorities do not encourage visitors to Java. All visitors
+must have passports or permits; and if one goes to the interior,
+officials question him at every turn and demand his permit at every
+district.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashSUMATRA_AND_CELEBES_9169" id="THE_DUTCH_EAST_INDIESmdashSUMATRA_AND_CELEBES_9169"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+<h3>THE DUTCH EAST INDIES&mdash;SUMATRA AND CELEBES</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Two lofty mountain ranges with a deep valley between them lie at the
+eastern side of the Indian Ocean. The Malay Peninsula is one range; the
+island of Sumatra is the other. The floor of the valley between them is
+covered by the sea and forms the Strait of Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>As islands go, Sumatra is of goodly size&mdash;larger than New York,
+Pennsylvania, and the New England States together. From end to end its
+length is about the distance between Boston and Chicago. Greenland,
+Borneo, New Guinea, and Madagascar are each larger. The equator crosses
+Sumatra at its central part.</p>
+
+<p>Sumatra is also a possession of the Dutch East Indies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_312" id="pg_312">312</a></span> but it is not
+very important as compared with Java. Although it is three times as
+large as Java, it has scarcely one-tenth the population. There is a
+pretty good reason for this. In the first place, the mountainous region
+is very rugged and much of it is covered with jungle; therefore, it is
+neither habitable nor productive for mankind. In the second place, the
+broad plain on the east side of the island is not well adapted to
+cultivation; it is cut by deep river valleys in the higher parts, swampy
+in the middle part, and covered with water next the coast during a part
+of the year.</p>
+
+<p>Rather singularly the lakes&mdash;and there are many&mdash;are not in the low,
+swampy lands; most of them are high in the mountains. What is still more
+singular, these lakes are the craters of inactive volcanoes. But
+Sumatra, like Java, has many active volcanoes. One of these, Dempo, is
+almost constantly active. Every now and then it discharges great
+quantities of sulphur gases; these are caught by the rain and, falling
+on the cultivated lands, kill pretty nearly everything touched.</p>
+
+<p>In the jungles nature has been very lavish with life. The forests
+contain more than four hundred kinds of trees&mdash;among them teak, ebony,
+camphor, and even good pine. Sumatra is also the home of several trees
+and plants from which gutta-percha is obtained. Railroads to connect the
+forest belts to the coast are the one thing needed to make Sumatra a
+lumber-producing country.</p>
+
+<p>For some reason or other many of the wild animals that crossed the
+shallow water between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra did not cross the
+Sunda Strait to Java. There are many more kinds of animals in Sumatra
+than in Java; indeed, nearly all the larger species of wild animals of
+southern Asia are found in Sumatra, and only a few are in Java. There
+are many elephants in the uplands; the rhinoceros lives in the lowlands;
+the tiger lives in the jungle, as in<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_313" id="pg_313">313</a></span> India. The flying "fox" is one of
+the curiosities of Sumatra. So much for a name, however, for the animal
+is not a fox but a very large bat. Its wings are membranes that connect
+the limbs corresponding to one's fingers. Like other bats, it hangs from
+the limb of a tree, head down, in the daytime, and goes to business at
+night. Its body is not much larger than that of a hare, but when in
+flight it is four or five feet from tip to tip.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:385px'>
+<a name="illus-069" id="illus-069"></a>
+<img src="images/w313.jpg" alt="Natives in the jungle, Sumatra" title="" width="385" /><br />
+<span class="caption">Natives in the jungle, Sumatra</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w313-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The flying "cat" is likewise a misnamed animal that bears no
+relationship to pussy, but is a kind of lemur. The wild dog, however, is
+very much dog and nuisance at the same time&mdash;as much of a nuisance as
+the coyote of the western United States, and far more numerous. The
+"coffee" rat is likewise a great nuisance wherever found; unfortunately
+it is found almost everywhere. Monkeys are also numerous.</p>
+
+<p>The natives of Sumatra, like those of Java, are Malays.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_314" id="pg_314">314</a></span> Unlike them,
+however, they are difficult to govern; some of the interior tribes are
+fierce and warlike. Near the coast, and in places controlled by the
+Dutch, the native ruler is subject to an "elder brother" or Dutch
+commissioner. Most of the tribes of the interior are Muhammadans; they
+believe that they will be blessed if they are killed in war, and,
+therefore, they take every opportunity to make war. The natives of
+Acheen, a province in the northwestern part of the island, have always
+given the Dutch a great deal of trouble, and they are not fully
+conquered, even after a hundred years of warfare.</p>
+
+<p>One of the interior tribes, it is thought, came from India several
+hundred years ago, for their religion and customs are much the same as
+those of the Hindus. Although they are surrounded by savage tribes, and
+far removed from the civilization, both of India and Europe, they have
+reached a remarkable condition of civilization of their own. They are
+excellent farmers and stockmen; they also make firearms, cloth, and
+jewelry which they sell to the Malay peoples about them.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the island the houses are much like those of Malay peoples
+elsewhere, with timber frames and thatched roofs. As in the other
+islands, they are set on posts wherever floods are likely to occur. The
+larger timbers of many houses are beautifully carved, although many of
+the designs are grotesque and even hideous. All the houses are clustered
+in villages. This is done partly for protection against man-eating
+tigers, and partly because the people are inclined to social life. The
+club-house is usually to be found in the villages. It is the town hall,
+bazaar, market, lounging place, and social club combined. Perhaps a
+wedding and a funeral may be going on there at the same time. Men
+gamble, and women gossip and chew betel-nut; the peddler likewise shows
+his bargain-counter wares at the club-house.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_315" id="pg_315">315</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The great plantations of sugar, coffee, and tobacco are managed much the
+same as in Java. The rice-fields are cultivated usually by the Chinese,
+and they have much of the trade in the rice. Sumatra is famous for its
+tobacco. The plants grow larger and higher than those cultivated in the
+United States. The leaves are large and the best of them are used as
+"wrappers," or outer coverings for fine cigars. Sumatra leaf commands a
+high price, and a considerable amount of the best tobacco is shipped to
+Cuba and the United States.</p>
+
+<p>The coffee crop is also of excellent quality. Some of it reaches the
+market as "Java" coffee; and, indeed, it is equal to the best coffee
+grown in Java. The beans are large, light in color, and of fine flavor.
+Carefully sorted Palembang coffee commands a high price.</p>
+
+<p>Sumatra is famous for its pepper, and not far from one-half the world's
+product of pepper comes from this island. The plant producing pepper is
+not the pepper-tree so commonly grown for its beautiful foliage and
+bright red berries in California and Mexico; it is a vine or climbing
+bush. It is commonly planted near to a sapling, around which it twines;
+but in many plantations the plants are pruned and trimmed so that they
+grow unsupported. The pepper of commerce consists of the dried berries
+or fruit of the vine. It is the custom to pick the berries as they turn
+red. The berries shrivel and turn black as they dry. These, when ground,
+are the black pepper of commerce. When fully ripe the color of the berry
+turns to a pale yellow and the outer skin is easily removed. The
+"husked" berries are used for making the white pepper of commerce.</p>
+
+<p>Sago is also an important product of Sumatra. It is the starchy pith of
+a kind of palm-tree&mdash;the sago-palm. The pith is dried, ground to a
+powder and washed in order to remove the stringy fibre. In the process
+of washing, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_316" id="pg_316">316</a></span> starchy granules sink to the bottom, while the woody
+fibre floats off.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width:383px'>
+<a name="illus-070" id="illus-070"></a>
+<img src="images/w316.jpg" alt="A jungle, scene in Sumatra" title="" width="383" /><br />
+<span class="caption">A jungle, scene in Sumatra</span>
+<br /><a href="images/w316-lg.jpg"><span style='font-size: x-small'>LINK TO IMAGE</span></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>There are several large towns in Sumatra&mdash;Siboga, Padang, Benkulen,
+Telok Belong, and Palembang&mdash;but their names are rarely seen in print or
+spoken. The reason is not hard to find; Singapore, just across the
+Strait of Malacca, is a free port, with a fine harbor. Vessels from
+every part of the world call at Singapore, and it is much more
+convenient to have the Sumatra products marketed there than to send them
+from Sumatra ports.</p>
+
+<p>A few miles to the east of Sumatra are the islands of Banka and
+Billiton, famous for their tin mines. These mines produce about
+two-thirds the world's supply of tin. It is interesting to know that the
+silver-white metal, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_317" id="pg_317">317</a></span> which so many of our kitchen utensils are
+coated, has travelled more than half-way around the world to be used,
+but this is probably the case.</p>
+
+<p>Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. In this narrow strait is
+situated the island of Krakatoa, remarkable for one of the most
+destructive volcanic eruptions that have ever occurred. The great
+eruption was preceded by low rumblings and slight explosions for three
+months before the volcano burst out in all its fury, on the night of
+August 26, 1883. The explosions were heard at a distance of many hundred
+miles and over an area equal to one-thirteenth of the earth's surface.
+The entire southern part of the island was blown away and the earth was
+shaken for thousands of miles, the shock being recorded as far as South
+America.</p>
+
+<p>The upheaval caused a tidal wave one hundred and twenty feet high which,
+with the lava clots and ash ejected, destroyed all of the towns and
+plantations bordering on both sides of the straits. In this disaster
+more than forty thousand persons perished and every vestige of animal
+and vegetable life in the surrounding region disappeared. The only
+person left to look out upon the scene of destruction was the keeper of
+the light-house, a structure one hundred and thirty feet high, whose
+light the gigantic waves merely succeeded in extinguishing.</p>
+
+<p>A cubic mile of material is said to have been thrown out in the form of
+lapilli and dust by the successive explosions. The dust, estimated to
+have reached the height of several miles, was disseminated by the upper
+currents of air and caused the brilliant sunsets seen for months in
+nearly every part of the civilized world.</p>
+
+<p>Celebes is the most curiously shaped island in the world. It has a
+central body from which project four large arms, making it look like a
+huge starfish. These radiating peninsulas are mountain ranges, here and
+there peaked with<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_318" id="pg_318">318</a></span> volcano cinder cones. There are no low-lying marshes;
+the position and high surface render this one of the healthiest islands
+in the Malay Archipelago.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch have had settlements here for more than two centuries; and
+their wise and just treatment of the natives has made the island famous
+for peace and prosperity. Except a few tribes of the interior, all the
+islanders are at least partly civilized. The natives who live in the
+coast regions are intelligent and industrious. Paganism and corrupted
+Muhammadanism are the prevailing religions, but Christianity has secured
+a firm hold in a few places. A written language and literature have
+prevailed for centuries.</p>
+
+<p>All able-bodied men are compelled to work and each year to give a few
+days' labor to keep the excellent roads in good repair; but they reap
+the reward of their industry and are happy and contented.</p>
+
+<p>The best coffee land in the East Indies is to be found on this island.
+The most favorable soil for coffee is the rich, black volcanic ash that
+covers the mountain slopes in many parts of north Celebes.</p>
+
+<p>The Menado coffee is said to be the finest the world produces.</p>
+
+<p>The coffee-trees are allowed to grow to the height of six feet, when the
+tops are cut off, so as to strengthen the growth of the lateral branches
+which bear the fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Besides a fungus disease, coffee has many other enemies. Both rats and
+mice are fond of the juicy stalks of the berries when they are nearly
+ripe, and they nibble at them until the berries fall. The long-haired
+black rat is the greatest of these pests. Cats are kept on each
+plantation to prey upon the animal pests; but, unfortunately, the
+natives are very fond of cats&mdash;not as pets, but as articles of food.
+This feline appetite on the part of the workmen causes the owner to keep
+a vigilant watch over his cat family, and to severely<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_319" id="pg_319">319</a></span> punish any
+offender. Perhaps in time they will learn to employ the python as a
+rat-catcher, for the python is not surpassed for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The forest trees are much like those of the adjacent islands. There are
+no very large animals, those peculiar to Celebes being the tailless
+baboon and the "pig-deer," which has tusks and curving horns.</p>
+
+<p>Parts of the interior of Celebes still remain unexplored and are said to
+be inhabited by cannibals and head-hunters.</p>
+
+<p>Macassar is the capital and chief city. It is situated in the southern
+part of the southwestern peninsula, and in commerce ranks next to the
+largest cities of Java. Its trade totals upward of three million dollars
+annually.</p>
+
+<p>The principal exports of the island are coffee, rice, nutmegs, cloves,
+dammer, copal, rattan, copra, tobacco, trepang, and tortoise-shell;
+coffee greatly outranking all the other products.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em">
+<a name="BORNEO_AND_PAPUA_9407" id="BORNEO_AND_PAPUA_9407"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+<h3>BORNEO AND PAPUA</h3>
+</div>
+
+<p>Hot, damp, and swampy along the coast lowlands; rugged and fairly
+pleasant in the high plateau lands&mdash;that is Borneo, an island as large
+as the State of Texas. Borneo has a great future, however, when a race
+of civilized people can be found who can inhabit it, for it is even more
+unhealthful than Sumatra.</p>
+
+<p>But the wealth is there&mdash;diamonds that are rather poor in color, gold,
+copper, iron, coal, and petroleum. That is a good list, and it remains
+only to find a people who can live there and make the great wealth of
+the island available to the world. Perhaps it may be the Japanese&mdash;less
+likely the Chinese, for they are content to trade with the natives.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_320" id="pg_320">320</a></span>
+Possibly it may be the Filipinos&mdash;for some of the Filipinos, especially
+the Moros, are the descendants of Borneo peoples.</p>
+
+<p>Safe it is to say that the native tribes will not accomplish this
+result, for they are among the most debased and disgusting savages on
+the face of the earth. Many of these tribes are Malays governed by
+chiefs, or dattoes. Some of the tribes near the coast carry on a crude
+sort of farming, which is encouraged by the Chinese merchants who buy
+their produce. Some of the interior tribes just live, being both lazy
+and vicious. For food, there is an abundance of bananas and meat. As to
+the meat, it makes little or no difference about the kind; any animal
+whose flesh has become putrid is relished.</p>
+
+<p>The most interesting natives of Borneo, however, are the Dyaks, the
+people from whom the Moros of the Philippine Islands are descended. They
+are perhaps the most intelligent, but certainly the most troublesome
+peoples. They are best known as the "head-hunters" of Borneo. Among
+themselves, the one who has killed the greatest number of people is the
+greatest man of the tribe, and the heads of his victims are the
+testimony to his greatness. So the head-hunters kill just for the
+pleasure of killing, and the heads of their victims are kept as
+trophies. Not all Dyak tribes are head-hunters, however.</p>
+
+<p>When they are not off on head-hunting expeditions, the Dyaks are very
+industrious farmers. They are fond of ornaments. The men of some of the
+tribes wear richly embroidered jackets; the women may wear waists made
+of fine rattan strung with metal beads and ornaments. They may even wear
+crowns of burnished metal; at all events, they are certain to wear
+earrings of astonishing size&mdash;perhaps three or four inches across and
+made of solid brass. To hold these pieces of native jewelry the lobes of
+the ears,<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_321" id="pg_321">321</a></span> after they have been pierced, are stretched until they form
+loops two inches or more in length.</p>
+
+<p>The men also are fond of earrings and similar ornaments, but a real Dyak
+swell does not consider himself properly in style until his front teeth
+are filed away so that they are notched and shut together like the teeth
+of a steel trap. Moreover, he cannot hope to obtain a wife unless he has
+at least one head as a trophy.</p>
+
+<p>In hunting, the Dyak often makes use of the blow-gun. This weapon, for
+short distances, is about as sure and true as a rifle. It is a wooden
+tube four or five feet in length, the bore of which is made very
+straight and smooth. The arrow, or dart, fits the bore of the tube. To
+make sure of the game the tip of the dart is dipped in a most deadly
+poison; so that, if it merely breaks the skin of the animal at which it
+is shot, it makes a wound that is quickly fatal.</p>
+
+<p>Unlike most of the natives of the tropical Indies, instead of living in
+villages, the Dyaks frequently live in communal houses. Sometimes twenty
+or more families live in the same house, which is not unlike the
+communal houses of the American Indian, except that it is surrounded by
+a broad veranda.</p>
+
+<p>Hunting honey in the forests is one of the native sports. The forests of
+certain parts of Borneo seem to be alive with wild bees. As a result,
+honey and wax are very abundant. The honey-bear gets a good share of the
+wild honey, for his shaggy hide is proof against the stings of the bees.
+The Dyak hunter has no shaggy coating to protect him; so he goes about
+robbing the bees in a more scientific manner.</p>
+
+<p>The bees seem to prefer the mengalis tree, which has so many angles and
+hollow places about its trunk that to build the comb is an easy matter.
+Not infrequently there may be fifty or more swarms in a single tree.
+When a bee-tree is to be robbed, great piles of a certain plant or weed
+are<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_322" id="pg_322">322</a></span> collected and put in such a position that the smoke will be carried
+against the nesting-places of the swarms. The piles are then fired. The
+smoke neither kills the bees nor does it drive them off; it merely
+stupefies them. When the humming of the bees is hushed, comb and honey
+are easily removed. A considerable part of the wax is exported, but
+thousands of tons are wasted.</p>
+
+<p>Hunting in the forests of Borneo has its unpleasant features, for the
+leeches are almost as numerous as the leaves of the trees. They are big,
+fat, ugly-looking slugs, but they can stretch their bodies into a small,
+thin form. When waiting for a victim they lengthen and sway their
+threadlike bodies to and fro, ready to launch out at the first
+opportunity. So gently do they commence their work that the pricking
+sensation is felt only when they are gorged with blood and begin to
+loosen their hold.</p>
+
+<p>The gathering of edible birds' nests, built by a kind of swallow, is
+quite an industry, and is confined to the rocky-cliff sections of
+certain parts of the coast where cover abounds. This species of swallow
+is smaller than the common swallow and builds its nest either in the
+dark limestone caverns or in the crevices and nooks of the overhanging
+cliffs. The chief material used in constructing the nest is a glutinous
+saliva produced by the bird itself. The Chinese are very fond of the
+nests, and Chinese merchants buy most of them.</p>
+
+<p>The roofs of some of the caves frequented by these swallows are several
+hundred feet above their floors, and to reach the nests, scattered over
+the curved roofs and sides, it is necessary to construct ladders and
+stages. These are made out of rattan and bamboo and are fastened by pegs
+driven into the limestone walls. Crawling up on these slender supports
+with a candle and forked bamboo pole, the native proceeds to detach the
+nests, which he passes to a companion<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_323" id="pg_323">323</a></span> below. When the nests are built
+in caves and crevices, near the top of cliffs, a swinging ladder is
+dropped from above.</p>
+
+<p>There are two kinds of nests, the clear yellowish-white ones, and the
+dark ones. The former bring a price as high as twelve dollars per pound;
+the latter only one-tenth as much. The best nests are found in the
+darkest caves.</p>
+
+<p>Bird-nest gathering is a perilous calling, and serious accidents are not
+infrequent. The nests are gathered two or three times a year.</p>
+
+<p>The northern part of Borneo is British territory, and the British also
+control the States of Sarawak and Brunei; the rest of the island is a
+part of the Dutch East Indies. The British are more interested in the
+minerals and jungle produce, such as gutta-percha, rattan, rubber, and
+birds' nests, than in the cultivation of plantations. The Dutch, on the
+other hand, are trying to establish the great plantations there that
+have made Java famous. Already these are producing great quantities of
+sago, tobacco, and sugar.</p>
+
+<p>There are no large cities and only a few ports with good harbors, but
+German steamships make the rounds of the ports and carry the produce to
+Singapore, the clearing-house of the East Indies.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely one hundred and fifty miles north of Australia lies Papua, or
+New Guinea. Next to Greenland it is the largest island in the world, and
+in many ways it is the world's wonderland. It was one of the first large
+bodies of land discovered after the discovery of America, and one of the
+last to be settled by Europeans. Most likely dry land at one time
+connected Australia and New Guinea, for the animal and plant life of the
+two are much the same. Even the Great Barrier Reef that skirts the east
+coast of Australia extends part-way around New Guinea.</p>
+
+<p>Of all the islands southeast of Asia, New Guinea is the most
+interesting. It is rich beyond measure with things<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_324" id="pg_324">324</a></span> useful and
+beautiful. Sugar-cane grows wild from sea to mountain; wild oranges,
+lemons, and limes can be had for the picking; and land adapted for
+growing rice, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cocoanuts, and cinchona is
+plentiful. There are mountain summits clad in everlasting snow,
+healthful plateaus abounding in delightful scenery, and dank coast
+plains in which lurks the deadly jungle fever.</p>
+
+<p>Dense forests cover most of the island, but the forest trees of the East
+Indies are not to be found except here and there in the northwest neck
+of the island. The famous eucalyptus abounds in the lowland regions; so
+also does the nipa-palm. Pines, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand,
+grow in the high plateaus. Most singular of all, in the high mountain
+regions one may find the alpine plants of Europe, New Zealand, the
+Antarctic islands, and the Andine heights of South America. Still
+another strange feature is to be found: while the forest trees are
+Australian kinds, the plants that make the forests a thicket are the
+rattans and other jungle plants of India!</p>
+
+<p>New Guinea is noted for birds of beautiful plumage, especially birds of
+paradise, of which there are many kinds. Among the insects is one
+commonly known as the "praying" mantis. It is related to the grasshopper
+and is found also in many other parts of the world. In New Guinea the
+praying mantis is three or four inches long and at first sight seems to
+be nothing but a broken twig. In various parts of the world it is known
+as "preacher," "nun," "soothsayer," and "saint." It has received its
+name from the fact that it rests in a sort of kneeling position, holding
+its forelegs in a devotional attitude.</p>
+
+<p>Its character, however, is anything but saintly; it is a most vicious
+wretch that may well be called the tiger of the insect world. The
+devotional attitude is the position in which it can best seize its
+insect prey; for when an unsuspecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_325" id="pg_325">325</a></span> insect lights on what seems to be
+a green twig, snap!&mdash;those blade-like forelegs armed with sharp spikes
+come together like scissors, and the unlucky victim is cut to pieces in
+an instant.</p>
+
+<p>John Chinaman has discovered a use for the praying mantis&mdash;a very
+practical use, too. John and his near-by friends capture a lot of the
+insects, carry them to a convenient bungalow, turn them loose in a
+cockpit, and bet on the survivor. When the insects are turned loose
+there is business on hand, for they go to work at once, cutting one
+another to pieces by the most approved methods of surgical amputation.
+The owner of the survivor wins.</p>
+
+<p>The native Papuans much resemble the bushrangers of Australia; they are
+Negritos, with black skins and woolly hair. There are a few tribes of
+natives that much resemble the peoples of Samoa and Hawaii; there are
+also other tribes that resemble the Malays of southeastern Asia.</p>
+
+<p>The Papuan tribes of the coast are about as degraded as the bushrangers
+of Australia. Some of the tribes are cannibals who have a fondness for
+sailors that have been wrecked on the shores of New Guinea. They are
+neither better nor worse than most of the other tribes of islanders.
+Like other islanders, too, they are tractable and easily governed by the
+Europeans who treat them decently. Not very much is known about the
+tribes in the interior, except that some of them have neither houses nor
+clothing. They live in the trees, and wear no clothing. They are hardly
+better off than the troops of monkeys, but unlike them eat raw flesh
+instead of fruit and nuts.</p>
+
+<p>Missionaries have established schools along the coast settlements, and
+the native children trained in these schools make amazing progress. They
+learn to read and write quickly, are neat in dress, and polite in
+manners. Many of the boys who attend the mission schools are trained to<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_326" id="pg_326">326</a></span>
+skilled labor on the plantations; some go to the interior as missionary
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>A few of the Papuan tribes have reached a condition of barbarism much
+like that of the Iroquois Indians in New York when the white men found
+them. They live in houses, some of them four or five hundred feet in
+length. Perhaps thirty or forty families may occupy a single house. The
+houses are divided into apartments, each family living separately.</p>
+
+<p>In some of the tribes the men live in a communal house by themselves.
+The women live in small huts, two or three together. They cook the food,
+which they carry to the communal house; they also do all the work
+required in cultivating the gardens of yams, bananas, and vegetables.
+War, hunting, and fishing are the only pursuits of the men.</p>
+
+<p>Three nations, Holland, Great Britain, and Germany, have divided New
+Guinea among them. The Dutch have the eastern half of the island. The
+British and Germans possess each about one-quarter, British New Guinea
+being situated opposite to Queensland, Australia. The British own the
+Solomon Islands to the eastward of New Guinea, also.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch are laying out plantations and teaching the natives to work
+them in the same way that they are managed in Java. The British are busy
+exploring the interior, looking especially to the rich mines in their
+possession. They have also established a considerable trade in copra,
+sago, pearl shell, and cocoa-fibre mats. They are planting rubber-trees,
+for there is no better land in the world for rubber. They have one great
+advantage, namely, the Fly River, which is navigable six hundred miles
+from its mouth, and opens a trading route far into the interior. Port
+Moresby is the trade centre of British New Guinea.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans make their share of the island pay expenses<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_327" id="pg_327">327</a></span> by taxing and
+licensing the traders who go there to do business, and they manage to
+get a considerable profit out of it. When they find that a trading
+company is making too much money they buy the company out and carry on
+the business themselves; and this is profitable, too.</p>
+
+<p>Although less is known about New Guinea than almost any other part of
+the earth, enough is known to make it certain that it is one of the most
+desirable bodies of land in the world.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA***<br />&nbsp;</p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,10063 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wealth of the World's Waste Places and
+Oceania, by Jewett Castello Gilson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania
+
+
+Author: Jewett Castello Gilson
+
+
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007  [eBook #23546]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+AND OCEANIA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 23546-h.htm or 23546-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h/23546-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+Redway's Geographical Readers
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA
+
+by
+
+JEWETT C. GILSON
+Former Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, California
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: From the National Geographic Magazine, copyright 1911:
+The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah]
+
+
+
+Charles Scribner's Sons
+New York 1913
+
+Copyright, 1913,
+by Jewett C. Gilson
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Although the term "Waste Places" carries an implied meaning of
+"worthless," yet, interpreted in the light of Nature's methods, each
+region described, useless as it may apparently seem, possesses a
+definite relation to the rest of the world, and therefore to the
+well-being of man. The Sahara is the track of the winds whose moisture
+fertilizes the flood-plains of the Nile. The Himalaya Mountains condense
+the rain that gives life to India. From the inhospitable polar regions
+come the winds and currents that temper the heat of the tropics.
+
+Nature has secreted many of her most useful treasures in most forbidding
+places. The nitrates which fertilize so much of Europe are drawn from
+the fiercest of South American deserts, and the gold which measures
+American commerce is mined in the arctic wilds of Alaska or in the
+almost inaccessible scarps of the western highlands. The description of
+these regions and the portrayal of their relation to the rest of the
+world is the purpose of Part I of this book.
+
+Part II of the book deals with Oceania--more especially with our island
+possessions in the Pacific Ocean. It presents the salient features of
+the ocean grand division in the light of most recent knowledge.
+
+The author wishes to give credit to Mr. Jacques W. Redway, F.R.G.S., for
+suggesting the subject of Part I and for the inspiration he received
+from the distinguished geographer in developing the subject.
+
+J. C. G.
+
+Oakland, California,
+December 25, 1912.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+PART I--WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                           1
+
+    CHAPTER
+         I. THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST                           4
+        II. THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO                          27
+       III. YELLOWSTONE PARK                                          35
+        IV. TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES
+            AND GIANT TREES                                           51
+         V. DEATH VALLEY                                              58
+        VI. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES                           67
+       VII. THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN                                 82
+      VIII. THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA                              97
+        IX. THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN                           105
+         X. THE SAHARA                                               115
+        XI. POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC                128
+       XII. POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA                                147
+      XIII. ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH                           160
+       XIV. GREENLAND                                                170
+        XV. WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET                          175
+       XVI. RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS                                183
+      XVII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES                 190
+     XVIII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA    195
+       XIX. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR                       199
+        XX. THE BAKU OIL FIELDS                                      206
+       XXI. THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS                         211
+
+PART II--OCEANIA
+
+      XXII. THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC                               226
+     XXIII. AUSTRALIA                                                233
+      XXIV. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF                                   244
+       XXV. THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA                             250
+      XXVI. TASMANIA                                                 258
+     XXVII. NEW ZEALAND                                              262
+    XXVIII. SAMOA AND FIJI                                           270
+      XXIX. THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS                                     277
+       XXX. GUAM                                                     285
+      XXXI. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS                                   289
+     XXXII. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--JAVA                              301
+    XXXIII. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES               311
+     XXXIV. BORNEO AND PAPUA                                         319
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah        Frontispiece
+
+                                                                 PAGE
+
+Map of Islands of the Pacific                                   Facing 1
+
+Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost                             6
+
+Gila monsters                                                          9
+
+A giant cactus in Arizona                                             12
+
+The Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway         17
+
+Shoshone Project, Wyoming                                             25
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Colorado                                      29
+
+Grand View Trail                                                      33
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, looking down canyon
+from Grand Point                                                      37
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Mammoth Hot Springs,
+Summit Pools                                                          45
+
+The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Beehive Geyser                47
+
+The Brontosaurus                                                      53
+
+The Allosaurus                                                        55
+
+Twenty-mule borax team                                                61
+
+The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the road           73
+
+Llamas resting                                                        77
+
+Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya Railroad, Peru,
+13,600 feet high                                                      79
+
+Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River. Catching the
+material for caviare                                                  83
+
+Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River                         87
+
+Driving over the tundra in winter                                     91
+
+Train on the steppes of Russia                                        95
+
+Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India                               99
+
+Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India                                   107
+
+On the sands of the desert                                           117
+
+The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but furnishes milk,
+butter, and meat                                                     103
+
+A group of Arabs with their dromedaries                              111
+
+A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa                   125
+
+Peary's ship, the _Roosevelt_                                        137
+
+Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on the
+_Roosevelt_                                                          141
+
+Musk ox                                                              144
+
+An antarctic summer scene                                            149
+
+The penguin defies the cold                                          153
+
+Street in Reykjavik, Iceland                                         163
+
+North Cape, Iceland                                                  167
+
+Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland                         171
+
+A large iceberg                                                      173
+
+A group of Eskimos in south Greenland                                174
+
+The Straits of Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end       177
+
+Fuegians                                                             179
+
+The Everglades of Florida                                            184
+
+Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida               187
+
+The Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah                                191
+
+Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah                                  193
+
+This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the
+city nestling at its base, Gibraltar                                 201
+
+Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea                        209
+
+Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley                         219
+
+Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine                    223
+
+A Malay girl                                                         229
+
+A Malay boy                                                          231
+
+A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference                          235
+
+A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket                237
+
+An Australian emeu                                                   239
+
+Homestead and station in Young district, Australia                   243
+
+The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal
+structure in the world                                               247
+
+Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains nearly half a
+million people                                                       257
+
+Maori pa, or village                                                 263
+
+The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand                                   265
+
+Native canoe, Fiji Islands                                           275
+
+General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii                       279
+
+A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of Mauna-Loa, Hawaii    281
+
+Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find rice-farms as
+skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China                      287
+
+The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles along            291
+
+The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila             295
+
+Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands             297
+
+Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country                     299
+
+A breadfruit tree in Java                                            303
+
+Coffee-drying in Java                                                309
+
+Natives in the jungle, Sumatra                                       313
+
+A jungle, scene in Sumatra                                           316
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA
+
+[Illustration: Islands of the Pacific.]
+
+PART I
+
+WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+There is a great wealth of literature about what we call the world's
+productive lands--that is, the densely peopled lands that yield grain,
+meat, sugar, fruit, and all the various foodstuffs. In any well-equipped
+library we may find great numbers of useful books that will tell us all
+about the places where cotton, wool, and silk are grown, or where coal
+and iron are mined. All these lands are the dwelling places of many
+people. Networks of railways connect the various cities and villages,
+and probably a majority of the people living in them have travelled in
+and about much of the area of these lands.
+
+A large part of the earth's surface is commonly called "unproductive."
+As a rule this is only another way of saying that such parts of the
+world produce little foodstuffs. We must not take the word
+"unproductive" either too literally or too seriously, however, for Dame
+Nature has a way of secreting some of her choice treasures in places so
+forbidding and so desolate that only the most resolute and daring men
+even search for them. For instance, the mineral once much used by the
+makers of carbonated or "soda" water comes from a part of Greenland that
+is so bleak, cold, and inhospitable that no human beings can long exist
+there unless food and fuel are brought them from afar off. The famous
+"nitrates" of Chile are obtained in the fiercest part of the Andean
+desert. Not only the food but the water consumed must be carried to the
+miners, who are but little better than slaves. Most of the gold and
+silver is obtained in regions that are unfit for human habitation. The
+largest diamond fields in the world are in a region that will not
+produce even grass without irrigation--a region that would not be
+inhabited were there no diamonds. From the most inhospitable highlands
+of Asia comes a very considerable part of the precious mineral, jade.
+Death Valley, in the southern part of the United States, on account of
+its terrific heat, is perhaps the most unhabitable region in the world,
+but the borax which it produces is used in every civilized country. And
+so we might name regions by the score that are practically unhabitable,
+which nevertheless produce things necessary to civilized man.
+
+We call them "waste places," but this is far from true. For the greater
+part they are quite as necessary as the places we call fertile. Of
+foodstuffs, for instance, the greater part of the Rocky Mountain
+highland produces not much more than the State of New York. Yet the
+presence of this great mountain wall diverts the moist warm air from the
+Gulf of Mexico northward, making the Mississippi basin one of the
+foremost granaries of the world. The absence of rain in the west slope
+of the Peruvian Andes makes much of the western part of Chile and Peru a
+desert. But that same absence of rain makes the nitrate beds possible;
+for had there been yearly rains, the nitrates long since would have been
+leached out. So, the lands the nitrates now fertilize are far greater in
+area than that of the region of the nitrates.
+
+Then, perhaps, we turn our eyes oceanward. What! wealth in these great
+wastes? Most certainly, and indispensable wealth at that. Let us forget
+for a moment that the oceans produce about as much meatstuffs as the
+land; this is really the least important feature about them. The oceans
+produce one thing that is absolutely necessary for every living thing
+almost every hour of the day, and that is fresh water. Every drop of
+fresh water that falls on the land is born of the ocean. Even the cold,
+polar oceans are indispensable to life, for their waters are constantly
+flowing out into the warmer oceans, thereby tempering the water of the
+latter and preventing it from being too warm for living things.
+
+Thus we see that, after all, Dame Nature is not very unkind to her
+subjects. Compensation is her great law; if her supplies are "short" in
+one direction they are "long" in another. And when we take the broader
+view we must conclude that there are no waste places. It is only when we
+take the extreme and narrow view that we voice the persiflage of the
+poet Pope:
+
+    "While man exclaims: 'See all things for my use'--
+    'See man for mine,' replies a pampered goose."
+
+Now, these waste places are of various kinds and in pretty nearly every
+locality. Some are deserts pure and simple; some are very dry and, to
+avoid hurting our national feelings, we politely refer to them as "arid
+regions"; some are so rugged and inaccessible that nothing short of
+dirigible balloons and aeroplanes could open a general communication
+with them; still others are in polar regions and too bleak and desolate
+to produce foodstuffs or support human life. The purpose of these
+chapters is to present the characteristics of these waste places. Most
+of them have been conquered by man, and their resources have been opened
+wide to the world. Possibly others yet remain to be conquered, but "what
+man has done, man can do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST
+
+
+Years ago the maps of the United States depicted a vast region west of
+the Missouri River stippled with dots, which were supposed to imitate
+sand, and marked with the portentous legend, "Great American Desert." As
+sturdy pioneers pushed their settlements farther and farther westward,
+the great American desert began to shrink in size until the roseate
+descriptions of prospectors and land speculators led one to believe that
+this whole region needed only a touch of the plough and the harrow to
+produce the most bountiful crops grown anywhere in the world.
+
+Nevertheless, the great domain extending from the
+twenty-five-hundred-foot level to the crest of the Sierra Nevada
+Mountains is a region so deficient in rainfall that, for the greater
+part, ordinary foodstuffs will not grow without irrigation; so farming
+must be confined mainly to the flood-plains of the rivers. Here and
+there considerable areas have been made fertile by capturing rivers,
+damming their streams so as to create great reservoirs, and then
+measuring out the waters to the farm lands below. The Salt River dam in
+Arizona, recently completed, will supply water to two thousand square
+miles, or about twenty-five thousand fifty-acre farms.
+
+But in spite of all that man has done and can do to make this region
+fruitful, not far from half a million square miles will ever remain
+barren so far as the production of foodstuffs is concerned. Now this
+whole region, irrigated lands included, does not produce more wealth
+than the State of New York alone--possibly it does not produce so much.
+
+Indirectly, however, it is worth more than two thousand million dollars
+yearly to the rest of the United States; for it is a great highland
+whose rims, the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountain ranges, are about
+two miles high. Now, these lofty ranges wring almost every drop of
+moisture from the rain-bearing winds of the Pacific Ocean, leaving them
+too dry to shed any moisture over the eastern half of the United States.
+Because of this great mountain barrier, the winds that bring rain and
+bountiful crops to the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic slope, follow
+an easier passage, flowing directly from the Gulf of Mexico and the
+Caribbean Sea. And the copious rains are the chief wealth of this
+midland region.
+
+But the arid western highland possesses a great wealth of its own--a
+wealth whose influence is world-wide, for it is one of the world's chief
+storehouses of gold, silver, and copper. Gold and silver are the mediums
+of commercial transactions, and copper is the chief medium for the
+transmission of electric power. These metals, therefore, are quite as
+necessary as are iron and steel. Moreover, this great waste, a seeming
+incubus on the face of the earth, is each year disclosing more and more
+of its mineral and agricultural wealth.
+
+Gold is the most widely disseminated of all metals, and is said to be
+where you find it. That this statement is true has been demonstrated
+many times, especially during the last few decades. In the north it has
+been found in the frozen ground of Alaska and Siberia, in the south in
+the sands on the surf-beaten shores of Tierra del Fuego and in the reefs
+of the Transvaal, while it is found in numerous places lying between
+these extremes.
+
+The vast tract of land in the western part of the United States whence
+most of these metals are obtained has been the scene of many tragedies.
+It is an inhospitable region, scanty in both animal and vegetable life,
+where climatic conditions call for heroic daring on the part of those
+who would search out its hidden mysteries; it is a land of death-dealing
+mirages, yet containing untold wealth for the miner, and likewise for
+the husbandman who can irrigate the fallow parched surface.
+
+[Illustration: Mohave Desert, California. Buzzards' Roost]
+
+The bold prospector has unearthed in many places of southern Nevada
+gold-bearing rock assaying thousands of dollars to the ton, the result
+being the building up of cities and towns and the construction of
+connecting railroads to meet the demands of the growing commerce. Until
+recently, silver was the principal metal sought and found in the State
+of Nevada; but now gold is king, and his throne has been shifted from
+one desert camp to another, each laying claim to his abundant presence,
+while new claimants are ever bringing new treasures into light.
+
+The two most valuable deposits of the precious metals now known in
+Nevada are at Tonopah and Goldfield, the discovery of the first having
+been made in 1901 and of the latter in the following year. Some of the
+Goldfield ore has assayed as high as thirty thousand dollars per ton,
+and so rich were many of its ores that they were sacked and carefully
+guarded until landed at the reduction works. In one year and a half from
+the discovery of gold at Goldfield the output reached four million
+dollars.
+
+These mines of the Nevada deserts excel in the richness and abundance of
+their ores, while in the future these camps bid fair to outrival in
+development all other sections of the United States. A few years ago the
+southern part of the Silver State was considered utterly worthless and a
+region to be shunned like a charnel-house, on account of its barren and
+dangerous character. Now it is the Mecca of the gold-seeker.
+
+These mines have already made many a poor man wealthy and many a wealthy
+man a millionaire. Each hillock, ledge, or ravine holds a possible
+fortune, and no hardship and peril is too great for the prospector lured
+by the hope of a rich find. The prosperous desert mining town, first
+built of canvas and rough lumber, is soon replaced by a better class of
+buildings, and water is brought through long miles of pipe from the
+nearest available source. Anon, electric-lighting and other modern
+conveniences are added, thereby making life more tolerable in a fierce
+climate of heat and cold, of fiercer winds and blinding dust.
+
+Not only is gold found in these desert wastes, but borax, nitre,
+sulphur, silver, salt, soda, opals, garnets, turquoises, onyx, and
+marble form a part of its resources. Rich gold mines have built the
+towns of Randsburg and Johannesburg in the midst of the Mohave desert,
+while finds of rich ore made elsewhere are of frequent occurrence. It is
+thought that in the near future sufficient nitre can be obtained from
+the deserts of California and Nevada to render the United States
+independent of Chile, from whose desert, Atacama, the world's chief
+supply of this mineral is now obtained.
+
+Perhaps there is no part of the United States more healthy and at the
+same time more deadly than the southeastern part of California, embraced
+in those indefinite areas called the Mohave and Colorado deserts. That
+life and death should lay claim to the same regions with equal strength
+seems somewhat of a riddle, but a careful investigation of the
+conditions will make good the claims of both. Here are regions rivalling
+the Sahara in heat, lack of water, and barrenness, and in many parts as
+difficult to traverse; regions full of surprises in deceptive mirages,
+peculiar vegetation, strange animal life, occasional cloud-bursts, purity
+and exhilarating effects of atmosphere, charm of ever-changing colors
+reflected from the mountains, wealth of floral display in early spring,
+and marvellous fertility of soil when touched by the magic wand of
+water. All these and a certain weirdness of beauty difficult to define
+give these great wastes a peculiar attraction of their own which only
+those who have spent much time there can understand and appreciate.
+
+For the dread white plague in its early stages there is no medicine and
+no other climate that can equal the pure, healing atmosphere of these
+deserts. A new lease of life may be gained by the nerve-racked man or
+woman who will lay aside all home worries and spend a few months at some
+congenial home on one or another of these deserts.
+
+[Illustration: Gila monsters]
+
+Among the animal life found on the desert are the wildcat, coyote,
+rabbit, deer, rat, tortoise, scorpion, centipede, tarantula, Gila
+monster, chuck-walla, desert rattlesnake, side-winder, humming-bird,
+eagle, quail, and road-runner. Wild horses and wild donkeys, or
+"burros," frequent these great wastes, cropping the vegetation that
+grows on the oases.
+
+One of the most interesting of these animals is the desert-rat, whose
+habits, seemingly intelligent and equally curious, enable him to
+maintain a home amid surroundings most unfavorable to his survival. He
+is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always
+leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often
+called the trade rat. Night-time is his "busy day."
+
+The house that he builds for himself is a veritable fortified castle
+built in up-to-date desert-rat style, under a protecting bush or rock,
+or beside a cactus--preferably a prickly pear. This stronghold, from
+four to five feet long and three feet high, is made of sticks interwoven
+with pieces of prickly cactus, thorny twigs, and odd bits in
+general--great care being taken to have most of the thorns project
+outward. His private quarters consist of a shallow hole burrowed under
+the centre of this thorn-woven pile. Access to the interior is gained by
+a winding passage.
+
+The only enemy that might try to thread the mazy hallway is the rattler,
+who by an ingenious device is deterred from even making the attempt. To
+keep his snakeship from intruding on domestic privacy Mr. Rat takes
+several strips of spiny cactus and lays them flatways across the
+passageway leading to his retreat.
+
+It is well known that a rattlesnake will not crawl over a prickly
+substance; hence a traveller when camping out at night in rattlesnake
+regions often surrounds his sleeping place with a horsehair rope as a
+safeguard against such an unwelcome intruder. Even the hungry, prowling
+coyote, who would make short work of the rat could he but get at him,
+fights shy of lacerating his paws by attempting to tear down the
+formidable pile.
+
+The desert-rat has a morbid desire to carry to his home any small
+article which he may chance to find lying around, as many a desert miner
+has found to his discomfiture, but he always leaves something in its
+place, such as a strip of cactus or a stick.
+
+For downright strategy no creature inhabiting the desert surpasses the
+road-runner, sometimes called the ground-cuckoo or snake-killer. Though
+omnivorous, this bird lives chiefly on reptiles and mollusks. It is
+decked in a gay plumage of coppery green, with streaks of white on the
+sides and a topknot of deep blue. In fleetness of foot it is said to
+equal the horse. Many stories are told of its surrounding a coiled
+sleeping rattlesnake with strips of cactus and then tantalizing its
+victim until, baffled in every attempt to get away, the snake finally
+inflicts a deadly bite on itself. Then the road-runner leisurely
+proceeds to devour the suicide.
+
+The characteristic plants of these deserts are sage, mesquite,
+greasewood, and a great variety of cacti. Of the cactus family, the most
+conspicuous is the _saguaro_, or giant cactus, which frequently attains
+the height of fifty feet. All the cacti are leafless and abundantly
+supplied with sharp, needle-like spines which protect them from
+herbivorous animals. The bark or outer covering has a firm, close
+texture that prevents the sap from evaporating during the long, dry
+season. In traversing the deserts during May and June, one is amazed at
+the display of beautiful blossoms of white, yellow, purple, pink, and
+scarlet issuing from their thorny stalks.
+
+The plant most welcome to the thirsty traveller, and which has saved the
+lives of many a wandering prospector, is the "well of the desert," a
+barrel-shaped cactus thickly studded with sharp spines. When one cuts
+out the centre of the plant in a bowl-like form, the cavity soon fills
+up with a watery liquid that is most refreshing.
+
+[Illustration: A giant cactus in Arizona]
+
+Hot and forbidding as are these terrible wastes, they are the dwelling
+places of several tribes of Indians. The desert cactus furnishes them a
+large part of their food, and the fibre is woven into cloth to provide
+them with clothing. These Indians have been acclimated to the desert for
+centuries and are well versed in all of its moods and mysteries. They
+know of no better abode; neither can they be induced to leave it for a
+more congenial climate and fertile soil. Travellers and prospectors have
+told many stories about their experiences in these deserts. But perhaps
+no story has possessed a greater fascination than that of the lost
+Pegleg Mine.
+
+The story of this lost mine has been told and retold with many
+variations for the past seventy years, and more than a score of persons
+have lost their lives in attempting to rediscover it. In 1836, according
+to the traditional story, a man named Smith, distinguished from the rest
+of the Smith family by the possession of a wooden leg, was journeying
+with several companions from Yuma over the Colorado desert. On account
+of his wooden stump he was dubbed "Pegleg" by his fellow-travellers.
+
+After having been out several days and not finding any springs or water
+holes, the prospectors became greatly alarmed and hastened toward three
+small buttes which they saw standing out in the desert, in the hope of
+finding water in the dry wash leading from their bases. On arriving at
+the foot of the hills they were sadly disappointed; diligent search
+revealed no signs of water. He of the wooden leg climbed to the top of
+one of the buttes to get a better view of the country, and to the
+northward saw a high mountain; but before descending, he observed some
+black stones under his feet and on picking one up found it heavy and
+filled with a brassy-colored metal. He then picked up several of the
+stones and put them into his pockets, but being desirous of reaching
+water as soon as possible, he gave little thought to his find.
+
+He told his companions of the mountain seen to the north and advised all
+possible haste to reach it, saying that he believed that they would
+there find water. The next day at nightfall they succeeded in reaching
+the base of the mountain in an exhausted condition and found a spring of
+cool, clear water. They were thus barely saved from a lingering death by
+thirst. The mountain was named Smith Mountain.
+
+At San Bernardino, Smith showed his ore to an expert, who pronounced it
+nearly pure gold. The real importance of the discovery did not seem to
+dawn on the one-legged man, however, until thirteen years afterward;
+then, in 1849, it was heralded to the world that wonderful discoveries
+of gold had been made in several parts of California and that a man
+could dig out of the ground a fortune in a few days or weeks. Smith
+became enthusiastic and organized an expedition in San Francisco to seek
+for his desert mine where gold could be had for the picking up.
+
+The expedition started out from Los Angeles. One night, just before
+reaching Smith Mountain, the Indians who had been taken along to pack
+the supplies secretly decamped with the provisions, thus compelling the
+prospectors to return as speedily as possible to save their lives. Smith
+felt discouraged and left the company at San Bernardino. Whether he
+perished in again trying to find his mine or left the country is not
+known. At any rate, he was never heard of afterward.
+
+In 1860 a man named McGuire deposited in one of the San Francisco banks
+several thousand dollars in gold nuggets which he said he obtained near
+Smith Mountain. He organized a party of six to hunt for the Pegleg Mine.
+What they found, however, will never be known, for they all perished,
+and their bleached bones were found on the desert a long time afterward.
+They were not alone in disaster, however, for very many others in trying
+to find the legacy of Smith have met the same fate.
+
+But the hidden wealth of this great region, so long known as the "Great
+American Desert," is by no means confined to its storehouses of gold,
+silver, and copper. Here, there, and almost everywhere are areas that
+lack but one element to make them the most productive regions of the
+world, and that one element is water.
+
+The conquest of the Colorado desert is not the first instance of desert
+land reclamation in the United States, but it is certainly one of the
+marvels of the world's history. A more pronounced and inhospitable
+desert never existed; and, in proportion to the area reclaimed, it is
+doubtful if one can find greater productivity than the lands that
+constitute Imperial Valley. Let us take a glance at nature's work in
+this region.
+
+Long before the Mississippi was born the Colorado was an ancient river
+and it formerly flowed through a fertile valley. During countless ages
+it has stripped from the plateau and carried into the Gulf of California
+a deposit of rock waste from the land surface of its basin many feet
+deep, and abraded billions of tons of material from its channel. All
+this silt and detritus have served to fill up the northern part of the
+gulf, the result of the deposit being an immense land area. At length a
+great bar was formed across the northern part of the gulf, making a sort
+of inland sea. Then the hot climate caused the water to evaporate, while
+from time to time the Colorado overflowed its banks, spreading a rich
+sediment over the former sea-bed.
+
+Various parts of this depression, which, like Palestine, lie below the
+sea-level, are known as Salton, Coahuilla, and Imperial Valleys. The
+lowest part, now filled with water, is usually called the Salton Sea.
+The whole of this region is comprehended under the name of Colorado
+Desert. In 1900 a company was formed to reclaim that part of the desert
+included in Imperial Valley, by taking water out of the Colorado River a
+few miles below the boundary between California and Mexico.
+
+A main canal, called the Imperial Canal, one hundred miles long, seventy
+feet wide, and eight feet deep carries water from the Colorado to
+Imperial Valley, where it is distributed by hundreds of smaller canals.
+The irrigation facilities are already sufficient to water more than one
+hundred thousand acres.
+
+This region, rightly named the hot-house of America, produces marvellous
+crops of hay, grain, and fruits; it is an ideal place for raising
+live-stock and poultry as well. Some of this land already brings into
+its owners from three hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars yearly
+income per acre, and because of its wonderful fertility it is likened to
+the valley of the Nile.
+
+In 1904 the Imperial Canal was filled with silt for some distance, thus
+preventing the flow of the proper amount of water needed for irrigation.
+To remedy the defect a temporary canal was cut around the head-gate.
+This expedient had been tried and then the gap had been closed up before
+high water. At this particular time high water came earlier than usual,
+and a great flood tore out the channel of the temporary canal to such an
+extent that before it could be prevented the whole Colorado River was
+flowing through the breach, leaving its own bed perfectly dry to the
+Gulf of California, filling up the Salton Valley, burying up the Salton
+salt-works, and making an inland sea such as formerly existed there.
+After most strenuous efforts, and at the enormous expense of upward of a
+million dollars, the gap was at length repaired and the Colorado made to
+flow in its own bed.
+
+One should remember that in the development of these deserts the
+prospector owes a deep debt of gratitude to that patient, faithful
+little beast, the donkey, or "burro," as it is commonly known; without
+the service of this animal many a man would have suffered a lingering
+death. As a matter of fact, it is unsafe to venture far out into the
+desert unaccompanied by this oft-maligned creature--about the only
+animal fitted to carry supplies.
+
+[Illustration: _Built by the U. S. Reclamation Service_ The Roosevelt
+Dam, Arizona, showing south bridge and spillway]
+
+But the use of dams and canals to conserve and supply water for
+irrigation prevailed even in most ancient times. Extensive irrigation
+works were built in Egypt three thousand years ago, and in India, China,
+Persia, and the countries bordering on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers
+irrigation dates back centuries before the Christian era.
+
+The Romans introduced irrigation into southern Europe. When Pizarro
+conquered the empire of the Incas he found the people possessed of
+wonderful systems for irrigation. Likewise, Cortez found the Aztecs
+making extensive canals. Remains of great irrigation works are found
+to-day in Arizona and New Mexico, where our modern engineers wisely
+adopt the canal routes which were established by a race now extinct.
+
+At the present time India is irrigating twenty-five million acres of
+land, the United States thirteen million, Egypt seven million, and Italy
+three million. It is estimated that the United States has left one
+hundred and eighty million acres of arid and semi-arid land available
+for reclamation and four times as much that is incapable of being
+reclaimed.
+
+No other question of to-day is of such vital and far-reaching importance
+as that of the reclamation of the millions of acres of sleeping arid
+lands in the western part of our country. Mines may be exhausted,
+forests slain, and cities annihilated, but wastes made fruitful through
+the potency of water will remain everlasting sources of wealth to the
+nation.
+
+During the last few years our government has been very active in
+promoting irrigation by building impounding dams and constructing canals
+and tunnels for the delivery of water. In connection with the various
+irrigation works the government has already established five
+hydro-electric plants which furnish water, motive power, and light as
+may be required. From the big Roosevelt Dam and the drops of the level
+in the canal connected therewith, twenty-six thousand horse-power will
+be developed incidental to the reclamation of two hundred thousand acres
+of land.
+
+The miracle-working agent, water, has already reclaimed thirteen million
+acres of our domain, and these areas now produce two hundred and sixty
+million dollars annually; moreover, they furnish homes to more than
+three hundred thousand people. Prosperous rural communities with
+thousands of happy, rosy-cheeked children, blooming orchards, broad,
+fertile fields prolific beyond comparison, and flourishing cities
+replace wastes of sand and sage-brush.
+
+The United States Government alone has spent already sixty millions of
+dollars under the Reclamation Act which went into effect in 1902, and
+the end is not yet, for as the vista of human achievements in this line
+broadens still greater works will be inaugurated and successfully
+consummated. In Arizona, California, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana,
+New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming the United States
+Government already is working on or has completed twenty-six important
+irrigation projects.
+
+The most wonderful work combining the highest engineering skill and
+daring is found in the western part of Colorado, where from Black
+Canyon, an almost inaccessible gorge three thousand feet deep, the whole
+Gunnison River has been diverted to the Uncompahgre Valley. To take the
+water out of the river it was necessary to bore a tunnel six miles long
+through a mountain from the canyon to the valley.
+
+To determine the feasibility of diverting the course of the river, it
+was first necessary to make an exploration of the canyon. No one before
+had ever had the hardihood to even make the attempt, on account of the
+extreme danger of a journey between the narrow black walls of this
+gloomy abyss.
+
+In 1853 Captain Gunnison discovered the river which bears his name. He
+traced its course to where it plunged into a chasm so deep and dangerous
+that he feared to follow it farther and named the gorge Black Canyon.
+Some twenty years later Professor Hayden of the United States Geological
+Survey, looking over the brink of the abyss, declared it inaccessible.
+
+The State of Colorado, desiring to find some way of utilizing the waters
+of the Gunnison River for irrigating the arid land adjacent, in 1900
+called for volunteers to explore the canyon. Five men responded.
+
+Provided with boats, life-lines, and other accessories, the men started
+from Cimarron on their perilous trip. On the third day their provisions
+gave out, and later they were obliged to abandon their boats and nearly
+everything else except their blankets, which were protected in rubber
+bags. They knew it was impossible to retrace their steps and that their
+only salvation lay in going on. At night they rolled themselves up in
+their blankets and tried to encourage one another. They travelled
+fourteen miles between granite walls from two thousand to three thousand
+feet high; and for sixteen days they were almost without food. Then they
+came to a cleft in their prison walls which seemed to offer a means of
+escape.
+
+At their feet the water plunged over a precipice down to an unknown
+depth. To go on meant almost instant death. They were dying of
+starvation. Should they go on? They had not accomplished their task.
+Life was sweet and there were loved ones dependent upon them for
+support.
+
+So they decided to attempt escape while they had strength. Wearily they
+climbed the steep and rugged path that led them to freedom. Starting
+early in the morning, they reached the summit, two thousand five hundred
+feet above the raging torrent, at nine o'clock at night. They were ready
+to drop in their tracks, yet hope inspired them to renewed exertions.
+They struggled on fifteen miles more ere they staggered into a
+farm-house on the verge of collapse.
+
+In the following year, 1901, the United States Government, becoming
+interested in diverting the waters of the Gunnison, sent out one of its
+engineers, Professor Fellows, to look into the practicability of the
+project. After looking over the field, the government engineer succeeded
+in enlisting in his service Mr. Torrence, who was a member of the first
+expedition. They planned to accomplish the feat which the former
+explorers failed to accomplish, namely, to go entirely through Black
+Canyon.
+
+Profiting by the previous trip, they provided for themselves a complete
+equipment, consisting of a rubber raft, two long life-lines, rubber bags
+for food and clothing, a camera, hunting-knives, and belts. Until they
+reached the water-falls where the previous expedition had left the
+canyon, the "Fall of Sorrow," the first part of their trip possesses
+little of interest beyond what had been experienced before. But from
+this point on unknown dangers menaced them.
+
+The roar of the plunging water from below rose upward with a deafening
+sound as they gazed into the seething current. The rising mists obscured
+the tree tops on either side far below. Should they press on or retreat,
+as those before them had done? Yes, they must go forward whatever the
+hazard. They clasped hands, bidding each other good-by. Torrence threw
+himself into the water first and Fellows followed. A few seconds later
+both clambered upon a bowlder in the pool below. The narrow cleft by
+which the former company effected their escape was passed and no
+alternative but to go forward was left to them.
+
+They encountered many other perilous adventures in their thirty-mile
+trip. Before they escaped from the canyon their provisions gave out.
+Death by starvation stared them in the face once more. Weakened by
+hunger and about to give up, they spied at the base of a cliff two
+mountain sheep.
+
+Now, mountain sheep, which roam among the rugged crags, are exceedingly
+difficult to catch. One of the sheep darted into a cleft. With a quick
+movement born of desperation Torrence rushed before the opening, but
+scarcely had he reached the spot before the frightened sheep, in
+attempting to escape, jumped into his arms.
+
+Realizing that his life and that of his companion depended upon securing
+the animal, he succeeded in killing it with his knife after a fierce
+struggle. The meat obtained saved their lives and sustained them until
+they reached a ranch fourteen miles from the place from which they
+emerged from the end of the canyon. In making the perilous journey they
+had swum across the river seventy-four times.
+
+Although their instruments and most of the other articles which they had
+taken were lost, yet the valuable data, sought for and recorded in the
+engineering book, were safely brought out and contained enough
+encouraging information to lead the government to take up the project of
+diverting the waters of the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley.
+
+Salt River Valley, one of the most fertile sections of Arizona, has been
+settled for many years, but the lack of a sufficient supply of water for
+extended irrigation has caused a large portion of this rich desert land
+to remain dormant. To meet the demand for more water in this valley the
+United States Government has just completed one of the greatest water
+impounding reservoirs in the world, the construction of which called for
+the greatest engineering skill and cost nearly nine million dollars.
+
+Salt River enters the valley after a tumultuous passage through a deep
+and rugged canyon forty miles long. It derives its name from the
+saltness of its waters, which results from the discharge of salt springs
+into the main stream as it courses through the gorge.
+
+Though unsuited for drinking purposes the water does not contain enough
+salt to make it detrimental for irrigation, and the soil, stimulated by
+the water, produces marvellous crops. Here extensive farming can be
+carried on with the greatest success. Six crops of alfalfa, averaging
+eight tons per acre, are harvested yearly. The oranges, dates, figs,
+lemons, grape fruit, olives, and peaches grown upon these lands are of
+superior quality and flavor and yield abundantly. The climate during
+eight months of the year is unsurpassed.
+
+Ostrich farming here is becoming an important industry. There are at the
+present time in the valley about eight thousand birds, and the number is
+rapidly increasing. The value of the feathers plucked yearly from each
+full-grown bird is from thirty dollars to forty dollars. Indications are
+that in the near future Arizona will lead the world in ostrich farming
+and the production of ostrich feathers.
+
+The history of this remarkable reservoir is full of human and natural
+interest. It is located in a land whose civilization was old when Rome
+was founded, a land of lost races, perpetual sunshine, forbidding
+deserts, and picturesque wonders. Strange vegetation and scenes that are
+novel are reflected in soft, changing tints from plain and mountain.
+From dawn to dark they possess an indescribable charm.
+
+The government engineers, in looking over the ground, found an ideal
+spot for a reservoir formed by two valleys hedged in among the mountains
+at the head of the canyon. It was necessary only to build a dam across
+the narrow cleft where the river enters the gorge in order to impound
+the water.
+
+The place being practically inaccessible, much preliminary work had to
+be done before commencing construction on the dam. A road forty miles
+long was made through the rugged mountains by which to transport
+provisions, machinery, and other supplies. A greater part of the road
+was cut out of the solid rock; other portions were constructed of
+masonry. At places on this wonderful highway, a stone dropped over the
+edge of the road will fall almost a thousand feet without stopping. The
+scenery along the whole route is both beautiful and awe-inspiring.
+
+The question of supplying cement for constructing the dam was for a
+while a difficult one; the price asked by the manufacturers was nine
+dollars per barrel delivered. The engineer then summoned to his aid the
+government geologists, and they discovered near at hand limestone rock
+suitable for making good cement. But in order to convert the limestone
+into cement, it was necessary to have a mill and motive power to run it.
+Coal mines were five hundred miles away and such fuel would be too
+costly. The engineer said, "Why not use as a power electricity generated
+by the river itself?"
+
+Accordingly a canal extending twenty miles up the river was constructed;
+with a two-hundred-and-twenty-foot drop it was capable of delivering
+water enough to generate four thousand two hundred horse-power. A mill
+was built and an electric plant installed which ran the mill and machine
+shops besides furnishing power for laying the heavy stones, lighting the
+works and town, and leaving a large surplus amount for pumping water
+from numerous wells in the Salt River Valley fifty miles away. By the
+economy of self-manufacturing, the cost of the cement to the government
+was but two dollars per barrel, thereby making a saving of nearly half a
+million dollars.
+
+[Illustration: Shoshone Project, Wyoming Shoshone Canyon, looking
+upstream toward the dam. Dam, 328.4 feet high; storage capacity, 456,000
+acre-feet]
+
+To provide proper accommodations for all of the employees and their
+families, a regular town was built on the floor of the reservoir, to be
+submerged when the works should be completed and the flood gates closed.
+The town, which was christened Roosevelt, contained a population of
+upward of two thousand, and bore the reputation of being the best
+behaved in all Arizona.
+
+The dam, also named after Colonel Roosevelt, then President of the
+United States, floods two valleys, one twelve and the other fifteen
+miles long and each from one to three miles wide. The reservoir is
+nearly two hundred feet deep on the average. It is two hundred and
+eighty feet high, and the thickness of the dam ranges from one hundred
+and seventy-five feet at the bottom to twenty feet at the top, where its
+length is one thousand and eighty feet. Massive iron gates weighing
+sixty thousand pounds guard the outlet of the flood. To do the
+preliminary work and construct the dam nearly eight years were required,
+and during a part of this time a thousand men were employed both night
+and day, several hundred of whom were Apache Indians.
+
+This region was previously the haunt of Chief Geronimo and his murderous
+band of Apaches. Near by are two groups of cliff dwellings formerly
+occupied by a race now extinct.
+
+The capacity of this immense reservoir exceeds that of the Nile pent up
+by the Assouan dam, and the water would be sufficient to fill a canal
+two hundred feet wide and twenty feet deep, extending entirely across
+the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When full there is
+sufficient water to submerge the city of Washington to the depth of
+thirty-four feet.
+
+Among the other many important irrigation works may be mentioned the
+Shoshone and Rio Grande Dams. The Shoshone Dam in Wyoming impounds
+sufficient water to irrigate one hundred and fifty thousand acres in
+the valley below. This dam was completed January 10, 1910, and is the
+highest in the world, its height being three hundred and eighty-four
+feet. Twelve miles below the dam proper a diversion dam was built across
+the river which turns the stream into a tunnel connected at the other
+end with a canal, which delivers water upon one hundred thousand acres
+of fertile land.
+
+The Rio Grande Dam involving the construction of a storage dam opposite
+Eagle, New Mexico, across the Rio Grande River will irrigate one hundred
+and eighty thousand acres of land in New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO
+
+
+Nowhere else on the face of the globe is one so vividly impressed by the
+vastness of the work of corrasion as in the northwestern part of
+Arizona. Here the mutilated breast of Mother Earth discloses a chasm
+from three thousand feet to seven thousand feet deep, cut through
+horizontal strata of sandstone, shale, limestone, and granite, chiefly
+by the agency of water.
+
+This stupendous chasm is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. It is
+more than two hundred miles long; and from rim to rim its walls measure
+in places twenty miles across. It is not a clean-cut open channel from
+wall to wall, but, on the contrary, it is filled with castellated peaks,
+buttes, pinnacles, ridges, seams, and lesser canyons. Down deep in its
+lowest part, hurrying onward with impetuous speed, is the river itself.
+
+Geologists tell us that this stream was an ancient river before the
+Mississippi was born and that it formerly watered a valley as fertile.
+
+Ages ago when Time was young the river found its channel closed by an
+obstruction--just how, or where, or by what, no one knows. So it spread
+out into a great lake, or, perhaps, into an inland sea several thousand
+feet deep. The rock waste carried into its basin hardened into
+sandstone--red, pink, and white of many shades.
+
+After this great inland sea had become dry the Colorado River was
+born--just how, or when, or because of what, one can only guess. But
+when it was born it began to undo what its predecessor had done. It cut
+a channel in the surface of the sandstone and then began business in
+earnest. It loosened little pieces of sharp flint from the sandstone and
+swept them along with such force that each became a tiny mallet and
+chisel combined to cut and carry away other rock. And so it kept on
+until it had carved a passage not only to the original granite bed rock
+but in places a thousand feet or more into it. A few localities
+excepted, the canyon does not form a single gash; nor has it the usual
+V-shape of canyons in regions of plentiful rainfall. On the contrary,
+its cross-section takes the form of a succession of steps and terraces,
+as though the river cut the channels successively in decreasing widths.
+And because the region through which it flows is one of very slight
+rainfall, all the landscape outlines are bold and sharply angular.
+
+All told, an area comprising two hundred thousand square miles has been
+denuded to the depth of six hundred feet, and the material borne
+southward by the Colorado and its tributaries, while the land through
+which they flow has been literally drained to death. Even the
+tributaries have formed deep lateral canyons that meet the level of the
+main stream. It staggers the mind to try to grasp the time expressed in
+countless eons since the youth of this now senile river.
+
+[Illustration: The Grand Canyon of the Colorado]
+
+As early as 1540 Spanish explorers made known to the world the fact that
+a deep and impassable gorge existed in one part of the Colorado River,
+and again in 1776 a Spanish priest revived a knowledge of its existence.
+
+Then, for many years afterward, the canyon claimed but little attention
+because it was so difficult of access, and so little was known of its
+colossal dimensions and the marvellous carvings within its walls.
+
+Just above the Grand Canyon and continuous with it is Marble Canyon, so
+called because of the immense beds of marble that form a part of its
+walls. In both canyons the limestone sometimes takes the form of marble,
+or gypsum, or alabaster--crystallized forms of limestone which take a
+fine polish.
+
+This remarkable river with its canyons was first explored by Major
+Powell in 1869. With nine men and four boats he started from a landing
+on Green River in Utah, floated down Green River to its junction with
+the Grand, and thence down the Colorado below the mouth of the Virgin to
+the Grand Wash. There he landed after having passed through the entire
+length of the canyon.
+
+The time spent in this voyage was ninety-eight days, and the distance
+travelled was upward of one thousand miles. Four of his men left him
+when the voyage was but partly finished, being frightened by the perils
+that beset them. They were killed by Indians. The others, after many
+accidents and hair-breadth escapes, succeeded in getting through in
+safety.
+
+In addition to the rapidity of the current the river has many rapids and
+water-falls with jagged projecting rocks which make boating extremely
+hazardous. All these perils were conjectured but unknown to Major
+Powell's party, and every new bend of the river was liable to disclose
+a cataract more dangerous than any encountered before. Then the
+reverberating sound of the roaring river as it struck the sides of its
+lofty prison walls together with the deep gloom of the mighty abyss was
+calculated to terrify the bravest. Thus, facing death at every turn of
+the stream, the men were kept constantly in a tense state of excitement.
+
+A wealth of adjectives has been expended in attempting properly to
+describe the immensity of this great handiwork of nature, and scores of
+persons have produced fascinating word-paintings of its awe-inspiring
+grandeur.
+
+Leading back from the river the canyon walls are made up in part of
+shelving rocks and terraces. These, with peaks, buttes, and myriads of
+other structures arising from the great gulf, show plainly the different
+strata of rocks of which they are composed. Many of these rocks are
+richly colored; the tints as a rule result from the salts of iron and
+other mineral matter disseminated through them. In some instances the
+coloring material of the upper strata has been washed down by the storms
+and has stained the rock of the walls below. This is the case in the
+Grand Canyon, where the limestone wall is colored red by the iron in an
+overlying stratum.
+
+When the gigantic forms partly filling the chasm, yet standing apart
+from each other, are seen near sunrise or sunset with their shifting
+shadows, they leave on the mind remembrances that will never fade.
+
+To appreciate properly the magnitude and height of these towering masses
+one should examine them not only by travelling along the brink, but by
+descending to the river level in order to examine them from below. Then
+only will the awful grandeur and immensity of this monumental
+architecture of nature begin to dawn upon the understanding.
+
+To the geologist this chasm is an intensely interesting book which
+reveals much of the history of the past in world-building.
+
+Some years ago a company was formed in New York to build a scenic
+railroad through Marble and Grand Canyons. Engineers were sent out not
+only to make a careful survey of the canyons but also to make a series
+of photographs which should form a continuous panoramic view of the
+proposed route. A large sum of money was spent in making the surveys;
+then the project was abandoned. Possibly at some future time the scheme
+may be revived and a road be built, using as its motive power
+electricity generated by the river itself.
+
+The Grand Canyon is now easily reached by the Santa Fe Railway system.
+From the main line at Williams a branch road extends to El Tovar, Grand
+Canyon station, which is located near the edge of the canyon. The
+descent to the bottom of the canyon can be made by several trails. Those
+noted for easy descent and the best views are Grand View and Red Canyon
+Trails from Grand View, Bright Angel Trail from El Tovar, and Bass Trail
+from Bass Camp. Each has its own special charms, and for one limited as
+to time it is difficult to make a choice.
+
+The course of the Colorado and its tributary, Green River, presents some
+interesting problems. The latter has cut its channel directly across the
+Uinta Mountains, and the Colorado has sawed its channel to the base
+level of a series of plateaus, sometimes called the Sierra Abajo. And
+the interesting problem is--how was the sawing process accomplished? It
+needs only a moment's thought to understand that the river could not
+flow against the base of a mountain range and bore a passage through it,
+much less clear out an open passage miles in width.
+
+[Illustration: Grand View Trail Looking toward Apache Point from Mystic
+Spring Plateau. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado]
+
+Major Powell has shown how this mighty work of mountain cutting was
+accomplished; the sawing process was begun, not at the base of the
+range, but at its top. It is merely a question of age. The Colorado and
+its chief tributaries are older than the mountain uplifts which they
+have severed. Moreover, the level of their channels is much the same now
+as it was before the mountains were born.
+
+The mountain levels, however, have been changing ever since their uplift
+began. And when the rock layers of which they are composed began to be
+pushed upward the uplift was so slow that the rivers cut downward just
+as rapidly. In time the ranges were pushed upward to their present
+height; but when the uplift was completed, in each case it was sawed to
+the bottom by the river. It is in very much the same manner that a huge
+log is cut in twain as it is pushed against the saw. The mountain range,
+as it is pushed upward, represents the log; the river, which is
+stationary, represents the saw.
+
+One might look a long way to find the wealth created by this muddy
+torrent. But the wealth is there, though it is certainly a long way from
+the canyon; moreover, the rock waste itself is the wealth, and great
+wealth it is. The water of the river is very muddy. Dip up a bucket
+filled to the brim and allow it to stand for ten or twelve hours. There
+is an inch or two of clear water at the top, while at the bottom there
+is a thick, muddy paste of sand, clay, and red earth. All this rock
+waste the current is sweeping along to the Gulf of California.
+
+Every overflow along the banks of its lower course spreads this rich,
+nutritious rock waste over the flood plain. Imperial Valley is filled
+with it; and this, together with the flood plain above and below,
+constitutes an area of productive land about as large as the State of
+Illinois. Moreover, the area is constantly increasing, because of the
+enormous amount of rock waste which the river daily bears to the Gulf
+of California. In time, a long time as years are measured, the gulf will
+be entirely filled--and what a valley of prairie land there will be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YELLOWSTONE PARK
+
+
+In the northwestern part of Wyoming, at the summit of the continent, is
+a tract of land containing more than three thousand square miles. It is
+a region which attracts thousands of sightseers every year; yet
+inconceivable as it may now seem, this marvellous region was unknown to
+the world until 1870. Being difficult of access, because flanked by high
+mountains on all sides, and possessing no mineral deposits of value,
+there was but little inducement for any one but a hunter or a trapper to
+penetrate it.
+
+John Coulter, a frontiersman, was probably the first white man to set
+foot within its territory. He was a member of the Lewis and Clark
+Expedition and, having observed that there were many beavers in the
+headwaters of the Missouri River, desired to try trapping there. Having
+obtained permission to leave the expedition before its return to St.
+Louis, he forthwith set out to hunt and trap in that region. This was in
+1807.
+
+While following his favorite employment he met with many strange and
+exciting adventures with both Indians and wild beasts. And during his
+wanderings he beheld sights so marvellous as to tax the credulity of
+even his own senses; among them a glass mountain, geysers sending up
+great volumes of water hundreds of feet high into the air, boiling hot
+springs, deep and gorgeously painted canyons, stupendous water-falls,
+curiously colored rock formations, and a mountain lake filled with the
+finest of fish.
+
+So well versed was he in woodcraft that he could travel through pathless
+forests and over rugged mountains as unerringly as by well-beaten
+trails. A love for wild nature and adventure had become his ruling
+passion. After hunting and trapping for several years he returned to St.
+Louis. Here he told his friends the marvels that he had seen and his
+adventures with Indians and wild beasts; but his hearers being doubting
+Thomases, listened with incredulity to his astonishing stories.
+
+He related his experiences and what he had seen to an editor of a St.
+Louis paper, who, after listening patiently to the narrative, informed
+Coulter that his wonderful adventures, glass mountain, and boiling
+springs among the snows were falsehoods and could find no place for
+publication. Coulter gave interviews to many other persons, and stuck so
+persistently to his statements that the region which he had so minutely
+described was derisively dubbed "Coulter's Hell."
+
+Coulter's experiences certainly were marvellous. On one occasion, when
+he and a companion were trapping along the Madison Fork of the Missouri
+River, they were surprised by a company of Blackfeet Indians who killed
+his friend but spared his life for the time being. After the Indians had
+consulted for some time in regard to what should be done with Coulter,
+the chief asked him if he could run fast. Coulter replied that he could
+not. He was in reality the fleetest runner among the western hunters,
+but he told the Indians that he could not run fast, since he concluded
+that there was a chance of saving his life by running should he be given
+the opportunity.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Looking down
+canyon from Grand Point]
+
+He was stripped naked and taken several miles away to give the Indians
+some sport before killing him. Then the chief commanded his followers to
+remain back while he led the captive some three hundred yards in front
+of them. At a given signal he told Coulter to save himself if he could.
+At once the war whoop resounded and six hundred demons were on the track
+of the fugitive. Coulter strained every nerve to outdistance his
+murderous pursuers. His great exertions caused the blood to spirt from
+his nostrils and smear the front of his body.
+
+After running a while he heard footsteps, and turning saw an Indian with
+a spear but a few yards behind him. Being exhausted, and fearing that at
+any moment the spear might be hurled at him, he concluded to surprise
+the Indian. Stopping suddenly he wheeled about and presented his bloody
+body and outstretched arms to the Indian.
+
+The red man, greatly astonished, in attempting to stop quickly stumbled
+and fell, breaking his spear. Before the prostrate runner could recover
+himself Coulter seized the head of the shaft and quickly pinioned his
+foe to the ground.
+
+Then the fleeing hunter ran at his topmost speed toward the river, about
+a mile distant. Arriving there a little ahead of his pursuers, he
+plunged into the water and swam as fast as he could. Observing a raft of
+drift-wood that had lodged against a small island, he dived under the
+debris, and thrusting his head up between the tree-trunks of the
+heterogeneous mass succeeded in getting into a position where he could
+breathe and yet be concealed.
+
+No sooner had he hidden himself than the yelling savages appeared on the
+river's bank. They looked in all directions for their missing captive,
+but in vain. They even went on the island and climbed over the
+drift-wood, scanning every possible place of concealment. Seeing no
+trace of their white prisoner they reluctantly returned to the mainland.
+Coulter remained under the raft in dreadful suspense until night, when,
+hearing nothing of his foes, he silently slipped from under the raft
+and swam down stream a long distance before landing.
+
+His situation was now indeed a desperate one; his feet had become filled
+with thorns from the prickly pear while running across the prairie; he
+was also naked, hungry, and without means to kill the wild game for
+food; moreover, the distance to the nearest fort was at least a
+seven-days' journey. But he was in excellent physical condition and,
+being inured to hardships and skilled in traversing the pathless
+wilderness, he at length reached the fort, having subsisted in the
+meantime chiefly on roots whose nutritious value he had learned from the
+Indians.
+
+John Bridger, a famous hunter, was familiar with the region now known as
+Yellowstone Park as early as 1830, and he endeavored to have his
+descriptions of it published, but he could find no periodical or
+newspaper willing to print his statements. In Bridger's case, however,
+there was ground for doubt, inasmuch as he had a reputation for
+exaggeration, and the facts that he related about the wonders of the
+Yellowstone were considered mere fabrications.
+
+One of his most astounding stories concerned an elk. He claimed that
+while hunting he espied an elk that seemed to be only a short distance
+away; taking a good aim he fired, but the animal was unmoved by the
+shot. He again fired with more deliberation, yet with the same result as
+before. Having fired twice more with no effect he seized his rifle by
+the barrel and rushed toward the antlered monarch; but all at once he
+ran up against what seemed to be a high vertical wall. On investigation
+the wall proved to be a mountain of perfectly transparent glass. And
+still the elk kept on grazing quietly!
+
+The strangest thing about the mountain he said was that its curved form
+made it a perfect telescopic lens of great power. On going around to
+the other side of the mountain he caught sight of the elk, which he
+judged must have been at least twenty-five miles away when he first saw
+it by the powerful glass-lens mountain!
+
+In 1860-61 gold was discovered in Montana, and prospectors began to
+extend their search for the precious metal into adjoining territory. The
+Indians were troublesome; nevertheless many prospectors ventured into
+the region of the Upper Yellowstone during the years succeeding, and
+reported seeing wonderful volcanic agencies at work.
+
+To settle the many flying accounts about volcanic wonders in the
+Yellowstone section, two expeditions headed by prominent citizens of
+Montana were formed to ascertain the truth concerning these statements.
+The expeditions set out during the consecutive years 1869 and 1870. On
+their return excellent descriptions of what they had seen were published
+in the Montana papers, and these accounts were copied by the leading
+papers of the country.
+
+The second, or Washburn-Doane, expedition of 1870 was the most
+successful in its explorations, since it was provided with a military
+escort. One of the members of this expedition wrote up a series of
+excellent articles which were published in _Scribner's Magazine_, thus
+giving further authenticity and wide publicity to the discovery.
+
+In 1871 interest awakened by the last expedition caused the United
+States Government to send out a special expedition of geological and
+engineering men to collect exact data, take photographs, and make a
+survey of the Yellowstone region. The geological section was under the
+direction of Dr. P. V. Hayden. Mainly through Hayden's influence and
+foresight Congress withdrew the tract now comprising Yellowstone
+National Park from occupancy or sale, and dedicated and set it apart as
+a public park or pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the
+people. The bill was signed by the president March 1, 1872. In 1872 two
+United States geological surveying parties were sent out and detailed
+explorations were made during the next ten years.
+
+The park is now under the management of a military commander as acting
+superintendent, aided by a detachment of United States troops, who
+maintain order, prevent acts of vandalism, and see that the rules and
+regulations of the park are obeyed. No one except the troops is allowed
+to bring firearms into the park, and the wild animals, now carefully
+protected by law, have greatly multiplied. Through subsequent acts of
+Congress two forest reserves have been added to the park proper, the
+Madison Forest Reserve in 1902 and the Yellowstone Forest Reserve in
+1903. These additions make the total area reserved from settlement about
+seventeen thousand six hundred square miles.
+
+The only living beings that are permitted to fell as many trees as they
+wish are the beavers, which use them in constructing their dams. The
+grizzly and the black bear flourish in the park and have become quite
+tame. In the neighborhood of the camps and hotels they have become an
+intolerable nuisance because of their propensity to break into tents and
+buildings in search of food.
+
+The lordly elk nourishes here and numbers of them may be seen at almost
+any time of day. A herd of buffaloes is jealously protected, and food
+and shelter are provided for them during the winter when necessary.
+These animals are increasing in numbers. Many antelope, deer, and
+mountain sheep are seen in the park.
+
+The mountain lion and the coyote are two animals that the authorities of
+the park feel justified in killing in order to preserve the other game,
+but the wild ruggedness of the territory, which affords these pests
+ample opportunity to multiply unmolested, prevents their extinction.
+
+During the fall of the year wild geese and ducks frequent the park in
+great numbers; some of the latter remain all winter long in places where
+the hot springs keep the water of the streams from freezing. The United
+States Fish Commission has taken special care in stocking the fishless
+streams with trout, and now the Yellowstone Park furnishes the finest
+trout-fishing in the whole world. Visitors to the park are granted full
+license to fish, but they must use only hook and line.
+
+About one-fifth of the reservation consists of tracts suited for
+grazing, but for agricultural purposes the park is worthless, since
+frosts occur every month of the year.
+
+The forests consist of a variety of trees, but only one kind, the
+Douglas spruce, is suitable for good lumber. The quaking aspen is the
+only deciduous tree that is abundant. Elk and deer browse about these
+trees and keep them trimmed at a uniform distance from the ground.
+
+During the long rainless season the distant hills and mountains are
+bathed in an atmosphere of soft purple and blue in ever-varying
+intensity, while later in the season Jack Frost with his magic brush
+paints the mountain-sides with the most varied and gorgeous colors, and
+the aspen changes to rich autumnal tints.
+
+At the proper season Yellowstone Park is a vast garden of wild flowers
+which are dense and rich in colors even up to the snow line. Several
+varieties of the lupine and the larkspur clothe the hillsides with every
+shade of color, while the modest violet seeks secluded spots in which to
+bloom. Forget-me-nots, geraniums, harebells, primroses, asters,
+sunflowers, anemones, roses, and many other plants are abundant.
+
+The climate puts new life and energy into the visitor. Contrary to the
+general opinion, the climatic conditions in the park are not extreme,
+notwithstanding its high elevation. The average temperature at the
+Mammoth Hot Springs in January, the coldest month, is 18 deg. F., and in
+July, the hottest month, 61 deg. In the plateau regions, averaging
+fifteen hundred feet higher, the temperature is 8 deg. in January and
+51 deg. in July.
+
+Good roads have been constructed throughout the park connecting all
+points of interest, and in many instances these roads have been built at
+an enormous expense. The United States Government has already expended
+upward of one million dollars in road-making and bridge-building. There
+are now over sixty bridges and five hundred culverts to supplement the
+five hundred miles of roads within the park proper and the forest
+reserves.
+
+We enter the park from the north and then proceed to visit a few of the
+most interesting places. Our tour embraces Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris
+Geyser Basin, Firehole Geyser Basins, Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand
+Canyon of Yellowstone River.
+
+Leaving the Northern Pacific train at Gardiner, the entrance station to
+the park, we take a coach for Mammoth Hot Springs, five miles distant,
+and ride along the foaming, dashing Gardiner River through a canyon
+bearing the same name. Portions of the way unfold bold, picturesque
+scenery, giving a fitting introduction to the marvels and greater scenic
+beauty that are in store for us. We cross the river four times on steel
+bridges within one mile.
+
+Just after crossing the last bridge we see an immense stream of hot
+water issuing from an opening in the rocks and discharging directly into
+the Gardiner River. This stream, the Boiling River, we are told, comes
+through subterranean channels from the famous Mammoth Hot Springs a mile
+and a half away.
+
+Arriving at the springs, we find here a large, well-equipped hotel,
+where are also the administration head-quarters of the park. After
+resting a short time, we visit the world-renowned Hot Springs.
+
+The Mammoth Hot Springs rise from the summit of a hill of limestone
+formation three hundred feet high, built by the deposit of mineral
+matter held in solution by the hot water that issues from them. The
+terraces, containing upward of two hundred acres, are delicately tinted
+in beautiful shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, and purple. Those
+over which the water is still flowing present the most attractive
+appearance, the colors being fresh and rich; the others have dull, ashen
+colors.
+
+Calcareous deposits are rapidly building up these terraces in various
+beautiful forms, the edges of many being supported by delicate columns,
+some of which resemble organ pipes. Different names are given to the
+terraces according to form or fancy, as Pulpit Terrace, Jupiter Terrace,
+Narrow Gauge Terrace, Minerva Terrace, etc.
+
+The overhanging bowls built up by these deposits are exquisite specimens
+of Nature's work and are filled with water of wonderful transparency;
+while the variety of forms of these receptacles and their charming
+colors fascinate the beholder.
+
+Scattered over the formation in all directions are numberless
+curiosities, such as the Devil's Kitchen, Cupid's Cave, and the Stygian
+Cave. In many of these caves there is an accumulation of carbonic-acid
+gas sufficient to destroy animal life. This is especially true of the
+latter cave.
+
+We now journey by coach to Norris Geyser Basin. On the route we pass by
+Obsidian Cliff, sometimes called Obsidian Mountain, which is an immense
+mass of black volcanic glass. This mineral was used by the Indians for
+making arrow-heads and spear-heads.
+
+In constructing a road around the base of the cliff, great difficulty
+was encountered on account of the hardness of the obsidian. The
+superintendent in charge of the work hit upon a happy device by which to
+quarry it. Log fires were built along the base, and when the volcanic
+glass was hot cold water was thrown upon it. This method cracked the
+material into fragments which were easily removed.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Mammoth Hot
+Springs. Summit Pools]
+
+Opposite the base of Obsidian Cliff is Beaver Lake, the home of numerous
+beavers and a great resort for waterfowl during a part of the year.
+After passing Obsidian Cliff, hot springs become more numerous until we
+reach Norris Geyser Basin. In this locality the odor of sulphur is
+strong and unpleasant. A little farther on a loud roar startles us, and
+a few moments later we see the cause of the explosion; it is a powerful
+steam jet issuing from the summit of Roaring Mountain. When Dame Nature
+"turns on steam" there is no nonsense about it.
+
+Norris Basin seems to be of more recent volcanic development, since some
+of the steam vents in other basins have ceased action during the past
+few years; moreover, several new ones have opened, one of which rivals
+Roaring Mountain. Constant and Minute-Man Geysers, though small, are
+frequent and vigorous in action. In passing through this section the
+road-bed is hot for some distance, showing that the subterranean rocks
+which heat the water cannot be very deep down in the earth.
+
+In going to the Firehole Basins we follow Gibbon River to within four
+miles of its mouth, then, crossing a point of land to the Firehole, we
+ascend the right bank of the stream to Lower Basin. On the road we pass
+many springs; the most conspicuous of which, Beryl Spring, lies close to
+the road. It discharges a large volume of boiling water and the rising
+steam frequently obscures the road.
+
+In one locality outside the beaten track of tourists there is a
+veritable Hades on earth. Here, as we walk over ground that is very hot,
+we are nearly suffocated by the fumes of sulphur. All around us are
+hundreds of seething, boiling vats of water, and the whole area is
+cracked and filled with holes from which noxious vapors rise.
+
+Soon after we leave this infernal region we hear a constant roar like
+that coming from a large steamer about to leave its moorings. We follow
+in the direction from which the sound proceeds and at length discover
+the cause.
+
+On approaching the source of the sound we see a large volume of steam
+rushing with immense velocity from an opening in the ground, while the
+rock around the orifice is black as jet. The guide tells us that this
+huge steam vent is called the Black Growler, and that it continues
+vigorously active summer and winter, year in and year out. Its roar can
+be heard four miles away.
+
+[Illustration: The Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Beehive Geyser]
+
+The chief wonder of Lower Firehole Basin is the Great Fountain Geyser.
+Its formation is unique. At first sight one is led to believe that the
+broad circular structure which he sees is artificial. On close
+inspection numerous pools, moulded and nicely ornamented, are seen sunk
+in this stone table, while in the centre there is a large and deep pool
+filled with hot water, but looking like a beautiful spring. At the time
+of eruption this central pool of water is shot up to the height of one
+hundred feet or more. Near the Great Fountain Geyser is a small valley
+in the upper part of which is a large hot spring called the Firehole.
+
+When this spring is visited on a windless day, a light-colored flame
+seems to be constantly issuing from the bottom, flickering back and
+forth like a torch, and the visitor feels sure he is gazing at the
+hidden fires beneath that heat the water. It is the illusion caused by
+superheated steam escaping through a fissure in the rock and dividing
+the water. The reflection from the surface thus formed and a black
+background formed by the sides and bottom of the pool account for the
+phenomenon.
+
+Surprise Pool is found near the Great Fountain; it will make good its
+name should you throw into it a handful of dirt. Excelsior Geyser, not
+far away, is really a winter volcano, its crater being a seething
+caldron near the Firehole River, into which it sends six million gallons
+of water each day, even when not in eruption.
+
+At times it sends up a column of water, fifty feet in diameter, to the
+height of two hundred and fifty feet. The eruptions take place at long
+intervals--seven to ten years. On account of the great depth and extent
+of this geyser it has sometimes been denominated "Hell's Half-Acre."
+
+Following along Firehole River we pass into the Upper Basin, a section
+the most popular with the majority of tourists. Among the geysers in
+this basin we shall find Grotto, Castle, Giant, Giantess, Bee Hive,
+Splendid, Grand, and Old Faithful. Each of them has an interest
+peculiarly its own, but Old Faithful is always true to its name and is
+perhaps best appreciated by visitors.
+
+The opening through which Old Faithful disgorges its water is at the
+summit of a mound built up by its own exertions. The wrinkles on its
+face tell of long-continued service. Every seventy minutes this faithful
+worker sends up a column of water to the height of one hundred and
+eighty feet, and at each eruption more than one million gallons of water
+are thrown out.
+
+We now pass through a section noted for its wild and picturesque scenery
+and considered the pleasantest on the trip. In leaving the Upper Basin
+we follow along Firehole River to the mouth of Spring Creek, then along
+this creek to the Continental Divide. From there, travelling a few miles
+along the Pacific slope, we cross the Divide and descend the mountains
+into the valley of the Yellowstone.
+
+Near the central part of the park, encircled by a forest and elevated
+nearly eight thousand feet above the sea-level, lies a remarkable body
+of water supplied by ice-cold streams formed by the melting snow on the
+surrounding mountains. This body of water, of which the Yellowstone
+River is the outlet, is the famous Yellowstone Lake, thirty miles long
+and twenty miles wide; it is filled with trout.
+
+Here the fisherman can catch hundreds of trout in a short time, but
+unfortunately most of them are afflicted with a parasitic disease,
+rendering them unfit for food. Researches have been made seeking the
+cause of the disease in order, if possible, to apply a remedy, but so
+far to no purpose. It is conjectured that the superabundance of fish
+together with a dearth of suitable food lowers their vitality, thus
+rendering them liable to disease.
+
+Yellowstone stands next to Lake Titicaca as the highest large body of
+water in the world. The sunrise and sunset effects on the lake are most
+beautiful. A steamer plies on the lake carrying mail and passengers. The
+bird life on this body of water and its shores is represented by swans,
+geese, ducks, cranes, pelicans, curlews, herons, plovers, and snipe.
+
+For beauty and grandeur the lower falls and canyon of the Yellowstone
+River are unsurpassed. A body of water seventy feet wide rushes forward
+with impetuous speed and joyously takes a leap of more than three
+hundred feet to the rocks below, where, breaking into millions of
+particles, it forms a great cloud of spray. The water then dashes on
+with renewed vitality between the walls of a canyon fourteen hundred
+feet deep, and most gorgeously painted by nature in such a variety and
+lavishness of tints that they defy the most skilful artist to reproduce
+them.
+
+As one gazes from the edge of the chasm into and along the depths below,
+he attempts in vain to measure the fulness and beauty of this handiwork
+of nature. He is too amazed for utterance and remains spellbound,
+communing only with himself and nature regarding the unfathomable
+significance of such marvels. When the famous painter, Thomas Moran,
+desired to reproduce in colors on canvas this masterpiece of nature, he
+gathered his inspiration from Artist Point, and after he had finished
+the celebrated painting which now adorns the Capitol at Washington, he
+acknowledged that the beautiful tints of the canyon were beyond the
+reach of human art.
+
+The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone has no equal on the face of the
+globe. With a breadth equal to its depth, this richly decorated canyon
+stands out unique among the world's wonders. Its beautiful panorama of
+stained walls, down which trickle streams of water which brighten the
+tints in some places and soften them in others, extends for a distance
+of three miles. The entire canyon is fifteen miles in length.
+
+A most interesting place to visit, but outside the itinerary of most
+tourists, is the Fossil, or Petrified, Forest. This section, especially
+attractive to the scientist, lies in the northeastern part of the park
+just north of Amethyst Mountain.
+
+To one who can read Nature's books, a wondrous volume is open,
+disclosing in its strata the hidden secrets of many by-gone geological
+ages. Here on the north flank of the mountain are two thousand feet of
+stratifications. On the ledges, tier above tier and story above story,
+are seen the opal and agate stumps and trunks of twenty ancient forests,
+some of the trunks being ten feet in diameter.
+
+What wonderful stories do they tell of life and death, of flood and
+volcanic fire, ranging through the eons of the past! So perfect are
+these petrifactions that the annual rings can be easily counted and even
+the grain of the wood is plainly visible.
+
+As one traverses this wonderland he is impressed by the evidence of the
+stupendous forces that lie smouldering beneath the crust of the earth.
+It is not improbable that at some future time, by the further wrinkling
+or sinking of the surface of this part of the American continent, the
+slumbering volcanic fires may be awakened to new life and activity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES AND GIANT TREES
+
+
+Although reptiles appeared first in the period known as the
+Carboniferous Age, or age of plant life, they did not attain their
+greatest development until Jurassic and Cretaceous times, when many were
+of prodigious size and ruled the world. The gigantic ichthyosaurs,
+mesosaurs, and dinosaurs held dominion over the sea and land, and the
+monster flying reptile, the pterodactyl, over the air.
+
+Ages ago a great inland sea embracing Wyoming and the surrounding region
+occupied the area east of the Rocky Mountains. For many years students
+of geology had found this section a fertile field for the study of rock
+formations and the collection of fossils; but not until 1898 was the
+geological wonderland of central-south Wyoming discovered.
+
+This discovery proved to be a graveyard of prehistoric monsters dating
+back probably several millions of years ago. Entombed in the rocks of
+the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, many lizard-like animals of
+gigantic size called saurians were found. Several fossil skeletons of
+these animals have been chiselled out of the solid rocks and mounted in
+museums, the work entailing a vast amount of labor and expense. The
+discovery was made by Mr. Walter Granger, who had been sent out by the
+American Museum of Natural History, of New York, to hunt for fossils.
+
+In the desert section near Medicine Bow River, Wyoming, he found what
+seemed to be a number of dark-brown bowlders. On a critical examination
+they proved to be ponderous fossils that had been washed out of a great
+bed of reptilian remains. The fossil graveyard in question was found to
+be two hundred and seventy-five feet in thickness. Near by was a Mexican
+sheep-herder's cabin, the foundations of which were constructed of huge
+fossils. The vicinity was christened Bone Cabin Quarry. Ten miles south
+of the Bone Cabin Quarry, in the Como Bluffs, another bed containing the
+remains of huge dinosaurs was discovered. From these remarkable
+cemeteries many fossils have been obtained.
+
+The term saurian means "lizard," and it has many prefixes to indicate
+the different genera and species. The prefixes generally express to a
+certain extent the characteristic appearance or habits of the different
+kinds of saurians. Some were flesh-eaters; others were herbivorous. Some
+lived on land; others, in the shallow waters and lagoons, fed on
+succulent aquatic plants; still others frequented the deeper waters and
+lived on fish.
+
+[Illustration: _Property of the American Museum of Natural History_
+The Brontosaurus (herbivorous dinosaur)]
+
+The name dinosaur, meaning terrible lizard, represents an order of
+fossil reptiles. They are allied to the crocodile, but, like the
+kangaroo, their hind legs were much longer than their front ones. The
+neck and tail were very long and the body short but of immense size.
+These monsters were from twenty to eighty feet in length and weighed
+from thirty to one hundred tons. The long, slender neck supported a
+small head that contained a correspondingly small brain, from which it
+is thought that the creature possessed a low order of intelligence. The
+tail was much thicker than the neck and in some species was flattened.
+When rising on its hind legs and resting on its tail it could look into
+the window of a four-story building. Some of these strange animals had
+bills like those of a duck; some possessed teeth for grinding and others
+sharp teeth for tearing. These were by far the largest land animals that
+ever lived. The different species often waged titanic battles with one
+another for the supremacy of the earth.
+
+It is conjectured that their disappearance was due to violent upheavals
+of the earth, to the draining of the water, to changes of climate, and
+to deprivation of suitable food.
+
+The mounted brontosaur in the American Museum of Natural History, New
+York, will enable one better to appreciate the size of these giants of
+the ancient world. This typical specimen, though not the largest found,
+is sixty-seven feet long and stands fifteen and one-half feet high. Its
+neck measures thirty feet in length and its tail eighteen. The body
+weighed about ninety tons. This huge fossil, enclosed in its stone
+matrix, was sent from the quarry to the museum. After it had been
+received two men were employed constantly for nearly two and one-half
+years in removing the matrix, repairing, and mounting the fossil.
+
+Let us turn now to the burying ground of a giant forest. Long, long
+years ago, before man appeared on the earth, an inland sea occupied what
+is now the northeastern part of Arizona. It was a sea bordered with
+sandstone and surrounded by coniferous forests, where stately trees
+nodded in the breezes.
+
+At length there came a great change. The rim of the basin gave way, and
+the great volume of water, freed from restraint, overwhelmed the forest
+with earthy material, prostrating and burying it deep beneath the flood
+of sand.
+
+In time the woody structure disappeared, and was replaced by beautifully
+stained opal and agate. Again, in the lapse of time the old forest bed
+was once more lifted above its former level, forming a mesa, or plateau,
+of considerable extent. During subsequent ages, the elements scarred and
+furrowed the plateau, forming canyons, gulches, valleys, and buttes,
+thus revealing in part this ancient forest. Could these dead trees but
+talk, how interesting would be their story! We can read their history
+but imperfectly by examining the mutilated breast of Mother Earth, in
+and on which lie these mute stone trees, dead yet made more beautiful
+through their transformation.
+
+[Illustration: _Property of the American Museum of Natural History_
+The Allosaurus (carnivorous dinosaur)]
+
+This region is called the "Petrified Forest," or "Chalcedony Park." It
+is about one hundred square miles in extent, and is visited annually by
+thousands of people from all parts of the world. On account of its
+strange geological character it is of special interest to the scientist.
+
+Let us make a brief trip to this wonderful stone forest. We take light
+hand-baggage and board a Santa Fe train. The railway passes near the
+most interesting part of the forest, and we change cars before entering
+Arizona in order to take this line. The railway officials have made a
+station at Adamana, six miles from the edge of the forest, in order to
+accommodate the travelling public. We leave the train here and procure a
+team to carry us to the forest.
+
+Unless informed of what is to be seen one is apt to be greatly
+disappointed. One's idea of a forest is usually that of a timber-covered
+area in which the trees stand erect, with outspreading branches; but we
+look in vain for a standing tree, or even a stump that is erect.
+
+All are branchless trunks, prostrate on the ground, many wholly or
+partly buried; moreover, they are lying in all sorts of positions, some
+entire and others broken into sections; some are massed closely
+together; others lie apart; and millions of pieces of all sizes are
+scattered around. At places we can travel a long distance by stepping
+from one log to another.
+
+But what is that pile of variegated disk-like objects looking like the
+primitive Mexican ox-cart wheels? They are cross-sections of stone logs,
+some large and some small, seemingly thrown together carelessly. It is a
+characteristic of petrified trunks to break into cross-sections or
+blocks, varying from a few inches to several feet in length; and this
+tendency prevails here.
+
+We are told that the trees of this forest antedate those of the
+Yellowstone Park by a long period of time. How the loftiest flights of
+the imagination are piqued as we contemplate the marvellous changes
+since this primeval forest depended on the soil and sun for their
+life-giving elements! As we wander through this wonderful forest our
+feet seem to be treading on the rarest gems. And well may it seem so,
+because when polished these pieces display a beauty of coloring and a
+lustre that rivals the glint of precious stones. There is no other
+petrified forest in the world in which the mineralized wood assumes so
+many varied and interesting forms and colors.
+
+Many years ago a firm at Sioux Falls undertook to manufacture table
+tops, mantels, pedestals, and various decorative articles out of
+sections of this agatized wood by cutting them into the desired forms
+and polishing them. Tiffany and Company, the famous jewellers, also used
+this material for the base of the beautiful silver testimonial presented
+to the French sculptor, Bartholdi.
+
+At a later date, an abrasive company of Denver conceived the plan of
+grinding up these trunks to make emery because of their extreme
+hardness; in fact, a plant was shipped to Adamana station for that
+purpose. Fortunately for the public, however, it was not put into
+operation because the company learned that a Canadian firm had put on
+the market an article at such a reduced price that to grind up these
+beautiful logs would be unprofitable.
+
+Fragments, branches, and trunks of all sorts and sizes are found lying
+around, many of them richly colored, forming chalcedony, opal, and
+agate; some approach the condition of jasper and onyx.
+
+Before the Petrified Forest was set aside as a national park by
+Congress, many acts of vandalism were committed, to say nothing about
+the quantities of mineral carried away by manufacturing firms and
+curiosity-hunters. Keepers now have charge of the park, and no one is
+permitted to take away specimens for commercial use. Previously many of
+the finest logs were destroyed by blasting in order to procure the
+beautiful crystals which are found in the centre of many of them.
+
+One object of special interest in the park is the National Bridge, a
+petrified trunk which spans a chasm thirty feet wide and twenty feet
+deep. The part of the trunk crossing the gulch lies diagonally and is
+forty-four feet long. The length of the trunk exposed by erosion is one
+hundred and eleven feet; a fraction still remains embedded in the
+sandstone.
+
+The ruins of several ancient Indian pueblos are scattered about the
+park, nearly all of them built of logs of this richly colored, agatized
+wood. The forest was a storehouse for ages, whence primitive men
+obtained material from which to make agate hammers, arrow-heads, and
+knives, as is shown by implements found hundreds of miles distant from
+these quarries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DEATH VALLEY
+
+
+Death Valley, or the Arroyo del Muerte, as the Spanish called it, is in
+the western part of southern California, near the oblique boundary of
+Nevada, a little way north of Nevada's vanishing point. Nowadays one may
+ride almost into the valley in a Pullman coach. From Daggett, a forsaken
+station of the Santa Fe Railroad, a "jerkwater" road, as it is called,
+extends northward to Goldfield and Tonopah, and this road takes one
+almost as the crow flies to the edge of the valley of the ominous name.
+
+Even in a Pullman coach the trip is trying to both body and soul. But
+forty years ago?--well, that is a different story. Then there was no
+Santa Fe Railway, and no Daggett--just a wide stretch of desert dotted
+with yucca and Spanish bayonet. Prospectors and pack-trains had left
+trails here and there. One of these, now a wagon-road, lay southward to
+San Bernardino; northward it lost itself in the desert toward
+Candelaria.
+
+The region possesses some names that are a trifle paradoxical. For
+instances, there are the Black Mountains, the grayish red color of which
+belies their name. Then there is Funeral Range, which, far from being
+sombre in aspect, is most brilliantly colored. To the southward is
+Paradise Valley, a plain desert strewn with greasewood and chamiso; and
+down in the floor of Death Valley is, or rather was, Greenland. But
+Greenland is not a waste of icebound coldness; on the contrary, it is
+averred by the laborers in the borax fields to be several degrees hotter
+than any other place on earth. The surplus water of the spring is
+employed to produce verdure there, and it is apparently equal to the
+task, for the forty or more acres so irrigated produce wonderful crops;
+hence it is "Greenland."
+
+Even twenty years ago the trip to Death Valley was a trying one to the
+experienced desert traveller in summer; to the tenderfoot without a
+guide it was almost certain death. The best equipment for the trip was a
+pair of mules, or else cayuse ponies, and a light buckboard with broad
+tires--tires so wide that they would not sink in the loose, wind-blown
+rock waste. The equipment might possibly be found in Daggett; more
+likely it must be purchased in San Bernardino.
+
+At all events, Daggett was the real starting point, and the first
+"trick" in the journey was the crossing of Mohave River. The river was
+pretty sure to be deep--not with water but with sand. Whoever saw water
+in the channel, or "wash," of the Mohave? Perhaps the oldest settler may
+have seen it; at any rate he will so claim, for the oldest settler is
+always boastful; indeed, fairy-story telling is his inherent, bounden
+right. To make good his assertion he points to the bridge, and certainly
+the bridge is there; but as for the river, it may be on hand one
+day--perhaps an hour or so--in ten, twenty, or thirty years!
+
+Beyond the river a wide expanse of desert is before us, and then a
+beautiful lake comes into view. Real water, is it?--no; just the desert
+mirage, but it seems real enough to quench a genuine thirst. But the
+illusion is lessened by the surroundings, for we are approaching a dry
+sink--an old lake-bed that was filled with brackish water once when a
+cloud-burst that occurred in Calico Mountains had its busy day.
+
+Back of us are Calico Mountains, a picturesque clump of buttes, and the
+glimpse of them we get from the north explains why they were so named.
+And such colors! Their brilliant hues change like kaleidoscopic patterns
+with the sun's motion. On our right a trail diverges to Coyote Holes,
+made grewsome by one of many tragedies that have occurred in the region.
+This time it was a hold-up. A desert waif out of luck and ready cash
+waylaid the paymaster of Calico mines and relieved him of the money
+intended for the miners. The robber was soon trailed and he quickly
+discovered that his only safety lay in hiding. But where could he hide
+in that desolate flat?
+
+At Coyote Holes there is a spring and a small marsh. The robber buried
+himself in the mud till all but his face was covered and lay there while
+the posse searched. But the keen vision of an Indian scout did not fail.
+When the robber saw that he was surrounded, he put up a brave fight and
+went down, riddled with rifle-balls. The money was recovered.
+
+A little farther on is Garlic Springs. It is a common camping-place and
+like other camps is plentifully strewn with the evidence of the
+prospector's outfit--hundreds and hundreds of empty tin cans. In time we
+camp at Cave Springs in a little cove of the Avawatz Buttes. Once there
+came along a man who all said was half-witted. Perhaps he was, but his
+intelligence was keen enough to prompt him to claim the springs. By
+selling the water for quenching thirst at the rate of "four bits" a head
+for stock and "two bits" apiece for men, his spring proved the best gold
+mine in the district.
+
+There is no water ahead until we reach Saratoga Springs, a dozen miles
+beyond, and it is well that we take a small supply along, as the water
+there is unfit for either man or beast. There is a difference between
+Saratoga Springs, New York, and the springs bearing this high-sounding
+name in the Amargosa sink.
+
+[Illustration: Twenty-mule borax team]
+
+Boiling Springs are a night's ride--perhaps twenty miles--beyond. We
+give our team three hours of rest and start therefor, stopping in the
+mean time for a midnight feed, where most unexpectedly we find some
+excellent grazing for our horses. By daylight we are at the Springs and
+in a locality much like the Bad Lands of South Dakota. But the "boiling"
+industry apparently is taking a vacation, for the water is not too warm
+for one's hands and face--and certainly it is refreshing.
+
+We are in a "sink," or the dry bed of a lake, and the cliffs of clay
+have been sculptured into existence by the Amargosa River. Sometimes,
+when a dissipated cloud tumbles its contents into the region, the
+Amargosa is filled bank full with water; but few prospectors have seen
+more than a trickling stream flowing in its bed.
+
+We turn our way out of the wagon-trail toward Funeral Range to find the
+canyon of Furnace Creek, and in time we are clambering up a narrow gulch
+between the multicolored strata of clay buttes. Not a vestige of life,
+not even the horned-toad or the trail of the kangaroo-rat is to be seen.
+Half a dozen graves marked each by a wooden cross or a rock monument are
+in sight. Who are they? Ask the simoom that sweeps like a cruel furnace
+blast over this forsaken region. To be lost in this desert means
+horrible suffering, phantom-seeing, and then death. The bodies of these
+unfortunates were merely found and buried--lost!--dead!
+
+We cross the mesa which forms part of the Funeral Range. Telescope and
+Sentinel Peaks beyond Death Valley in the Panamint Mountains loom above
+the horizon; we descend the canyon of Furnace Creek and are in Death
+Valley.
+
+We are in a strange and weird depression of the earth's crust about
+fifty miles long and ten wide, the deepest part of which is more than
+two hundred and fifty feet below sea level. Once upon a time, it is
+thought, the Gulf of California reached so far inland that it included
+this gash. Then the never-ceasing winds bridged it with loose rock
+waste. Thus, Death Valley was born. In time it became a salt lake, a
+marsh, and then a dry sink.
+
+It is here that the deadly side-winder travels by night instead of day
+to avoid the excessive heat, and rivers flow with their bottoms up as if
+to hide from the burning rays of the sun; where Death by name and by
+nature gives forth no warning note, and even a mountain range on the
+east side of the valley signifies the service held to commemorate the
+last resting-place of the unfortunates who have perished here.
+
+The valley is hemmed in on the east by the precipitous side of the
+gorgeous-colored Funeral Range, and on the west by the Panamint
+Mountains, which rise to the height of ten thousand feet. The climate is
+cool and salubrious in winter, but is a fiery furnace in summer, when
+the mercury in the thermometer sometimes climbs to one hundred and forty
+degrees in the shade.
+
+Death Valley gained its name from a terrible tragedy that occurred
+during the early days of the gold excitement in California. Emigrants
+bound for California overland were wont to follow the same general route
+as far as Salt Lake City. From here there were two routes, one westerly
+along the route over which the Central Pacific Railway was afterward
+built, the other southerly into southern California.
+
+Late in the season of 1849 one of the emigrant parties reached Salt Lake
+City. Rather than winter there, however, they determined to push forward
+at all hazards by the southern route. After travelling through Utah and
+some distance in Nevada, they left the regular trail and decided to turn
+southwesterly and cross a fairly level mesa. The region was unknown to
+them, but they believed that by thus changing the route they would be
+able to reach their destination more quickly. They also thought that
+they would find better grazing for their stock. After they had crossed
+the mesa, the route became more rugged and more precipitous, so, in
+order to lighten the wagon-loads, one by one many articles of furniture
+were left behind.
+
+When the company reached the head of Amargosa Valley they began to
+separate. At length one party found looming up before it the streaked
+and many-colored Funeral Range of mountains. Nothing daunted, they
+laboriously toiled up to the crest with their teams. On looking down
+their hearts sank within them as they beheld a precipitous descent to a
+long, deep, and narrow valley almost destitute of vegetation. This
+depression was to be christened Death Valley.
+
+It was now too late to turn back; so, unyoking the oxen, they proceeded
+to lower the wagons down into the valley by hand, using chains and
+ropes. By the time they had finished the task darkness had shut down
+and, gathering sufficient greasewood brush to make a fire, they cooked
+their evening meal with a scanty supply of water and vainly searched for
+more. The food was eaten in gloomy silence, for they were lost and knew
+not where they were nor how to reach the nearest settlement.
+
+It was apparent to all, however, that they must hasten to leave this
+kiln-dried desert valley as soon as possible. Abandoning their wagons
+and nearly all of the surviving oxen to their fate, after incredible
+hardships from lack of both food and water, about one-half of the
+company of thirty souls that crossed the Funeral Range reached the
+settlements alive. Succumbing to their sufferings, the others dropped,
+one by one, by the wayside unknelled and uncoffined. The skeletons of
+several of these unfortunate emigrants were found years afterward by
+exploring parties and prospectors.
+
+Among those who escaped was a man named Bennett, who, on reaching the
+nearest town, reported that he had found a ledge of pure silver. The
+reputed discovery occurred in this way. As he was wending his course
+along one of the canyons he came across a spring, and, being both
+thirsty and tired, after taking a drink sat down to rest. While sitting
+there he carelessly broke off a piece of a rock jutting out near him,
+and perceiving that it was very heavy and thinking it might be of some
+value, placed a small part of it in his pocket.
+
+After he had reached San Bernardino he happened to purchase a gun
+lacking a front sight. Bennett therefore sought a gunsmith, whom he
+requested to make a sight out of the metallic rock which he had found
+that he might have a souvenir which would not be easily lost.
+
+To the astonishment of all who learned the facts, the metal proved to
+be pure silver. This circumstance gave rise to the celebrated "Gunsight
+Lead," a phantom that was chased in every direction from Death Valley;
+but, like the mirage of the desert, the lead was never found.
+
+In summer the valley is said to be the hottest place on the face of the
+earth, and persons deprived of water even for an hour become insane. Men
+who have attempted to cross it at mid-day have been known to fall dead,
+and birds flying across have been killed by the fierce heat.
+
+Cloud-bursts occur occasionally on the adjoining mountains, when
+torrents pour down the declivities, filling the canyons with streams of
+water sometimes many feet deep, which sweep everything before them. A
+cloud-burst may change the whole face of the mountain. Cloud-bursts come
+usually in the hottest weather and almost with the suddenness of an
+explosion. A swiftly moving black cloud tipped with fiery streaks and
+growing rapidly appears above the crest of the mountains. Then it sinks
+like a monster balloon turned sidewise until it strikes a ridge or peak;
+the flood is then let loose and destruction follows.
+
+Many stories are told of persons barely escaping with their lives by
+hastily climbing up the side of the canyons, beyond the reach of the
+roaring waters, and of others being overwhelmed and drowned. Such a
+flood, caused by a cloud-burst, may have buried the alleged Gunsight
+Lead and have changed the conformation of the canyon beyond recognition.
+
+No one without experience in travelling over deserts in the summer
+season can realize the hardships attending travel in the region of Death
+Valley nor the sombre sameness of the arid stretches of sand. When the
+sun has set and the full moon rising makes the silhouettes of the
+mountains look darker, a vague, indescribable sensation comes over
+one--an awe-inspiring feeling of insignificance and helplessness amidst
+scenes of majestic desolation. If religiously inclined, one is prone to
+utter the words of the wandering Arab of the Sahara, "Nothing exists
+here but Allah! _Allah hu Akbar!_--God is greater than all his created
+witnesses." In summer, the air being almost entirely destitute of
+moisture, evaporation is exceedingly rapid, and so hot is the sun at
+this season that metal objects lying out-of-doors burn the hand if
+touched.
+
+Many years ago valuable borax deposits were discovered in the Death
+Valley and thousands of tons of borax have been freighted out by huge
+wagons drawn by mules; indeed, "twenty-mule-team borax" has become
+almost a household term. Borax is still mined here, but not so
+extensively as formerly, more accessible borax deposits having been
+found in Nevada and elsewhere--and the twenty-mule team is now a
+motor-truck!
+
+Nearly one-third of all of the borax of the world comes from the deserts
+of California and Nevada. When borax was first discovered in California
+the wholesale price in New York was about fifty cents a pound; now it is
+about six cents.
+
+The various applications of borax to industrial and domestic uses have
+kept pace with its enormous production during the last twenty-five
+years, until now it is used for more than fifty different purposes. The
+meat-packers of the United States alone use several million pounds as a
+preservative. It is also used with excellent results as an antiseptic in
+dressing wounds and sores.
+
+Furnace Creek enters the valley on the eastern side of Death Valley, but
+its waters soon sink out of sight. The creek is used to irrigate a tract
+of alfalfa, a small garden, and a few trees; and the small ranch, a
+veritable oasis in a desert, is rightly called Greenland. A few men are
+kept employed here by the borax company. Now and then, however, the
+whole crowd, tiring of the extreme heat, desert in a body.
+
+This region is now robbed of some of its terrors by the completion of
+the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, which touches Death Valley at the
+old Amargosa Borax Works.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES
+
+
+At this period of the world's progress, when so many marvellous
+inventions are taking place, one can scarcely realize the intense
+interest that was awakened by the first discoveries made in the New
+World. So great was the excitement that the most improbable stories were
+readily believed.
+
+There were fountains of perpetual youth, Amazonian warriors, mighty
+giants, and rivers whose beds sparkled with gems and golden pebbles. The
+reports of every returning adventurer, whatever had been his luck, were
+tinged with the marvellous. In fact, a world of romance was now open to
+all and the opportunities to achieve fame and fortune were numberless.
+The first in the field stood the best chance to win the choicest prizes.
+Stories that outrivalled the Arabian Nights clouded the realm of reason.
+
+So extraordinary were the accounts that many of the cities of Spain were
+depleted of their most energetic men. Every craft that could sail the
+seas was called into use, and the building of new vessels was hastened
+to completion in order to provide for the needs of adventurous
+prospectors and would-be explorers.
+
+The conquest of the Aztec Empire, with its millions of treasure, by
+Cortez had already proved the valiancy of Spanish cavaliers. To add to
+this, the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro and his followers was
+regarded a miracle of divine interposition.
+
+As a result, Spanish galleons laden with treasure from the conquered
+countries ploughed the seas, and untold wealth poured into private and
+royal coffers. Spanish ambition and greed for gold knew no bounds.
+Cunning and cruelty were employed by the Spaniards to secure their ends.
+No trials, no hardships were too great for them to endure. No perils
+daunted them. Western South America, ruled by viceroys for nearly three
+centuries, brought to Spain its greatest wealth. One-fifth of all the
+wealth and treasure acquired was reserved for the crown.
+
+When Pizarro first visited the interior of Peru he found an empire well
+advanced in the arts of civilization. Its temples within and without
+were richly decorated with gold. There were thousands of miles of
+excellent roads, of which two were used for military purposes. One of
+these extended along the lowlands; the other traversed the grand
+plateau. These roads crossed ravines bridged with solid masonry and were
+pierced by tunnels cut through solid rock. The construction of these
+great roads was a more wonderful achievement than the building of the
+Egyptian pyramids.
+
+The government was systematically organized and to a certain extent it
+was both paternal and communal. Agriculture was skilfully carried on by
+means of fertilization and irrigation.
+
+The sun was the chief deity and object of worship of its people. Their
+most beautifully adorned and renowned sanctuary was the Temple of the
+Sun at Cuzco. Besides this sacred edifice there were several hundred
+inferior temples and places of worship scattered through the empire, all
+plentifully ornamented with gold and silver. Every Inca ruler was
+regarded as a descendant of the sun and therefore a sacred person.
+
+According to the popular belief, gold consisted of tears wept by the sun
+and was therefore a sacred metal suitable for beautifying the palaces of
+the Incas and temples of worship. Not only were the edifices themselves
+richly adorned with this precious metal, but the sacred vessels and many
+of the articles of furniture were made of the same material. Silver,
+also, was much used, but was not considered sacred. So great was the
+amount of the precious metals used that each royal palace and temple was
+a veritable mine.
+
+From 1520 to 1525 reports of a rich empire at the south were circulated
+among the adventurers congregated at Panama. At length they were
+confirmed in a great measure by travellers who had voyaged southward
+along the coast. Francisco Pizarro, a restless spirit who had been
+associated with Balboa and others in discovery and exploration,
+determining to test the truth of these reports, made several voyages
+south.
+
+Finally, he landed on the shores of Peru with an army of followers who
+numbered less than two hundred. He met with but little opposition from
+the natives while marching toward the interior, and although he
+plundered some of the places through which he passed, the people
+received him with marks of friendship.
+
+In some instances towns of several thousand population were deserted on
+the approach of the Spaniards, so great was the terror inspired by the
+white men, especially by those on horseback. At first it was the policy
+of the invaders to treat the natives with kindness in order to
+accomplish their purpose, namely, to conquer the Peruvian Empire in the
+same manner that Cortez had conquered the Aztecs. They were accompanied
+by two of the natives who previously had been taken to Spain and taught
+the Spanish language. By this means the Spaniards were able to
+communicate with the people.
+
+Learning that the Inca ruler, Atahuallpa, was encamped with his army
+among the mountains, Pizarro sent an embassy to request a meeting with
+him. It was agreed that they meet at Caxamalca, a strongly fortified
+city among the sierras. On arriving at the city, the Spaniards found it
+evacuated. Soon after taking up their quarters there, Atahuallpa arrived
+and established his camp a short distance outside the city.
+
+Pizarro at once sent word to Atahuallpa to come into the city and sup
+with him, but asked that, in order to show his faith in the white men
+and his own good intentions, he should leave all weapons behind. After
+much persuasion Atahuallpa accepted the invitation and entered the city,
+with several thousand of his followers, unarmed.
+
+When fairly within the enclosure, a priest approaching the Inca ruler
+made a harangue about Christianity and demanded that he should submit to
+the authority of the Spanish king.
+
+"By what authority do you demand such submission?" replied the monarch
+with flashing eye.
+
+"By this holy book which I hold in my hand," answered the priest.
+
+Then snatching the volume from the hand of the priest, Atahuallpa
+scornfully threw it on the ground, saying, "What right have you in my
+country? I will call you and your companions to an account for the
+indignities heaped upon me."
+
+Picking up the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported
+the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At
+them at once; I absolve you."
+
+Immediately Pizarro raised his handkerchief for the preconcerted
+signal, the firing of a gun. Thereupon his soldiers, infantry and
+cavalry, rushed from their places of concealment upon the defenceless
+Indians, slaughtering them unmercifully right and left.
+
+The discharge of the arquebuses and cannon, with their smoke, and the
+charge of the cavalry paralyzed the unsuspecting natives, and the attack
+became a horrible massacre. Not until thousands of the Indians had been
+killed and the Inca ruler had been captured did darkness cause the
+Spaniards to desist from their bloody work. So sudden and terrible had
+been the onslaught that the haughty monarch himself seemed stunned by
+the effect.
+
+Realizing the irresistible power of the white men with their wonderful
+weapons and horses, the natives gave up for a time all thoughts of
+resistance. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings
+endowed with preternatural gifts.
+
+When the ruler had been kept a prisoner several months, he desired to
+regain his freedom. By this time he realized the Spaniards' thirst for
+gold, and therefore promised to fill the room in which he was confined
+with it as high as he could reach, and twice to fill an adjoining room
+with silver, if they would release him.
+
+Pizarro agreed to this proposal; Atahuallpa thereupon sent out
+messengers to all parts of his empire requesting that the metals in the
+shape of utensils and ornaments be collected from the royal palaces,
+temples, and elsewhere and brought to Caxamalca.
+
+On account of the difficulty of transportation, since all the treasure
+had to be carried on the backs of the natives, many months elapsed
+before the collections could be made.
+
+When fifteen and one-half million dollars' worth of gold and a large
+amount of silver had been delivered at Caxamalca, Pizarro excused the
+imprisoned ruler from further contributions. At this juncture of
+affairs Almagro, a co-partner in the Peruvian expedition, arrived on the
+scene with a strong reinforcement.
+
+On learning of the immense amount of gold and silver collected, the
+followers of both leaders loudly clamored for its distribution among
+them, and, taking out the royal fifth part, the remainder was divided
+according to the rank and service rendered. Then came rumors of an
+uprising among the natives and of the collection of an army to drive out
+the invaders, but on investigation these reports were found to be false.
+
+The question then uppermost in the minds of the Spanish leaders was the
+disposition of the royal prisoner. It was thought that, were he released
+according to promise, the natives might rally around him and demand the
+expulsion of the intruders. So it was decided to make charges against
+him and to have at least the form of a trial in order to give an
+appearance of justice to the proceedings.
+
+Twelve charges were made against Atahuallpa, nearly all of which were
+far-fetched and absolutely false. He was found guilty and condemned to
+death by burning; but at the last moment, when he was chained to a stake
+and the torch was ready to be applied, the priest in attendance promised
+that the sentence should be commuted to the easier death by the garrote
+if he would renounce his idolatry and embrace Christianity. He assented
+to the proposal, and immediately the modified sentence was carried out.
+It is not necessary to add that the execution of the Peruvian monarch
+was the darkest stain on the pages of Spanish colonial history. From
+this time on the conduct of the Spanish invaders was marked by a most
+inhuman cruelty toward the natives.
+
+[Illustration: The Oroya Railroad, Peru, showing four sections of the
+road]
+
+Thinking that he could more easily govern the empire through a native
+ruler subservient to himself, Pizarro placed Manco, the true heir, on
+the Peruvian throne. In the meantime, however, parts of the empire
+rebelled against the new ruler and the Spanish usurpers. Then, when the
+rebellious tribes had been brought back to their former allegiance, the
+Spanish leaders quarrelled and fought among themselves.
+
+It was not long before the arrogant and cruel conduct of the Spaniards
+alienated all friendship on the part of both ruler and his subjects.
+Manco broke from his masters and, aided by his people, raised the
+standard of rebellion, determining to make a last supreme effort to rid
+his subjects of the incubus that was sapping the life of the country.
+
+After many bloody encounters in which both sides sustained severe
+losses, Manco was killed and the Spanish yoke was firmly fixed on the
+neck of the people, who for the greater part were consigned to a most
+inhuman slavery. Thousands perished by the brutal treatment inflicted
+upon them in the silver mines.
+
+In the course of time Indian slavery was abolished in a great measure by
+royal proclamation; nevertheless, Spain continued to rule this land for
+three hundred years before the oppressive yoke was cast off by a
+successful uprising. It is a pleasure to know that many of the Spanish
+leaders who were guilty of this heartless cruelty suffered violent
+deaths in quarrels among themselves or in rebellion against the crown of
+Spain.
+
+During the period of Spanish rule an immense revenue accrued from
+working the rich silver mines. Those that filled the Spanish treasure
+ships so eagerly sought by buccaneers were the mines of Potosi. These
+silver lodes, extensively worked through Indian slave labor by Hernando
+and Gonzalo Pizarro, brothers of Francisco Pizarro, were discovered in
+1546.
+
+So rich did the lodes prove to be that the city of Potosi sprang up near
+them and was supported by them, although the site was far from being
+desirable. Its altitude is about thirteen thousand feet, and it is,
+therefore, the highest city in the world. It is situated on the bleak
+side of the Andes, from whose snow-clad peaks cold, piercing winds sweep
+down over the city. Towering above it is a mountain, honeycombed with
+shafts, tunnels, and drifts, from which has been taken silver to the
+value of two billion dollars.
+
+At first it was thought that a location so high above sea level would be
+unhabitable, but the immense wealth of the silver lodes required many
+workmen for their development, and these laborers had to be housed and
+fed.
+
+At the zenith of its prosperity Potosi possessed one hundred seventy
+thousand inhabitants, and had the distinction of being the largest city
+in the New World during the first two centuries of its existence. A mint
+built in 1562, at the expense of over a million dollars, is long since
+unused. A splendid granite cathedral ornamented with beautiful statuary
+still attests to the former grandeur of the city.
+
+Some of the richest veins of silver ore in the Potosi mines have been
+worked out and many mines have been allowed to become filled with water.
+These conditions, coupled with the low price of silver for many years,
+have caused the population of the city to dwindle until now there are
+scarcely more than ten thousand inhabitants and very many of the
+buildings are in ruins. These mines have produced twenty-seven thousand
+tons of silver since their discovery, and at the present day many of
+them are yielding large returns.
+
+The Bolivian plateau is one vast mineral bed abounding in rich mines of
+copper, tin, silver, and gold. In Bolivia alone there are upward of two
+thousand silver mines; while some of the richest tin mines in the world
+are found here. Lodes of pure tin several feet in width have been
+followed down six hundred feet. Tin mines were recently discovered among
+the mountains thirteen thousand five hundred feet above the level of
+the sea, near the shores of Lake Titicaca.
+
+Two railroads now reach this high plateau, one from the seaport town of
+Antofagasta, Chile, to Oruro, Bolivia; the other from Molendo, Peru, to
+Puno, on Lake Titicaca. The most wonderful railroad in the world and the
+most costly in its construction, the Oroya Railroad is about one hundred
+fifty miles long. It begins at Callao, Peru, and ends at Oroya. The
+highest point reached by it in crossing the Andes is fifteen thousand
+six hundred and sixty-five feet. It is said that seven thousand lives
+were lost in its construction. Much of the road-bed was blasted through
+solid rock on the sides of the mountains. The cost of construction was
+about three hundred thousand dollars per mile. It has seventy-eight
+tunnels, the longest being the Gallera tunnel, which pierces Mount
+Meiggs at the altitude of fifteen thousand six hundred and sixty-five
+feet. This is the highest place in the world where steam is used as a
+motive power. Ultimately the road is to be extended to the celebrated
+mines of Cerro de Pasco, fifty-one miles beyond its present terminus,
+Oroya.
+
+The chief business of these railroads extending into the Andes is
+carrying ore, bullion, and wool. Their construction marks the acme of
+engineering skill; the scenery along them surpasses that of all other
+regions in its wild ruggedness, grandeur, and sublimity.
+
+In ascending to such great heights quickly one not accustomed to high
+elevations is apt to experience dizziness, headache, and nausea. At
+first even the effort to talk on reaching these lofty places by train is
+laborious. Dogs taken from the lowlands to these elevations are unable
+to run with speed for a long time, but those which are born and reared
+in this region easily pursue wild animals.
+
+When the New World was discovered the llama was the only animal used
+there as a beast of burden. Thousands of these diminutive creatures are
+still used for transporting ore and bullion in the Andes. Each animal
+can carry a load of seventy-five pounds or more. This sure-footed animal
+can travel with its load about fourteen miles a day.
+
+[Illustration: Llamas resting]
+
+Lake Titicaca is one of the famous lakes of the world. Its name means
+tin-stone and was doubtless derived from the tin ore found in the
+vicinity. The lake has an elevation of twelve thousand five hundred and
+fifty feet, and although nine streams run into it, only one, the
+Desaguadero, flows out, carrying its waters to Lake Poopo, a small body
+of salt water nearly three hundred miles south. Lake Titicaca has the
+same surface level both summer and winter. The outflow never reaches the
+sea; it is lost by evaporation mainly in Lake Poopo, but the latter
+frequently overflows into the salt marshes lying to the southward.
+
+Though thin ice may be found in the quiet bays and inlets nearly every
+morning during the year, the expanse of the lake is never frozen even in
+the severest weather. A peculiarity about the lake is that not only will
+iron not rust when left in its waters, but that which was before rusted
+soon loses its scales of rust after being immersed a few days.
+
+Several steamers ply on the lake carrying chiefly ore and wool. Some of
+the islands in the lake are inhabited by Indians who eke out a
+precarious living.
+
+A civilization antedating that of the Incas formerly occupied the region
+about the lake, as is proved by the remarkable ruins along the shores
+concerning which the natives told the early Spaniards that they had no
+record. Three square miles are covered by these ruins, whose walls were
+made of immense blocks of stone most accurately fitted together, thus
+giving evidence of the great skill in stone-cutting possessed by the
+pre-Inca people.
+
+The Inca rulers had beautiful palaces and other edifices on some of the
+islands. Titicaca Island was regarded as sacred, and at the time of the
+Spanish conquest was the site of a large temple richly ornamented with
+gold and silver.
+
+Prospecting in the Andes is attended with great hardships. Few wild
+animals can be found to furnish food. Food and utensils must be carried
+on the backs of men, and the greatest difficulty is experienced in
+traversing the almost inaccessible steeps and deep ravines.
+
+Coal of inferior quality has been found near the shores of Lake Titicaca
+and is used by the steamers sailing on its waters. Many rich mineral
+lodes yet remain undiscovered, and a vast number of valuable mines
+languish for lack of capital to develop them. Frequent revolutions and
+the insecurity of private property prevent the investment of foreign
+capital.
+
+The Andes will continue to be a great storehouse of minerals for many
+years to come.
+
+[Illustration: Silver-smelting works at Cassapalca, on the Oroya
+Railroad, Peru, 13,600 feet high]
+
+Muffling the feet of the Peruvian Andes is a long narrow strip--drifting
+dunes of rock waste--known as the Atacama Desert. In comparison with
+this awful desert, the Sahara is said to be a botanical garden. Here
+during a part of the year a fierce, relentless sun pours down its
+burning rays on the shifting sands, keeping the air at a scorching heat
+both day and night. Formerly the region belonged to Bolivia, but it was
+annexed to Chile as a result of the war of 1881.
+
+For miles and miles not a blade of grass, not a tree, not a shrub is to
+be seen. All around is a bleak, barren waste destitute of water. Yet
+underneath these sands lie concealed immense deposits of "nitrates" of
+untold wealth.
+
+Although small quantities of the nitrates had been sent to Europe for
+chemical purposes--chiefly the manufacture of gunpowder--no considerable
+amount was exported until a fortuitous discovery was made by a Scotchman
+named George Smith. After wandering over the world for some time Smith
+settled down in a little village near Iquique, where he had a small
+garden containing fruit-trees and flowers. In one part of his garden he
+noticed that the plants grew best where the soil contained a white
+substance.
+
+He then proceeded to gather a quantity of the material and to experiment
+with it. To his surprise he found that a mere handful of it greatly
+stimulated the growth of plants. He told a member of his family in
+Scotland who was engaged in fruit-growing about the wonderful effects of
+the material as a fertilizer. As a result several bags of nitrates were
+distributed among Scottish farmers and fruit-growers. So satisfactory
+did the fertilizer prove that an immediate call was made for more of it.
+Thus began a business which now yields the owners of the beds one
+hundred million dollars yearly.
+
+It was soon found out that the nitrate in its raw state contained
+properties that were injurious to plants and that these should be first
+eliminated. Forthwith reduction works were established to extract the
+deleterious substances. These substances were mainly iodine and bromine,
+two chemical elements that are of greater value than the nitrates
+themselves. Within a few years railroads were built to transport the
+nitrates from the beds to the various ports where the reduction
+factories were erected.
+
+Many men who had large interests in the nitrate beds became immensely
+wealthy in a short time. The great value of the deposits caused towns
+and cities to spring up along the coast in the most inhospitable places,
+to some of which water was piped a distance of more than two hundred
+miles and at the cost of many millions of dollars.
+
+The principal nitrate beds are in a shallow valley, four or five
+thousand feet above sea level, lying between a long range of hills and
+the base of the Andes. Just how these mineral deposits were formed it is
+difficult to explain, the most plausible theory being that this desert
+was once the bottom of an inland sea having vast quantities of seaweed
+covered with sand. In the gradual decay of this substance the nitrate of
+soda, or "Chile saltpetre," was formed.
+
+To obtain the nitrates it is necessary first to remove the top layer of
+sand and then a layer of clay. Underneath this is found a layer of soft,
+whitish material called "nitrate." The crude nitrate is sent to the
+nitrate ports to be crushed and boiled in sea-water. After boiling, the
+solution is drawn off into shallow vessels and exposed to the heat of
+the sun to evaporate.
+
+When nearly all has been evaporated and the remaining liquid drawn off,
+the bottom and sides of the vessels are found to be covered with
+sparkling white crystals. This is the saltpetre of commerce, the highest
+grade of which is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, the second grade
+for chemical purposes, and the third grade, the great bulk, for
+fertilizing the exhausted soils of Europe.
+
+The liquid drawn off is crystallized by chemical treatment and further
+evaporation, and from it is obtained iodine, an ounce of which is worth
+as much as one hundred pounds of saltpetre. From eighty to one hundred
+million dollars' worth of these nitrates are dug out and sold each year.
+Great Britain takes about one-third of the entire product and Germany
+one-fifth.
+
+Iquique has the largest shipping trade. From this port about fifty
+million dollars' worth of nitrates and three million dollars' worth of
+iodine are exported yearly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN
+
+
+No other parts of the globe have been subject to so many kaleidoscopic
+changes by migrations during the past eight centuries as northern Asia
+and eastern Europe. In comparison both India and China have remained
+stable for many centuries.
+
+Before the Christian era, Mongol tribes of northeastern Asia began their
+westward march, tarrying a few centuries along the way in the most
+fertile places and gathering force by multiplication until the
+thirteenth century. Then like a mighty flood they poured into eastern
+Europe, carrying everywhere in their pathway subjugation, devastation,
+and slaughter. During the early part of these migrations, the great
+Roman Empire trembled as she beheld the irresistible moving hosts, and
+her downfall was hastened by the ponderous blows dealt her by these
+barbarians.
+
+In the early part of the thirteenth century, after the Mongol ruler
+Genghis Khan had overrun southern Russia, he turned northward and
+captured the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan, putting to death
+many of the inhabitants by the most fiendish methods of torture.
+Thousands were slaughtered merely to wreak vengeance for the strong
+resistance offered by the besieged before surrendering. Hundreds of
+thousands of the Russians both high and low were made slaves. Wives of
+the nobles who had been richly clad and adorned with jewels became
+servants of their conquerors.
+
+[Illustration: Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River.
+Catching the material for caviare]
+
+In 1272 most of the Tartars became Muhammadans and henceforth became
+more intolerant of the Christians, thousands of whom they burned alive
+or tortured. This oppressive yoke was borne for nearly three hundred
+years. Then Ivan III succeeded in breaking the Tartar rule forever.
+Mongol tribes, however, remained a disturbing element on the border for
+two hundred years thereafter.
+
+In the early part of the fourteenth century Othman, a Mongol, founded
+the Ottoman empire, which then consisted of only the western part of
+Asia Minor. His son and successor conquered Gallipoli in 1354, thereby
+gaining a foothold in Europe, and during the next two centuries
+successive Turkish rulers made large additions to the empire until it
+embraced vast areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For a time, indeed, it
+threatened to absorb all Christendom. Adrianople was conquered in 1361
+and made the capital of the Turkish Empire. Then, in 1453, after a
+memorable siege, Constantinople was captured by the Muhammadans, and
+made the capital of the empire.
+
+Orkhan was the first to exact as tribute the strongest and healthiest
+male children of all Christian peoples whom he conquered. These youths,
+reared as Muhammadans and trained under strict military discipline,
+became that efficient body of troops called the Janizaries. For a long
+time they were the bulwark of the empire, but at length they became so
+dictatorial and powerful that the sultan began to fear them more than he
+feared his foreign enemies. In 1825, when the army was reorganized on
+the European plan, the Janizaries broke out in open revolt. Then the
+reigning sultan unfurled the flag of the Prophet and called upon the
+faithful to suppress the rebellious corps. In the contest that ensued it
+is estimated that twenty-five thousand of the rebels were put to death,
+twenty thousand were banished, and the others disbanded. This was the
+end of an epoch of blood-shedding and the beginning of an era of
+commerce.
+
+The Russians have always been noted for their love of furs; as a result
+a small, fur-bearing animal, the sable, led to the conquest of that vast
+realm now known as Siberia.
+
+About the middle of the sixteenth century a rich Russian merchant named
+Strogonoff, residing at Kazan, established salt works on the banks of
+the Kama, a tributary of the Volga River, and began trading with the
+natives. One day, having noticed some strangely dressed travellers and
+learning that they came from a country beyond the Ural Mountains, called
+Sibir, he despatched some of his agents into that land. On returning,
+the employees brought with them the finest sable skins that the
+merchant had ever seen. They had been secured for a trifling sum.
+
+Strogonoff began at once to extend the area of his trafficking, and
+informed the government of the lucrative commerce that he had opened up.
+Valuable concessions were then granted him. A few years afterward a
+Cossack officer named Yermak, who had been declared an outlaw by Ivan
+the Terrible, gathered together a force of less than one thousand men.
+The band was composed of adventurers, freebooters, and criminals, and
+the expedition was armed and provisioned by Strogonoff, who expected to
+profit by opening up the new region. Permission having been obtained
+from the government, in 1579 Yermak set forth with his followers for the
+unknown country.
+
+So great were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forest
+offered, together with the severity of the climate and hostility of the
+natives, that his force was reduced by death, sickness, and desertion to
+the number of five hundred when he lined up his men before the large
+army of the powerful Kutchum Khan. Like Cortez and Pizarro, Yermak had
+unbounded confidence in his ability to cope with his enemies, who were
+rudely armed with bows and arrows, regardless of their numbers; for his
+own men were supplied with matchlocks, and with these--in the language
+of the natives--they could manufacture thunder and lightning.
+
+A terrible battle ensued, and for some time success seemed evenly
+balanced. At length the fierce attacks of the Cossacks forced the
+barbarous hordes to give way and the retreat became a stampede. Kutchum
+Khan's camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
+Yermak at once sent part of his force to occupy the Tartar capital,
+which was found to be evacuated, so great was the terror inspired by the
+Russians.
+
+The success achieved by the handful of Cossacks led several neighboring
+tribes to offer voluntarily an annual tribute of sable skins. When
+Yermak had collected several thousand of these skins, he sent a special
+envoy to Moscow to present them along with the conquered country to the
+czar. So greatly pleased was Ivan with the offerings that he forgave
+Yermak for his past ill deeds and made him governor and
+commander-in-chief of all the countries which he might conquer. Then,
+knowing that it would be difficult for the Cossacks to hold the
+conquered territory very long with their diminished numbers, the czar
+forthwith sent reinforcements.
+
+Soon after the arrival of the additional troops, Yermak audaciously
+started out to make further conquests. One dark and rainy night he
+encamped with his force on a small island in the Irtish River. Relying
+on the terror which his name had inspired, and the stormy weather, he
+deemed it unnecessary to post sentinels. Wearied with their long march,
+soon all of the Russians were buried in slumber.
+
+But Kutchum, smarting under his humiliating defeat, had spies constantly
+watching his foes, intending, if possible, to take them by surprise.
+When the spies reported to him the lack of vigilance on the part of the
+enemy, he stealthily crossed to the island with his force and fell upon
+the sleeping camp. All the Russians but two were killed, and these,
+escaping, reported the disaster at Sibir. When Yermak saw the
+annihilation of his troops, he cut his way through the Tartars and
+attempted to swim the stream, but was dragged to the bottom by his heavy
+armor and drowned.
+
+When news of the crushing disaster reached Sibir the Russians, losing
+heart at the death of their leader, evacuated the place and returned
+home. The czar, nevertheless, had no idea of permitting a land so
+promising to slip from his grasp. It was not long before he sent a
+larger army across the Ural Mountains, which not only reconquered the
+lost territory but also the rest of western Siberia.
+
+[Illustration: Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River]
+
+Gradually the Cossacks moved eastward, conquering tribe after tribe. As
+they advanced they built strong wooden forts by which to hold their
+vantage ground. Tomsk was founded in 1604; by 1630 the tide of conquest
+had reached the banks of the Lena; and within eighty years from their
+first conquest the Russians had reached the Pacific.
+
+Years afterward a suitable monument was erected to Yermak in the city of
+Tobolsk, which was built on the battle-field where he gained his first
+decisive victory over the Tartar ruler. His real monument is all
+Siberia, whose conquest he inaugurated.
+
+In 1847 the Amur River section was annexed by Russia regardless of the
+protests of the Chinese Government. Quarrels ensued over the boundaries
+and, finding resistance hopeless, the Chinese ceded to Russia all the
+land on the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri and
+on both its banks below that river.
+
+The sable gradually led the Russian hunters to Kamtchatka, while the
+more valuable sea-otter beckoned them across the sea to the Aleutian
+Islands and that part of the American continent now Alaska Territory.
+The chief incentive in all of these conquests was the securing of
+valuable furs. The sable is even yet found along the streams in both
+open and forested sections from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific; but
+so relentless has been the pursuit of this valuable fur-bearing animal
+that it is now nearly exterminated. Besides the sable and the sea-otter,
+there are found in Siberia the ermine, bear, arctic fox, common fox,
+deer, wolf, antelope, elk, hare, and squirrel.
+
+To avoid entering into conflict with the more powerful people at the
+south, the Russians chose to advance eastward along higher latitudes
+toward the Pacific. But within a few years after the Muscovite empire
+had acquired central and northern Siberia, there were loud complaints
+that the tribes on the south were making raids on them, robbing them of
+their property and carrying their people into slavery. So, from time to
+time, Cossack forces were sent to chastise the offenders; and in many
+instances they were punished and their territories were annexed to
+Siberia.
+
+In these raids the Turkomans were the most active. During the forty
+years previous to 1878 it is estimated that eighty thousand Russian
+subjects and two hundred thousand Persians were made captives and sold
+into slavery. In 1873 the Russians captured Khiva and liberated thirty
+thousand Persian slaves.
+
+Notwithstanding these lessons, some of the Turkoman tribes still went on
+marauding expeditions, robbing, killing, and enslaving their neighbors.
+So, in 1878, another strong force of the Cossacks was sent against the
+pillaging tribes, who were made to release all slaves and abolish
+slavery. Little by little all Turkistan became Russian territory.
+Bokhara and Khiva alone keep their old forms of government, but they are
+practically Russian states and pay Russia annually a stipulated tribute.
+
+It is thought that once upon a time Siberia had a much larger population
+than it has now and the peoples who lived there dwelt farther north. The
+first colonists lived in the stone age and were contemporaneous with the
+mammoth, whose remains are found scattered all over the northern part of
+Siberia and the adjacent islands.
+
+In the interior these remains are found imbedded in thick strata of pure
+blue ice, which is covered by the river gravels of streams that do not
+now exist. So thick are these layers of ice that they may be likened to
+the rocks found in lower latitudes. Several of these animals have been
+found imbedded in the ice in an almost perfect state of preservation,
+and quantities of their tusks are obtained annually along the northern
+rivers where the spring freshets have worn away the banks of the
+streams.
+
+Whenever the ivory-tusk hunter sees the end of a tusk sticking out of
+the river bank, he is soon able to remove it from its resting place with
+pick and shovel. Great quantities of this fossil ivory are also obtained
+from the islands to the north of the mainland.
+
+As in arctic America, the ground of northern Siberia is frozen solid to
+the depth of many feet, and even during the hottest summer it thaws down
+only a few inches. The climate is continental in character, being marked
+by fierce winds and great extremes both in temperature and moisture. In
+midsummer the temperature may reach one hundred and ten degrees, while
+in midwinter it has been known to reach ninety degrees below zero.
+
+Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three longitudinal belts:
+first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several
+hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred
+miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern
+part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, grassy plains, and a few
+broken forests.
+
+The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen
+waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here
+nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring
+struggle with cold and hunger.
+
+In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw,
+thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear,
+enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp
+September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their
+tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy
+plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.
+
+One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the
+sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many
+animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for
+thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be
+brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate
+the history of their age and generation!
+
+The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the
+forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of
+islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To
+reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels
+of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their
+return south the natives station themselves at these places and
+slaughter them in large numbers.
+
+All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the breeding places
+of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such
+dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.
+
+Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory
+is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
+Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
+the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
+gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
+worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
+early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.
+
+[Illustration: Driving over the tundra in winter]
+
+Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
+archaeologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
+There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
+thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
+from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
+collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in
+an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
+This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
+the bronze age in the world.
+
+The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
+shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
+forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
+pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
+square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
+neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
+dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
+so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
+steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
+supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
+they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
+or hearing either bird or beast.
+
+At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
+that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
+The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
+number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
+by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
+miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
+portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
+be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
+coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.
+
+Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most
+numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy
+several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the
+Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where
+the temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three
+degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and
+the children sport naked in the snow.
+
+The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and
+extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of
+Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly
+spined forms of the cactus family.
+
+A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants
+on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the
+northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in
+Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine
+nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and
+settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially
+in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed
+from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward
+of three million pounds.
+
+The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the
+Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It
+is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along
+frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.
+
+The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central
+Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is
+widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The
+word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes
+from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the
+mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires
+before it can be worked.
+
+The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful
+transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and
+other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was
+practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and
+seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment,
+double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the
+first cost.
+
+The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line
+across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now
+called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur
+is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five
+hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too
+light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and
+the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.
+
+The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges
+from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as
+one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class
+one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds
+on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the
+luxury of a bath.
+
+Since the completion of the road the government has done everything
+possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle
+and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in
+Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line
+during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand
+annually.
+
+To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives
+each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock
+and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of
+interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be
+bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million
+five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant
+farmers.
+
+Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
+additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the
+growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers
+during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the
+Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice
+obstructions.
+
+[Illustration: Train on the steppes of Russia]
+
+Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before
+the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the
+government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the
+principal places schools have been established in which the best methods
+of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are
+practically unknown.
+
+The fine quality of the grasses, together with the improved methods of
+manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian butter
+to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
+products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
+quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
+Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
+Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
+pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
+fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
+only in its infancy.
+
+In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
+black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
+sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
+of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
+timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
+capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.
+
+Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
+concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
+have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
+been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
+be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
+criminals are sent to Siberia.
+
+Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
+political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
+of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
+family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.
+
+Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
+hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
+deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
+species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
+found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
+this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
+species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
+industries.
+
+In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
+made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
+one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
+to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends
+around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not
+attempted when the ice is thick.
+
+Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to
+the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than
+six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States,
+including Alaska.
+
+Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts,
+irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the
+agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond
+computation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA
+
+
+The statement that "one half the world does not know how the other half
+lives, nor how it is influenced," applies with double force to the
+peoples living on the high plateau of Tibet beyond the titanic
+Himalayas. Here is a vast region only one-twentieth of which is covered
+with vegetation. Chains of mountains with snow-capped peaks encircle it,
+and spurs from the main ranges, together with lesser ridges and isolated
+elevations, diversify its surface.
+
+Amidst these desolate wastes are fertile valleys which are capable of
+producing excellent crops; in many other sections good crops are
+produced by very primitive methods of irrigation. As a whole the plateau
+may be classed among the infertile regions of the earth.
+
+On account of its great elevation, Tibet is often called the roof of the
+world. Starting from its borders several large rivers break through its
+rocky ramparts, among them the Indus, Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Hoang.
+Some of the plains of the great plateau range from fifteen to eighteen
+thousand feet above sea level. Scattered over these are single lakes and
+chains of lakes, many of which are salt. These vast areas, storm-swept
+in winter and baked by heat in summer, are frequented by bandits and
+nomads. They live in tents made of the almost black hair of the yak, and
+move from place to place with their flocks and herds to seek food for
+their animals. The stable population resides chiefly in the few cities
+and villages.
+
+For nearly a thousand years a veil of religious mystery has shrouded
+this section of the world; and the sacred city of Lasa with its holy
+places has been doubly guarded against the visits of foreigners.
+
+This mysterious land has been able to maintain its position of isolated
+seclusion because of the high mountain barriers that are massed in a
+series of gigantic walls on all sides. It is approachable only through
+narrow passes that are constantly guarded.
+
+Our knowledge of the "forbidden land," as it is called, has been
+obtained chiefly from adventurers who have travelled through it in
+disguise, and from a few others who took more desperate chances by
+forcing their way in. Among these may be mentioned Bower, Thorald, the
+Littledales, Rockhill, Captain Deasy, Sven Hedin, and Walter Savage
+Landor. Landor was taken prisoner by the Tibetans and suffered at their
+hands horrible tortures, from the effects of which he will never
+recover.
+
+[Illustration: Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India]
+
+Because the Tibetans for many years had insulted the government of India
+and had seized territory claimed by it, English troops under Colonel
+Younghusband were sent against the invaders in 1903, and after several
+severe battles reached the forbidden city of Lasa, where a forced treaty
+was negotiated and signed. But on the withdrawal of the English troops
+the policy of exclusion was immediately resumed. Russia to-day has much
+greater influence in Tibet than has England.
+
+The present condition of Tibet resembles in many respects that of Europe
+during the Middle Ages. The country is under the suzerainty of China,
+which has a representative called an amaban and several thousand troops
+at Lasa to maintain its claim.
+
+Though an extremely trying climate prevails on these highlands, the
+hermit-like, priest-ridden people know no better home and are contented
+with their lot. Of its three and one-half million inhabitants, one in
+seven belongs to the priestly class called lamas.
+
+At the head of this priesthood, as well as at the head of the state, are
+two leaders, the chief one, the Dalai Lama, or "ocean of learning," and
+the other the Bogodo Lama, or "precious teacher." With their
+subordinates, these two are supposed to have power not only over life
+and death, but over the reincarnation of the soul and entrance to the
+regions beyond rebirth.
+
+This isolated table-land is the seat of a former Buddhism better known
+by the name of Lamaism. A deep but crude religious feeling tainted with
+the grossest superstitions pervades the whole people, whose ignorance of
+other learning is appalling.
+
+When a person dies a lama must be present to see that the soul is
+properly separated from the body and to direct the spirit on its journey
+to paradise; the lama must also influence its rebirth in a happy
+existence and provide for its entrance upon Nirvana, or eternal rest.
+
+Many a mountain contains hollowed-out cells in which hermit monks spend
+their lives in silent meditation. On an island in one of the lakes,
+where they can be reached only when the lake freezes, reside twenty
+monks. In the midst of this wild and majestic scenery each rock and
+stream has its deity and saint, together with its appropriate legend.
+
+Although the Buddhist monks do not believe in God as a creator, their
+religion demands audible and written prayers; indeed, prayer-wheels are
+frequently used to facilitate the repetition of prayers. Prayers
+numbering hundreds and even thousands are carefully written and placed,
+rolled up, in drum-wheels, which are revolved by wind, water, or hand
+power. Each revolution of a wheel is supposed to say all the prayers
+enclosed in it.
+
+Many prayer-wheels, each with appropriate prayers, are mounted on axles
+and placed convenient to frequented paths so that they may be whirled
+around by those who pass by. Others provided with suitable fans are
+placed where they may be revolved by the wind. Sometimes water power is
+made to turn the wheels, but most of them are made of a size convenient
+to be carried about and operated by hand.
+
+The capital of Tibet and seat of the Dalai Lama is Lasa, situated in a
+plain nearly twelve thousand feet above sea level. The city is
+surrounded by a marsh and is reached by a causeway raised above the
+morass. It has wide and regular streets, the principal buildings being
+made of stone, but the majority of the structures are adobe and
+sun-dried brick.
+
+This interesting city contains forty-five thousand inhabitants,
+two-thirds of whom are monks. Streams formed by the melting snow course
+down the surrounding mountains, flooding the plain. At a distance the
+city presents an imposing appearance with the adjacent Potala as the
+crowning glory.
+
+In the centre of the city stands a cathedral, called the Jo-Kang, which
+contains one of the most renowned statues of Buddha. This image, of life
+size, is an object of the greatest reverence and adoration. It is made
+of a composition of metals, gold and silver predominating. Priests are
+always in attendance and lamps are constantly burning before it. The
+roof of the temple is gilded and the interior is richly furnished.
+
+Situated in the suburbs, on a rocky elevation above the plain which
+overlooks the city, is a wonderful group of buildings forming the
+Potala, or palace of the Dalai Lama. This huge, conglomerate structure
+of granite rising story above story to an immense height fascinates the
+beholder, who marvels at the skill and patience of the builders.
+
+As though to heighten its beauty, the Potala is separated from the city
+by a park of grass and trees about a mile wide, making the stately
+edifice look like a huge diamond encircled with emeralds. Nothing but a
+blind religious zeal could have brought to completion such a series of
+connected edifices with their miles of halls, courts, corridors, and
+labyrinthine passageways.
+
+Scattered throughout Tibet are upward of three thousand monasteries, or
+lamaseries. Some of them are built in remote and inaccessible places and
+contain as many as seven thousand monks. Each lamasery has set apart for
+its use the best land in that vicinity, the cultivation of which is done
+by the common people, who are little better than serfs, or peons.
+
+It is a notable fact that in this strange land there are many more men
+than women, although the reverse would be expected. The support of the
+hordes of lazy monks is a great incubus and retards the development of
+the country.
+
+[Illustration: The yak not only serves as a beast of burden, but
+furnishes milk, butter, and meat]
+
+The use of water for cleansing purposes seems to be no part of the
+religion of the people; they never bathe their bodies and seldom wash
+the face and hands. To protect themselves from the biting cold they
+smear their faces with rancid butter, which, catching the smoke and
+dust, adds to the effectiveness as well as the strength of the odor.
+Their homes and places of worship reek with dirt and filth; small-pox,
+ailments of the eyes, and other contagious diseases are prevalent.
+Harelip, in a great measure due to lack of proper nutrition, is a very
+common ailment.
+
+In leather and inlaid work the Tibetans show great skill, much of the
+decorative work on the handles of their swords and daggers being very
+artistic. The common people live in constant terror of evil spirits in
+this world and of terrible punishments in the hereafter; the educated
+classes believe they can drive off or propitiate all evil influences in
+this world, but fear they may be changed in a future rebirth to some
+vile form of being. In general, the people are treacherous and cowardly.
+For weapons of defence they use matchlocks; in firing them, the weapon
+is held directly in front of the nose.
+
+Of domestic animals the yak is one of the most useful, since it not only
+serves as a beast of burden but furnishes rich milk, butter, and meat.
+The long hair of the animal is used for making ropes, tents, and cloth.
+
+The yak resembles the ox in body, head, and legs; but it is covered with
+long, silky hair which hangs like the fleece of an Angora goat. The
+long, flowing hair of the tail reaches nearly to the ground. Thousands
+of these tails find their way to India where they are used for various
+household purposes.
+
+Wild yaks are found in considerable numbers near the limits of perpetual
+snow, but at the approach of winter they descend to the wooded valleys
+just below the snow line. During the summer they pasture on the higher
+elevations. In their wild state yaks are fierce and dangerous. Being
+accustomed to high elevations, they fall sick and die when removed to
+the lowlands.
+
+Milk is obtained not only from the yaks but from the sheep and goats.
+The sheep, being of large size, are frequently used to bear small loads.
+Many horses are raised, but they are used chiefly for riding.
+
+Tibet is rich in gold, and for thousands of years the precious metal has
+been washed out of its surface by the crudest of methods. In fact, gold
+is washed from every river which has its sources in the Tibetan plateau.
+Most of it in time finds its way to China. Silver, copper, iron, lead,
+and mercury abound in the southeastern part and considerable quantities
+are mined.
+
+Traffic is carried on by means of caravans, the most common pack animal
+being the yak. Almost all the commerce is controlled by Chinese
+merchants, and the chief article of trade is tea, which is received in
+exchange for wool, hides, musk, amber, and gold. The tea is an inferior
+kind known as "brick tea," being composed of the refuse, stems, and
+leaves of the plants cemented with rice water and pressed into hard
+bricks. This kind of tea is preferred by the Tibetans, who brew it with
+butter and other ingredients and consume the entire concoction. The tea
+trade amounts to several million pounds annually.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN
+
+
+Who has not had the youthful imagination fired by the "Arabian Nights"?
+The simplicity and lifelike reality of these interesting stories, made
+even more fascinating by their Oriental color, appeal both to young and
+old.
+
+So great has been their popularity that few works have been translated
+into so many different languages, while their influence on the
+literature of the present day is felt in a marked degree. They are more
+than the luxurious fancies of the Arab's mind, for they vividly set
+forth the love and hate, the craft and hypocrisy, the courage and
+revenge of his race. Moreover, they portray in a truly dramatic manner
+the innermost life and thought of the Moslem, while they captivate the
+senses by a magnificent panorama of exquisite banquets, lovely
+characters, charming gardens, and beautiful palaces.
+
+The country and the descendants of the race that created these masterly
+storiettes are surely worthy of careful consideration. A region that is
+the birthplace of a religion claiming nearly two hundred million
+converts scattered all over the world must possess a special interest.
+
+We are apt to look askance at everything Arabic as bordering on
+ignorance and savagery; but if we study the past of this alert race we
+shall find a profusion of historical side lights that are valuable; we
+shall also find in Arabic literature much to admire. The Arab is poetic
+and delights in imagery. There are Arabic poems dating back one thousand
+years before the Christian era that for beauty of thought, vigor, and
+polish are equal to those produced by any nation and in any age.
+
+In the Middle Ages the Arabs led the world in commerce, exploration,
+art, science, and literature. The secret of their successful conquests
+was not in the number of their soldiers but in the courage inspired by
+the Muhammadan religion. Death has no terrors for the fanatical Moslem,
+for to him it is the vestibule of paradise where the pleasures of earth
+await those who fight in the holy cause.
+
+By nature the Arab is active, vivacious, and keen-witted. He is proud of
+his lineage, earnest, and hospitable. The mother not only takes care of
+the home but educates the children; and, strange as it may seem to the
+outside world, illiteracy is practically unknown to Arabia.
+
+To the Arabic race we are indebted for our knowledge of arithmetic, and
+many of the principles of algebra and geometry. The pendulum, the
+mariner's compass, and the manufacture of silk and cotton textiles were
+introduced into Europe by the Arabs. They claim to have used gunpowder
+as far back as the eleventh century. In the year 706 paper was made at
+Mecca and from there its manufacture spread all over the western world.
+To them we owe many of the useful arts and practical inventions which
+were later brought to perfection by other nations.
+
+[Illustration: Khaibar Pass, the gateway to India]
+
+Now, no one is quite certain about the Saracens as a people because the
+name has been very loosely used. It was applied by Roman soldiers to
+several wandering tribes of Arabs who were much accustomed to mistaking
+other people's flocks of sheep and herds of cattle for their own. Most
+likely there never was a Saracenic Empire. But there certainly was a
+time when Arabians controlled not only the Arabian peninsula, but also
+Syria and the fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers as well;
+and that great region became known as the "Land of the Saracens." From
+Damascus to Bagdad, and from the Bab-el-Mandeb to the Gulf of Oman, the
+Moslem was all-powerful.
+
+Let us glance at the country itself. In the first place, Arabia is not a
+nation but a country made up of petty states--some independent, some
+controlled by the sultan of Turkey; two or three are included in the
+British Empire. But the country itself is very far removed from the rest
+of the world so far as accessibility is concerned; and although its
+coast is scarcely a gunshot from the greatest trade route of the East,
+Arabia is to-day one of the least-known countries in the world.
+
+In general, the country is a moderately high table-land bordered by low
+coast plains. Much of it is an out-and-out desert; all of it is arid.
+Long ago it was divided into Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia
+Felix--that is, the rocky, the desert, and the happy. It is needless to
+say that Arabia the happy was the part receiving enough rainfall to
+produce foodstuffs.
+
+The coast-line of this great peninsula is nearly as great as that of the
+Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States; but in its entire extent,
+not far from four thousand miles, there is scarcely a harbor in which a
+good-sized fishing schooner could find safe anchorage. Even at Aden a
+steamship cannot approach within a quarter of a mile of the shore. So
+one will not be far out of the way in designating Arabia as an
+impassable country with an impossible coast.
+
+It is estimated that about seven millions of people live in the entire
+peninsula. To say that these belong to the Semitic race is merely to say
+that they are dark-skinned and black-haired. The Arab, whether a
+merchant dwelling in a city along the coast, or a Bedouin wandering with
+flocks and herds, is a product of the desert and of the teachings of
+Islam. His black eyes twinkle with shrewdness and he is a past master of
+craftiness. As a trader he is unsurpassed, and Arab traders control the
+interior commerce of western Asia and northern Africa just as the
+Chinese control the trade of southeastern Asia.
+
+As a Bedouin of the desert the Arab is supreme in his way. Savage and
+blood-thirsty by nature, if there is no caravan to rob or common enemy
+to fight, neighboring tribes easily find cause for fighting one another.
+Usually a quarrel over pasture lands in the same locality furnishes an
+excuse for a feud that results in the extermination of one tribe or the
+other.
+
+A hatred of those who are not followers of the prophet is a heritage of
+all Arabs. The merchant class, who are wealthy and usually educated, may
+have trained themselves to conceal it, but they possess it. Even to the
+most liberal Arab, one who is not of the faith of Islam is a "dog of an
+unbeliever." Among Bedouins, not to rob the caravan containing the
+belongings of a Christian would be a sin. There is one exception,
+however; if a Bedouin sheik agrees to convoy a party of "unbelievers,"
+together with their valuables, over a robber-infested route, he will
+carry out his bargain faithfully.
+
+Family ties among the Bedouin Arabs are much the same to-day as they
+were two thousand years ago. The great-grandfather, grandfather, or
+father, as the case may be, is the head of the family, and his will is
+law. The tribe is governed by a sheik, who is simply a "boss." He does
+not inherit his office, nor is he elected to it by popular vote; he
+elects himself because he is the best man, and he "holds over" for the
+same reason.
+
+The family mansion of the Bedouin is a tent made of goat-hair cloth.
+Some tents occupy as much ground as is covered by a small cottage. The
+tent of a sheik may be richly furnished with rugs and silk portieres;
+ordinarily, a coarse hearth-rug and a divan cover are about the only
+furnishings. The cooking utensils are primitive--one or two kettles to a
+family; and of tableware there is practically nothing more than one or
+two platters. Meat is freely eaten and coffee is commonly a part of each
+meal. In the place of bread, flour about as coarse as oatmeal is mixed
+to a paste, rolled or beaten into thin cakes, and cooked in hot butter.
+Dates are almost always a part of the food supply.
+
+The camel has first place in the wealth of the Bedouin, but sheep and
+goats in many instances form a part of his herds. The tents of a family
+are pitched where the grazing is good and the families move about as
+they will. All disputes are settled by the sheik, and he is apt to
+emphasize his decisions by the free use of his lance shaft. Whenever it
+becomes necessary because of poor grazing, the whole clan or tribe may
+move to a distant place. All household goods are wrapped in packs or put
+into saddle bags. Two or three camels will readily carry the tent and
+luggage of a family. The women are carried in litters; the men ride
+camels. Horses are rarely ridden at such times.
+
+If a caravan is to be plundered, however, the best horses are used, and
+in addition to his lance the raider carries a heavy knife. Perhaps a few
+firearms may be carried, but they are generally either flintlocks or the
+older matchlocks. It is only within a few years that the modern rifle
+with metal cartridge has found favor with the Bedouin.
+
+[Illustration: A group of Arabs with their dromedaries]
+
+The great Arabian peninsula, seemingly so far out of the world, produces
+many things, some of which the world cannot do well without. First of
+all, it is the home of the camel. Perhaps a more awkward and ungainly
+animal has not been domesticated, but certainly none is more useful. We
+are told by students of natural history that the camel is the descendant
+of the llama kind which seems to have originated in the South American
+Andes. Just how or when the descent from the New World, which is really
+the Old World, to the Old World, which is really the New World, was made
+we are not informed; nevertheless, it looks as though the natural
+history student has the right end of the argument. After the animal got
+to Arabia it "developed." And while the result may not have been very
+artistic, no one will deny that it was good workmanship; for the world
+has never produced a more useful helper to mankind.
+
+Practically all the riding animals are of the one-hump or Arabian
+species. They are much larger and stronger than the two-hump animals.
+One variety is slim and comparatively light in weight. These animals, as
+a rule, are trained to a swift gait, and are used solely as riding
+animals. They are called dromedaries, a word that means swift-runner.
+
+Most of the other species are reared for the same purpose as domestic
+cattle. Some are valuable as beasts of burden, others are shorn for
+their coating, still others are kept for their milk and flesh. A
+well-trained dromedary will sell for three hundred dollars and upward; a
+pack animal rarely brings more than one-fourth as much. The milk of the
+camel is equal to that of the best domestic cows and is greatly prized.
+The hair of several species surpasses sheep's wool in texture and is
+used in the finer kinds of cloth, and it is the most precious textile in
+high-priced Oriental rugs and shawls. Ordinarily, however, camel's hair
+is coarse and is used for the cheapest textiles. Arabia is the source
+from which a large proportion of the camels used in the caravan trade of
+Asia and Africa is obtained. Fermented camel's milk is much used all
+over western Asia.
+
+The Arabian horse has been famous in literature and in song for more
+than two thousand years. The district of Nejd has been the chief
+breeding locality for these horses for many centuries. Contrary to
+tradition, however, even the finest animals are neither so large nor so
+swift as American thoroughbred horses. The qualities that have made the
+Arabian horse famous are its beautiful proportions, endurance, and
+intelligence. Young colts mingle freely with their owners and
+attendants, and they need, therefore, only the training to make them
+saddle-wise; they require no "breaking." Brought up with the family and
+treated with the greatest kindness from its birth the colt learns to
+regard his master as his best friend.
+
+Ordinarily but little water is given them, and they are so well trained
+that a good animal will go a whole day in summer and two days in winter
+without drink. The pure, full-blood Arabian is never sold. It may be
+acquired only by gift, by capture in war, or by legacy. Animals of mixed
+breed, however, are freely sold, most of them going to Turkey and to
+India.
+
+Mocha coffee is another product for which Arabia is renowned. The coffee
+berry bearing this name is of the peaberry variety--that is, only one of
+the two seeds within the husk comes to maturity. Most of the coffee is
+grown in Yemen and the adjoining vilayets, and it received its name
+because it was formerly marketed at the port of Mocha. Of late years it
+has been shipped from Hodeida.
+
+The business is in the hands of Arab merchants, and the coffee is
+carried to Hodeida by caravans. On its way it is carefully sorted by
+hand into three or more grades. The finest grade is sold to wealthy
+Turkish customers at from three to five dollars per pound; the inferior
+grades command prices varying from thirty cents to twice or three times
+as much. Very little of the product ever passes outside of Turkey. All
+the Mocha coffee grown in Yemen would not much more than supply New York
+City.
+
+The pearl fisheries along the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf are also
+controlled by Arab traders. From there are obtained some of the finest
+pearls to be found, and also many tons of mother-of-pearl shells. The
+yearly product of the fisheries is thought to exceed more than two
+millions of dollars in value. The pearls are found in a species of
+oyster, and to obtain them the divers must go to the bottom in from
+thirty to ninety feet of water. Expert divers can remain under water as
+long as two minutes.
+
+The oysters are taken ashore to be opened, and Turkish inspectors are on
+hand to levy a tax on the product. A few pearls may escape him,
+especially if he is temporarily blinded by the glare of several
+piasters; but the pearl industry is taxed for about all that it is
+worth.
+
+Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, is the city to which
+every disciple of Islam is supposed to make a pilgrimage at least once
+in his lifetime. The chief income of the inhabitants of Mecca is
+obtained by renting rooms and entertaining the visiting pilgrims who
+flock thither.
+
+In the centre of the city is the so-called Sacred Mosque, or area, which
+is entirely enclosed by a covered structure of colonnades having
+minarets and cupolas. Within the centre of this enclosed space is a
+cube-shaped building called the Kaaba, which contains the famous sacred
+Black Stone. This stone, probably of meteoric origin, gives to the
+building its sanctity, and is an object of the greatest veneration to
+every pious Moslem, who kisses it repeatedly. There is also within the
+enclosure a building containing the holy well, Zemzem, the only well in
+Mecca.
+
+No unbeliever is permitted to enter the sacred enclosure, much less to
+pollute the Holy Kaaba by his presence. A few infidels disguised as
+pilgrims, at the risk of their lives, have visited this sacred place.
+
+The preparations for pilgrimage are unique. The pilgrims assemble near
+Mecca during the holy month and begin the sacred rites by bathing and
+assuming the sacred garb. This suit consists of two woollen wrappers,
+one worn around the middle of the body and the other around the
+shoulders. With bare head and slippers covering neither heel nor instep
+the pilgrim sets forth on his holy journey.
+
+While wearing this dress he is admonished to bring his thoughts into
+harmony with the sanctity of the territory he now traverses. He is not
+to shave, anoint his head, pare his nails, or bathe until the end of the
+pilgrimage. Among the various rites to be performed after reaching Mecca
+is walking seven times around the Kaaba, first slowly, then quickly.
+Before leaving the city the pilgrim drinks water from the holy well,
+Zemzem.
+
+Many pious pilgrims visit Medina, now the terminus of a railway, before
+going on to Mecca. This is another of the sacred cities of Islam, since
+it is the scene of Muhammad's labors after his hegira from Mecca; it
+also contains his tomb. Formerly no unbeliever was permitted to traverse
+the streets of Medina or look upon the tomb of the great prophet, but
+tourists are now allowed within the gates. The city is enclosed by a
+wall forty feet high which is flanked with thirty towers. Two of its
+four gates are massive structures with double towers. Like Mecca, Medina
+is supported chiefly by pilgrims.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SAHARA
+
+
+An expanse of land as large as the main body of the United States
+stretches across the northern part of Africa. From the Atlantic Ocean to
+the Red Sea, and from the foot of the Atlas Mountains to the Sudan, it
+is a weird panorama of rock waste--level, rugged, shingly, and
+mountainous, according to locality. In places only it is penetrated by
+large and permanently flowing streams. On the eastern borderland the
+Nile pours a mighty flood, winding a sinuous passage along its
+self-made flood-plain, the Egypt of history. In the west the Niger has
+forced its way into the confines of the desert and then, as if rebuffed,
+turns its course southward.
+
+This great domain of the simoom has every diversity of surface. The
+higher summits of the Tarso Mountains are eight thousand feet above sea
+level; the Shott, a chain of salt lakes south of the Atlas Mountains,
+are about one hundred feet below sea level. The depression in which
+these lakes is situated probably was once the head of the Gulf of Sidra;
+but the never-ceasing winds have partly filled the depression, cutting
+off the head of the gulf in the same manner that wind-blown sands
+severed what is now Imperial Valley from the Gulf of California. Around
+the briny lakes are marshes of quicksands, and woe betide the luckless
+traveller who strays to the one side or the other of the beaten trails.
+Unless help is at hand, life will have neither joys nor troubles for him
+after a few brief minutes of struggle.
+
+The Sahara proper begins at the south slope of the Atlas Mountains.
+Where there are no Atlas Mountains, it begins almost at the
+Mediterranean's edge. In the valleys of the Atlas and along the
+Mediterranean coast there is a strip of fertile land, wide here, narrow
+there, that produces grain and fruit. The Arabs call it the
+_Tell_. "Beyond the Tell is Sah-ra," or the Sahara. This is the name
+which the Arabs apply to the archipelago of fertile spots, or oases.
+Beyond the zone of oases is the desert. One becomes instantly and
+painfully aware that it is a desert on leaving the last oasis. Go a
+thousand miles southward, eastward, or westward from Tripoli, and one
+encounters but a single thing--an ocean of orange-colored rock waste,
+the Guebla of the Arabs.
+
+[Illustration: On the sands of the desert]
+
+The desert is a desert for want of water only. There is no lack of
+nutrition in the soil, nor is there anything in surface or temperature
+that makes a desert unproductive. Temperature and winds reach great
+extremes in fierceness, however. The temperature of the air in the
+noonday sun will often exceed one hundred and forty-five degrees; it may
+reach one hundred and fifty-five degrees. In the shade it frequently
+climbs to one hundred and thirty degrees in the vicinity of the tropics.
+Unless one is at a considerable altitude there is not much relief at
+night, though the thermometer may drop to ninety degrees. Farther north,
+however, and at an altitude of five thousand feet or more, the
+temperature of the night is even more cruel than that of the day.
+Immediately after sunset a sharp chill becomes perceptible. At first it
+is a welcome relief from the intolerable heat. By nine o'clock it begins
+to cut like a stiletto, and at midnight the water suspended in shallow
+dishes clinks into ice. The drivers burrow deep into the sand and wrap
+woollen baracans about them; the camels shiver and even blubber like
+whipped bullies.
+
+The air is so dry, however, that the extreme heat of day is by no means
+insupportable. Sunstroke is almost unknown, and even the tragedy of
+perishing for want of water is very rare; for the caravan drivers know
+just where to find water, and there are many hidden watering places that
+are known to the crafty Tuaregs and Bedouins. Many of the watering
+places are wells that have been sunk in various localities along the
+caravan trails. The intense heat, great depth of rock waste, and dry air
+are not favorable to the above-ground flow of rivers. But nearly every
+river has an underground flow that is pretty likely to exist all the
+year round.
+
+One may follow a stream of considerable volume down the southern slope
+of the Atlas Mountains. The volume of water grows less and less until at
+last it apparently disappears. Not all is lost by evaporation, however;
+possibly the greater part sinks into the porous rock waste. And the
+rock waste?--perhaps it may be twenty, fifty, or one hundred and fifty
+feet deep. At all events, the water sinks until it reaches bed rock or
+clay through which it cannot pass. Then it flows along what may once
+have been an above-ground channel until fierce winds and cloud-bursts
+buried it deep.
+
+But the half-savage dwellers of the desert know just where to tap these
+underground reservoirs and streams; even the dumb animals know
+instinctively where to look for water. It is merely a question of
+instinct coupled with experience, and the animal's judgment is about as
+good as the man's. When one finds the spot, it is necessary only to dig.
+The water may be two feet below the surface or it may be ten feet. When
+the moist sand is reached the task is half over. A foot or two more and
+the hole begins to fill. The water is hot, brackish, and repulsive to
+the taste, but it is water--and in the desert, water is water!
+
+The simoom is also an institution of the desert. The simoom is
+unmistakably a wind, and surely no one who has not had the experience
+can appreciate it. Even the West India hurricanes or the typhoons of the
+China Sea are more kindly. They have plenty of destructive energy, it is
+true, but the simoom has all this and much else besides. It comes not
+without warning, but the warning and the wind are not far apart. The
+approach of the simoom is a dense black cloud of whirling and seething
+fine dust. As it strikes one, the choking, suffocating blast of hot air
+and dust overcomes everything that has life. The caravan men and the
+animals as well turn their backs to the wind and lie down with faces
+close to the ground. In a minute or two the full strength of the blast
+is on and the simoom is picking up not only the fine rock waste, but the
+coarser fragments as well, and is hurling them along at Empire State
+Express velocity. One might as well try to face a hail of leaden
+bullets. It is a cruel blast that neither animal nor human being can
+withstand. The camels crouch with their heads pointing away from the
+wind and nostrils close to the ground; their drivers lie prone with
+faces in little hollows scooped in the sand.
+
+Perhaps the full blast of the simoom may last an hour--perhaps two or
+even three hours. In lighter strain it may continue a whole day. When,
+finally, it ceases the air is thick with fine dust; one can see scarcely
+a rod away. Sun and sky are hidden, and the blackness of a tornado or of
+a London fog prevails. The fine dust floating in the air may not settle
+for several days. Perhaps a week afterward there may be a haze that
+partly obscures the sun. The dust, finer than the finest flour, pervades
+everything in the desert. One's clothing is full of it; one's hair
+becomes harsh and matted; the skin becomes rough, cracks and peels; the
+eyes are inflamed; mouth, lips, and nostrils are swollen. But the great
+bodily discomfort resulting from the simoom does not last forever; it
+gives place to bodily irritation of some other sort, which is indeed a
+grateful change merely because it is a change.
+
+The sand dunes of the Sahara are interesting to those who are not
+compelled to travel among them, but to the unfortunates who traverse
+them they are almost heart-breaking. Imagine oneself standing on an
+elevation a few hundred feet higher than the surrounding country. There
+is but one landscape--waves upon waves of the loose rock waste, for
+convenience called sand, as far as the eye can reach. Sometimes the
+waves are in long windrows, but oftener they are short and choppy like
+the surface waves of midocean.
+
+Unlike the ocean waves, in which only the form moves forward, while the
+water composing it moves up and down only, the sand dune and the
+material of which it is composed are both moving in the direction of
+the wind. A breeze even of five or six miles an hour will keep the
+lighter surface dust moving freely, while a twelve-mile wind will not
+only sweep along much larger particles but it also carries more of them.
+And just as the surface, or "skin," friction forms waves at the surface
+of water, it also piles the desert sand in wave-like dunes.
+
+The loose bits of rock waste are carried along, up the windward slope of
+the dune until they roll over its crest, where, no longer impelled by
+the wind, they come to rest. Thus, the crest, built forward by new
+material constantly added, is advancing. Valleys are filled; old stream
+channels are obliterated; and the inequalities of the surface are
+levelled off until the whole landscape is one of shifting, drifting
+sand.
+
+Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the Sahara and the arid lands
+southward to the Sudan are by no means destitute of life and wealth. It
+is an almost universal custom to speak of the barren condition of the
+desert. The contrary is the truth; there is no soil elsewhere so fertile
+and productive. It is vastly superior even to the soil of the lands
+reclaimed from the bottom of the North Sea.
+
+Water is the magic wand that makes the sands of the Sahara bring forth
+crops that are marvellous both in quantity and quality. No fruit grown
+elsewhere in the world can compare with that grown on desert lands, and
+the French engineers are planning the means whereby water may be
+obtained. Surface water that is available to irrigate the wastes of the
+Sahara does not exist. The level of the Nile is so far below the surface
+on both sides of its own flood-plain that its waters cannot be used for
+the reclamation of any part of the Libyan Desert, and the same is
+practically true of the Niger, which barely more than touches the
+borders of the Sahara. The few wadys, or "dry washes," are destitute of
+water except when a cloud-burst may fill them; but this happens at
+intervals of years only.
+
+The engineer takes into his confidence a caravan driver--perhaps an
+Arab, possibly a Berber, but quite as likely a slave. And the long
+experience has taught the caravan man where to find the precious water.
+The engineer then brings his science into play and drives an artesian
+well. The well thus driven may be a "gusher," but for most of them pumps
+are required to raise the water to the surface. The best well, however,
+furnishes water enough to irrigate but a very small area. Indeed, all
+the lands of the Sahara together irrigated by artesian wells would make
+an area scarcely larger than the State of Delaware, and all the water
+thus obtained would not supply New York City!
+
+Nevertheless, the water obtained by artesian wells has proved a great
+blessing to the dwellers of the desert. If the water is found along one
+or another of the numerous caravan routes, an increase in caravan
+commerce is apt to result, for along many routes the volume of caravan
+commerce depends very largely on the number of wells. The location of
+artesian wells has also led to the opening of trade along new routes as
+well, for wherever water can be found there will be camels to drink it.
+
+The date palm is essentially a plant of the desert, or, rather, of the
+oasis. Nowhere else does it grow in such profusion as in northern
+Africa. The number of productive trees there is estimated to be anywhere
+from ten million to twenty million, though the estimate is but little
+better than a guess. At its full growth the date palm is a most
+beautiful object. Usually the feathered tops of the trees are the only
+foliage to relieve the harsh landscape. Like the bamboo, every part of
+the tree is used. The leaves may be made into fans, or shredded and
+woven into mats. The wood is used in making the framework of buildings,
+and the waste material is very handy as fuel. A refreshing fermented
+drink and a most vile liquor are prepared from the juice. But the fruit,
+when properly prepared, is the chief food of many thousands of men and
+beasts. Even the stones, or "pits," of the dried fruit are useful; those
+which are not sent to Italy to be used for adulterating coffee are made
+into an "oil-meal" for fodder.
+
+Esparto grass, called "alfa" or "halfa" by the Arabs, is another unique
+product of the Sahara. In spite of its name, it is not a grass but a
+flowering plant whose stalk has a tough fibre useful in making cordage
+and paper. When the plant turns brown and has become dry to the root,
+the esparto picker gets busy.
+
+By four o'clock in the morning he is at work, his heavy woollen baracan,
+or blanket, wrapped tightly about him, for the air is not only chilly
+but almost freezing cold. By sunrise the chill begins to disappear, and
+a few brief moments is the only interval between piercing chill and
+midsummer heat. The baracan is quickly shed and the fez, if the picker
+is rich enough to possess one, is discarded for an esparto hat with rim
+of mammoth proportions. Esparto grass sandals protect his feet.
+
+Almost all the animal life of the Sahara is deadly, and the esparto
+grass picker is constantly facing danger. The clump of esparto, into the
+bottom of which he must reach to cut the mature stalks, is quite likely
+to be the lair of a poisonous viper; and if the reptile sinks its fangs
+into the flesh of the unfortunate picker, long weeks of suffering and
+disability--perhaps death--are in store for him. Between the bite of a
+rattler and that of an esparto viper there is little to choose.
+
+The scorpion is another peril to the esparto picker. The great
+rock-scorpion of the Sahara is about as ugly as the centipede of Arizona
+and Mexico; in size it is also about as large--from six to ten inches
+in length. Its sting, too, is about as dangerous as the fangs of the
+rattler. But the esparto picker has a method of heroic treatment for
+both the bite of the viper and the sting of the scorpion. He squats
+calmly upon the sand while a brother picker cuts out the flesh that has
+been pierced. If he survives the twenty-four hours following, he is
+pretty likely to pull through. If not--well, the vultures know when and
+where to look.
+
+The esparto grass is delivered to the nearest local market compressed in
+bales of five or six hundred weight, held together by a coarse netting
+of esparto weave, and shipped to Europe. Nearly all of it goes to Great
+Britain. There it is shredded and made into cordage, coarse cloth, or
+paper.
+
+But the esparto has a rival so far as its use in making paper is
+concerned. The wood pulp of Norway and the United States is slowly
+displacing it, and in time esparto will be but little used except for
+making cordage or gunny cloth. Already the French Government is having
+troubles of its own in providing employment for the esparto pickers, but
+it is not likely that such a useful plant will be discarded; on the
+contrary, its use is likely to increase in the future.
+
+The camel is the institution upon which the commerce of the desert
+depends. A more awkward, ungainly beast can hardly be imagined--a
+shambling collection of humps, bumps, knobs, protruding joints, and
+sprawling legs seemingly attached to a head and neck in the near
+foreground. But that shambling gait will carry a load three times as
+heavy as the stoutest pack mule can bear, and it will carry it twice as
+far in a day.
+
+A horse or a mule must be fed twice a day, but a camel will worry along
+for a week at a time with nothing more substantial than its cud. Horses
+and mules cannot traverse regions where the watering places are more
+than twelve hours apart, unless water be carried in storage; but the
+camel is its own storage reservoir, and can carry a supply sufficient to
+last for ten days.
+
+At the end of his week of fasting the hump of the camel has shrunken to
+a fraction of its former size. When the animal has a few days of feeding
+the hump grows to its former proportions again. Indeed, the hump is
+merely a mass of nutrition ready to be formed into flesh and blood.
+
+[Illustration: A caravan crossing the desert on the road to Jaffa]
+
+Within the paunch of the animal and surrounding its stomach are great
+numbers of cells capable of holding seven or eight gallons of water.
+When the camel drinks copiously these cells become filled and afterward
+slowly give up the water as the stomach requires. It may be truly said
+that the camel is a camel because of the desert and not in spite of it.
+
+The sparse population of the Sahara--Arabs, Berbers, and negroes--are
+dependent upon the camel, for until the railway shall traverse the
+Sahara the camel will be practically the only means of transportation.
+The camel's flesh furnishes about the only meat consumed by the dwellers
+of the desert, for ordinary cattle can live only in a few localities
+along the desert border lands.
+
+The native people of the desert are mainly of the race to which the
+Arabs also belong, although there are many Arabs and negroes. The
+Tuaregs and Bedouin Arabs are the best known. The Tuaregs are thought to
+be the descendants of the Berbers and of the same race as the
+Carthaginians, whom the Romans many times defeated but never conquered.
+They have whiter skins than the Arabs and in appearance are perhaps the
+finest peoples of Africa. They are also the most ferocious and
+blood-thirsty villains on the face of the earth. Many of them live in
+the white-walled cities such as Ghadames, Kand, and Timbuktu--all large
+centres of population.
+
+Their government is well organized. Each of the larger tribes is
+governed by a sultan, and in each there are several castes--a sort of
+nobility of unmixed Tuareg blood being at the head and negro slaves at
+the lower end of the social ladder. The families of the highest caste
+are usually well-to-do, and both the men and the women are taught to
+read and write. The garments usually worn by a Tuareg man consist of
+white trousers, a gray tunic with white sleeves, sandals of ornamented
+leather, and a white turban. When away from home the Tuareg covers the
+lower half of the face by a cloth mask.
+
+The usual occupation of the Tuaregs is twofold--to guard caravans or to
+rob them. The average Tuareg is perfectly indifferent as to which he
+does. A caravan from the Sudan enters, we will say, Kano. The garfla
+sheik pack master, or superintendent, goes at once to the financial
+agent of the sultan and pays the usual liken, or tariff charges. Then
+he goes to the sultan himself and incidentally leaves in his possession
+a generous money present. Then, if he desires, he may hire half a dozen
+or more guards.
+
+The hiring of these will insure the caravan against theft or robbery on
+the part of the predatory bands living at Kano. The guards will also
+faithfully defend the caravan in case of attack by Bedouin Arabs. On the
+other hand, should the garfla sheik forget the present to the sultan, or
+neglect to hire guards, those same Tuaregs would be the first to attack
+and loot the caravan.
+
+The Bedouin Arab is the chief trial of the caravans. He is always a foe
+to them; and although he ostensibly herds camels and horses, his real
+occupation is robbery and pillage. For days nomadic Arabs will follow a
+caravan, keeping always out of sight. Most likely a band of a dozen or
+more mounted on swift horses will survey the caravan from a distance at
+which they are not likely to be discovered. Then they make their way
+ahead of it to some point where a dune or a gully will conceal them.
+Then, just as the end of the caravan drags by, there is a sudden sortie
+and a rattling musket fire. And before the guards can gather to the
+defence half a dozen camels are cut out of the train, a driver or two is
+shot down or pierced with assegais, and both the robbers and their loot
+are beyond the reach of the guards.
+
+But perhaps the greatest value of the desert is its effect upon the
+climate of Europe. Hot winds blow from the Sahara in all directions; the
+northerly winds, crossing the Mediterranean, are not only tempered
+thereby, but the desert blasts tempered and filled with moisture finally
+reach the southern slopes of Europe, where they convert the nutrition of
+the soil into bountiful crops of corn, wine, and oil.
+
+The conquest of the great African desert is already in sight, and the
+railway will be its master. The Cape to Cairo line is no longer a vision
+of the future; the ends of its two parts are rapidly shortening the
+interval that separates them and they are almost in sight of each other.
+When the lines that are projected from the Mediterranean coast shall
+have traversed the stronghold of the Tuaregs to penetrate the wealth of
+the Sudan and the Kongo, the Sahara will have become merely an incident.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC
+
+
+Excepting the arctic and the antarctic regions, with their
+fortifications of eternal ice and snow, intrepid explorers have made
+known nearly every part of the world. There Giant Frost guards his
+frozen secrets and defies man to wrest them from him. Many a hero has
+perished in endeavoring to solve the Sphinx-like riddle of northern
+lands and seas. Many a gallant ship has found its grave in northern
+ice-clad waters. Yet there has never been a lack of adventurous spirits
+to continue the work.
+
+But one after another the strongholds of nature have gradually yielded
+to persistent attacks. Especially is this true of the arctic regions, of
+which not more than two million square miles of sea and land remain to
+be explored.
+
+Buffeted by adverse winds and floating ice-fields, venturous explorers
+have drawn nearer and nearer to the north pole. Again and again, the
+attack has been renewed, until, after half a lifetime, Robert E. Peary,
+an officer of the United States navy, made a brilliant dash and planted
+the national ensign at the pole.
+
+The story of arctic exploration and discovery is filled with interest.
+It is pathetic, tragical, and calculated to awaken the deepest emotions.
+Nevertheless, it is enlivened by brilliant exploits, deeds of daring,
+and acts of heroism.
+
+For many years the search for a northern passage to India in the
+furtherance of commerce was the chief incentive to arctic exploration.
+Even more than a century before Columbus discovered America, two
+Venetian brothers named Zeno sought a northwest passage to the Orient,
+believing that the difficulties in navigating it would be offset by the
+shortening of the route.
+
+The success achieved by Spain during the fifteenth and sixteenth
+centuries in discovery, conquest, and colonization incited England to
+find a northwest passage, in the hope that such a route, by shortening
+the distance to the East Indies, would extend her commerce.
+
+After the discovery of the mainland of North America, Sebastian Cabot,
+under the patronage of Henry VII, planned a voyage to the north pole,
+thinking that would be the best route to ancient Cathay. He proceeded
+only as far as Davis Strait; then, becoming discouraged by the immense
+fields of ice, he turned the prow of his vessel homeward.
+
+Soon afterward the Muscovy Company of London sent out an exploring
+expedition with instructions to find a northwest passage. This
+expedition, taking a different route from its predecessors, reached Nova
+Zembla. But the ice-fields forced the vessel back to the shores of
+Lapland, and the ship was never spoken of again. Years afterward the ship's
+company were found frozen in death.
+
+Next in importance came the renowned Frobisher, a strong advocate of a
+northwest route. He made three voyages to the Arctic Ocean, the last two
+being under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth. Frobisher believed that
+fabulously rich fields of gold existed in the north, and his expedition
+was organized for the purpose of discovering them. His search for
+precious metals was fruitless, but he added much to the world's
+knowledge of polar regions, and he has been remembered in the strait
+that bears his name.
+
+The Muscovy Company again sent out an exploring vessel, this time under
+the able navigator Henry Hudson, with orders to go "direct to the north
+pole." He did his best to carry out his instructions and, sailing along
+the northern shore of Spitzbergen, reached latitude 81 deg. 30' north.
+Finding the route utterly impracticable, he returned home. In all,
+Hudson sailed on four voyages of discovery, twice in the employ of
+English companies and twice in the employ of the Dutch East India
+Company.
+
+In one of his voyages under the Dutch, after advancing as far north as
+he deemed prudent, he turned southward and cruised along the Atlantic
+coast. Entering New York Bay, he proceeded up the broad river that now
+bears his name, believing at first that he had found the coveted short
+route to India. Soon he was undeceived, for as he went farther up he
+found the seeming passage to be merely a large river. He gave his
+employers such a glowing account of the valley of the Hudson River that
+the merchants of Holland sent out ships to establish trading posts along
+the river and to trade with the Indians.
+
+On his fourth voyage, while seeking a passage northwest, he discovered
+the strait and the bay both of which bear his name. Desiring to continue
+his explorations the next year, he sailed westward on the bay and
+wintered on the island of Southampton. In the spring he again tried to
+find the long-wished-for passage.
+
+The long, cold winter and lack of suitable food told heavily on his men.
+They became badly demoralized and declared that they would not remain
+longer in such an inhospitable region. When Hudson insisted, the men
+mutinied. Seizing their commander, they placed him with his son and
+five sailors in an open boat and sailed away. After this cruel act of
+the mutineers, no trace of Hudson or those who were with him was ever
+found. But Hudson's fame will never die. Historians will ever laud his
+achievements, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the map of the
+world. The ringleader of the mutineers with five of his companions was
+afterward killed by the natives, and several of the others starved to
+death. The rest of the crew succeeded in getting the ship back to
+England; there they were tried, found guilty of mutiny, and sent to
+prison.
+
+In 1616 the intrepid William Baffin took up the search. He penetrated
+the bay bearing his name and explored the passages of water westward to
+the mouth of Lancaster Sound.
+
+Later the Russians became interested in exploration. Among the explorers
+Captain Veit Bering of the Russian navy was the most eminent. In the
+early part of the eighteenth century Bering was commanded by Peter the
+Great to take up the search for the long-sought passage. He explored the
+northeastern coast of Asia as far north as sixty-seven degrees latitude,
+discovering a fact hitherto unknown, that North America is separated
+from Asia by a narrow passage of water containing small islands. The
+passage received the name Bering Strait from its discoverer, and the
+same name was bestowed upon the sea leading to it.
+
+About ten years afterward Bering determined to explore the northwest
+coast of North America. He landed twice upon the coast, but, being
+driven back by violent storms, was at length wrecked on an island, where
+he died. His crew, though suffering terrible hardships, lived through
+the winter. With the coming of spring, however, they rigged a craft from
+the stranded vessel in which a few survivors reached the coast of Asia.
+
+In 1743 the British Government offered a reward of twenty thousand
+pounds for the discovery of a northwest passage by the way of Hudson
+Bay. Thirty-three years afterward a like reward was offered for the
+actual discovery of the north pole and the same amount for the
+exploration of any navigable passage. The sum of five thousand pounds
+was also offered to any one who should approach within one degree of the
+north pole. These standing rewards greatly stimulated arctic
+exploration.
+
+Of the many voyages of exploration that followed, Sir John Franklin's
+last expedition was the most tragical. This expedition was fitted out by
+the British Government with the necessary supplies and scientific
+instruments for a three years' cruise. Two stanch vessels, the _Erebus_
+and the _Terror_, both of which had been previously employed in
+antarctic exploration, were selected to stem the ice-fields of the
+north, and a tender with extra supplies accompanied them as far as Davis
+Strait. The vessels were last seen in Lancaster Sound moored to an
+iceberg, where they were spoken to by a whaling ship homeward bound.
+
+Three years having passed and no tidings having been received from the
+expedition, all England became extremely anxious concerning the safety
+of the explorers. The British Government then sent out two vessels to
+seek Franklin, but no trace of the missing commander or his men was
+found.
+
+The government then redoubled its exertions, supplemented by private
+parties, and in 1850 no less than twelve vessels were vigorously
+searching the arctic lands and waters for their lost brothers. Lady
+Franklin spent her fortune in endeavoring to find trace of her noble
+husband.
+
+The heart of humanity was touched with the deepest sympathy and moved by
+the noblest motives. The United States Government, aided also by private
+citizens, fitted out vessels to continue the search. At one time ten of
+the searching vessels met in the Arctic. The results of these
+expeditions were meagre in securing trace of the lost ones, but they
+greatly enriched our knowledge of northern lands and seas.
+
+Not until five years after the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ left England was
+trace of the explorers found. Near the head of Franklin Strait, off the
+shore of King William Land, evidence of an encampment of some of the men
+was discovered, and at Beechey Island, near by, carpenters' tools, empty
+meat cans, and the graves of three of the men threw more light on the
+mystery of the ill-starred expedition. A few years later, at Victory
+Point, Lieutenant Hobson found a record of the death of Franklin, the
+date being July 11, 1847.
+
+Charles F. Hall, a native of New Hampshire, but long a resident of Ohio,
+who had been a reader of arctic literature, became deeply interested in
+the search for Sir John Franklin. Obtaining financial aid from different
+sources, he made four voyages to the arctic, the first being devoted to
+searching for Franklin's men and in solving the mystery of their
+disappearance. His third voyage was the most fruitful one in securing
+results. Hall believed that the Eskimos knew more about the lost
+explorers than they were willing to tell, and that if he could but gain
+their confidence he could extract from them the story. In furtherance of
+his plan, he resolved on his third voyage to live with them several
+years. In 1864 he started on this voyage north. On his arrival in the
+arctic he sought out the natives and made himself one of them, adopting
+their mode of life and food.
+
+He spent five years living and travelling with them. Having won them
+over, he obtained the story of the ill-fated explorers. He learned that
+one of Franklin's vessels had actually made the northwest passage to
+O'Reily Island, southwest of King William Land. Five men remained on
+board alive, but the vessel was abandoned by the crew. The next spring
+the Eskimos found it in good condition frozen fast in the ice.
+
+The skeletons of Franklin's men were found scattered over King William
+Land, where they had perished one after another from starvation and
+cold. Some had engaged in conflict with the natives in endeavoring to
+secure food, but being weak from hunger were unsuccessful. Of the one
+hundred and five men who accompanied Franklin not one was ever found
+alive.
+
+During the year 1850 the problem of the northwest passage was solved by
+Captains M'Clure, Collinson, and Killet. South of Melville Island,
+M'Clure, who had sailed through Bering Strait, met the ship of Killet
+which had come through Lancaster Sound. M'Clure, having wintered near
+the connecting waters, had really established the existence of the
+passage by observation before the meeting. Twenty days later Collinson
+came up in his ship. Finding the problem of the northwest passage
+solved, he turned to the southeast and completed the passage in another
+direction.
+
+It thus became evident that so far as commercial purposes were concerned
+a northwest passage was impracticable and that further northern
+exploration must be considered in the light of scientific and geographic
+value only.
+
+Hall's labors did not cease with his discovery of the Franklin
+expedition. He became an enthusiast concerning the arctic and seemed to
+enjoy its weird icy scenery and attendant perilous excitement. Believing
+that he could reach the north pole if he had a properly equipped
+expedition, he planned a fourth voyage and appealed to Congress for
+assistance.
+
+A generous appropriation was made by Congress, and on July 3, 1871, the
+expedition set sail from New London, Conn., carrying a full crew and
+several scientists. The vessel, which was named the _Polaris_, touched
+at several places on the western coast of Greenland to secure
+additional dogs and skins suitable for arctic clothing, and then steamed
+north as far as seemed safe, to establish winter quarters preparatory to
+making a dash for the pole in the spring.
+
+The vessel passed through Robeson Channel into the polar ocean, reaching
+82 deg. 11', then the highest point ever reached by a ship. Not finding a
+good harbor, Hall sailed south about fifty miles. He anchored near the
+Greenland shore to the lee of a stranded iceberg. Building material for
+a house and part of the stores were removed to the land in case anything
+happened to the ship. Then the ship was banked up with snow and part of
+the deck was covered with canvas to keep out the cold.
+
+The weather being propitious, Captain Hall thought best to take a sledge
+journey to find the lay of the country. He ordered the dogs to be well
+fed, and accompanied by two other sledges advanced northward about fifty
+miles, making side trips to take observations. At the end of two weeks
+he returned seemingly perfectly well, but in a few hours complained of
+illness. Thirteen days afterward he died. The date of his death was
+November 8, 1871, just a little more than four months from the time he
+left the port of New London buoyant with hope.
+
+The command of the expedition now devolved on Captain Buddington, a man
+of dissipated habits and lacking in discipline. During the winter and
+spring severe storms crashed the ice-pack against the sides of the
+vessel, causing it to leak. In the meantime exploring parties were sent
+out with sledges and boats, gathering not a little knowledge concerning
+the west coast of Greenland. Then the vessel began to leak badly, and
+Captain Buddington ordered all hands on board for return home.
+
+Great fields of ice still covered the sea, and it was with extreme
+difficulty that the vessel made its way through them southward. A
+severe gale damaged the vessel still more, and as it seemed certain that
+it could not float much longer, preparations to abandon it and to move
+at once to the ice-floe were made.
+
+At the dead of night, in the face of a fierce gale, a part of the ship's
+company and stores were transferred to the ice. Then the heaving billows
+broke the vessel loose from the floe, separating the men on the ice from
+those on the vessel. With eighteen companions Captain Tyson lived on the
+ice-floe which moved southward, breaking off piece after piece, for a
+period of six and one-half months, suffering incredible hardships from
+cold, hunger, and constant fear. Finally, they were sighted off the
+Labrador coast by the ship _Tigress_ and rescued in a starving
+condition. The story of this ice-floe journey of one thousand three
+hundred miles is one of the most thrilling in maritime annals.
+Fortunately, there were two Eskimos on the ice-floe skilled in the
+capture of seals, else the entire company would have starved to death,
+since but a small portion of the provisions had been transferred to the
+floe when the vessel parted from it. The devices for sustaining their
+lives during the journey form interesting reading. Strange to relate, no
+one was seriously ill and no deaths occurred during this remarkable ice
+voyage.
+
+After drifting a while the _Polaris_ was purposely beached on the
+Greenland shore and the stores placed on land, where a house was built
+in which to spend the second winter. In the spring two boats were
+constructed in which the company started southward along the coast,
+where they were finally picked up by a whaling vessel.
+
+The conquest of the northeast passage was not achieved until the latter
+part of the century. In 1878 Baron Nordenskjold, a Swedish explorer
+commanding the _Vega_, entered the Arctic and sailed eastward along the
+Russian and Siberian coast. Nordenskjold was the first navigator to
+double Cape Chelyuskin, the northern cape of Asia. The _Vega_ reached
+Bering Strait where she was nipped by the ice-pack. In the following
+spring she reached Japan in safety.
+
+In 1879-80 Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka set out on an overland
+expedition northwestward for Hudson Bay, to gather knowledge concerning
+the great Arctic Plain of North America. Schwatka's was probably the
+longest sledge journey ever made up to that time. With a small party of
+men, his dog sledges covered a distance of three thousand miles.
+Schwatka found the skeletons of several members of Sir John Franklin's
+party. These he buried on King William Land.
+
+[Illustration: Peary's ship, the _Roosevelt_]
+
+In 1881 the De Long expedition, in the steam cruiser _Jeannette_, met
+disaster off the Siberian coast. The _Jeannette_ was sunk and her
+officers and crew in three boats abandoned her. One boat was never
+heard of afterward. De Long and his party starved in the delta swamps of
+the Lena River. Chief Engineer Melville and his party were rescued in
+the Lena River.
+
+In 1881 also the International Polar Conference attempted to establish a
+chain of stations around the pole as far north as possible. The United
+States and several of the European nations were represented in the
+organization. Two expeditions were sent out by the United States; one at
+Point Barrow, under Lieutenant Ray, the other at Lady Franklin Bay,
+opposite the Greenland coast, in latitude 81 deg. 40'. The latter was in
+charge of Lieutenant, now General Greely. In a sledge journey along the
+north coast of Greenland, Lockwood and Brainard reached the latitude of
+83 deg. 24'. The observations of Greely and Ray added not a little
+knowledge concerning the meteorology and tides of the arctic regions.
+The sledge journey of Lockwood and Brainard practically established the
+fact that Greenland is an island.
+
+Of all attempts to reach the pole, the most daring was that adopted by
+S. A. Andree, a Swedish explorer. Andree had been to the polar regions
+before, and being something of an aeronaut, believed that he could reach
+or pass over the pole in a balloon. In carrying out his plan he had
+constructed a monster balloon capable of floating in the air thirty
+days, due allowance being made for the daily escape of gas by permeation
+through the envelope. This balloon, with necessary accessories, was
+shipped to Danes Island, one of the Spitzbergen group. Everything being
+ready July 11, 1897, Andree set forth on his perilous trip accompanied
+by two companions. The balloon carried a load of about five tons,
+including food, clothing, ballast, scientific instruments, and men.
+
+On being let loose the balloon arose six hundred feet, and then
+descended to the surface of the sea owing to the entanglement of the
+guide ropes and ballast lines. Three heavy guide ropes nine hundred feet
+long were used, to which were attached eight ballast lines two hundred
+and fifty feet long. The ropes were cut and ballast was thrown out, when
+the balloon again rose and the wind bore it away over a mountainous
+island one thousand five hundred feet high. In an hour it had passed
+below the northeastern horizon. Three message buoys were dropped on the
+day of Andree's departure, reporting fine weather, all well, and
+altitude eight hundred and twenty feet; from that time on no traces of
+the daring unfortunates have ever been found.
+
+Fridtjof Nansen, who had spent some time in the exploration of
+Greenland, had also reached the conclusion that a polar current sweeps
+across the Arctic Ocean from Bering Sea to the north coast of Greenland.
+He therefore set out with a picked crew in a small steamship, the
+_Fram_,1893, entering the Arctic at Bering Strait. After the _Fram_ had
+been caught in the ice-pack, Nansen and his companion, Johansen, started
+toward the north pole with dog sledges. They reached latitude 86 deg. 14';
+finding that the ice was drifting southward, they made for Franz Josef
+Land, where they spent the winter, and then started for Spitzbergen. On
+their way they were found by members of the Jackson-Harmsworth
+expedition, by whom they were rescued. The _Fram_ also returned safely.
+The existence of the polar current was not established.
+
+In 1900 Captain Cagui, a member of the Abruzzi Polar Expedition,
+starting from Franz Josef Land, made a dash across the ice toward the
+pole. He succeeded in reaching latitude 86 deg. 34', the nearest approach
+to the pole up to that time.
+
+Only a few years afterward, 1905-6, Amundsen, in the steamer _Gjoa_,
+found a more southerly northwest passage from King William Land than
+that followed by Collinson. It was comparatively free from ice. Amundsen
+was the first to penetrate the northwest passage in a continuous voyage.
+The result showed plainly that as a commercial route the northwest
+passage was out of the question.
+
+The man who finally succeeded in reaching the pole is the intrepid
+arctic explorer, Robert E. Peary, of the United States navy. In the
+first record-breaking trip Peary started in July, 1905. Sailing through
+Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Smith Sound, and Robeson Channel to Grant
+Island, which lies west of the northern part of Greenland, he went into
+winter quarters at Cape Sheridan.
+
+In the early spring, when the daylight was an hour long, Peary set out
+for the north pole over the ice-clad ocean with sledges drawn by dogs.
+Delayed by storms and open water in some places, he succeeded after
+incredible hardships and suffering in reaching 87 deg. 6', the highest
+point up to that time reached by man, a distance only two hundred miles
+from the north pole.
+
+In previous trips Peary had crossed the northern part of Greenland twice
+at the risk of his life, each time bringing much knowledge of the north
+coast of Greenland. During one of his voyages Peary brought home three
+meteorites. The largest, weighing more than thirty-six tons, is now in
+the Museum of Natural History of New York City. These are among the
+largest meteorites ever found, and it is an interesting fact that so
+many were found in Greenland.[1]
+
+Peary's last and successful trip began when the steamship Roosevelt,
+commanded by Captain Bartlett, sailed out of New York harbor, July 6,
+1908. The vessel traversed Baffin Bay and reached Cape York August 1.
+At Etah, an Eskimo settlement, three weeks were consumed in storing
+supplies and selecting Eskimo guides and purchasing dog-trains. The
+Roosevelt then proceeded northward through the narrow strait that
+separates Greenland from Grant Land. The party went into winter quarters
+near Cape Sheridan at the head of the strait. The winter was spent in
+exploration and in preparation for the sledge journey. The necessary
+supplies for the journey were carried to Cape Columbia, the northerly
+point of Grant Land. The sledge party started northward from Cape
+Columbia February 28--seven members of the expedition, seventeen
+Eskimos, and nineteen sledges.
+
+[Illustration: Commander Robert E. Peary and three of his Eskimo dogs on
+the Roosevelt]
+
+When the expedition reached latitude eighty-eight degrees, Captain
+Bartlett and Professor Marvin, with most of the Eskimo guides, were
+ordered back; Peary with his companion, Hensen, and several Eskimos
+started on the final dash. Fortunately the ice was smooth, and but few
+breaks, or "leads," were encountered. It was not difficult to make
+twenty-five miles or more a day during several days of the journey. At
+last a temporary break in the clouds gave Peary an opportunity for
+observation, which showed his latitude to be 89 deg. 57'. Ten miles more
+were made, and another observation showed that the party had actually
+gone several miles beyond the pole.
+
+A cairn of ice blocks and snow bearing the American flag was erected
+approximately at the pole, April 7, 1909, and the party started on the
+return trip. There being a plain trail and smooth ice, the return trip
+was made in about half the time required for the outward trip. The
+reserve party was joined at Cape Columbia, and all hands returned to the
+_Roosevelt_, which was at anchor near Cape Sheridan. The only fatality
+of the expedition was the death of Professor Marvin, who was
+accidentally drowned while on his return to Cape Columbia.
+
+The open polar sea which had been observed by Kane and several other
+explorers was closed by ice at the time of Peary's dash; indeed, the
+entire route lay over ice and snow that apparently was several years
+old. After leaving Cape Columbia no land sky was seen anywhere about
+the horizon. A single sounding was made about five miles from the pole,
+but no bottom was found at fifteen hundred feet, the length of the
+sounding wire.
+
+For his services Peary received the medal of the Royal Geographical
+Society, and an admiral's commission from the United States Government.
+
+In spite of the desolation that pervades polar regions, the resources
+are considerable and have attracted much commercial activity. For many
+years whale oil was about the only illuminating oil used by most of the
+world, and the chief supply was obtained from the whales slaughtered in
+north polar regions.
+
+Holland sent whaling ships to the arctic as early as 1613, and for two
+centuries whaling fleets of different nations frequented these seas.
+During the early part of the seventeenth century--the most profitable
+period--upward of three hundred Dutch ships and fifteen thousand men
+annually visited Spitzbergen. It is estimated that in two centuries
+America, England, and Holland obtained from the arctic regions products
+amounting to one thousand million dollars, the greatest items by far
+being whale oil and whalebone. Great quantities of fossil ivory have
+been obtained from the New Siberian Island, the very soil of which seems
+in great part to be made up of the bones and tusks of the extinct
+mammoth.
+
+Much valuable scientific information has been gained by meteorological
+and magnetic observations. The north magnetic pole, toward which the
+north-seeking end of the compass needle points, has been located on the
+west side of Boothia Peninsula. At this place the dipping needle stands
+vertical. It must be borne in mind that the north pole of the earth and
+the north magnetic pole are two entirely different points. As a matter
+of fact, if the mariner be in the arctic waters north of Boothia
+Peninsula his compass points south.
+
+The arctic currents have been carefully studied with valuable results,
+and it has been found that the drift of the polar ice-floe is constantly
+to the eastward. Snow-white arctic reindeer in considerable numbers have
+been recently found; and Peary found seals within two hundred miles of
+the north pole. The Greenland seal seems to enjoy seas filled with ice,
+spending part of the time in the water and part on the ice-floe.
+
+[Illustration: Musk ox]
+
+It is now known that Greenland is an ice-capped island very sparsely
+inhabited along the coast by Eskimos. A few hundred of these hardy
+people live along the Greenland coast from Cape York up to latitude
+seventy-eight degrees, cut off by the surrounding ice-cap from the rest
+of the world. They are the most northern known inhabitants.
+
+Peary found the northern coast of Greenland well stocked with both
+animal and vegetable life. Bears, wolves, hares, and musk oxen were seen
+in considerable numbers.
+
+A most important fact discovered by Hall was that the most northerly
+part of Greenland is comparatively free from ice, the largest known area
+of bare ground of that continent. This fact accounts for the profusion
+of animal and vegetable life existing there.
+
+One of the most interesting of land animals found in the north is the
+musk ox. When fully grown and in good condition this animal weighs five
+hundred pounds and upward. When the musk oxen are attacked by wolves or
+dogs they form themselves into a circle with their heads on the outside
+and conceal their calves under their bodies. Their hair, being long,
+reaches nearly to the ground and forms a curtain which completely
+conceals the calves from view. Their food is moss and lichens which grow
+on the rocks. This they obtain by scraping away the snow with their
+sharp hoofs. The flesh of the musk ox, though musk-like in flavor, is
+not repulsive to the taste, and several explorers have been saved from
+starving by using the flesh for food.
+
+The chief obstacles to arctic exploration are the long winter night,
+during which all must remain idle, and the necessity for carrying all
+provisions. No one who has not wintered beyond the arctic circle can
+have a realization of the influence on the nerves of continual darkness
+for months, an influence that has driven many men insane. Combine the
+darkness with the weird scenery and the fierce storms that prevail
+during the long winter, and it requires a strong will and abiding faith
+not to be seriously influenced. The extreme cold is not hard to endure
+if one clothes himself in the manner of the Eskimos.
+
+Provisions and supplies must be carried by dog sledges, and the
+management of the dog teams is very difficult for those who have not
+been trained to the work. Shetland ponies have been tried as draught
+animals. Captain Evelyn Baldwin was the first to use them in polar
+exploration; others have used them, but less successfully.
+
+Good coal is found in abundance on many of the islands of the arctic.
+Its outcroppings are found on Disco Island, west of Greenland, and
+excellent coal is found in many places in Spitzbergen, where at the
+present time two companies are mining it, one American and the other
+English.
+
+Spitzbergen is sometimes called No Man's Land, since Norway and Sweden
+have not been able to agree in regard to its possession. Lately the
+islands of this archipelago have become favorite resorts for summer
+excursionists who can here have the arctic scenery and experiences with
+but very few discomforts. Ptarmigan, geese, ducks, and many other kinds
+of birds are found on these islands. Large quantities of eider-down have
+been obtained annually from this section, but the rapid destruction of
+the ducks by hunters has lessened the industry and will probably
+annihilate it. There being no law to regulate hunting, sportsmen
+wantonly kill the wild animals, especially the reindeer and bears, in
+great numbers.
+
+We owe much to dogs in arctic explorations. It would have been
+impossible to penetrate to the interior of arctic lands or to traverse
+the frozen seas but for the services of the faithful dogs trained to
+draw sledges. Many of these animals have suffered from overwork and have
+perished from starvation; others have been sacrificed for food in dire
+extremities to preserve the lives of their masters. Surely arctic
+service has proved as destructive to the poor dogs as to men.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Isolated masses of native iron are usually of meteoric
+origin, but to determine whether or not the native iron fell from the
+sky a portion of the surface is ground off and polished; then the
+polished surface is etched with acid. If crystalline lines are plainly
+brought out, there can be no doubt of its being of meteoric origin.
+
+The following excerpt from the American Museum Meteoric Guide will make
+the matter clear: "The iron of meteorites is always alloyed with from
+six to twenty per cent of nickel. This 'nickel-iron,' as it is commonly
+called, is usually crystalline in texture, and when it is cut, polished,
+and 'etched' a beautiful net-work of lines is brought out, indicating
+plates which lie in positions determined by the crystalline character of
+the mass. This net-work of lines constitutes what are called the
+Widmannstattian figures, from the name of their discoverer. When these
+figures are strongly developed the meteoric origin of the iron cannot be
+questioned, but their absence does not necessarily disprove such an
+origin. Native iron of terrestrial origin is extremely rare."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA
+
+
+A continent twice the size of the United States lies sleeping beneath a
+mantle of snow and ice at the south pole. No vegetation save a few
+mosses and lichens exists anywhere on this vast expanse. No four-footed
+animals rove over it; no human beings inhabit it.
+
+Hundreds of thousands of square miles of pack-ice, glaciers, and
+ice-walls jealously guard it on all sides. On one side, for a distance
+of five hundred miles, extends a great ice barrier whose perpendicular
+ice-wall is from thirty to three hundred feet in height. Behind this
+wall are vast ice-fields, and beyond these immense plateaus of ice
+having an elevation of six thousand to twelve thousand feet where fierce
+winds and a biting cold prevail. On these elevated plains the
+thermometer stands in the middle of summer sometimes as low as forty
+degrees below zero.
+
+Great fields of ice and huge icebergs cover the sea in all directions
+and in winter extend far beyond the antarctic circle. In these regions
+the ice forming on the surface of the ocean attains a thickness varying
+from five to seventeen feet. Long ranges of snow-clad and ice-mailed
+mountains are found with ermined peaks towering from ten thousand to
+fifteen thousand feet in height.
+
+A long winter night, with its intense darkness relieved at times by the
+light of the moon and brilliant chromatic displays of the aurora
+australis, succeeds a day of perpetual sunshine. All these are on such a
+scale of sublimity that no pen can adequately describe nor brush portray
+them. Nowhere else on the face of the globe does there exist such a wide
+expanse of utter desolation. Yet an undefined attraction lures bold men
+to fathom the mysteries of these forbidding regions. Dating from 1772,
+many exploring expeditions have visited the south polar regions in the
+interests of science.
+
+The compass is the mariner's guide across the trackless ocean, and it is
+essential to find out everything possible about that mysterious agent,
+magnetism, which directs the compass needle by its attractive force. The
+earth itself is a huge magnet with positive and negative poles. The
+poised needle of the compass maintains its relative position because of
+the magnetic poles of the earth, one located in the north polar regions,
+on the western side of the peninsula of Boothia, and the other in the
+south polar regions, on Victoria Land. Except in a few localities the
+compass needle does not point due north and south--that is, toward the
+real poles of the earth, but toward the magnetic poles. And these
+magnetic poles are ever shifting, as is shown by the changing direction
+of the compass needle, which year by year increases or decreases its
+deviation from true north and south.
+
+It is necessary to chart the variations of the magnetic needle for the
+use of the navigator. To observe the deviations and to locate the south
+magnetic pole have been the chief objects of south polar expeditions for
+several years, geographical information being of secondary importance.
+
+The marine life of the south polar regions is abundant. In the latter
+part of the eighteenth century ships sailing in the regions north of the
+antarctic circle discovered whales and fur-bearing seals. Soon sealers
+and whalers of different nations began to frequent the prolific new
+regions. Then various European nations and the United States sent out
+exploring expeditions to the south polar regions to gather scientific
+and geographical information as well as to assist the charting of coasts
+and the determination of magnetic variations.
+
+On account of their uninhabitability, their difficulty of access, and
+their unknown commercial value, the antarctic lands have claimed far
+less attention than the north polar regions. The famous explorer,
+Captain James Cook of the royal navy, was commissioned by the British
+Government to undertake various exploring expeditions, and in carrying
+out his instructions he made several voyages to the antarctic. In 1773,
+with his two vessels, _Resolution_ and _Adventure_, he crossed the
+antarctic circle--so far as is known, the first time that it had been
+crossed by a human being. He continued farther southward, but finding an
+alarming increase of pack-ice and icebergs, he soon retreated north. In
+January of the following year he succeeded after a third trial in
+reaching latitude 71 deg. 10' south, the farthest south attained during the
+century.
+
+[Illustration: An antarctic summer scene]
+
+In 1839 an expedition was sent out by the United States Government under
+Captain Charles Wilkes. The exploring squadron consisted of five ships
+and more than four hundred officers and men, scientists, and crews.
+Wilkes was the first to discover the so-called mainland of the antarctic
+continent, in January, 1840. He then followed along this unknown
+coast-line amid icebergs, fogs, and storms for over fifteen hundred
+miles, taking such observations as were possible. For his polar
+achievements in discovery and exploration he was awarded a gold medal by
+the Royal Geographical Society. Considering that he was supplied with
+improperly equipped ships, he certainly accomplished wonders.
+
+The British Government, realizing the necessity for better magnetic
+charts of the south polar regions, and urged by the scientific societies
+of England, sent out a second expedition to the antarctic under the
+command of Sir James Ross. The expedition sailed from England in the
+fall of 1839 in the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, both of which were
+subsequently lost in the unfortunate Franklin expedition.[2] On this
+voyage Ross made many discoveries, the most important of which was
+Victoria Land. On this land is the south magnetic pole toward which the
+south-seeking end of the needle always points. Ross greatly desired to
+plant at the south magnetic pole the flag that had been displayed at the
+north magnetic pole in 1831, but he was unfortunately caught in the
+pack-ice and compelled to abandon the attempt.
+
+Two volcanic mountains were discovered on an island near Victoria Land.
+These mountains Ross named Erebus and Terror from the two ships in which
+he sailed. The former, thirteen thousand feet in height, was in violent
+eruption, and the latter, ten thousand feet high, was quiescent.
+
+An expedition which has accomplished very great results in antarctic
+research was sent out under Captain Robert F. Scott of the British navy
+in the vessel _Discovery_. Through the influence of the Royal
+Geographical Society this expedition was admirably financed, the English
+Government and private parties contributing four hundred and fifty
+thousand dollars toward its equipment.
+
+The _Discovery_ left Cowes, England, in the summer of 1901, and, after
+making a series of magnetic observations south of Australia, steered for
+the south polar regions. Pack-ice was met almost at the antarctic
+circle, but Scott gradually worked the vessel through the pack and
+reached the base of Mount Terror where he landed a party. Then with the
+remainder of his men he coasted eastward along the great ice barrier for
+five hundred miles. It was found that the barrier had receded thirty
+miles since its front was examined by Ross in 1841 and that its front is
+wearing away at the rate of one-half mile a year. A captive balloon was
+used in making investigations of the ice front. If the unfortunate case
+of Andree be excepted, it was the first time that the balloon was used
+in polar research.
+
+The vessel remained in a safe harbor near Mounts Terror and Erebus,
+where it lay frozen in for two winters. Every precaution was taken to
+insure the safety of the land party in case the ice should break up and
+force the ship out of the harbor. Suitable huts were erected on shore
+and a portion of the provisions was landed. Magnetic observations and
+other scientific work were carried on daily.
+
+During the warmer season of the year many journeys were made into the
+interior. In order to be able to advance as far as possible, sledge
+journeys were made along a selected route to establish provision depots.
+This being done, Captain Scott with two companions and nineteen sledge
+dogs started for a protracted journey into the interior. They travelled
+three hundred and fifty miles inland over the great ice-field but did
+not even then reach the end of it. Then, having lost most of the dogs,
+and the provisions being low, the party set out on their return to the
+ship.
+
+The few remaining dogs being disabled, the men were obliged to haul the
+sledges. Having suffered great hardships, the party reached the vessel
+after an absence of three months.
+
+On this journey a long range of mountains with many high peaks was
+discovered. The highest peak, fifteen thousand one hundred feet, was
+named Mount Markham. The latitude reached was 82 deg. 17' south, being the
+farthest distance south attained. On a subsequent journey a plateau of
+nine thousand feet elevation was reached, where the evenness of the ice
+surface for miles seemed scarcely broken. The length of this journey was
+three hundred miles.
+
+At the end of the second winter two relief ships appeared at the edge of
+the ice with orders that Captain Scott should return home at once. The
+_Discovery_ was still sealed up in the harbor with solid ice from twelve
+to seventeen feet thick, and it was a problem how to free the vessel.
+The solid ice extended out more than six miles from the harbor.
+
+The crews set resolutely to work making holes in the ice in a direct
+line from the imprisoned vessel to the open water. In these holes
+powerful explosives were placed which cracked the ice. This labor
+consumed some nine days. Then the great ocean swells broke up the ice,
+freeing the vessel. The _Discovery_ forthwith sailed for England by way
+of Cape Horn, arriving home in September, having gathered much valuable
+information during her sojourn in the south polar regions.
+
+Although practically no vegetable life has been found in these regions,
+an abundance of animal life exists in or contiguous to the sea,
+dependent on shrimps, fish, and such other life as the sea affords.
+Seals, penguins, petrels, cormorants, and gulls are found in
+considerable numbers. In fact, no persons tarrying in these regions need
+starve for lack of food, such as it is.
+
+[Illustration: The penguin defies the cold]
+
+During the two years spent by the _Discovery_ in the south polar ice,
+seals and penguins formed staple articles of the diet of the men. Though
+the flesh of both of these creatures has a strong and peculiar flavor,
+it was found to be an agreeable change from pemican and other preserved
+material. So vigorous were the men's appetites, stimulated by the
+excessive cold, that when they labored hard sometimes seven meals were
+served daily.
+
+Because of the thick layer of fat covering their bodies, penguins were
+used as fuel when the coal began to give out. Penguins are strange,
+interesting sea fowls having an inquisitive and fearless nature. At one
+of the rocky shore rookeries millions of these grotesque birds were
+seen.
+
+The type of penguin found here is a very handsome bird, decked out in
+rather gay colors, having a jet black head, bluish-gray back and wings,
+a yellow breast and bright spot of orange on the neck, and an
+orange-colored lower bill. As though proud of his multicolored dress he
+walks with slow and majestic step. His height is about four feet and his
+average weight eighty-five pounds. He makes free use of his voice which
+is loud and shrill. Whenever a group of penguins see an object that
+excites their curiosity they will stand around it in a circle and gaze
+at it intently. Lieutenant Shackleton had a graphophone as a part of his
+equipment, and whenever it was used, during the season when penguins
+were about, they used to gather around the instrument by the hundreds,
+seeming to be quite as much interested as his human listeners.
+
+When all other birds flee at the approach of the antarctic winter the
+eccentric penguin defies the cold and hatches its single egg in the dead
+of winter, with the thermometer ranging from eighteen to seventy degrees
+below zero. It does this by carrying the egg between its legs, resting
+it on the back of the foot while a fold of heavily feathered loose skin
+completely covers it up.
+
+After the chick is hatched it takes the place of the egg and is carried
+around in this queer receptacle. When the chick wants food it utters a
+cry. Thereupon the parent bends its neck down, and the little one
+thrusts its head into the parental mouth to help itself to regurgitated
+food. The adult fowls of both sexes are fond of nursing the chickens and
+frequently quarrel over the possession of the little ones, often with
+fatal results to the younglings. Over half of the chicks die or are
+killed by kindness.
+
+The expedition to the antarctic commanded by Lieutenant Ernest
+Shackleton must always be considered one of the most important among
+those fitted out for the work of polar research. Shackleton had been a
+member of the Scott expedition and therefore was well acquainted with
+the character of the work. The members of the staff, about twenty-five
+in number, were selected with great care, and the results of the
+expedition demonstrated Lieutenant Shackleton's wisdom.
+
+The _Nimrod_, a wooden steamship built for seal hunting, was purchased
+and equipped for the expedition. She was a small vessel, scarcely more
+than one hundred feet in length. Her foremast carried square sails; her
+main and mizzen masts were schooner-rigged. Under steam her speed did
+not exceed six knots. The equipment included a generous outfit of
+scientific instruments, a supply of dogs and sledges, ten Manchurian or
+"Shetland" ponies, and a gasoline motor-car. The vessel was equipped at
+Cowes, England, but made her final start from Lyttleton, New Zealand,
+New Year's Day, 1908. In order to save her supply of coal for future use
+she was towed to the antarctic circle.
+
+The following winter months, May to September, were spent on Ross
+Island, near the winter quarters of the _Discovery_, in McMurdo Bay,
+about thirty degrees south of New Zealand. This bay, or sound, forms a
+curve in the shore line of Victoria Land, the coast of which is the best
+known part of the antarctic regions. Up to the present time it is the
+most accessible entrance to south circumpolar regions known; it is also
+the most convenient location for winter quarters, being only two
+thousand miles from New Zealand.
+
+In the following March a party of six--David, Mawson, Mackay, Adams,
+Marshall, and Brocklehurst--prepared for the ascent of Mount Erebus, the
+volcano, then active, discovered by Ross and named after one of his
+ships. The crater rim was only a few miles distant, and during the
+first three days the party could be seen from the camp by means of a
+powerful telescope--tiny black specks struggling up the ice-clad slopes.
+Three craters were discovered, the youngest and highest of which was
+found to be thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty feet above sea
+level.[3] During the ascent the party nearly perished in a gale which
+blew their tents into tatters. The crater rampart was finally reached,
+however, and a number of excellent photographs were made.
+
+During the entire stay at Ross Island the steam column from the crater
+furnished the means whereby the direction of the upper currents of air
+might be instantly noted, and the condition of activity did not differ
+materially from that observed in Stromboli. When the barometer was low
+the steam column was heavier and denser; the glow of light was also
+brighter. With a high barometer, on the contrary, the conditions were
+reversed, the steam column was insignificant and the glow was scarcely
+visible. As a rule, the ascending column of steam was projected three
+thousand feet or more before it was caught by the upper air current.
+Measurements showed the principal crater to be half a mile in diameter
+and nine hundred feet deep. Great deposits of sulphur and pumice were
+observed.
+
+In the last week of October a party composed of Shackleton, Adams,
+Marshall, and Wild started on the trip to discover the south pole. The
+journey to the point farthest south occupied seventy-three days. After a
+few days out from the winter quarters no bare rock was seen--the
+landscape being one of ice and snow.
+
+Shackleton's journal of January 8 notes the fierce gales blowing at the
+rate of seventy or eighty miles an hour, while the temperature had
+dropped to "seventy-two degrees of frost." "We are short of fuel," he
+writes, "and at this high altitude, eleven thousand six hundred feet, it
+is hard to keep any warmth in our bodies between the scanty meals. We
+have nothing to read now, having left behind our little books to save
+weight, and it is dreary work lying in the tent with nothing to read,
+and too cold to write much in the diary."
+
+"It (January 9, 1909) is our last day outward. We have shot our bolt and
+the tale of latitude is 88 deg. 23' south. We hoisted her majesty's flag,
+and the other Union Jack afterward, and took possession of the plateau
+in the name of his majesty. While the Union Jack blew out stiffly in the
+icy gale that cut us to the bone we looked south with powerful glasses,
+but could see nothing but the dead white snow-plain. There was no break
+in the plateau as it extended toward the pole, and we felt sure that the
+goal we have failed to reach lies on this plain. We stayed only a few
+minutes, and then taking the queen's flag, and eating our scanty meal as
+we went, hurried back and reached our camp about 3 P. M. Whatever
+regrets may be, we have done our best." On their return journey the
+party killed the two surviving ponies for food.
+
+Early in October, 1908, a party consisting of David, Mawson, and Mackay
+started on their journey to locate the south magnetic pole. Like the
+journey of the southern party, it was a trip of hardship, intense cold,
+and physical suffering. On January 16, 1909, partly by experiment and
+partly by calculation, the point of vertical position of the needle was
+found in latitude 72 deg. 25' south, longitude 155 deg. 16' east. The
+position found by Professor David was very close to that obtained by
+Scott of the _Discovery_ expedition and about forty miles from that
+which Ross calculated in 1841. In the interval of nearly seventy years,
+it is safe to assume that the position of the south magnetic pole has
+shifted forty miles.
+
+In spite of the knowledge obtained in other directions, Shackleton
+frankly admits that the secret of the great ice barrier cannot be
+learned until the structure and trend of the mountain ranges which seem
+to form its edge are traced. The investigations showed, however, that it
+is composed of densely packed snow. It was found that at least one part
+of the ice barrier is receding, and that Balloon Bight, noted by Captain
+Scott, had disappeared in consequence of the recession. Not the least
+important part of the exploration was the discovery of forty-five miles
+of coast. Shackleton also was able to strengthen the opinion that
+Emerald, Nimrod, and Dougherty Islands do not exist.
+
+The hardy Shetland and Manchurian ponies, first used by Evelyn Baldwin,
+proved a valuable equipment in polar research. Shackleton's gasoline
+motor-car and Scott's captive balloon were of considerable but limited
+use.
+
+During 1910 and 1911 three different nations--England, Norway, and
+Japan--were represented by expeditions in south polar regions. The
+Norwegian expedition under Captain Roald Amundsen was especially
+equipped for quick travel, having eight sledges and more than one
+hundred trained dogs.
+
+The expedition made its way to the head of Ross Sea, a large bay of the
+Antarctic plateau, nearly due south of New Zealand. The camp there was
+made the base of supplies. Depots for provisions were first established
+in latitudes 80 deg., 81 deg., and 82 deg.
+
+A start for the pole was made September 8 with eight men, seven sledges,
+and ninety dogs. The weather was too severe for the dogs, however, and
+the party returned to camp. By the middle of October summer weather had
+set in, and on the 20th of the month five men, four sledges, and
+fifty-two dogs started on the poleward trip. Three days later they
+reached and passed the first depot; on the 31st the second depot was
+reached; and on November 5 the sledges reached the third depot in
+latitude 82 deg. Additional supplies were thereafter cached, in depots
+about one degree apart, to be used on the return trip. Snow cairns were
+built at frequent intervals to mark the trail. The last cache of
+supplies was left at latitude 85 deg.
+
+From this point the way was a steep and difficult climbing over the
+range, or barrier, that had proved so difficult for Shackleton. Peaks in
+height from ten thousand to fifteen thousand feet loomed up on every
+side, and glacier surfaces proved to be the easiest paths.
+
+When a height of nine thousand feet had been reached the rugged upraise
+opened out into a nearly level plateau. On December 10 observations
+showed latitude 89 deg., and on the 14th of the month the party reached
+latitude 90 deg. and achieved the conquest of the South Pole. The Norwegian
+flag was planted, and after three days spent in checking observations
+the party returned in safety. The expedition returned by way of
+Tasmania. The vessel employed was the _Fram_, the small steamship used
+by Nansen.
+
+Captain Scott, who commanded the _Discovery_ in the expedition of 1901,
+went with the men in his command to Ross Sea and made his head-quarters
+near the head of that body of water. He at once sent out exploring
+parties, one of which started for the pole. According to reports made in
+April, 1912, he had accomplished a great deal of work in surveys and
+geological research, probably more than all that of his predecessors.
+
+The same reports brought also word that the Japanese expedition under
+Lieutenant Shirase had surveyed a considerable extent of the Antarctic
+coast.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 2: In April, 1831, Ross had the honor of fixing the location
+of the north magnetic pole on the Boothia Peninsula in latitude 70 deg. 5'
+north and longitude 96 deg. 46' west.]
+
+[Footnote 3: According to the observations of Ross its altitude was
+twelve thousand three hundred and sixty-seven feet. Inasmuch as a change
+in altitude results from each eruption, both determinations may be
+correct. The admiralty charts give twelve thousand nine hundred and
+twenty-two feet, the determination of the expedition of 1901.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH
+
+
+Several thousand years ago a mighty conflict occurred between the sea
+and the subterranean forces in the north Atlantic five hundred miles
+northwest of Scotland. A violent earthquake rent the rocks of the ocean
+bed, and through the broken floor there issued tremendous floods of
+molten lava. The great conflict manifested itself in explosions of
+steam, gigantic streams of red-hot lava, frothy pumice, and volcanic
+ashes. For miles around the water of the sea was seething and boiling.
+
+After awhile the turbulence of the fiery mass was subdued and it stood
+congealed in the varied forms of rugged peaks, contorted ridges, and
+deep valleys, subsequently to be seamed and further distorted by
+earthquakes and piled higher by further volcanic outbursts. A new island
+had been born.
+
+Ages rolled on; vegetation appeared as the volcanic rock disintegrated;
+crystal lakes were formed and rivers, fed by frequent rains and melting
+snows, flowed to the sea. This comparatively new island is Iceland. The
+book of nature here is open; the print is clear; and the language is so
+plain that he who can read may learn the story.
+
+The internal fires of the earth seem to have taken their final great
+stand in this far-off northern land and have waged a titanic battle to
+the death, as may be seen in many places. In the northern part of the
+island one may find acres of burning sulphur beds, small geysers, and
+mud caldrons, all of which attest to the slowly dying volcanic forces
+beneath. Although a comparative calm now exists, an exciting cause may
+at any time awaken the slumbering volcanoes and again renew the work of
+destruction.
+
+Fossilized forests are found, but of trees different from those now
+existing. Climate and vegetation materially changed as century succeeded
+century.
+
+The written history of Iceland begins about the year 860, when a viking
+living on the Faroe Islands who was on his way home from Norway, being
+driven far northward of his course, came to an unknown coast. Climbing a
+high rock and looking around, he beheld no signs of life; before he
+could return to his ship, however, a sudden storm came on, covering the
+ground with a mantle of snow. From the latter circumstance he named the
+country Snowland.
+
+Four years after a Swedish master-mariner was driven by stress of storm
+to this same land, and, building a house, spent the winter there. During
+the following summer he sailed around the land, demonstrating that it
+was an island, and called it after his own name, Gardar's Island. On his
+return home he gave such a favorable account of the island that a famous
+Norwegian viking named Floki determined to seek it and to take
+possession. Having gathered his family and followers, and taking on
+board some live stock, he set sail for the unknown land by way of the
+Faroe Islands.
+
+The compass had not then been invented, but knowing that ravens by
+instinct seek the nearest land when freed on the ocean, he provided
+himself with three of these birds to serve as guides.
+
+He remained awhile at the Faroe Islands and then boldly sailed
+northward. When he was several days out he uncaged one of the ravens,
+which immediately took its flight back to the Faroe Islands. Later, he
+set free a second bird. This one, after hovering high in the air for
+some time, seemed bewildered and returned to the ship. Still later, the
+third raven was set free, which at once flew northward. By pursuing the
+course taken by the last bird, Floki soon reached the desired land.
+
+The winter that followed was very severe. Deep snows covered hill, rock,
+and valley, and ice blockaded the fiord. Floki had neglected to harvest
+the wild grass, and as a result his cattle died. Disheartened by his
+losses, he returned to his native land, naming the island which he
+abandoned Iceland.
+
+A few years later another Norse rover, who had slain an enemy and was
+threatened with vengeance by the relatives of the victim, took refuge on
+the island where he spent a year. He liked the country so well that he
+returned home and induced his retainers to accompany him back to his
+safe retreat. Approaching the land, he threw into the sea the sacred
+columns which his vessel bore, so that he might learn the will of the
+gods where to land and found a colony. A violent storm arising, the
+pillars drifted out of sight, so he sought the nearest harbor and there
+he established a temporary camp.
+
+Three years afterward the pillars were found on the desolate shore of a
+lava stream on the west side of the island. Near by was a rivulet from
+whose bed a spring gushed forth emitting clouds of steam. Thither the
+colony removed and the present capital, Reykjavik, was founded. The name
+Reykjavik means "smoking bay." Other vikings followed and selected such
+parts of the island as they considered best.
+
+Harold, the king of Norway at this time, determined to curb the
+rebellious spirit of the chiefs under him. So, many of the sturdy
+Norsemen, chafing under his arbitrary rule, collected such of their
+property as they could carry and, putting it on board their stanch
+vessels, sailed away to the land of refuge.
+
+At this period of history nearly all nations considered that might made
+right; but no class of plunderers excelled the Norsemen, who were wont
+to make periodical raids on the various seaport cities and towns of
+Europe. They swooped upon them, pillaging and killing the inhabitants,
+and then fled in their swift vessels with booty and captives before they
+could be intercepted. The audacity of the Norse vikings knew no bounds.
+They pillaged Paris, Bordeaux, Orleans, and nearly every other city of
+France accessible by water. Their hands fell heavily on the coasts of
+Spain and the British Isles.
+
+[Illustration: Street in Reykjavik, Iceland]
+
+At one time a band of these fearless sea-robbers made their lairs in the
+Shetland and Orkney Islands and even plundered the coast of Norway, the
+abode of their kinsmen. Their conduct so exasperated Harold that he
+determined to destroy the freebooters of the Orkneys root and branch.
+Gathering a large fleet, he relentlessly pursued the raiders up every
+bay and inlet. Leaving the ships, he chased them among the rocky islands
+and the sinuous fiords. When they were overtaken the pursuers showed
+them no mercy. A few escaped, and, stealing away under the cover of
+darkness, the hunted sea-robbers fled in their ships to Iceland.
+
+All the while the tide of immigration was augmented by the migrations of
+disaffected nobles from Norway. This naked volcanic island had more
+attraction for them than their own country where freedom was denied
+them.
+
+Sixty years after the first settlement fifty thousand people had made
+their homes in Iceland. The inhabited parts were along the coast, in the
+river valleys, and in the vicinity of the fiords, rarely extending
+farther than fifty miles inland.
+
+In order to better maintain rights and settle disputes, in 930 the
+chiefs or nobles established an aristocratic republic and adopted a
+constitution. The republic existed four hundred years. Many just laws
+were enacted, some of which England was glad to borrow. The legislative
+meetings were held in Thingvalla, a picturesque valley thirty-five miles
+east of Reykjavik. This valley was formed by the sinking of a lava area
+of fifty square miles. In the middle of the valley, flanked by two huge
+jagged walls of lava, is a triangular floor of lava like a large
+flatiron having separating chasms meeting at the apex. Here the Althing,
+or general assembly, met annually to make laws and settle disputes.
+Toward the south the valley slopes gently to Thingvalla Vatn, a
+beautiful sheet of water of crystal clearness ten miles long and five
+miles wide, having in some places a depth of a thousand feet. The
+scenery here is one of rugged beauty and surpassing grandeur. Hard by,
+a river comes tumbling over its rocky bed, then calmly pours its icy
+water into the placid lake. No spot is better suited to inspire freedom
+of thought and lofty imagination than this primitive meeting-place of a
+legislative assembly.
+
+Eventually, Iceland became subject to Norway and afterward a colony of
+Denmark, which it remains to-day. Self-government and the
+re-establishment of the old Parliament at Reykjavik was granted by
+Denmark in 1874.
+
+Iceland is not only out of debt but has the snug sum of one million
+crowns in its exchequer. It is an ideal place for the woman's rights
+advocates, since women here have the right to vote and do not change
+their names when they marry.
+
+Although the island contains forty thousand square miles, five-sixths of
+it is uninhabitable. The present population is eight thousand.
+
+It may with truth be called naked because it is only partly clothed with
+vegetation; moreover, such vegetation as exists is scanty and confined
+chiefly to the river valleys and their slopes. In the interior are large
+desert areas covered with lava and shifting sand. This desolate expanse
+is frequently diversified by extensive jokulls, or elevated ice-fields,
+one of which occupies four thousand square miles.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the winters in the inhabited sections are not so
+severe as those of New England, owing to the modifying influence of the
+warm southwesterly wind and the mild temperature of the surrounding
+waters. The summers are cool, owing to the nearness of the arctic
+ice-fields. In the interior on the table-land one is apt to encounter
+snowstorms even in August.
+
+The only wild animal is the fox, of which there are two varieties, the
+white and the blue. These animals probably drifted on the ice from
+Greenland. They are hunted not only for their skins but also because
+they attack the sheep.
+
+The domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats. The
+horses and cattle are small. The ewes, instead of the cows, are milked.
+Iceland ponies are famous for their hardiness and are sure-footed. Large
+numbers of them are exported to England for service in the coal-mines.
+There they are condemned to hard labor for life in the dark galleries.
+
+Iceland ranks second among the geyser regions of the world, Yellowstone
+Park being first. The boiling springs and geysers are not confined to
+one locality but are scattered widely over the island. The most
+prominent are east of Reykjavik.
+
+According to its area probably no other part of the world except the
+island of Java has so many volcanoes. More than one hundred craters and
+cinder cones have been counted, many of which have been active within
+the historical period of the island. The most destructive volcanic
+eruption took place in June, 1783. The spring had opened auspiciously;
+the cattle, sheep, and horses were cropping the juicy young grass; and
+the air was balmier than usual. In the latter part of May a bluish smoke
+accompanied by earthquakes began to spread over the land. As time passed
+the earthquake shocks increased in violence. The surface of the earth
+heaved like the ground swell of the ocean after a storm; the atmosphere
+became filled with choking vapors and blinding smoke; the sun was
+darkened and the low rumbling sounds became heavy peals of thunder.
+Presently two mighty streams of lava, one of which was fifteen miles
+wide and one hundred feet deep, came pouring down the sides of Skaptar
+Jokull. The lava floods filled up the valleys, quenched rivers, and
+spread destruction over the adjacent country. The intense heat blasted
+the vegetation far and wide. Nine thousand people and fifty thousand
+head of live stock were the result of the death harvest.
+
+[Illustration: North Cape, Iceland]
+
+Iceland is well watered, having many streams, all of which are rapid,
+for the greater part flowing over beds of lava and quicksand. In some of
+the wider fords stakes have been set so that the traveller may not get
+lost in crossing them on horseback during a dense fog. In the summer the
+frequent rains make travelling very unpleasant unless one is suitably
+equipped with water-proof garments. In the Hvita, or White River, is the
+celebrated Gullfoss--literally, "goldfall"--a fall that rivals Niagara
+in the height of its two cataracts.
+
+A few garden vegetables excepted, little or no agriculture is
+attempted; the chief dependence of the people is the rearing of sheep,
+cattle, and horses, fishing, and the collecting of eider-down. The
+streams are filled with excellent fish, including the salmon; off the
+coast are codfishing grounds equal to, if not surpassing, those of
+Newfoundland.
+
+The most valuable mineral is sulphur, the supply of which appears to be
+inexhaustible. The chief exports are wool, oil, fish, horses,
+eider-down, knit goods, sulphur, and Iceland moss.
+
+Transparent calcite, a mineral commonly called "Iceland spar," is found,
+one mine of which furnishes an excellent quality. It is highly prized by
+mineralogists on account of its double refractive qualities. If a piece
+of this mineral be placed over a word, the letters forming it will
+appear double. Iceland spar is used chiefly in the optical instrument
+known as the polariscope.
+
+Eider-down consists of the soft, fine feathers growing on the breast of
+the eider-duck, great numbers of which frequent the coast and lakes of
+Iceland. This duck is wild except at the nesting season; then it is as
+tame as the domestic fowl and makes its nest not only around and on top
+of the buildings but frequently inside them. A heavy fine is imposed on
+any one killing a duck at this season.
+
+When about to lay, the duck carefully lines her nest with down plucked
+from her breast. Then people remove it from the nest and the duck pulls
+more down from her breast to replace that taken. This process is
+repeated several times. When the duck has stripped her own breast the
+drake comes to the rescue and furnishes down from his. A certain number
+of the eggs are also taken. These, though inferior to those of the swan,
+are esteemed a great delicacy. Swans also are killed on many of the
+lakes.
+
+Iceland is the resort of the fishing fleets of several nations; the
+value of the annual catch averages about ten million dollars. Much of
+the catch consists of food fish, but many are caught for the oil.
+
+The only trees found growing on the island are birch and ash, and they
+seldom exceed ten feet in height. A few juniper bushes and willows are
+found here and there.
+
+In the remote and isolated sections most of the dwellings are built of
+blocks of lava laid one upon another, making a wall six feet thick. Upon
+these are placed rafters made from ribs of whales, drift-wood, or
+anything else that will answer the purpose. The roof is then covered
+with grass and turf. In the hamlets many of the houses are constructed
+of imported lumber, there being no trees of sufficient size on the
+island for building purposes.
+
+The inhabitants are very hospitable and every house is open to the
+traveller. They live in a simple manner, drink sour whey and milk, eat
+rancid butter, fish, mutton, and occasionally the lichens called Iceland
+moss. When well cooked, the last named is quite palatable. It is also a
+sovereign remedy for bronchial ailments.
+
+Notwithstanding their many privations, the people are loyal to their
+country and lovingly call it "The Maid of the North." They lead pastoral
+lives and their customs are much like those of the Homeric age.
+Story-telling is much appreciated by all classes. There are wandering
+minstrels who gain their livelihood by going from house to house to
+recite the stories in prose and poetry which they have learned by heart.
+Spindle and distaff are used in spinning the wool into yarn, which is
+then knit or woven into cloth on a hand loom.
+
+Education is universal, and no child of twelve years can be found who is
+unable to read or write. The families are so isolated that there are few
+schools outside of the capital; but the parents diligently teach their
+children whatever they themselves have learned.
+
+During the long winter evenings one member of the family reads aloud
+while the others are busily at work, the men making nets and ropes, or
+removing the wool from the sheepskins, the women embroidering, sewing,
+or using spindle and distaff.
+
+In no other country of Europe are so many books and papers published in
+proportion to the population as in Iceland. On the average one hundred
+books are issued annually from Icelandic presses. Several excellent
+newspapers and periodicals are also published.
+
+Every Icelander to-day knows perfectly the sagas, the legendary stories
+that commemorate heroes and heroic deeds and which are so dear to his
+heart. It is not uncommon to find an Icelander who is well versed in the
+ancient classics or one who can speak several languages. They are well
+acquainted with the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, which have been
+translated into their own language. During the twelfth and thirteenth
+centuries Iceland produced a literature equal to that of any other
+nation in Europe within the same period.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+GREENLAND
+
+
+The history of Greenland really begins about the year 986 A. D., when
+Eric the Red, a chieftain who had been banished from Iceland, landed on
+the island with some of his followers and made it his permanent
+residence. At different times these hardy and daring seamen made
+expeditions to the eastern coast of North America, and sailed as far
+south as Chesapeake Bay. They attempted to found a colony on the east
+coast at a point thought to be on the coast of New Jersey but, after
+contending with the savages for some time, deemed it best to abandon the
+project and to return to their Greenland home. The location at which
+they attempted their colony is by no means certain.
+
+[Illustration: Stone igloos on the bleak coast of Greenland]
+
+All this island, a half million square miles in area, except a small
+part of the southern coast line and a larger area in the north, is
+covered by an immense glacier. And this field of ice, like a huge piece
+of plastic wax, is constantly moving from the interior down toward the
+sea. As it approaches the ocean it divides into branches which flow down
+the numerous fiords and valleys into the sea. As the fronts of the
+branch glaciers are pushed out into the water their ends are broken off
+by the buoyancy of the water. These glacial-born masses then float away
+as icebergs, carrying with them on their southward journeys the rock
+waste--moraine detritus it is called--gathered by the parent glaciers.
+
+When these floating leviathans are off the coast of Newfoundland, they
+encounter the waters of the Gulf Stream, melt, and scatter their debris
+of stony matter over a large area of the ocean bed. This process, having
+gone on for thousands of years, has shoaled the ocean in certain parts,
+forming the so-called Banks of Newfoundland.
+
+A gelatinous slime filled with minute animal life forms on the bottom of
+the ocean in the arctic; the cold currents flowing south carry some of
+it along with them, and much of it is lodged on the stony bottoms of
+these banks. Fish, especially the cod, are fond of this gelatinous
+substance, and throng thither at certain seasons of the year in
+countless numbers to feed upon it.
+
+One ignorant of the currents of the ocean might be puzzled at times in
+observing that an iceberg floats southward at the same time that pieces
+of wood are floating northward, both apparently acted upon by the same
+current. This may be explained by recalling that warm water is lighter
+than cold and hence is found as the upper layer when a cold and a warm
+current are flowing in different directions, one upon the other. It
+should be borne in mind that seven-eighths of the floating iceberg is
+under water, leaving but one-eighth above the surface. The Gulf Stream
+drift spreads out as it travels northward, and, being much shallower
+than the arctic currents, carries floating objects northward on the
+surface, while the deeper and more powerful arctic currents force the
+huge masses of ice southward.
+
+When the warm air over the Gulf Stream comes in contact with the
+floating ice it is chilled, and the moisture which it holds is condensed
+into fog. The fogs in turn, which are off the Newfoundland coast, being
+in the line of steamship communication between Europe and America, are a
+constant menace to navigation. The near presence of ice is usually
+detected by a greater chilliness in the air. In order to avoid
+collisions with one another, and also with icebergs, a ship constantly
+sounds its sirens and fog horns as warnings while in the fog belt. The
+signal of another steamship is a warning of the one; the answering echo
+announces the nearness of the other.
+
+[Illustration: A large iceberg]
+
+The high interior of Greenland, about ten thousand feet in altitude, is
+thought to result largely from the accumulation of ages of snow and ice,
+only a part of which melts or moves oceanward to form glaciers. No other
+part of the world is such an absolute desert as the greater part of this
+island. Animal and vegetable life are wholly absent.
+
+The colony which was planted in Greenland by Eric the Red, and
+subsequently augmented by other Norsemen, continued to prosper for four
+hundred years. At the end of that period there were about two hundred
+villages, twelve parishes, and two monasteries. These, however,
+disappeared. The hostility of the Eskimos in part accounts for their
+extinction, but an encroachment of ice from the north, which encompassed
+the southern part of the island, is thought to have been also a factor.
+The fact that foreign trade with Greenland was forbidden by the mother
+country may account in part for the gradual disappearance of the colony.
+At all events, intercourse with Europe seems to have been cut off. This
+condition continued for upward of two centuries, and when intercourse
+with the mother country was again possible there was no Greenland
+colony. Perhaps the finding of "white" Eskimo in Victoria Land may
+explain this disappearance.
+
+[Illustration: A group of Eskimos in south Greenland]
+
+Subsequently the island was again colonized, but concerning the
+disappearance of the former inhabitants history is silent. The mute
+testimony of a few ruined buildings and relics is all that has been
+found to give the least shadow of information as to the final struggle
+of the wretched colonists. We only know that they mysteriously
+disappeared. But the great glacial cap is slowly receding and ages hence
+more ground will be laid bare.
+
+The present inhabitants number about ten thousand, most of whom are
+Eskimos. They are lacking in thrift and live chiefly by hunting and
+fishing. Among the wild animals living here are the arctic fox, the
+arctic hare, the musk ox, the seal, the polar bear, the ermine, and the
+walrus.
+
+The principal resources of the island are sealskins, eider-down, oil, and
+cryolite.
+
+Cryolite is a mineral from which common soda is easily extracted, and
+also from which the light silver-like aluminum was formerly prepared.
+The mines near the village of Ivigtut furnish practically the world's
+supply of this mineral. Formerly it was carried to Philadelphia, but in
+recent years not much is used. The fisheries are a monopoly of Denmark,
+and each station is visited from one to three or four times a year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET
+
+
+Perhaps there is no section of the globe about which most well-informed
+persons know so little as the southern part of South America. Judged by
+the reports of early discoverers and explorers, this region until
+recently has been considered a desolate stretch of snow mountains,
+barren plains, and extensive morasses, sparsely inhabited by a few
+thousand human beings of the lowest type and worthless to civilized man.
+
+Such a picture is but partly true. Many of the highest mountains are
+snow-capped throughout the year and are scored by immense glaciers which
+are constantly moving down their grooved sides; but there are also
+heavily forested slopes flanked by valleys and plains covered with rich
+grasses, making most excellent pasturage. The best land, comprising a
+large area, is now occupied as grazing grounds principally by sheep
+farmers.
+
+In the early part of the sixteenth century it was rumored that a water
+passage traversed the southern part of South America. This rumor was
+proved true in 1520, when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in
+the service of Charles V of Spain, sailed through the strait which now
+bears his name. He called the passage Todos los Santos--literally, "All
+Saints"--but later the name was changed to commemorate the bold captain
+who discovered the route.
+
+Magellan was the first not only to sail through the strait, but to cross
+the broad Pacific Ocean, which was so named by him on account of the
+quietness of its waters. Because he saw the fires built by the natives
+blazing on the islands along the south side of the channel, he called
+them Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire."
+
+The Strait of Magellan varies from three to seventy miles in width. The
+scenery along its shores, low and treeless in the eastern part,
+elsewhere is mountainous and heavily wooded--mainly with beech. In
+various places lofty precipices rise abruptly from the water's edge;
+throughout most of its extent the shore line is rock-bound and studded
+with islets.
+
+A more picturesque route, and one abounding in the grandest and most
+stupendous scenery in the world, is that from the Pacific by way of
+Smyth Channel, the entrance to which is four hundred miles north of the
+entrance to Magellan Strait. By this route one follows a series of
+channels and reaches the strait proper near Desolation Island. On
+account of the dangers besetting this course, underwriters refuse to
+insure vessels taking it.
+
+[Illustration: Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, New York The Straits of
+Magellan. Cape Pilar is the extreme western end]
+
+It remained for a Hollander named Schouten to discover Cape Horn, in
+1616, and thus find a safer way for sailing vessels going from the one
+great ocean to the other. Schouten named the cape "Hoorn," from his
+native city in Holland. Afterward the name was shortened to Horn, which
+is applied both to the cape and to the island from which it projects.
+Since the western entrance to the strait is subject to rough,
+tempestuous weather and strong currents, very few modern sailing vessels
+take the shorter course, preferring to double the cape. Though doubling
+the cape is the safer route, yet this passage itself is beset by
+dangerous storms and tempestuous seas. Fortunate is the sailing master
+who rounds the Horn with pleasant weather.
+
+Some of the smaller islands of the archipelago are densely wooded and
+practically unexplored. Gold has been found on the beaches of several of
+the islands in paying quantities, and these placers have been worked
+successfully for several years. On the islands are found wild
+strawberries of great size and fine flavor, wild raspberries,
+gooseberries, grapes, and celery; in the spring the pastures are covered
+with a variety of wild flowers. A profusion of ferns is seen almost
+everywhere. Wild geese and swans are found on the lagoons and lakes in
+large numbers.
+
+Once upon a time Patagonia, as the southern part of the continent is
+popularly called, was regarded as a waste; now it is recognized as a
+wonderfully fertile region, and is being rapidly settled. European
+colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous.
+The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by
+King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know
+the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth.
+The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and
+ostrich feathers.
+
+The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those
+brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders
+and excel in the use of a peculiar lasso called the bolas. It consists
+usually of three balls of stone or metal covered with rawhide and
+attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In
+fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is
+indispensable. The operator, holding one of the balls, swings the others
+over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them
+go. If well aimed, the connected balls circle around the legs of the
+animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.
+
+The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South
+American Indians, they go about well clothed. Occasionally they kill
+their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and
+clothing is the guanaco.
+
+Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for
+centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superstitious
+dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded
+mountain slopes of the Cordillera.
+
+[Illustration: Fuegians]
+
+The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those
+of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish.
+The canoe Indians, as those in the western part are called, build boats
+of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet
+long, and in the centre a quantity of earth is carried, upon which a
+fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal
+relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their
+time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish
+may be obtained. At night they generally go on shore to sleep. A hole
+scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent
+down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for
+warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing
+that if they do not move on an evil spirit will catch them.
+
+In the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego and on some of the other larger
+islands two tribes of Indians are found whose subsistence consists of
+sea food, guanacos, and such sheep as they can steal. These tribes are
+continually at enmity with the white settlers and will kill them
+whenever possible.
+
+In spite of cloudy weather and cold winds, which are common a part of
+the year, the climate of Patagonia is milder than that of places much
+farther north, and the sheep require no feeding during the winter
+season. In the matter of sheep farms this section rivals Australia,
+since there is no fear of drought. The grass continues green the year
+around, and the sheep easily fatten upon it.
+
+The drawbacks to successful sheep-growing are many and the business
+requires constant vigilance. Vultures, foxes, wild dogs, pumas, and
+Indians make serious inroads on the flocks. The wild dogs live in the
+surrounding forests and from time to time rush out in packs of from ten
+to thirty and attack the sheep. Notwithstanding all these troubles,
+however, the profits of sheep-growing are large.
+
+Russians, Germans, French, Australians, English, and Scotch, many of
+whom have amassed large fortunes in a few years, are engaged in this
+lucrative business. As in all other sheep-raising countries, the collie
+is an invaluable aid to the shepherds. Not only are the principal
+islands chiefly devoted to sheep-raising, but a considerable part of the
+southern mainland is also devoted to this industry. On the island of
+Tierra del Fuego alone there are upward of a million sheep.
+
+Most of the land is leased from the government for a long term of years.
+Many of the proprietors have enclosed their holdings with wire fences,
+thereby lessening the expense of caring for their flocks. Some of the
+holdings range from twenty-five thousand to more than two million acres.
+
+Southern Patagonia has immense numbers of guanacos, or wild llamas.
+These animals frequent the Andean slopes and the adjacent pampas. During
+the winter season they come down to the lowlands to drink in the
+unfrozen lakes and feed upon the herbage. During severe winters
+sometimes hundreds are found dead from starvation in the valleys near
+the frozen lakes.
+
+Thousands of wild cattle are found on the eastern slopes of the Andes,
+but they are difficult to capture; they are exceedingly wary and can
+scent a man far off. In agility in climbing the steep, rough places they
+equal the goat. If one of their number is killed the whole herd deserts
+the locality at night. When wounded they are fierce fighters, if forced
+into close quarters.
+
+Punta Arenas, or "Sandy Point," is on the north side of the Strait of
+Magellan and is Chilean territory. It is a new town cut out of the
+woods, and even yet many of the streets are diversified by the stumps of
+big beech trees. The place is an important coaling and provision station
+and, next to Honolulu, the most important ocean post-office in the
+world. It has a population of twelve thousand, and is the capital and
+centre of the great wool industry of the Territory of Magellan, which
+comprises a majority of the islands south of the mainland, together with
+the southern part of Patagonia.
+
+A few years ago, in order to encourage the building up of Punta Arenas,
+the government offered a lot free to any one who would erect a building
+on it. Many accepted the offer, and to-day some of the lots in the
+business part of the town are very valuable. Although most of the
+buildings are constructed with regard to economy rather than beauty, yet
+some of the business blocks will compare favorably with those of the new
+cities in the United States.
+
+Like several Australian cities, Punta Arenas was a convict colony. It
+was founded as such in 1843, and so remained until the European
+steamships began to thread the strait instead of doubling the Horn. Then
+it became a coaling station, a supply store, a half-way town, and an
+ocean post-office. All this business was previously carried on at the
+Falkland Islands, but the route through the strait settled the business
+for both places. The Falkland station was abandoned; Punta Arenas became
+a thriving town. A ticket-of-leave was given to each convict who
+consented to join the Chilean army.
+
+The town forthwith blossomed into a typical frontier settlement--banks
+and gambling dens, churches and saloons, schools and bullfights. Every
+race of people and almost every industry is represented there. The
+Spanish see to it that the Sunday bullfights are correct; the French
+insure the proper social functions; the Germans manage the banks; and
+the Americans take the profits of the railways, telegraph lines, and
+flour-mills. As to latitude, Punta Arenas is cold and inhospitable; but
+for business and social affairs, it is very, very warm, especially in
+the matter of social affairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS
+
+
+If only Dame Nature had distributed the rainfall of the United States a
+bit more evenly, land enough to feed about fifty millions of people
+would not have required an expenditure of half a century of time and
+several hundred millions of good, hard dollars. One must bear in mind,
+however, that if Dame Nature had done otherwise, it is just as likely
+that the same time and the same amount of money would have been required
+elsewhere for those same fifty millions of people.
+
+The reclaimable swamp lands of the United States east of the Rocky
+Mountains aggregate about one hundred and twenty thousand square miles
+in extent--an area nearly equal to that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
+combined. Of this, Louisiana has about fifteen thousand square miles, a
+tract about as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
+combined, and Florida has about half her entire area in swamp land. West
+of the Rocky Mountains, California takes the lead, with enough swamp
+land to make a state of respectable size.
+
+In the case of California, if the "forty-niners" could have waited about
+a thousand years they would have found the precious swamp lands all
+properly filled in for them and ready for use; for the Sacramento and
+San Joaquin Rivers long since have been working at the task of filling
+up the big hollow between the mountain ranges. But the rivers are a
+trifle slow, and Californians are always in a steaming hurry. So Uncle
+Sam's engineers are driving their reclamation schemes with railroad
+speed. A few years ago these lands were worth nothing; drain them and
+they are worth one hundred dollars per acre; improve them according to
+modern farming science and they are worth ten times as much.
+
+[Illustration: The Everglades of Florida]
+
+In many instances even the quick methods of the reclamation authorities
+are too slow for the California farmer, and so he takes matters into his
+own hands. First he acquires his land; then he mortgages all his worldly
+possessions to surround the land with a ditch deep enough and wide
+enough to make a dike high enough to keep out flood waters. His land
+after draining is full of the stuff for which he otherwise would pay
+thousands and thousands of dollars. Phosphates and lime form the
+coverings of minute swamp life and nitrogen compounds are a part of
+their bodies. The polders of Holland are not richer than this swamp
+land; indeed, they are not so rich. One or two crops will pretty nearly
+extinguish the mortgage and three or four more will put the owner on
+"Easy Street."
+
+In the bottom-lands of the Sacramento River is an island that for fifty
+years went a-begging. Then a company with a shrewd head bought it, diked
+it, and drained it. Now the island has immense celery beds and the
+largest asparagus farm in the world. The celery and canned asparagus are
+shipped to the produce markets of New York City.
+
+Another great swamp area covers a large part of Louisiana, Mississippi,
+and Arkansas. This swamp was made when the head of the Gulf of Mexico
+reached half-way up to St. Louis, for the delta of the Mississippi River
+has been travelling leisurely southward for several thousand years--so
+leisurely, in fact, that Iberville and Bienville opened the region to
+settlement fifteen hundred years or more too soon. But Uncle Sam is
+taking a hand here likewise, and in another fifty years a population
+half as large as that of New York may not only live comfortably but get
+rich on the reclaimed lands of this and adjacent coast swamps.
+
+The Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia all have large areas of coast
+marshes--"pocosons" they call them--only a small part of which has been
+reclaimed. Formerly these were the property of the general government;
+then they were given to the States with the understanding that they were
+to be reclaimed. Large tracts were sold to speculators for a few cents
+an acre, and there you are! Few States are rich enough to handle
+extensive reclamation enterprises, and so the general government stepped
+in again and assumed the responsibility. That means that the work of
+reclamation will be skilfully and honestly done. Uncle Sam may play some
+questionable politics, but he never mixes politics and government
+business.
+
+Of all the swamp lands of the United States, the region in Florida
+known as the Everglades is the most interesting and the most romantic.
+
+Ponce de Leon, an aged Spanish governor of Porto Rico, who was seeking
+the Fountain of Perpetual Youth, discovered--not the long-sought
+fountain, but a peninsula decked with such a profusion of flowers that
+he named the country Florida.
+
+From that time until years after it was ceded to the United States
+Florida was repeatedly baptized in blood. From the first there were
+encounters between the Spanish and Indians in which no quarter was given
+on either side. Later, an exterminating warfare broke out between the
+French and Spanish when a Huguenot colony was massacred and not a man,
+woman, or child spared. In 1586 St. Augustine was burned by Sir Francis
+Drake, and a century later it was plundered by English buccaneers. Still
+later, frequent contests were waged between the English colonies and the
+Spanish in Florida.
+
+Previous to the acquisition of Florida by the United States hostile
+Indians, together with fugitive whites and renegade negroes who had
+joined them, made many raids upon the settlements in Georgia, robbing
+and burning plantations, murdering the whites, and carrying off the
+slaves. Retaliation to a certain extent was meted out to the
+blood-thirsty savages until Spain was glad to cede the peninsula to the
+United States in 1819 for five million dollars. Thereby she ridded
+herself of her troublesome proteges. The Indian raids still continued
+after the acquisition, and the United States Government therefore sent
+troops into Florida to punish the treacherous savages, who gradually
+retreated southward until they reached the Everglades. There they made
+their final stand.
+
+In these almost inaccessible sinuous water passages and the dense island
+vegetation for a long time the Indians baffled our ablest military
+officers. A seven years' contest followed which cost the United States
+fifteen hundred men and nearly twenty million dollars.
+
+[Illustration: Group of Seminole Indians in the Everglades of Florida]
+
+After much negotiation and no end of trouble the Indians--they were the
+Seminoles--ceded their lands to the United States on the promise of an
+annuity of twenty-five thousand dollars and suitable lands in the Indian
+Territory. About four thousand of the Seminoles were then removed to
+their new homes; a small remnant refusing to emigrate were left behind.
+
+The name Everglades is applied to a vast swamp containing a multitude of
+shallow lakes studded with numerous islands. The region embraces most
+of the southern part of Florida. The water of the lakes, of which Lake
+Okechobee is the largest, varies in depth from a few inches to ten feet.
+The region itself has an area six times that of the State of Rhode
+Island, and on account of the difficulty in traversing it is but
+imperfectly known. Countless winding intricate water channels extend in
+every direction. Many of these are filled with tall sawgrass which,
+growing from the bottom, greatly impedes the passage even of small
+boats. The average elevation of the Everglades above sea level is
+scarcely twenty feet. The water is both clear and wholesome, but the
+surface is so nearly a dead level that the current is imperceptible; it
+can be distinguished only by noting the position of the grass.
+
+The islands are covered with a dense growth of oak, pine, cypress, and
+palmetto trees, together with a jungle of luxuriant tropical vines and
+shrubs. They range in size from one to one hundred acres and are but
+slightly elevated above the surrounding waters.
+
+About three hundred Seminole Indians inhabit the interior and live by
+hunting and fishing. Deer, bears, otters, panthers, wild cats, and
+snakes frequent the land; alligators, crocodiles, fish of various kinds,
+and waterfowl dwell in the water. In the western part of the Everglades
+is Big Cypress Swamp and in the extreme southern part Mangrove Swamp,
+where myriads of mosquitoes are hatched out. Extending along the eastern
+side of the Everglades is a long, narrow belt of dry, fertile land which
+is utilized for farming purposes.
+
+A far-reaching project to reclaim the Everglades has been proposed.
+Unlike the Western projects, the problem is to get rid of water and not
+to supply it. The plans for reclamation include the construction of
+drainage canals and the clearing of the jungle growths. It is purposed
+to use the land thus reclaimed for sugar growing. At the present time
+the United States is importing annually over two hundred million
+dollars' worth of sugar; it is estimated that by draining only a part of
+this vast area and planting it to sugar cane the local demands could not
+only be supplied but a large surplus for export would result.
+
+The possibilities of this region, when properly drained and cleared of
+its superfluous vegetation, are almost beyond computation. It has a rich
+soil, abundant moisture, and almost tropical climate. Reclaimed land of
+this character is suitable for raising not only sugar cane and
+subtropical fruits, but a great variety of other crops. It is estimated
+that the cost of reclaiming the Everglades, so that the land may be made
+productive, need not exceed one dollar per acre.
+
+A great impetus has been given to southern Florida by that wonderful
+achievement of engineering, Mr. Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast
+Railway. This railway stretches in a direct line along the coast from
+Jacksonville to the southern part of the State, and has been extended
+along the Florida Keys to Key West. When all arrangements are completed,
+the trains will be ferried across Florida Strait between Havana and Key
+West, and freight will be sent from points in Cuba to New York and
+Chicago without reloading.
+
+The building of the Florida East Coast Railway is one of the great
+engineering feats of the world. In its construction from key to key
+thousands of tons of rock and cement were dumped into the water on which
+massive viaducts in fifty-foot spans have been built to carry the
+road-bed. These solid archways, rising from twenty to thirty feet above
+the water, defy tides and storm waves. This railway has become one of
+the chief factors in developing the resources of southern Florida and
+hastening the reclamation of the Everglades.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES
+
+
+Almost any unusual form in nature is apt to attract the eye and interest
+the beholder; and when such natural objects resemble artificial ones or
+bear a fanciful resemblance to animals the similarity intensifies the
+interest and almost always leads one to apply fanciful names to them. In
+wandering along a rocky shore one instinctively searches for the curious
+formations carved out by the unceasing action of the waves; and in
+journeying through rugged sections of mountain country each unusual rock
+formation rivets the attention at once.
+
+Caves especially have a peculiar attraction of awe and curiosity
+combined. Such natural objects as Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Luray Cave
+in Virginia, Calaveras Cave in California, the Garden of the Gods in
+Colorado, the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and
+Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa are visited annually by many
+thousands of people. And no wonder that all mankind, from the savage to
+the most civilized, is charmed with natural arches spanning great
+chasms. No cyclopaedia of natural wonders fails to give at least a brief
+description of the Natural Bridge of Virginia which spans a small stream
+that flows into the James River. So great a wonder was the structure
+regarded to be even in colonial times that it then claimed marked
+attention. Thomas Jefferson became so much interested in this natural
+wonder that he applied to George III for a reservation of land that
+should include the bridge, and in 1774 his request was granted. To
+accommodate distinguished strangers who might visit the bridge,
+Jefferson built near by a log cabin of two rooms. Concerning it he said:
+"The bridge will draw the attention of the world."
+
+[Illustration: The Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, Utah]
+
+Chief-Justice Marshall described it as "God's greatest miracle in
+stone." And Henry Clay said it was "the bridge not made with hands, that
+spans a river, carries a highway, and makes two mountains one." On the
+rocky abutments are found carved the names of many persons. Among them
+is that of Washington. In his youth, laboriously cutting places for his
+hands and feet, he climbed up the face of one of the steep abutments and
+cut his name above all others, where for seventy years it stood
+unsurpassed in height. In 1818 a daring college student climbed from the
+foot to the top of the rock, thus outranking all others.
+
+The Natural Bridge is composed of blue limestone; it is two hundred and
+fifteen feet high, ninety feet wide, and spans a chasm eighty-five feet
+across. A public highway lined with trees passes over the top. The
+bridge itself is all that remains of the roof of what once was a
+limestone cavern.
+
+The southeastern part of Utah is overlaid with strata of red and yellow
+sandstone hundreds of feet deep. Ages ago this whole region was elevated
+and thereby was distorted by the internal forces which pushed it upward.
+Subsequently wonderful transformations were wrought. The flowing streams
+gradually bored through portions of the soft, uplifted sandstone,
+forming arches and digging deep canyons, while the air and rain rounded
+off the rugged parts into graceful shapes.
+
+Wonderful as is the famous Natural Bridge of Virginia, the natural
+bridges of Utah are still more wonderful. In White Canyon of
+southeastern Utah are Edwin, Carolyn, and Augusta Bridges--magnificent
+structures of pink sandstone carved in lines of classic symmetry and
+possessing gigantic proportions. At least half a dozen natural bridges
+in Utah surpass that of Virginia, not only in beauty and grandeur, but
+also in dimensions. They were discovered by cattlemen in 1895, but they
+did not become known to the outside world until 1909, when the region
+was explored by the Utah Archaeological Expedition.
+
+[Illustration: Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, Utah]
+
+Of these bridges the Edwin easily ranks first in graceful symmetry; its
+span is one hundred and ninety-four feet, its elevation one hundred and
+eight feet, its width thirty-five feet. Combining grace and massiveness,
+the Augusta stands pre-eminent. It rises in majestic proportions to the
+height of two hundred and twenty-two feet and has a span between
+abutments of two hundred and sixteen feet. The width of the road-bed is
+twenty-eight feet and the thickness of the arch at the keystone is
+forty-five feet. The height of the Carolyn Bridge is two hundred and
+five feet and the span one hundred and eighty-six feet.
+
+All these bridges span canyons whose depths correspond to the height of
+the arched structures. In White Canyon, a few miles below Edwin Bridge,
+under its overhanging rock walls, are the ruins of numerous
+cliff-dwellings.
+
+The largest natural bridge in the world yet discovered is the
+Nonnezoshi. It is in Nonnezoshiboko Canyon, Utah, not far from the place
+where the San Juan River enters the Colorado. This mammoth arch is more
+of a flying buttress spanning the canyon than a real bridge. Its height
+is three hundred and eight feet and its span two hundred and eighty-five
+feet.
+
+To visit these bridges from the nearest railway station requires stage
+and horseback riding for upward of one hundred and twenty-five miles.
+The latter part of the journey is made over a faint trail through a
+rugged country; but the scenery amply repays one for the hardships
+endured.
+
+The climatic changes during the ages have been such that this region is
+now almost inaccessible on account of the lack of water, except in the
+early spring when melting snows yield a temporary supply. Even the
+cattlemen pasturing their herds in that section keep them there but a
+few weeks during the year, so scarce is both water and vegetation.
+
+In the main, natural bridges are the result of one or another of several
+causes. A limestone cavern may be partly destroyed by streams of water,
+leaving a portion of the cavern with its roof still in place; the part
+of the roof thus remaining becomes the arch of the bridge. A branch of
+the Southern Railway threads a natural tunnel near Anniston, Ala., and
+the tunnel is the remnant of an old limestone cavern.
+
+In other cases a natural bridge is formed when bowlders, or a mass of
+rock, tumbling into a deep crevice is wedged and held in place. In still
+other instances a layer of hard or slowly weathering rock may rest upon
+a layer of rock which weathers rapidly. In such cases, if the rock
+layers form the face of a cliff, natural bridges, caverns, and overhangs
+are apt to result.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA
+
+
+There are many table mountains in different parts of the world, but the
+one which I am about to describe is interesting both from geological and
+financial stand-points. The so-called Table Mountain of California is a
+massive natural railway embankment or colossal Chinese wall, extending
+through several counties, but best studied in Tuolumne County.
+
+The mountain is forty miles long, from five hundred to eight hundred
+feet high, and a quarter of a mile wide at the top. For the most part
+the top is bare of vegetation and quite level, though slanting slightly
+toward the south. In places at the base of its precipitous sides, and
+sometimes extending part way up, pine and other trees are found growing.
+
+This gigantic wall, broken through in several places by flowing rivers,
+is nothing more nor less than a mighty stream of congealed basaltic lava
+called latite, which in prehistoric times, rushing down the western
+flank of the high Sierras, usurped the bed of an ancient river channel,
+drinking up the waters and piling up its molten mass bank high.
+
+The bed of the stream being filled with lava, its waters not flowing
+through the gravel, were forced to find other channels. The action of
+the elements during subsequent ages has worn away in great part the
+banks of the pliocene river and eroded in places the solid slate rocks
+to the depth of two thousand feet, leaving this sinuous wall as a mute
+witness of the mighty forces of nature.
+
+On account of the excessive hardness and durability of this kind of
+basalt, this monumental fortress will endure long after the corroding
+tooth of time shall have crumbled to dust the royal pyramids and their
+very memory shall have been lost in oblivion.
+
+Some geologists think there were two volcanic streams of lava, one
+succeeding the other by an interval of thousands of years, the first
+covering the auriferous gravel and the second quenching the waters of a
+subsequent river which had forced a passageway through the first flow of
+lava.
+
+Scores of tunnels have been run into the mountain to get at the gravel
+of this Pactolian river. Millions of dollars of gold have been extracted
+from its bed, and millions more await the tunnel, upraise, and drift of
+the adventurous miner.
+
+Beginning at the top of the mountain and working downward, we find the
+order of materials as follows: A cap of basalt from sixty to three
+hundred feet thick, a bed of breccia of varying thickness, two hundred
+feet of conglomerate andesitic sand (volcanic ash of the miners), a bed
+of pipe-clay, and then auriferous gravel resting on a bedrock of slate.
+In tapping the ancient river-bed considerable water is encountered
+flowing through the gravel. To get rid of this water has been a problem
+of expense and annoyance to the miner.
+
+To measure the time that has passed since this buried river rolled over
+golden sands staggers the intellect. It is estimated that from one
+hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand years must have
+elapsed.
+
+This curiously formed mountain has been likened to a monolithian
+serpent. Where the Stanislaus River breaks abruptly through the mountain
+the eye gazes in wonder from the crest down two thousand feet to a
+seemingly tiny crowded stream below, rushing madly on its way to the
+sea.
+
+Many interesting remains of animals have been found in the gravels under
+this mountain. In running a tunnel under Table Mountain some years ago,
+the miners came across a large mass of tallow weighing about one hundred
+and fifty pounds, and in proximity were the bones and tusks of a huge
+animal. Many bones and tusks of the mammoth and mastodon, not to mention
+the remains of other animals, have been found in the ancient river-bed.
+Probably some of these elephantine animals were sporting in the water
+and dashing it over themselves when the stream of lava, sweeping down,
+overwhelmed them, trying out the tallow and preserving their skeletons
+for the wonderment of civilized man.
+
+At one place in the mountain the deep roar of a waterfall is heard. At
+another, where there is a deep break, is a series of passageways and
+caves where the outlaw Murietta had his hiding-place. In several places
+on the top of the mountain, by striking the foot down hard, a hollow,
+reverberating sound is heard. We give in his own words the account of an
+explorer's visit to the so-called Boston tunnel which runs beneath Table
+Mountain:
+
+"Hearing of a celebrated petrified tree in the Boston tunnel, which runs
+under Table Mountain, I determined if possible to see it and procure
+some specimens. After considerable inquiry I found a miner who said he
+knew where the tree was; that the tunnel in which it was located had
+been abandoned many years ago; that no persons had entered it for years;
+that rocks were constantly falling, making it exceedingly dangerous to
+enter, and that very likely it was so clogged up with rocks that no one
+could get to the tree. When I had expressed my great desire to see this
+tree, and coaxed him, at length he promised to take me to the tunnel to
+see its condition, but said he would not promise to guide me into it.
+
+"Having dressed ourselves in overalls and jumpers, with candles and
+geological hammers in hand we set out for our destination. On
+approaching the tunnel my guide at once began to throw stones into the
+bushes on either side of the entrance. When asked why he threw the
+stones, he replied that about the mouth of old tunnels rattlesnakes are
+wont to resort to get out of the burning sun.
+
+"Not finding any rattlers, we proceeded down the incline to the mouth of
+the tunnel. Finding the mouth not obstructed, and lighting our candles,
+we entered. Sometimes crawling on our hands and knees over fallen rock
+with scarcely a foot of extra room above our heads, then stooping low,
+then walking upright, again crawling between huge masses of rock and
+earth, and crowding between slanting monoliths, we made our way through
+the mud and water dripping on us from the roof above.
+
+"When part way in, the guide hesitated and declared that we were taking
+our lives in our hands if we went farther; that the five-ton rock lying
+in front of our path had very recently fallen from the roof, probably a
+week before, possibly a day or only an hour before. Pointing to the roof
+with his candle he said: 'Do you see that piece of rock partly detached
+and ready to fall at any moment?'
+
+"Acknowledging the threatening conditions, I urged: 'If not too
+dangerous, I do wish that we might go on until we find the tree.'
+
+"Said he: 'If you promise not to strike any of these rocks with your
+hammer, we will venture a little farther.'
+
+"You may be assured that I not only promised, but obeyed.
+
+"At this juncture, I must confess, a peculiar sensation came over me
+when I thought of the possibility of being buried alive or crushed to
+death in this subterranean cavern, yet pride kept me from showing the
+white feather.
+
+"The guide, going ahead and examining the walls and roof, called back to
+me in a low voice, saying, 'We are now safer.'
+
+"Having traversed the main tunnel for a distance of upward of eight
+hundred feet, and carefully avoiding its branches, we finally came to
+the object of our search. This tree, four feet in diameter, of opalized
+wood, stands upright on the left side of the tunnel. The lava had burned
+off the bark and partly carbonized the outside part, and then the whole
+had subsequently taken the form of opal silica. There is a space of
+about four inches between the tree and the surrounding lava.
+
+"By raising the candles above our heads we could look up the body of the
+tree some thirty feet. When we had broken off some choice specimens from
+the body of the tree with the hammer we left this subterranean world. On
+emerging from the tunnel the guide said: 'Thank God, we again see the
+sunlight.'
+
+"To which I replied: 'Amen.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR
+
+
+A huge projecting limestone rock, in form like a reclining lion, guards
+the entrance to the narrow water passage which separates Europe from
+Africa. This wonderful feature, the Rock of Gibraltar, extends directly
+southward from the mainland of Spain with which it is connected by a
+low, sandy isthmus. It is about three miles in length and in breadth
+varies from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile. Two depressions
+divide it into three summits, the highest of which is about fourteen
+hundred feet.
+
+Let us visit the small city lying at its western base and then carefully
+examine this leviathan sentinel that seems to stand guard over the
+narrow strait. The special permission of the military commander to
+examine it or even to remain in the city must first be obtained; we are
+especially warned that cameras are forbidden and all negatives will be
+confiscated.
+
+The north face we find to have an almost perpendicular height of twelve
+hundred feet; its east and west sides also display tremendous
+precipices. The south face is much lower and slopes toward the sea.
+Fortifications of massive walls and the best of modern guns protect the
+lower parts and also the seaward side of the city.
+
+But what are those holes high up on the faces of the rock? They are
+portholes cut through the rock from interior chambers out of which
+cannon can be thrust and discharged at an invading enemy. We are curious
+to learn more about this interesting place, and on questioning our guide
+are told many remarkable stories.
+
+The Rock of Gibraltar is honeycombed with caves, passageways, and
+chambers, some of which are natural and others artificial. We enter the
+largest of these natural caves, St. Michael's, and as we stand in the
+main hall, a spacious chamber two hundred feet in length and seventy
+feet in height, we are amazed at its beauty and grandeur. Colossal
+columns of stalactites seem to support its ornamental roof and all
+around are fantastic figures--foliage of many forms, beautiful
+statuettes, pillars, pendants, and shapes of picturesque beauty
+rivalling those of Mammoth Cave. St. Michael's Cave is eleven hundred
+feet above sea level and is connected by winding passages with four
+other caves of a similar character.
+
+[Illustration: This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of
+Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar]
+
+To six of the caves distinct names have been given. One of the caves is
+three hundred feet below sea level. About three miles of passageways,
+exclusive of many storage chambers, have been hewn so as to connect the
+different caves and natural passages, and so large have they been made
+that a wagon can be drawn through them. Within this rock are stored
+supplies of ammunition and sufficient provisions to last several years.
+In clambering about the rock we find cannon carefully concealed in
+scores of different places ready for use when needed.
+
+In places the rock is overlaid with thin soil which produces a variety
+of vegetation. There are grassy glens, with trees, and luxuriant gardens
+surrounding pretty English cottages. During the rainy season wild
+flowers in great profusion spring up in all directions, but in the
+summer the rock presents a dry, barren aspect.
+
+This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar and the city
+nestling at its base, Gibraltar. The city has a population of
+twenty-five thousand, of whom several thousand are soldiers forming the
+garrison. The garrison with their artillery, two pieces of which weigh
+one hundred tons each, reinforced with the strongest of fortifications,
+are thought to be capable of withstanding the combined hosts of
+Christendom.
+
+Early in the eighth century the Moors, perceiving the strategic
+importance of the promontory, took possession of it and erected
+fortifications. During the succeeding nine hundred years the fortress
+was besieged no less than twelve times, and on several occasions was
+captured by invaders.
+
+At length it became a possession of Spain, and so strongly was it
+fortified by the Spanish that it was thought to be impregnable. During
+the War of the Spanish Succession, however, the combined forces of
+England and Holland laid siege to it, and after a stubborn resistance
+the garrison was forced to surrender. Forthwith the English took
+possession in the name of Queen Anne and, strengthening the
+fortifications, have held the fortress ever since.
+
+Spain was greatly mortified by the loss of this stronghold which she
+deemed rightly belonged to her. Several times during the ensuing
+seventy-five years, single-handed, she laid siege to the citadel in the
+endeavor to win it back, but each time she signally failed.
+
+A seemingly auspicious time arrived in 1779 when she secured the
+co-operation of France. For the succeeding four years a relentless siege
+was laid to the fortress by the combined land and naval forces of Spain
+and France. Both nations summoned to their aid their ablest generals and
+admirals, using every conceivable device and strategy to capture the
+fortress, but all in vain.
+
+During the first years of this siege the supreme command of both land
+and naval forces rested with the Spanish, but, having met with failure
+after failure, they were ready at length to give way to the French, who
+promised to capture the stronghold by constructing a powerful fleet of
+battering-ships, enabling them to fight at close range, so that gun to
+gun and man to man should decide the contest.
+
+The French engineer who prepared the armament cut down the huge bulwarks
+of the sides of ten of the Spanish battle-ships and proceeded to
+reconstruct them within and without. The reconstructed ships were much
+like the _Merrimac_, that did such destructive work in our Civil War,
+except that they were not armored with iron. Triple beams of heavy oak
+with layers of sand and cork between them were used for encasing these
+huge hulks. For protecting the crews heavy timbers covered with rope and
+hides were used.
+
+On September 12, 1782, fifty line-of-battle ships flying flags,
+together with a fleet of smaller vessels, lined up before the town. This
+formidable fleet was supported on land by an army of forty thousand men
+reinforced with batteries of the heaviest ordnance stretched along the
+shore. To oppose these the English commander, General Eliott, had
+ninety-six pieces of artillery and seven thousand men. So confident was
+the enemy of success that the triple-armored battering-ships moved
+boldly up to within half-gunshot range.
+
+At a signal the English opened fire, which was instantly answered by the
+floating batteries and the whole shore line; four hundred guns were then
+playing on the beleaguered town. Soon death and destruction were made
+evident on both sides. There seemed to be but one thing for the English
+to do to save themselves, and that was to set fire to the enemy's ships.
+Accordingly, furnaces were placed beside the batteries in which heavy
+cannon balls were made white-hot. The guns, shotted with these glowing
+balls, were then turned on the ships. The enemy attempted to guard
+against the hot shot by continually pumping water into the layer of sand
+between the wooden sheathing of the ships, and for a time succeeded in
+extinguishing the fires.
+
+It was not long though before the admiral's ship caught fire, and as
+night drew on, the flames, indicating the position of the Spanish line,
+furnished a mark for the English guns. At midnight ten of the besieging
+ships were on fire. Rockets were thrown up and distress signals hoisted
+to summon aid from their consorts.
+
+The flames mounted higher and higher, illuminating sky, sea, and rock.
+The shrieks of the wounded and dying filled the midnight air. When it
+was found that the ships could not be saved, all discipline was lost and
+a panic ensued. Hundreds perished miserably, while hundreds of others
+threw themselves into the sea. Seeing the terrible destruction wrought
+by firing hot balls, General Eliott ordered his men to man the boats in
+order to save their foes from drowning and burning.
+
+With the greatest heroism they scoured the sea, and, mounting the
+burning vessels, dragged from the decks men deserted by their own
+people. While performing these humanitarian acts several of the English
+perished by explosions. Three hundred and fifty-seven of the enemy were
+saved from a horrible death. The following morning disclosed a sea
+covered with wrecks. A few days more of feeble bombardment ensued; then
+a treaty of peace was signed.
+
+From a strategic stand-point, the Rock of Gibraltar is easily Great
+Britain's most important stronghold, because it guards the trade route
+to her most important possession--British India. Practically all her
+commerce with her Indian colonies passes through the Mediterranean Sea
+and the Suez Canal. With either one in the possession of an enemy,
+British commerce would not only suffer heavy losses, but it might be
+destroyed altogether. So necessary is the command of the Strait of
+Gibraltar to Great Britain, that to lose the Rock might also mean the
+loss of British India.
+
+At the present time Great Britain is continually adding to the defences
+by building new fortifications and replacing the older guns with the
+latest patterns.
+
+In ancient times the name Calpe was applied to the rock of Gibraltar and
+Abyla to the eminence in Africa on the opposite side of the strait, and
+both of these eminences formed the renowned Pillars of Hercules. For
+centuries no ships navigating the Mediterranean dared sail beyond these
+pillars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE BAKU OIL FIELDS
+
+
+Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train
+for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the
+world--a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems
+almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this
+entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to
+the Balkan hills.
+
+Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California
+fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the
+surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities,
+passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through
+the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to
+be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating
+purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting
+the gas which rises in the tube.
+
+The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for
+bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on
+its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end
+to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.
+
+Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft
+in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by
+Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of
+the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the
+fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went
+there to pay homage to it.
+
+In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree,
+shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of
+rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of
+interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to
+lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a
+slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the
+sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge
+iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has
+mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant
+to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.
+
+For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum,
+and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had
+recourse to these springs to obtain supplies of oil for medicinal and
+domestic purposes. Herodotus has given an interesting description of
+them. Even in the early part of the twelfth century petroleum was an
+important article of export from Baku. Crude petroleum was used to
+anoint camels for mange. In the first part of the eighteenth century
+Peter the Great annexed Baku to Russia. After his death it was ceded
+back to Persia; but in 1801 it was again annexed to Russia.
+
+To-day Baku is one of the important commercial cities of the Russian
+Empire. Its shipping is immense and to further its commerce there are
+magnificent docks. The city is built on the shores of a large bay,
+sheltered from adverse winds by an island that acts as a breakwater. The
+water-front has an anchorage for thousands of vessels. One may walk
+along the strand for eight miles and find ships lined up in front of the
+city the entire distance.
+
+The Caspian is filled with various kinds of fish, and while bathing one
+might reasonably have the impression that he was swimming in an
+aquarium. In fact, this place is an ideal one for an Izaak Walton. On
+the islands beyond the peninsula, projecting out from the Baku section,
+petroleum gas has flamed for centuries, lighting the heavens at night
+with a lurid glare that is visible far out at sea.
+
+In Baku Bay, between two peninsulas, there was a spot, now
+commercialized into a producing oil well, where the gas came to the
+surface with sufficient force to upset small boats. Many of the oil
+wells are spouters for a long time after they are first bored, and when
+they cease to spout they can frequently be made to renew their activity
+by deeper boring.
+
+Wells have been pumped for years without the level of the oil being
+lowered in the slightest. Some of the wells which have caught fire
+accidentally have burned for years, sending up their pillars of fire to
+a great height. In a few instances the richest wells have made the
+owners practically bankrupt by overwhelming the buildings on adjoining
+property with sand and petroleum, spreading ruin far and wide before the
+flow could be checked.
+
+A majority of the great oil wells are about ten miles from Baku, and a
+dozen pipe-lines convey the petroleum from them to Black Town, a suburb
+of Baku, where it is stored and refined. From one well alone the
+escaping oil would have brought more than five million dollars had it
+been saved.
+
+Seemingly the crust of the earth for hundreds of miles around acts like
+a huge gasometer pressing down on the pent-up gases with its weight.
+Since the Caspian Sea is eighty feet below sea level, it is probable
+that the land bordering the sea has sunk since the gases and oil were
+formed. And this would, in part at least, account for the enormous
+pressure.
+
+The spouting oil wells are called fountains. Some of them have yielded
+two million gallons each day for months, sending up jets three or four
+hundred feet high with a roar that could be heard several miles away.
+Great difficulty was found at first in stopping the flow when necessary
+by capping or gagging the wells, but after a time a sliding valve-cap
+was invented, capable of checking the flow of the most violent well. In
+order to prevent the enormous pressure from bursting the pipe and
+tearing up the ground, as soon as the pipe has been sunk part way the
+earth is excavated around it and the excavation is filled with cement.
+
+[Illustration: Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian Sea]
+
+It is said that one of these gushers threw up in a day more oil than is
+produced by all the wells in the United States. One well spouted oil for
+months before it could be gagged, and in the meantime flooded the
+surrounding country. Millions of gallons were burned to get rid of it
+and millions more were diverted into the Caspian Sea. Two wells are
+reported to have thrown up in less than a month thirty million gallons
+each.
+
+At first sand is thrown out with the oil, and frequently it is ejected
+with such force that a plate of iron three inches thick struck by the
+stream is worn through in less than a day by this liquid sand blast.
+When the wells cease spouting and it is not deemed advisable to bore
+deeper, pumping is employed. Generally the oil coming from the wells is
+conducted into large, carefully tamped excavations in the ground forming
+ponds or lakes. In these huge reservoirs the sand and heavier parts soon
+sink, making the bottom impervious. After the settling the petroleum is
+either pumped into large iron tanks or sent directly to the refinery by
+pipe-lines.
+
+Since petroleum is vastly cheaper than coal, the steamers plying on the
+Caspian Sea and the locomotives of many of the Russian railroads use oil
+for fuel. At one time so great was the accumulation of petroleum that it
+sold at the wells for a few cents a ton. A fleet of tank-steamers
+conveys the oil products to the interior of Russia by the Caspian Sea
+and Volga River route.
+
+The crude petroleum of Baku yields a lower percentage of kerosene than
+the American wells, but it contains more lubricating oil. Millions of
+gallons of lubricating oil are shipped from Baku each year to all parts
+of Europe. On the opposite side of the Caspian there are great cliffs of
+mineral wax such as is obtained from petroleum and used extensively in
+the manufacture of paraffin candles.
+
+More than two hundred different products are made from petroleum, among
+the chief of which are kerosene, lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline,
+vaseline, and paraffin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS
+
+
+Many of the great treasure fields of the world have been discovered by
+chance rather than careful search.
+
+The diamonds of the Deccan, India, were trodden under foot for ages
+before they were recognized as diamonds. In Brazil the gold placer
+miners threw away the glassy pebbles as worthless and the black slaves
+used them as counters in their card games. A visitor who was acquainted
+with the diamond fields of India happened one day to notice the shining
+stones which two men were using in a card game at a public-house. The
+brilliancy of the pebbles piqued his curiosity. Having secured some, he
+tested them and found them to be diamonds of the first water. Yet so
+great was the prejudice against the Brazilian diamonds at first that for
+years many were secretly shipped to India and thence sent to the diamond
+market as Indian diamonds.
+
+A trivial circumstance often leads to a marvellous change in the
+conditions of men, communities, and nations. The playful act of a Boer
+lad picking up a shining pebble on the banks of the Orange River served
+as a beacon to lure persons to search for the most precious and hardest
+of gems, the diamond, and thereby transformed South Africa.
+
+It was the beginning of an industry that has already added more than
+four hundred million dollars' worth of wealth to the world and which now
+yields annually twenty million dollars' worth of diamonds. The history
+of the South African diamond mines is a fascinating story from start to
+finish.
+
+A Boer farmer named Jacobs had made his home on the banks of the Orange
+River not far from Hopetown. Here, living in a squalid hovel, he eked
+out a precarious existence by hunting and grazing. His chief income was
+from the flocks of sheep and goats that grazed on the scanty herbage of
+the veld. Black servants were the shepherds, and the children, having no
+work to employ their time, were free to roam over karoo, and veld, and
+along the river.
+
+What children are not attracted by pebbly streams? Wading in the water
+and skating flat stones on its surface was a joyous pastime for them.
+The banks of the river were strewn with stones of various colors and
+sizes such as would naturally attract the eyes of children.
+
+There were rich red garnets, variegated jaspers, chalcedonies and agates
+of many hues mingled with rock-crystals. The children would fill their
+pockets with these colored pebbles and carry them home to use in play.
+
+One day the farmer's wife noticed an unusually brilliant pebble among
+the other stones that were being tossed about by the children. Soon
+after she told one of her neighbors that the children had found a
+curious glassy stone that sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. On his
+expressing a desire to see the stone, it was brought to him covered with
+dirt. He was attracted by its brilliance and, probably surmising that it
+was more valuable than common quartz crystal, offered to purchase it.
+The good-wife scorned the idea of taking money for a smooth stone, and
+told him laughingly that he was welcome to it.
+
+The stone was sent by post to Grahamtown to ascertain whether or not it
+was of value. To the astonishment of all concerned it was pronounced a
+genuine diamond and was sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. A search
+was forthwith made in the locality for other stones, but none was found.
+Ten months later a second diamond was found thirty miles away on the
+bank of the same river. Then quite a number of fine diamonds were found
+by prospectors along the Vaal River.
+
+In 1869 a black shepherd boy found a magnificent white diamond which was
+purchased for five hundred sheep, ten oxen, and a horse. The purchaser
+sold the gem for fifty-five thousand dollars, and it was subsequently
+resold for one hundred thousand dollars. This superb gem became famous
+as the star of South Africa.
+
+Although a few skeptics said these stones might have been brought from
+the far interior in the crops of ostriches, yet this last great find
+served to attract public notice, and soon thousands of prospectors came
+to seek the coveted gems. Even the stolid Boer caught the excitement,
+and trekked long distances with wife and children to reach the
+captivating fields.
+
+It was a motley throng, like a mighty stream, which poured into the
+valley of the Vaal. Men came hurrying in all sorts of ways, afoot, on
+horseback, and in heavy, creaking ox-wagons. For miles and miles men
+were quickly at work sinking holes into the ground; camp-fires were
+flaming; teamsters were inspanning and outspanning their oxen, and
+wagons were creaking. These, with raucous voices shouting in a babel of
+languages, made a pandemonium exciting enough for the most adventurous.
+
+As far as the eye could reach along the banks of the Vaal were seen
+hives of busy, hopeful men who believed that untold riches were almost
+within their grasp. The hardest of work was but a pastime, for if they
+did not find diamonds to-day, would they not to-morrow? Did not their
+neighbors find them? The next shovelful of earth might contain a
+precious gem. They could hardly afford time to eat or sleep. Flashing
+eyes and elastic steps marked the success of some, while others
+repressed their feelings and kept their own counsel regarding the extent
+of their finds.
+
+So great did the crowd become that it was necessary to limit claims, and
+at an informal meeting of the prospectors, a digging committee was
+formed to make regulations controlling the working of the digging.
+Thirty feet square was thought to be a reasonable claim for one person.
+Some sought the river's banks to prospect, others the kopjes or hills.
+Some pinned their faith to light-colored ground, others to dark. Fancy
+rather than reason dictated the choice.
+
+The manner of working a claim was simple. The earth was thrown into a
+cradle having a bottom of perforated zinc or of wire mesh. The cradle
+was then rapidly rocked to and fro as water was poured in upon the
+earth. The finer part was washed through the mesh and the worthless
+stones were thrown out by hand. The residue was then removed to a
+suitable place and carefully examined.
+
+Each person most vigilantly scrutinized his hoard, fearing that in an
+unguarded moment a fortune might slip through his hands and be lost.
+Even the stranger passing along was hardly given a glance, so eager was
+each individual in searching for the precious pebble.
+
+There is an entrancing interest in diamond mining far exceeding that of
+gold, for at any moment one is likely to come across a princely fortune.
+The miner is ever hopeful. Communing with himself, he says: "To-morrow I
+may be made independent by a lucky find." And for a time it was merely
+luck, for so irregularly distributed were the diamonds that no knowledge
+was gained as to where they were most likely to be found.
+
+While miners were strenuously working along the rivers, far more
+wonderful diamond regions were soon to be unfolded; regions rich beyond
+the loftiest nights of the imagination and equal to the fabled valley of
+Sindbad the Sailor.
+
+A thrifty Dutch vrau owned a farm, on a volcanic plateau extending for
+miles into the rocky kopjes. Her overseer, learning that garnets are
+often found associated with diamonds, and noticing some garnets in one
+of the small streams that coursed through the valley, concluded to do a
+little prospecting on his own account. Sinking a hole a few feet in
+depth and sifting the sand and gravel through a common sieve, he came
+across a diamond weighing fifty carats--nearly half an ounce.
+
+This find caused a rush to the farm to secure claims, and the widow,
+with an eye to business, charged a monthly license of ten dollars. Soon
+this discovery was eclipsed by a more remarkable one at Dutoitspan[4] in
+1870. Although a fair supply of diamonds was found near the surface,
+these diggings seemed to give out as they reached hard limestone.
+
+When nearly all of the prospectors had left the field, having become
+discouraged, one more sanguine than the others determined to find out
+what was beneath this limestone covering. Sinking a shaft, he found that
+the limestone grew so soft and friable that it could be easily dug out
+with a pick. When he had penetrated the limestone covering he came in
+contact with a hard layer somewhat of the nature of clay. This he
+proceeded to break up and sift. During the sifting process he observed
+many sparkling gems. The problem had been partly solved at least.
+Diamonds were to be found in greater abundance below than above the
+limestone covering. On learning of the changed condition of affairs the
+deserting miners hastened back to the diggings in double-quick time.
+
+Early in 1871 diamonds were found at Bultfontein[5] and on the De Beers
+farm, two miles from Dutoitspan. Five months later another bed of
+diamonds was found on the same farm, lying on a sloping kopje, one mile
+from the first location. This kopje, named Colesberg Kopje, became
+afterward the famous Kimberley mine. The district was immediately
+divided into claims and taken by prospectors.
+
+The climate of this section is exceedingly trying. A blazing sun, clouds
+of suffocating dust, and a scanty supply of muddy water are the
+conditions of the region; it therefore required remarkable physical
+endurance and an indomitable will to achieve results. Sometimes terrific
+thunder-storms with torrents of rain would sweep through the valley. At
+other times great hail-storms would drive both man and beast to the
+nearest shelter. Wind-storms frequently drove blinding clouds of dust
+that penetrated everything.
+
+Very quickly a city of tents sprang up at Kimberley to be superseded
+later by substantial buildings of wood, of brick and iron, and
+well-constructed streets. Water was pumped from the Vaal River through a
+main sixteen miles in length. It was then raised in three lifts by
+powerful engines to a large reservoir five hundred feet above the river.
+
+The introduction of an abundant supply of good water wrought a wonderful
+transformation. Outside the business section the desert was made to
+blossom with flowers in gardens surrounding the hitherto bleak homes.
+Lawns were laid out and vines and trees planted about the houses, making
+the dusty, wind-swept expanse a thing of beauty and comfort.
+
+At length prospectors learned that the diamond-bearing earth was
+confined chiefly to several oval-shaped funnels, ranging in area from
+ten to twenty acres, and that outside these few diamonds were to be
+found.
+
+Now these huge funnels, or pipes, are nothing more or less than extinct
+volcanic craters. The walls, or casings, of these pipes are chiefly of
+shale and basalt filled with hard earth, yellow near the surface and
+bluish deeper down. The latter is called "blue-stuff" and is very
+prolific in diamonds. The diamonds found outside the rim wall must have
+been washed out of the craters or perhaps were thrown out by the
+eruption.
+
+At first it was customary to pulverize the blue-stuff at once, but
+experience showed that a more satisfactory way to work it was to expose
+it for several months to the action of the weather. By this process it
+readily crumbled.
+
+Various devices were used by the different miners to raise the earth out
+of their claims. Some used windlasses; others carried the earth up in
+buckets and tubs, some even by climbing ladders. Surrounding the funnels
+were carts, wheelbarrows, etc., for carrying away the material to the
+depositing grounds, where it was dried, pulverized, and sifted.
+
+Many of the miners found it desirable to employ the native Kafirs to
+work in the pits, since neither the scorching sun nor clouds of dust
+seemed to trouble them.
+
+The deeper the pits were sunk the greater the difficulty became in
+raising the blue-stuff. To add to the difficulties the rim wall of shale
+and basalt began to fall in, and the rain made the claims muddy and
+slippery or filled them with water. At a still greater depth water began
+to seep through the shale wall, and great masses of the rim occasionally
+fell in endangering life and almost precluding further mining unless
+concerted action were taken. So, in order to effect more economical
+methods of working, a consolidation of claims began to take place.
+
+At the Kimberley mine a double platform with staging was built around
+the pit, and a series of wires running from the different claims served
+as trackways on which buckets of the blue-stuff were drawn up by means
+of ropes and windlasses located on these platforms.
+
+When still greater depth had been reached and much of the rim wall had
+been precipitated into the pit and rain and seepage water had made the
+pits mud holes, two remarkable persons who were interested in the mines
+took a leading part in solving the difficulties. These persons were
+Cecil John Rhodes and Barnett Isaacs, better known as "Barney Barnato."
+Rhodes owned stock in the De Beers and Barnato in the Kimberley mine. At
+first they were sharp rivals in gaining control, but later they got
+together and consolidated interests.
+
+Cecil Rhodes was an English college student. He had lost his health and
+had come to South Africa at the invitation of his brother, who was
+interested in the diamond mines. Roughly dressed, his clothes covered
+with dust, this shy, pale student, week in and week out, might be seen
+looking after the Kafirs who worked his brother's claim.
+
+Barney Barnato, a young Hebrew of keen foresight, likewise had a brother
+in South Africa. The latter, who was engaged in diamond buying, urged
+Barney to come at once to this famous region, setting forth the
+wonderful opportunities offered for business. Barnato forthwith packed
+his few belongings and took the next steamer for Cape Town. He was only
+twenty years old and was bubbling over with good-natured energy; but he
+was quick to perceive and quick to act.
+
+Although he had but a few dollars with which to start in business, yet
+by indomitable energy and shrewd management he soon acquired sufficient
+money to buy a few small claims in the famous Kimberley mine. To these
+claims he constantly added others until he became one of the leading
+stockholders in the mine.
+
+When the rival mines began to undersell each other and diamonds were
+being sold for but little more than the cost of production, Rhodes
+conceived the plan of consolidating all the mines, thereby forming a
+monopoly to keep up the prices. By masterly skill he brought this
+about, purchasing some shares outright, and giving shares in the new
+company as payment for others. To make the purchases he negotiated a
+loan of several million dollars through the Rothschilds, the famous
+bankers of London.
+
+[Illustration: Open workings of the diamond mine, Kimberley]
+
+Thus, after many years of struggle through difficulties that were
+seemingly superhuman, the four great mines, the De Beers, Kimberley,
+Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein, were merged into one great corporation.
+Afterward some others were added, but all bear the name De Beers
+Consolidated Mines, Limited, a corporation which to-day controls the
+diamond market of the world. During the eleven years ending 1899 they
+yielded nearly six tons of diamonds.
+
+Both Rhodes and Barnato acquired immense wealth by their investments,
+but it is doubtful if either gained much happiness from his
+acquisitions. Poor Barnato! He had gained riches and stood among the
+foremost financiers of the world, but at how fearful a cost! His
+overtaxed brain began to give way, and on his way back to England he
+suddenly leaped overboard and was drowned.
+
+Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in enlarging British influence and
+territory in South Africa, and to him England owes a deep debt of
+gratitude. He died in 1902 leaving a portion of his immense fortune for
+scholarships in Oxford, England's great university. Rhodes earnestly
+advocated the building of a railroad from Cape Town to Cairo. Already
+this line has been constructed northward from Cape Town several hundred
+miles beyond Victoria Falls, directly below which it crosses the Zambezi
+River.
+
+Diamonds of various colors are found in the African mines--brown,
+yellow, pale blue, clear, and black. The black diamonds, called bort,
+are used mainly for arming diamond drills and for polishing other
+diamonds. Green, pink, and mauve diamonds are found occasionally.
+
+The De Beers mines have produced some notable stones. From the Premier
+mine a diamond weighing more than three thousand carats--one and
+thirty-seven hundredths pounds avoirdupois--was obtained. This stone,
+more than twice the size of any heretofore found and estimated to be
+worth five million dollars, was insured for two million five hundred
+thousand dollars. It was named the Cullinan, from one Tom Cullinan, who
+purchased the farm on which the Premier mine is located.
+
+Captain Wells, the manager of the Premier, one evening, after a burning
+hot day, when work had been suspended, strolled over to the mine, and,
+while partly walking and partly sliding down into the pit, noticed a
+gleam from a stone half-embedded in the earth. In a moment he had the
+stone in his hand and his practised eye told him this was the greatest
+diamond the world ever saw.
+
+At first the possession of it seemed more like a dream than a reality,
+and he began to doubt his own sanity. When held up to the blazing
+Southern Cross, it sparkled like the purest crystal, and he knew that
+its value must be reckoned in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
+
+He immediately took the priceless treasure to the company's office where
+it was critically examined. It was then sent for safe-keeping to the
+Standard Bank at Johannesburg, and afterward was forwarded to London.
+For some time it was deposited in a London bank, the name of which was
+kept secret for fear that its great value might tempt criminals. Two
+years after its discovery it was purchased by the Transvaal Government,
+at the suggestion of General Botha, and presented to King Edward VII as
+a crown jewel.
+
+The De Beers Company employs upward of eleven thousand African
+natives--Kafirs, they are called--working above and below ground. They
+come not only from the surrounding districts but from regions hundreds
+of miles away. All native laborers are kept in large walled enclosures,
+or compounds, which are covered with wire netting to prevent the
+laborers from throwing diamonds over the walls to confederates outside.
+Twelve such enclosures are owned by the De Beers Company, the largest of
+which occupies four acres and contains ample space for housing three
+thousand natives.
+
+On entering the service of the company each applicant must sign a
+contract to live in the compound and work faithfully at least three
+months. At the expiration of his contract he may leave or make another
+contract, as he wills.
+
+Constant vigilance is maintained in order to prevent stealing diamonds,
+and yet, notwithstanding this watchfulness, it is estimated that
+hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds are stolen each
+year.
+
+Everything necessary for the sustenance and comfort of the men is
+brought into the compounds, and no one is permitted to leave until the
+expiration of his contract except by permission of the overseer, which
+is seldom given. The men go out of the compounds to their work through
+tunnels and return the same way.
+
+Besides the native Kafirs already mentioned, about two thousand white
+laborers are employed, the greater number being engaged in the offices
+and workshops and on the depositing floors.
+
+Electric lights are used throughout the mines, and underground work is
+carried on both day and night by three shifts. Every known scientific
+device is pressed into service. In all of the deep mines the laborers
+are taken up and down the shafts in cages.
+
+The method of mining and working the diamond-bearing earth at present
+employed is far more economical than in former years. After the blue
+material has been brought up it is carried to the depositing floors
+where it is allowed to remain several months. In the meanwhile it is
+harrowed several times to break the lumps. The part that resists this
+treatment is carried to a mill to be crushed. The disintegrated and
+pulverized material is then carried to the washing machines.
+
+The coarser fragments of the concentrates from the washing machines are
+picked out by hand; the finer are sent to the pulsators. Each
+shaking-table of the pulsators is made of corrugated iron plates in
+several sections with a drop of about an inch from one division to
+another.
+
+A sufficient quantity of thick grease is spread over the plates to cover
+them to the top of the corrugations. The concentrates are continuously
+spread over the upper portion of the table automatically while running
+water washes them down.
+
+Strange as it may seem, the diamonds stick fast to the grease; the other
+material is washed away. It has been found by trial that grease will
+cling to the precious stones but to nothing else. After a few hours the
+grease with the diamonds is scraped off the tables and steamed in
+perforated vessels to separate them.
+
+[Illustration: Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mine]
+
+One of the De Beers mines has been worked to a depth of about two
+thousand feet with no diminution in the quantity or quality of the
+diamonds. The "pipe" or plug of blue-stuff shows no signs of giving out.
+Nature, in her underground laboratory, works in a mysterious way,
+baffling the astutest students of science to find the process by which
+she is able to manufacture such beautiful gems as the diamond. Many
+theories have been propounded to explain the genesis of the diamond, the
+most plausible one being that the crystallization of the carbon is due
+to a very high temperature and tremendous pressure acting on the carbon
+in a liquid form deep down beneath the earth's surface. The crystals,
+intermingled with much foreign matter, are afterward projected upward,
+filling these great volcanic pipes.
+
+In order to produce the most beautiful effect, diamonds are usually cut
+into one or another of three different forms, namely, rose, table, and
+brilliant, the shape and size of the stone determining which form is
+best. The double-cut brilliant is the most common form at the present
+day. The general form of rough, crystallized diamonds is that of two
+square pyramids joined at their bases. The crystals are oftenest found
+octahedral and dodecahedral--that is, eight and twelve sided, and the
+diamond-cutter takes advantage of these forms in shaping the diamond.
+
+The modern lapidary must have a perfect knowledge of optics and be a
+skilful stone-cutter. The numerous planes or faces which he cuts on the
+surface of the diamond are called facets. In the treatment three
+distinct processes are utilized--cleaving, cutting, and polishing. The
+lapidary must study the individual character of each stone and determine
+whether to cleave or grind off the superfluous matter so as to correct
+flaws and imperfections. All this calls for the judgment which comes
+only with long experience, for if the cutter errs he may ruin a
+priceless gem.
+
+The grinding and polishing are done by diamond dust mixed with oil
+spread on the upper surface of a grooved flat steel wheel revolving
+horizontally. The diamond, having been set in fusible solder, is firmly
+pressed against the surface of the wheel by a small projecting arm and
+clamp. When one facet has been finished, the diamond is removed from the
+solder and reset for grinding another facet. Thus the workman continues
+until the grinding and polishing are completed. Infinite patience and
+steadiness of nerve, as well as steadiness of hand, are required for
+such delicate and exact work. Sometimes two uncut stones are cemented
+into the ends of two sticks. Then the operator, using these sticks as
+handles, presses the stones against each other with a rubbing motion,
+the surface of the stones being coated over with diamond dust and oil to
+accelerate the process.
+
+The last cutting of the celebrated Kohinoor diamond cost forty thousand
+dollars. One may understand, therefore, that the expense of cutting a
+large diamond adds materially to its cost. The diamond-cutting industry
+is confined chiefly to Amsterdam, where the work employs several
+thousand persons, mostly Hebrews, the craft having been handed down from
+father to son through several generations. Much fine cutting is now done
+in New York also.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 4: The term pan is a name applied to a basin or pool in which
+water collects during the rainy season.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Fontein is a word of Dutch origin meaning fountain or
+spring. In this hot and semi-arid country a pan or fontein was a
+necessity to the Boer farmer, whose chief dependence was on his sheep
+and cattle. Hence he was wont to settle near where water could be easily
+obtained.]
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+OCEANIA
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC
+
+
+Not until four hundred years ago did the body of water now named the
+Pacific Ocean become known to the people of Europe.
+
+A vague knowledge of a sea that washed the eastern shores of Cathay, or
+China, was gained from the reports of the famous Venetian traveller,
+Marco Polo. After spending several years in the Orient, Polo returned
+home in 1295, giving such marvellous accounts of the countries visited
+and things seen that his stories were but half believed.
+
+In 1531, Balboa, a Spanish explorer stationed at Darien, now Colon,
+hearing rumors that a great ocean lay to the opposite side, determined
+to test the truth of the report. Taking with him about three hundred
+men, he laboriously worked his way through the jungles of the isthmus;
+and on reaching the top of the divide beheld for the first time the
+Pacific Ocean. He then hastened forward, and as he reached the shore he
+waded into the water and took possession of it in the name of his
+sovereign. He named it the South Sea.
+
+But the vast extent of this sheet of water did not become well known
+until fifty years later, when brave Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated
+the globe. Two and one-half centuries more elapsed before the memorable
+voyages and discoveries of Captain Cook disclosed the fact that the new
+ocean world was studded with countless islands, and that most of them
+were densely inhabited by savages.
+
+Just how or when all these islands became inhabited is not definitely
+known. Since the Polynesian languages in general are similar, it is
+conjectured that the inhabitants of the islands have a common origin and
+that many of the more northerly groups were peopled by emigrants from
+the south.
+
+In a general way the name Oceania is applied to all of the islands in
+the Pacific, but in a more limited sense only to those lying between the
+American continent and Australasia.
+
+The chief divisions of Oceania are Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia,
+and Polynesia. Australia, the largest body of land, is usually regarded
+as a continent. Nearly all the smaller islands are of coral or of
+volcanic origin; in many instances both agencies have contributed to
+their formation. The coral and volcanic islands seem to be the tops of
+mountain ranges that, little by little, have sunk, until only their
+higher summits are now above sea level.
+
+The central part of the Pacific Ocean is pre-eminently the home of the
+reef-building coral. Countless islands and reefs, wholly or partly built
+up by these tiny creatures, are found widely scattered over an immense
+area limited to one thousand eight hundred miles on each side of the
+equator. All these formations are composed of the compact limestone
+remains of coral polyps.
+
+These polyps have the power of extracting carbonate of lime from the
+sea-water and building it into massive formations which, for the most
+part, are nearly or completely submerged.
+
+The reef-building coral differs very materially in form and appearance
+from the precious or red coral; the former is confined to comparatively
+shallow water, while the latter is found most commonly at a depth of
+six hundred feet or more, and it occurs chiefly in the Mediterranean
+Sea. The common or reef-building coral has but little use except as a
+source of lime, and no intrinsic value except as an object of curiosity.
+
+Coral reefs may be arranged under three classes; namely, fringing reefs,
+barrier reefs, and atolls. The first class embraces the shallow-water
+reefs found close to land, either surrounding islands or skirting the
+shores of continents. The reefs of the second class likewise skirt
+islands or continents, but at such distances as to leave a deep channel
+between them and the shore. The third class are called atolls; each is
+irregularly ring-shaped and almost entirely encloses a sheet of water,
+called a lagoon.
+
+The ring-shaped reef, or atoll, is broken in one or more places,
+generally on the leeward side, and built up higher on the windward side.
+The reason for such omissions and buildings is obvious when we remember
+that the coral animal cannot move from its fixed position to seek food,
+but must depend upon the waves to bring it within reach. The water
+dashing up against the reef on the windward side brings an abundance of
+food, while the slight movement of the waves on the leeward side brings
+but little food.
+
+After many years the dead coral is broken off and piled up on the reef.
+In this condition it is cemented by the lime in the sea-water, thereby
+forming a nucleus for land. Then, perchance, a cocoanut drifts upon the
+formation and, finding sufficient nutriment, sends down a root and
+begins its growth. Other cocoanuts are drifted to the newly
+disintegrated coral soil until the tropical vegetation becomes capable
+of sustaining animal life. Or, perhaps, a portion of the ocean bed in
+that particular region is uplifted by the volcanic forces, thus greatly
+enlarging the land area. Attracted by the new land, people from near-by
+islands emigrate and take possession of the unoccupied area. Thus the
+upbuilding of islands and their occupancy goes on through the centuries.
+
+From the fact that these formations exist at a depth of several thousand
+feet, while coral polyps themselves can live only near the surface, it
+is thought that either the sea bottom must have been sinking for a long
+period of time or else that the cinder cones around which the reefs are
+built must have shrunk away until their tops are below sea level. At all
+events they seem to be due to volcanic movement.
+
+[Illustration: A Malay girl]
+
+Differences in environment produce marked differences on people in
+various parts of the continental world. Likewise, differences in the
+geological structure of the islands of the Pacific have produced a
+marked influence on the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific. Those
+living on large and mountainous islands, where the productions are
+varied and abundant, are greatly superior mentally and physically to
+those inhabiting the small low-lying coral islands.
+
+In the small islands, where there are few objects of interest and the
+circle of life is necessarily circumscribed and food and building
+material scanty, the inhabitants are dwarfed in intellect and their
+languages limited in vocabulary. The inhabitants of the extensive
+Paumoto group of islands give a striking example of the dreary monotony
+of life on small coral islands. Indeed, coral atolls are lacking in
+pretty nearly all the features that are necessary for a high degree of
+civilization; nature, therefore, reacts, with the result that the human
+life of this region is in a condition of savagery. Many of the natives
+are cannibals.
+
+The natives of Australia are a race that seems to be separate and
+distinct in itself. Wherever they are found their speech and customs are
+so nearly alike that little or no doubt of their common origin exists.
+They are so small in stature that by some scholars they are classed with
+pygmy peoples. They are repulsive in appearance in their native state,
+but when the children are trained by English families they become
+attractive. They are regarded as a very low type of intellect; yet at
+the missionary schools the children seem to learn about as quickly as do
+European children. The children learn to figure readily, but the older
+natives have no names for numbers greater than three or four.
+
+In New Guinea and the adjacent islands is found a race of black peoples
+usually called Negritos, or Negroids. They are black and, like the
+African negroes, have black, kinky hair. They are far superior to the
+native Australians. Many of the tribes are good farmers, and cultivate
+crops of sago, maize, and tobacco. On the coasts there are good
+boat-builders and sailors. The greater part of the Melanesian tribes is
+hostile and blood-thirsty; head-hunting is a common practice. In many
+tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo
+Indians of America.
+
+A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule
+the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization.
+They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the
+Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European
+possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no
+superiors.
+
+[Illustration: A Malay boy]
+
+Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the
+most interesting. In physical appearance they are tall, well-formed,
+dark of complexion, and black-haired. In the northern island
+groups--Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and others--which are colonized by
+European and American peoples, the natives have gradually acquired
+western civilization. The number of natives has decreased, however, and
+only about one-third of the population of fifty years ago remains
+to-day.
+
+The animal and vegetable life is peculiar. That of Australia resembles
+the life forms of a geological age long since past; that of the islands
+near tropical Asia is Asian in character. Now there are many large
+islands at a considerable distance from the continent in which many of
+the life forms on the slopes facing Australia are Australian, while on
+the northerly and westerly slopes they are Asian. One cannot be certain,
+however, that these islands were ever a part of the Australian
+continent, or that they were ever joined to Asia. On the contrary it is
+more probable that the life in question was carried by winds and
+currents of the sea.
+
+The life forms of the coral atolls are very few in number. So far as
+vegetation is concerned, the cocoa-palm and breadfruit are about the
+only kinds of plant life of importance. A few species of fish and
+migratory birds are the only animals that may be used as food.
+
+The names given to the various divisions of Oceania are more or less
+fanciful. Australasia means Southern Asia; Malaysia, Malayan Asia;
+Melanesia, the islands of the blacks; Micronesia, small islands; and
+Polynesia, many islands.
+
+During the latter half of the nineteenth century practically all of
+Oceania has been divided among European powers. Australia, Tasmania, and
+New Zealand are peopled by colonists from England; but they possess the
+character of a great nation rather than that of colonies. A few of the
+larger islands have become producers of sugar, cotton, and fruit. The
+long distance from the markets for their products is offset by the low
+cost of native labor. The coral islands are almost valueless for
+commercial products; but a few of them are used as coaling stations,
+telegraphic cable stations, or as positions of naval advantage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+AUSTRALIA
+
+
+Early in the sixteenth century the island of Australia became known to
+the Portuguese; later the Dutch, who had valuable possessions in the
+East Indies, sent exploring expeditions to spy out the new land, and
+named it New Holland. But not until after Captain Cook, of the English
+navy, had explored the eastern part did any one think the country to be
+more than a barren waste sparsely inhabited by savages. Indeed, various
+European nations who were even then seeking lands for colonization
+thought it too worthless to claim.
+
+In April, 1770, Captain Cook made his first landing on the east coast
+and, finding at one place a profusion of beautiful flowers, named the
+indentation Botany Bay. He spent a considerable time in exploring the
+eastern coast and also the Great Barrier Reef. In going through one of
+the passages across the Barrier Reef his vessel ran aground, and in
+order to lighten it he was obliged to throw overboard six of his
+heaviest cannon. In late years efforts have been made to secure these
+cannon as souvenirs, but the search for them has proved unavailing. One
+may easily imagine that they have been long since entombed in thick
+growths of coral.
+
+On his return home, Cook gave such a glowing account of the great island
+that the English Government forthwith sent out a body of soldiers to
+take possession of the country and to make settlements. Because it is
+well watered, the southeastern part was selected as best adapted for
+colonization. For a long time this part of Australia was utilized
+chiefly as a penal colony, but the fruitful land and salubrious climate
+quickly attracted free emigrants from England. Then gold was discovered,
+and thousands of people rushed to the new Eldorado, not only from Great
+Britain but from all parts of the world. Almost in a twinkling it
+changed from "our remotest colony" to a great country producing annually
+millions of wealth.
+
+So far as its surface features are concerned, one may regard Australia
+as a continent not quite so large as the United States. The eastern part
+is diversified by low ranges of mountains fantastically scored and
+carved by rivers which are swift and impassable torrents during the
+season of rains, and trickling streams, or dry washes, the rest of the
+year. This is the region that has produced a wealth of gold and wool and
+a stock of hardy people that for intelligence and strength of character
+can scarcely be matched elsewhere.
+
+The central part of the continent is a dish-shaped table-land. Its
+surface is sandy here, stony there, but intensely hot and desolate
+everywhere--desolate of everything that adds to the comfort of man, but
+full of about everything that contributes to his misery. The "bush"
+which covers so much of this region is chiefly acacia, and the acacia is
+chiefly thorns. The rivers that flow into the interior from the coast
+highlands seem at first sight to be formidable streams so far as
+appearance goes. One, the Murray, is more than a thousand miles in
+length. But even the Murray will match the description which an English
+traveller gave to Platte River--"A mile wide, an inch deep, and bottom
+on top!"
+
+The few lakes of the interior are great "sinks," or marshes, much like
+Humboldt Sink, in Nevada. They are shallow, reed-grown, and briny, and
+they are bordered by mud flats and quicksands between which there is
+little to choose. An unfortunate victim will sink in the one quite as
+quickly as in the other. But even the lakes are gradually going the way
+of all lakes. In this case, however, their disappearance is due largely
+to the dust storms that little by little are burying them.
+
+Only a very small part of the central region can be reclaimed; for where
+there is so little rain there can be but little either of surface or of
+ground waters. During the intensely hot summer season the smaller
+streams disappear entirely and the larger ones become a succession of
+stagnant pools along the dry washes.
+
+[Illustration: A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumference]
+
+The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greater extent of
+coast, is far richer in resources than the central section. It contains
+not only a greater proportion of land fit for grazing and cultivation,
+but also very rich mines. Perhaps these have not a greater wealth of
+minerals than the mines of the central section, but they are so situated
+that they can be more easily worked.
+
+The great island of Tasmania ought also to be included in the Australian
+continent; for it is separated from it by a narrow and not very deep
+strait. In its general features Tasmania resembles eastern Australia;
+and, indeed, it is one of the most productive and delightful parts of
+the world.
+
+Of the whole Australian continent scarcely one part in fourteen is fit
+for human habitation, not because the soil is lacking in elements of
+fertility but because there is not enough rainfall. As a matter of fact,
+the rain-bearing winds bring rain only to the eastern and southeastern
+part of the continent. Any map will show that nearly all the cities,
+towns, herding-grounds, and settlements are in that part of the
+continent, and they are there because the rainfall is there.
+
+The rest of Australia is like the Sahara in one respect; it is a desert.
+Beyond that fact the resemblance between the two ceases; indeed, they
+could scarcely be more unlike; for, while the Sahara is much like any
+other desert, Australia is unlike any other part of the world.
+
+Not very much is known about the interior because but few explorers have
+been able to penetrate the continent. Many have tried to explore its
+fastnesses, it is true, and many bones are bleaching in its furnace-like
+desert. Even a century after the eastern part had become dotted with
+settlements the interior was so little known that the government of
+South Australia offered a reward of ten thousand pounds to any one who
+would start from Adelaide and cross the island due north. Now, ten
+thousand pounds, or fifty thousand dollars, is a large sum of money,
+and there were many efforts to obtain it.
+
+In 1860 an explorer named Stuart, whose name is remembered in a high
+peak which he discovered, traversed more than half the distance. It was
+a record trip, but illness forced Stuart to turn back. Another
+expedition, headed by four plucky men, Burke, Wills, Grery, and King,
+were more lucky on their outward trip. They reached tide-water near the
+head of the Gulf of Carpenteria, thereby accomplishing the task. The
+return trip was tragic. When they had reached the relief depot at which
+they had planned to have supplies awaiting them, they found nothing.
+They wandered about until all but King died from exposure and
+starvation. A year or two later Stuart made a third attempt and found
+what is now an "overland route," for a telegraph line has been built
+along it from Adelaide to the north coast, and this connects with an
+ocean cable to London.
+
+[Illustration: A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket]
+
+The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of its most remarkable
+features. Both plants and animals are of the kind that lived many ages
+ago. One of the curiosities of forest life is the "gum," or eucalyptus,
+a belt of which almost surrounds the continent. In its native home the
+blue gum is a most beautiful tree that sometimes grows to a height of
+three hundred feet. When the tree begins its growth the stem is nearly
+square in shape and the leaves are almost circular. After a short time,
+however, the branches and trunk become circular and the leaves long and
+lance-shaped. They hang with their edges instead of their flat surfaces
+to the light, which also is true of many other Australian trees. The
+eucalyptus sheds--not its leaves every year, but its bark instead.
+
+Many plants which in other continents are small shrubs in Australia are
+trees. The tulip, the fern, the honeysuckle, and the lily are examples.
+They all grow in tree form and are of considerable size. There is no
+turf grass except that which is cultivated. The wild grasses are of the
+"bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that
+they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine grass, bears a name that
+does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a
+growth of thorny "scrub" that has made cultivation both difficult and
+costly. The interior is the "bush" region.
+
+The animal life of the continent is even more singular than the plant
+life. Most of the animals resemble the opossum of North American fauna
+in one respect, the mother carries her young in a pouch or fold of the
+skin under her body. But the opossum itself is not confined to North
+America alone; there are several species in Australia and Tasmania. The
+kangaroos are among the most remarkable animals, not only because of the
+great length and strength of their hind legs, but also because of the
+variety in the sizes of the different species. Some of the smaller
+species are no larger than a small rat; the large-sized species are six
+feet tall when sitting on their haunches.
+
+There are no monkeys and no animals that chew the cud, but there is a
+wonderful variety of birds. Among them is the emeu, a kind of ostrich
+that practically is wingless. Another, the platypus, or duck-bill, has
+the bill and webbed feet of a duck and the body and tail of a beaver.
+Stranger still, the female duck-bill lays eggs, but nurses her young
+after the eggs are hatched! The duck-bill carries a hinged spur on the
+hind legs, which also is a sting that injects a violent poison into
+whatever it strikes. Ordinarily the spur is folded against the leg of
+the animal, but when used as a weapon it stands out like the gaff of a
+fighting cock. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the
+honey-bee of Australia has none.
+
+[Illustration: An Australian emeu]
+
+The dingo, or wild dog, may not be an especially interesting animal to
+the student of natural history, but it is a very interesting one to the
+herdsman. For of all animals in Australia the dingo is the most
+intolerable nuisance on account of its fondness for mutton. Hunting the
+coyote on the plains of the United States is a pastime, but hunting the
+Australian dingo is a serious and monotonous business. Indeed, the sheep
+and the dingo cannot both remain in Australia unless the former has been
+eaten by the latter. In a single night a dingo will kill a score of
+sheep, and a pack of them will make way with several hundred. In one
+instance two of these pests killed and maimed more than four hundred
+sheep before retribution overtook them.
+
+In addition to the troubles of native origin, three very serious pests
+have been imported. One of these, the species of cactus known as the
+prickly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just
+how the prickly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter
+of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant
+produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred
+seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast.
+Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds,
+especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders
+fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great
+interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it
+is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat
+where other plants wither up and perish.
+
+In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz.,
+burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first
+method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs
+together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces
+they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up
+high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the
+platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits,
+filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt.
+Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves
+with arsenic or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants
+have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which
+distributes the deadly substance.
+
+Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to
+have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs.
+When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and
+mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short
+time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but
+ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.
+
+Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had
+spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their
+serious inroads on herbage and grass where the sheep fed. At this stage
+of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers.
+Laws were passed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits.
+Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly
+increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the
+mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.
+
+But the rabbits seemed to have increased a thousand-fold. In despair,
+rabbit commissioners were appointed in each colony to enforce the
+building of high rabbit-proof wire fences, and now thousands of miles of
+wire fences have been built so as to enclose ranges and farms. By means
+of the fences and by the use of various methods of destroying the pests,
+they are now kept in check after causing millions of dollars of damage,
+and at an enormous annual expense to the colonists. In the meantime it
+was discovered that the flesh of the rabbit was excellent food, and the
+slaughter of millions to be preserved has been a noticeable check to
+their increase.
+
+Unlike the American Indians, the aboriginal peoples of Australia were
+never troublesome to the European settlers, and although apt to be
+thievish they were not inclined to warlike acts when the European
+settlements were new. The "bushrangers," as they are called, somewhat
+resemble the negro peoples, and are thought to be a part of the black
+race that is found in the island near New Guinea. They are classed as
+Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the
+African pygmies, with whom at least one authority classes them. They are
+materially larger and taller than the pygmies, however, though below the
+average stature of Europeans. At all events they are among the lowest
+type of human beings.
+
+The bushrangers have no fixed habitation; they do not build houses nor
+live in villages; they have no domestic animals except the dingo, and
+they do not cultivate the soil. They live nominally by hunting and
+fishing, but their food consists of about anything that requires no
+weapons beyond the fish-net and the boomerang. They rarely molest larger
+game, though some of the tribes employ a net in which to entrap the
+kangaroo.
+
+Of all the weapons used by savage tribes the boomerang is the most
+interesting. In shape it is a flat strip of hardwood having an angle, or
+else slightly curved in the middle. The interesting feature about it is
+the fact that when skilfully thrown it will return to the thrower unless
+intercepted. A bushranger may be skilful enough to throw the boomerang
+ahead of him so that in its return it will kill a small animal back of
+him.
+
+The bushrangers were only too ready to adopt the vices of Europeans, but
+they have not been able to withstand the changes wrought by
+civilization. Their numbers have steadily diminished. In 1880 they were
+thought to be about eighty thousand in number, but at the close of the
+century there were scarcely one-fourth as many. Those who remain are for
+the greater part herdsmen and farm laborers.
+
+[Illustration: Homestead and station in Young district, Australia]
+
+One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the
+habitable part of the continent is the foremost asset of Australia.
+Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates
+activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpassed elsewhere in the
+world. And because of its life-growing and invigorating character it has
+placed the Australian high in the rank of the world's foremost people.
+
+Climate and soil, too, have made Australia one of the foremost
+wool-producing countries of the world. Not far from one hundred million
+dollars' worth of wool and mutton are exported yearly, and much of the
+wool clip is a fine grade of merino. Gold is another product of
+Australia. At the close of the century the mines had produced a total of
+more than one billion dollars' worth of the metal. In round figures, the
+great Thirst Land, with a population of about four millions, scattered
+along the edge of a great desert continent, produces enough wealth to
+sell yearly about three hundred millions of dollars' worth of its
+products!
+
+The foregoing picture of Australia presents, perhaps, the unpleasant
+side of Australian life. But this great Thirst Land, so far from being
+an inhospitable desert, is one of the world's greatest storehouses of
+wealth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
+
+
+Within the tropical parts of the great South Sea are submarine gardens
+that in the beauty of their floral forms and their richness of coloring
+rival the most elaborate flowerbeds made by man; in color and variety
+they are fairy regions of exquisite living animal flowers. One of the
+greatest and most attractive of these sea gardens lies off the coast of
+Australia.
+
+Of all the wonderful animal structures in the world the Great Barrier
+Reef of Australia is the most remarkable. It consists of a chain of
+coral islands and reefs parallel to the east coast of Queensland. This
+great reef is about twelve hundred miles long, and the distance from the
+mainland to its outer border is from ten to more than one hundred miles.
+It is far enough off the coast to leave a wide channel between the reef
+and the shore.
+
+Since it is well charted this channel is the route taken by many
+vessels. It is admirably furnished with lighthouses and light-ships, and
+is protected from the huge rolling billows of the ocean by the reef
+itself. There are several breaks in the reef through which vessels can
+pass out into the open ocean.
+
+This mighty barrier, the work of coral polyps, is of special interest
+not only on account of the curious shapes and varied kinds of sea life
+it presents, but because of the commercial value of its products. The
+beche-de-mer, pearl, oyster, and sponge fisheries yield an annual
+revenue of upward of half a million dollars, and when all of the
+resources of the reef are properly exploited the returns will be more
+than doubled.
+
+The habitat of the reef-building coral is in clear tropical waters. The
+polyps thrive best near the surface; they cannot live at a depth
+exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet. The reef-building coral must
+not be confounded with the precious, or red, coral, which flourishes in
+a muddy sea-bottom and is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea.
+
+When alive and in the water, coral polyps present a variety of beautiful
+forms and colors. Living polyps are composed of limestone skeletons
+covering and permeating a soft gelatinous substance which corresponds to
+the flesh of animals. When the polyps are removed from the water this
+soon decomposes and disappears; in certain species a part of it flows
+off as a thick liquid.
+
+Fish fantastically striped and of brilliantly variegated colors are seen
+swimming among the coral. In tropical waters many of them have
+fascinating colors and patterns. By simulating the colors of the coral
+polyps they escape the species that prey upon them.
+
+The different kinds of coral are generally designated by common names
+according to the different objects which they resemble. Thus, by
+similarity of form we have _brain_ coral, _organ-pipe_ coral, _mushroom_
+coral, _staghorn_ coral, etc.
+
+Some of the islands and reefs are the homes of sea fowl and at the
+nesting season are literally covered with their eggs. These fishers of
+the sea have marvellously well-developed faculties for location, since
+each bird goes directly to her nest when returning to the islands. As
+night approaches, when all the birds seek the land, their wild cries are
+deafening.
+
+Some of the islands are turned to profitable account by the export of
+guano. On Raine Island, so extensive are the deposits of guano that a
+railroad has been built to facilitate handling the product.
+
+Beche-de-mer, or trepang, is a name applied to the flesh of certain sea
+slugs or sea worms found in the Indian seas. Of this substance great
+quantities are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge
+cucumbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cucumbers." They
+are found clinging to the rocks below low-water mark, and are from one
+to four feet in length. Their food consists of microscopic shell-fish
+which live upon the coral rocks.
+
+[Illustration: The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable
+animal structure in the world]
+
+The trepang exported from this section requires considerable care in
+preparation. After being gathered from the rocks they are cleaned,
+boiled, and partly dried in the air; then they are smoked with mangrove
+wood until dry and hard. The best class of trepang is packed in tin
+cases to keep it perfectly dry, as moisture ruins it. The product is
+marketed chiefly at Hongkong, where it is used in making the gelatinous
+soups for which the Chinese are so famous.
+
+The pearl-shell fisheries yield products of considerable value. The
+average depth from which the mother-of-pearl shell is gathered is seven
+or eight fathoms. Twenty fathoms represents the greatest depth in which
+divers, even in their diving suits, can work, so great is the pressure
+of the water upon them.
+
+The fishery is carried on chiefly for securing the shells, the finding
+of pearls being of secondary importance, since only about one shell in a
+thousand contains a pearl of much value. The shells themselves bring in
+the market from three hundred to eight hundred dollars per ton according
+to quality and size, and are used chiefly for making buttons and small
+ornaments.
+
+The Cairn Cross Islands, a little coral group midway between Cape
+Grenville and Cape York, are especially interesting as the home and
+nesting-place of the Torres Strait pigeons. These large white pigeons
+are highly esteemed for the table. They gather at the islands during the
+month of October and remain until the end of March. The nests are
+usually built in the forked branches of the mangrove trees that form
+extensive thickets along the coast. Each nest contains two white eggs.
+
+The Australian jungle-fowl or scrub-hen also frequents these islands as
+well as the mainland. The nests of these birds are large and unique.
+They consist of huge mounds of dead leaves, grass, sticks, and soft
+earth piled together by the adult birds in shaded and sequestered
+places. The mounds are about twenty feet in diameter and from ten to
+fifteen feet high. Several pairs of birds generally unite in their
+construction.
+
+When the mounds are completed the birds burrow holes in the centre and
+deposit their eggs, which are left to be hatched by the moist heat
+engendered by the decaying vegetation. Forty or fifty brick-red colored
+eggs as large as those of a turkey are sometimes found in a single nest.
+Both the eggs and the parent birds are excellent eating.
+
+The Australian bee-eater, a bird of attractive plumage, is found all
+over the northern islets of the Barrier Reef. It has a long, sharp
+curved bill and two long, narrow feathers in its tail. Its beautiful
+green plumage, varied with rich brown and black, and vivid blue on the
+throat, makes it an attractive bird.
+
+The sea-anemones of the Great Barrier Reef are remarkable for both
+beauty of color and structure; some of them measure four or five inches
+across the expanded disk. In Torres Strait are seen brilliant
+sea-anemones around the border of whose disks are jewel-like clusters.
+These beautiful sea animals present the appearance of delicately tinted
+flowers adorned with the most exquisite gems.
+
+Starfish and sea-urchins of all descriptions are found in immense
+numbers. The five-rayed varieties of starfish are universally condemned
+as insatiable foes of the oyster family, and the oyster cultivators
+destroy all they can find. To dismember the body of the starfish by
+pulling off the finger-like rays does not kill the animal, for not only
+does each fish produce new rays but each ray will produce a new
+starfish. The predatory starfish fastens itself to both valves of the
+oyster, forces them open, and consumes the fleshy part. It is
+destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles,
+snails, worms, and small crustacea as well.
+
+The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the
+bivalves the most remarkable for the size and weight of the shells are
+the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that
+their shells have been burned to make lime. A pair of tridachna valves
+often weighs several hundred pounds.
+
+To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special
+attraction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA
+
+
+The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind
+visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very
+similar. January 24, 1848, was the red-letter day in California's
+history, and the news that transpired that day electrified the world.
+While constructing a saw-mill at Coloma Creek, a branch of the American
+River, John Marshall picked up a handful of gold nuggets in the
+mill-race. At once the gold fever seized all far and near. During the
+ensuing year fifty thousand persons came by sea and by land from the
+States east of the Rocky Mountains, and forty thousand more from other
+parts of the world; all bent upon digging for gold in the new El Dorado.
+
+From far-off Australia came vessels crowded with passengers. Among these
+was Edward H. Hargraves, who had lived for twenty years in New South
+Wales, where fortune had not smiled on him. Hargraves was a keen
+observer and something of a geologist as well. He diligently scoured the
+gullies and canyons in the gold regions of California, and when he quit
+he possessed a good sum of money as a return for his labor. During his
+stay in California he became convinced that gold existed in Australia,
+since many of the formations and strata were similar to those of the
+gold-bearing fields of California.
+
+After working for nearly two years, he planned to return to his old
+home, implicitly believing that he could win riches and fame by
+discoveries of the precious metal in New South Wales; and as soon as he
+had landed at Sydney he made ready to test his theories. When he
+explained to his friends what he purposed to do and his reasons they
+considered him half crazy. Moreover, rumors that convict shepherds had
+sold gold nuggets to traders in Sydney strengthened his belief that gold
+in paying quantities could be obtained by seeking for it. There were
+rumors also that a gold nugget had been picked up on Fish River.
+
+Procuring a team he set forth on his journey for the Blue Mountains
+lying back of Sydney. On the fourth day out, stopping at an inn kept by
+a widow, he confided to her his mission and enlisted her co-operation.
+He requested a black boy for a guide; but instead she sent her son, who
+was well acquainted with every inch of the region for miles around.
+
+Taking horses, Hargraves and the young man started out from the inn. It
+was a crisp autumn morning succeeding a dry summer. A careful search was
+made up and down canyons and gulches. At length, during the latter part
+of the day, they reached the bank of a dry creek which disclosed strata
+similar to the auriferous gravels of California.
+
+Looking about, Hargraves found a spot in the bed of the creek from
+which, after scooping off the top, he scraped from the bedrock a panful
+of earth. Hastening to the water hole with the loaded pan, he proceeded
+to wash away the soil and lo, in the bottom of the pan were
+bright-yellow particles!
+
+"I shall be made a baronet and both of us will be rich," exclaimed the
+excited Hargraves. He seemed to be walking upon air and could scarcely
+believe his own senses. Nevertheless, he prudently kept his own counsel
+until he had taken out sixty thousand dollars. Then he hastened to
+Sydney to lay the matter before the government. The government gave him
+a reward of fifty thousand dollars for his discoveries and made him
+commissioner of the gold fields.
+
+Hargraves's unexpected find stimulated other persons to search elsewhere
+for the attractive metal, and soon other and far richer fields were
+found. From one locality alone seven tons of gold were obtained in a
+single month.
+
+The whole country now went gold mad. Doctors left their patients,
+lawyers their offices, bakers and butchers their shops, clerks the
+stores, and sailors deserted their ships as soon as they touched the
+wharves--everybody hastened to the diggings eager to get rich.
+
+When confirmation of the wonderful gold deposits in Australia reached
+the outside world, a grand rush, like that to California, took place.
+New towns and cities sprang up as by magic, and from the increase of
+business the older places rapidly became more populous. Since the time
+of Hargraves's discovery, Victoria has produced the most gold, some of
+the largest nuggets in the world having been found in this colony.
+
+The following story of the gold fields is related in Lang's "Australia":
+While the ship _Dudbrook_ was docked at Sydney, where she was receiving
+her cargo, a sailor boy named Bob heard of the great quantities of gold
+that had been dug out of the mountains. He longed to try his luck at
+mining, but hardly knew how he could get away from the ship without
+being caught.
+
+In the meantime, while the ship was receiving her cargo, all the old
+crew except Bob had deserted. He hesitated about leaving and seemed to
+find no good opportunity to escape unnoticed. The day of departure
+arrived. The sails were being shaken out by the new crew, which had been
+pressed into service. The little tug that was to tow the big ship out
+of the harbor was beginning to straighten the cable and churn the water
+into foam, but the hawser still held the vessel fast to the wharf. The
+captain shouted "Bob, Bob, get ashore and cast off the hawser."
+
+Bob now saw the long-waited-for opportunity and with alacrity sprang to
+the wharf, but not to release the hawser. He ran along, hidden by the
+jetty, until he reached the shore and then dodged into a house where he
+had friends. The skipper could not stop to hunt up the runaway, so the
+vessel was towed out through the Heads and sailed for Newcastle to pick
+up a cargo for India.
+
+The next day Bob started on foot for the mines and, while on his way,
+picked up one of his old shipmates with whom he formed a partnership. On
+arriving at the diggings, the two staked out a claim and began sinking a
+shaft; but after reaching the bottom no metal greeted their longing
+eyes. Another shaft was sunk and this time they struck it rich.
+
+Within two months each had saved up one hundred twenty pounds of gold.
+Like some of his companions, Bob now concluded to take a short rest and
+go to Sydney for a few days of pleasure. Therefore he changed his gold
+into pound notes, and, stuffing the big rolls into his trousers'
+pockets, started for the city.
+
+Being of an economical turn of mind, he concluded to walk, and taking an
+early start, by the middle of the afternoon he had measured off
+twenty-five miles. The day was hot and the roads dusty; and seeing a
+shady nook, near a creek not far from the roadside, he betook himself
+thither and sat down to wait for a bullock wagon which he had passed two
+hours before. The water in the stream looked cool and inviting, so he
+undressed to take a swim.
+
+In taking off his clothes he pulled out of his pockets the two bundles
+of pound notes and laid them beside his boots. After being in the water
+for some time, he came out; and looking where he had laid the notes,
+could see them nowhere. Who could have taken them? He saw no one around
+when he undressed, and he had seen no one about while he was bathing.
+Possibly the thief was hiding behind some of the trees near by. Without
+waiting to dress, he searched here and there behind trees and logs, but
+there was no sign of the thief.
+
+He was greatly disheartened at his loss, but, putting on his clothes, he
+came across a ten-pound note which he had concealed in a side pocket.
+This find cheered him up and he resolved to go down to the city
+notwithstanding his loss. The bullock team soon came along and Bob told
+the driver what had happened. They both searched the ground over to
+solve the disappearance of the money, but in vain.
+
+When Bob reached Sydney, like other sailors, he visited several barrooms
+where he told the story of his strange loss. In one of the places, in a
+corner, sat an old Scotch crone, smoking her pipe and quietly listening
+to the conversation. At midnight when Bob was about to leave, the old
+woman said, "What will ye gie me if I find yer money for ye?"
+
+"What will I give ye, mother?" cried Bob. "Why, I'll give ye a silk
+dress and a ten-pound note."
+
+"It's a bargain!" she cried; and then she told him what to do.
+
+He was to be ready at four the next morning with a horse and trap which
+he could obtain from the landlord. If he would take along an axe, a roll
+of string, and a newspaper, she would find his money for him, she said.
+
+Though much in doubt about the power of such articles to find his money,
+Bob did as old Maggie had directed, and sharply at four in the morning
+the two started back to his bathing place. It took but a short time to
+drive back ten miles to the creek and the hollow log on which Bob sat
+when he pulled off his boots.
+
+"Now, show me the place where ye put the money down," said Maggie.
+
+After carefully looking around she seemed to be satisfied with the
+conditions.
+
+"Now, gie me the paper and the twine," she said. Taking a portion of the
+paper and tying it with a long piece of twine she laid it down just
+where the notes had been placed. Then Maggie said, "Let us seek a shady
+place a short distance away and I'll play ye at cribbage." Bob took
+little stock in these seemingly foolish arrangements; nevertheless he
+determined to be game to the end.
+
+She led the way to a cool place on the creek bank a hundred yards
+distant where they sat down. She then drew out of her pocket a dirty
+pack of cards and a bar of soap punched with holes to be used as a
+cribbage board.
+
+Two games were leisurely played, both of which Maggie won. "Now," said
+she, "Come wi' me." She hobbled back to where the paper tied with a
+string had been left. No paper was in sight, but hanging out of the
+hollow log where Bob had removed his boots was the end of the string.
+Maggie chuckled, and pointing to the log, cried, "Now rip it up wi' the
+axe."
+
+Bob set to work with a will and soon had a big hole chopped out of the
+hollow log, and behold! there were the bank-notes and the newspaper,
+forming a cozy nest for some little speckled native cats calling for
+their breakfast, while farther in were seen two bright balls of fire,
+the mother cat's eyes. The mother cat had run off with Bob's money to
+make a nest for her young ones.
+
+Maggie accepted the ten-pound note but refused the silk dress, telling
+the lad that she had no use for such finery.
+
+Soon after the English settled in Australia they introduced merino
+sheep, and during the last quarter of a century the breed has been
+constantly improved.
+
+It is estimated that now there are not less than seventy-five million
+sheep in Australia. The two great drawbacks to this thriving industry
+are drought and disease. Some years, owing to the scanty rainfall,
+millions of sheep have starved for lack of food.
+
+Two seasons prevail, the dry and the rainy, the climatic conditions
+being similar to those of California.
+
+The eastern section of this continental island is the only part that is
+adapted both to grazing and to agriculture. New South Wales outranks all
+the other Australian colonies in sheep raising, and Queensland in cattle
+raising.
+
+Almost the entire eastern shore section is well adapted to the
+production of lemons, oranges, and figs, while in the southeastern part
+all kinds of temperate-zone fruits flourish. The production of wheat
+also deserves important attention.
+
+The development of cold-storage transportation has given a great impetus
+to the exportation of frozen mutton and beef to England.
+
+Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, situated on Port Philip Bay, near
+the mouth of the Yarra River, is the largest city of Australia and
+contains nearly half a million people. It is built chiefly upon two
+hills and the intervening valley. The streets are broad and cross each
+other at right angles. Many of the squares are devoted to public parks
+and gardens. There are splendid public and private buildings, including
+an excellent library and an art gallery, both of which are free to all.
+Although less than sixty years old, this young city will compare
+favorably in regard to its buildings and general management with the
+largest cities in both Europe and America.
+
+The oldest city in Australia, Sydney, is the capital of New South Wales
+and has a population of four hundred thousand. It is situated on Port
+Jackson and is said to have the finest harbor in the world. This is a
+completely landlocked sheet of deep water which can be entered only
+through a narrow passage, thus affording protection to the shipping,
+even during the most violent storms, and so large that it could
+accommodate all of the fleets that sail the ocean and have room to
+spare.
+
+[Illustration: Melbourne is the largest city of Australia and contains
+nearly half a million people]
+
+Of Australia's thirteen thousand miles of railways all but five hundred
+miles belong to the colonial government, and are administered in the
+interests of the people. So low are the freight and passenger rates that
+often a tax has to be levied to meet the deficits. More than half of the
+public debt is due to government ownership of the railroads.
+
+Among other prominent places may be mentioned Brisbane, the capital of
+Queensland; Adelaide, the capital of South Australia; and Perth, the
+capital of Western Australia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+TASMANIA
+
+
+In 1642 a Dutch navigator named Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered the
+island which now bears his name. Tasman did not know that he had
+discovered an island, but thought that he had discovered a part of the
+mainland of Australia; so he named it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of his
+patron, Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+Tasmania was once one vast plateau, but in time nature worked away on
+its broad surface; mountains and valleys were chiselled in its face,
+making it a picturesque and diversified island. It is well watered;
+streams abound in every part, and many large lakes are found in the
+interior. The Derwent in the south is the largest river, and vessels may
+go almost to the head of its estuary.
+
+On account of its beautiful mountain scenery, Tasmania is called the
+Switzerland of Australia. Deep winding valleys, clothed with groves of
+ferns, give added charm to its scenery. In recent years it has become a
+famous summer resort for Australians, many of whom pass a portion of the
+hot season in its wonderful forest solitudes and secluded fern-tree
+vales.
+
+No attempt to colonize Tasmania was made until 1803. In that year four
+hundred convicts were brought there and the vessel containing the
+prisoners sailed up Derwent River and landed them where the city of
+Hobart now stands.
+
+When the convicts landed, they found a very dark-skinned race of natives
+in possession of the land. The natives were low of stature, with ugly
+broad faces, flat noses, and frizzly hair. Their habits were repulsive,
+but they were inoffensive. They lived chiefly on shell-fish and what
+they could obtain from the sea. Occasionally they hunted the kangaroo,
+and unfortunately a kangaroo hunt led to their undoing.
+
+One morning a newly-arrived commander of the convict colony saw a large
+number of natives making toward the camp. He did not know their customs
+and mistook a chase after a kangaroo for an attack on the camp. So he
+ordered the soldiers to fire on the crowd, and, as a result, fifty or
+more were killed.
+
+This was bad enough, but worse was to come; for escaped convicts began
+to rob and murder the natives whenever they could do so. So in time
+there began a bush warfare that almost exterminated the poor natives.
+Finally, the remnant, about two hundred, were put on a transport and
+carried to Flinder Island, where they gradually decreased in number. The
+last native died in 1874.
+
+In 1853, the English government ceased to send convicts to the island,
+and within a few years afterward the blackest plague spot in the world
+became one of the most beautiful colonies on the face of the earth.
+
+Tasmania is far enough south of the tropics to have a much greater
+rainfall than most of Australia, but it is not far enough to have a cold
+climate. The generous rainfall covers the whole surface with green.
+There are forests of eucalyptus, or "gum tree," tree ferns, beech, and
+acacia--just about the same kinds that one finds in Australia.
+
+The animals, too, are much the same as in Australia, and some species of
+them are pouched, like the opossum. Many of them are now rarely to be
+found near the settlements, but one kind is pretty certain to be found
+at all times and seasons--the Tasmanian devil. This ugly beast is a
+terror to any neighborhood. An English hunter described it by saying
+that it was more bear than wildcat, and more wildcat than bear--and
+bear-cat it is frequently called. The tiger-wolf is another pest that
+makes great havoc among herds and flocks. Still another pest, also
+called "devil," has bands of black and white on its neck and shoulders,
+a thick heavy tail, and a bulldog mouth. It is a cowardly little night
+prowler with a fondness for young lambs.
+
+As was the case in Australia, the success of sheep-growing and the
+finding of rich gold-mines put an end to the convict colony. Even before
+the mines became profitable the ranchmen were trying to stop the sending
+of convicts to the island; but when the gold fields were found, it was
+stopped in short order.
+
+Very shortly gold-mining became the leading industry. Then tin ore was
+found at Mount Bischoff. Tasmania now produces more tin than all the
+rest of Australasia. In addition to the tin and precious metals, there
+are great beds of excellent coal--enough for all the smelteries and
+manufactories in the island.
+
+Next to the mines the sheep and cattle ranches bring the chief profits
+to Tasmania. But another industry is growing and bids fair to become
+more profitable than either mining or cattle-growing. The fruit of
+Tasmania is of the very finest quality. Moreover, when the fruit is
+ripening in an Australasian spring and summer, all England is shivering
+in midwinter storms. What better business could there be than to ship
+apples and pears fresh from the Tasmanian orchards? Those same apples
+can be shipped half-way round the world and sold in England for a lower
+price than the apples shipped from Buffalo to New York City!
+
+Then there are the peaches, cherries, and strawberries. They find a
+ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time
+Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the
+world.
+
+Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of
+Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the
+city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are
+low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as
+good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools
+themselves are equal to the best anywhere. Kindergarten, grammar school,
+high school, and university are within the reach of all who desire.
+
+It is said that an enterprising man can go to Tasmania, make his fortune
+in fifteen years, and return to England rich, to spend the rest of his
+days. But why should any one desire to leave such a beautiful island to
+spend the rest of his life in London smoke and fog?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+NEW ZEALAND
+
+
+By digging at London right through the centre of the earth one would
+emerge about a day's ride, in an automobile car, from the capital of New
+Zealand--if only the automobile could ride on the water. That is to say,
+England and New Zealand are almost exactly opposite each other on the
+earth. That is the short way, however, and the trip would be eight
+thousand miles. As a matter of fact, the trip by the only available
+route is not far from sixteen thousand miles; for, go either east or
+west as one may choose, the route from London to New Zealand is a very
+roundabout way, and New Zealand is Great Britain's most remote colony.
+
+When Tasman was cruising about the Pacific, or South Sea, he skirted the
+coast of the islands. That was in 1642. About one hundred and forty
+years afterward Captain Cook called at the islands and annexed them as
+an English possession, but the English government refused to take them.
+Early in the nineteenth century missionaries brought the Bible to the
+native Maoris, and at the same time lawless traders carried liquor and
+firearms to those same natives. What was still worse, they kept on
+supplying them with liquor and firearms until there were but a few
+thousand natives left.
+
+The Maoris are the most remarkable native peoples of the Pacific. They
+were not the original people of New Zealand, however, for they drove
+away the black race--probably like that of New Guinea--which they found
+there. Like the Hawaiians and Fijians, the Maoris came from Samoa about
+five centuries ago. Their traditions about their journey are clear and
+exact; even the names of the canoes, or barges, in which they made the
+journey are preserved in Maori history. First they went to Rarotonga, an
+island of the Cook group; then they went to New Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: Maori pa, or village]
+
+Long before white men had settled in New Zealand, the Maoris had made
+great advances toward civilization. They had become wonderful carvers in
+wood; they were also expert builders, weavers, and dyers. No better
+seamen could be found in the Pacific. War was their chief employment,
+however, and tribal wars were always going on in some parts or other of
+the islands. One may compare them in progress to the tribes of New York
+just before the Iroquois confederacy was formed.
+
+Two large and a small island make up the greater part of New Zealand.
+North Island is a little smaller than New York State; South Island is a
+little larger; Stewart Island is half the size of Rhode Island.
+
+Aside from these, the Chatham, Auckland, and part of the Cook group--in
+fact, pretty nearly every outlying group that can be used for cattle and
+sheep growing--are included in the New Zealand colony. This industry is
+the reason for the existence of New Zealand; it is the great
+meat-producing market of Great Britain.
+
+The two largest islands of New Zealand form a great plateau. Mountain
+ranges border the edges, and fertile, well-watered lowlands are between
+the ranges. The ranges and valleys, together with hundreds of lakes, are
+beautiful to the eye; they could not be better for a great grazing
+industry. Cook Strait, which separates the two islands, is about sixteen
+miles wide at its narrowest crossing.
+
+North Island has several active volcanoes, and likewise one of the three
+famous geyser regions in the world. There used to be the Pink-and-White
+Terraces also--terraces of brilliant coloring, like those of Yellowstone
+Park. But a few years ago Volcano Tarawera had a bad fit of eruption,
+and when the eruption was over, Pink-and-White Terraces were covered
+many feet deep with lava and ash.
+
+Many of the higher ranges are snow-clad the year round. The New
+Zealanders do not need to go half-way round the world to spend the
+summer in Switzerland; they have a fine Switzerland at home. Indeed, the
+Alps of Europe are not surpassed by those of New Zealand; and as for
+glaciers, the great Tasman Glacier cannot be surpassed--twenty miles
+long, a mile wide, and no one knows how deep. In South Island some of
+the glaciers reach almost to the sea.
+
+[Illustration: The Petrifying Geyser, New Zealand]
+
+There is some wonderful vegetation in New Zealand and nowhere else will
+one find a greater variety of ferns. Some of them grow in the form of
+trees; some are huge vines; and still others are as fine and delicate as
+the maidenhair fern. Some kinds have fine wiry tendrils that are much
+used for mattresses and cushions. Another plant looks so much like a
+palm that no one ignorant of plants would suspect that it was not a
+palm-tree; but as a matter of fact it is a lily.
+
+So many of the forest trees are evergreens, and so abundant is the grass
+that at all times of the year the islands are green from the mountain
+summits to the sea. Of all the forest trees the kauri pine has been one
+of the most valuable--has been, because not many trees are left. The
+wood itself is about as easily worked as white pine or California
+redwood. What is still better, it is very tough and durable.
+
+But the wood itself is only a part of the wealth of the kauri forests.
+The bark is full of gum which, when hard, is much like amber. It makes a
+very hard and glossy varnish that commands a high price because of its
+good qualities. In places where old kauri forests have existed, digging
+kauri gum is a profitable employment. Kauri-gum mining does not require
+much capital. A sharp iron rod and a pick are about the only tools
+required.
+
+The gatherer goes about thrusting his rod into the earth at intervals of
+a few inches. When he "feels" a piece of gum with his rod he needs only
+to use his pick to capture it. For many years about a million dollars'
+worth of kauri gum was thus obtained each year. The lumps vary in size
+from that of a hen's egg to masses weighing several pounds.
+
+There are also some strange animals in New Zealand. One curious creature
+is a bird without wings--the kiwi. The species is one of many similar
+kinds that lived in Australia and New Zealand ages ago. Their remains
+are found in abundance, but the kiwi is the last species now living. It
+has a long, sharp bill and hair-like feathers. A full-grown bird is
+about the size of a bantam fowl. One of the more beautiful birds is a
+dull green parrot, the kea. But the kea is also a wretched pest, for it
+has learned how to kill sheep since the sheep-herders came to New
+Zealand. The kea darts out of the air, fastens its talons in the side of
+the sheep, and quickly makes a gaping hole into the animal's vitals.
+Thousands of sheep are thus killed every year.
+
+There are about one million people in New Zealand, and most of them live
+on the east side of South Island. That is where the grassy lands are;
+and that is why the cattle and sheep are there also. And the people are
+there because of the sheep and cattle. New Zealand is one of the
+greatest grazing regions in the world, and most of the various
+industries in the islands have something or other to do with the
+grazing.
+
+In Australia the sheep are grown almost wholly for wool. That is because
+climate and grasses are just right for the growth of wool. In New
+Zealand the climate and grasses are not very good for wool, but they are
+just right for meat, both mutton and beef. So the commerce of beef and
+mutton is the chief business of New Zealand.
+
+The meat must go a long way before it reaches the people who consume it;
+they live in Great Britain and western Europe. In any case, too, it must
+have a long summer trip; for one cannot go from New Zealand to Europe
+without crossing the Torrid Zone. Even if the meat were sent from New
+Zealand in midwinter it not only has a long trip in the Torrid Zone, but
+it gets to Europe in midsummer.
+
+Now, it is very plain that meat cannot be carried for a month or six
+weeks on a steamship without preparation. The preparation is very
+simple; the meat, after dressing, is frozen and it is kept frozen until
+it reaches the people who eat it. There are refrigerating-rooms at the
+slaughter-houses, refrigerator cars to the nearest port, and
+refrigerator ships to London.
+
+Wool is also one of the important products of New Zealand, but it has a
+much coarser and harsher fibre than the fine merino wool of Australia.
+As a rule, sheep that are grown for their wool feed on grass; those that
+are for mutton get their final feeding on turnips; and all England has
+said that turnip-fed mutton is good.
+
+Christchurch, a city of about seventy thousand people, is one of the
+great centres of the wool and mutton industry. The city is there because
+the great Canterbury Plain is one of the finest grazing regions in the
+world. Christchurch is not very old--it was made a city in 1862--but it
+has grown pretty vigorously. Its handsome buildings--churches, college,
+museum, and school-houses--are as fine as those of any city of the same
+size anywhere. The streets are wide and beautifully kept, and electric
+railways extend to half a dozen suburbs.
+
+Out in the suburbs are the large meat-freezing establishments. In the
+season for export about fifteen thousand sheep are dressed and frozen
+daily in the great plants in and around Christchurch.
+
+The freezing-rooms are kept at a temperature of a cold winter night. In
+a single plant there may be as many as ten or fifteen thousand carcasses
+hanging from great frames, and the walls of the rooms are covered with a
+thick coat of ice and frost. In three days from the time the meat is put
+into the freezing-room it will be ready for its long journey.
+
+Wellington is the capital of New Zealand; it is likewise the windy port
+of the Pacific, for it is in the eye of the "roaring forties," the
+strong west wind of the South Temperate Zone. But Wellington has the
+harbor, and the harbor has the shipping; and because of this Wellington
+is a very rich and prosperous municipality.
+
+On the whole, the New Zealanders have not much cause to envy the people
+of other lands. Every man and every self-supporting woman can become the
+owner of a homestead; and about one person in every ten has become a
+landholder. The government lets them have the land on very easy terms of
+payment. Women have the same political rights as are possessed by men.
+They can vote, hold public office, and hold property in their own names.
+
+The government has established postal savings banks at which any one may
+deposit money; what is equally good, the money is loaned at a small rate
+of interest to farmers while they are waiting for their crops. What is
+still better, the bank never fails, leaving the depositors to whistle
+for their money.
+
+The government owns and operates most of the railways, telegraph lines,
+and telephone system. There is good service at a low cost. The
+government manages and supports all public schools. Attendance is
+compulsory and practically everything is free from the kindergarten to
+the university. There are old-age pensions for deserving poor people of
+good character; there are likewise prisons for those of criminal
+character--and the two are pretty apt to get together. "Bad" trusts and
+monopolies have not got the upper hand anywhere in New Zealand and the
+government sees to it that they do not. Great Britain appoints a
+governor of the colony, but the people elect a legislative council and a
+house of representatives.
+
+New Zealand has also something more than productive lands; the colony
+has plenty of coal fields, gold-mines, silver-mines, iron ore, and
+copper ore. Even if all the rest of the world were closed against this
+far-away colony, the New Zealanders could worry along quite well, for
+they easily rank among the most prosperous and well-governed people in
+the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+SAMOA AND FIJI
+
+
+The Samoa, or Navigator's, Islands, discovered by a Dutch navigator in
+1722, attracted but little attention until the introduction of
+Christianity in 1830. Only a few of the group are inhabited; the others
+are chiefly barren rocks.
+
+The islands are of volcanic origin, and earthquakes are frequent, but
+not severe. Fringing coral reefs form barriers that in a great measure
+protect the islands from heavy seas. The group lie on the steamship
+route between Australia and the Pacific coast of North America; hence
+they are important to the United States. The larger islands are
+mountainous and well forested. Some of the mountains attain the height
+of five thousand feet.
+
+Early in the '80's there were three rival chiefs, each of whom wanted to
+be king. As a result, they were at war most of the time, and the
+property of Americans and Europeans suffered greatly. So, in 1889, Great
+Britain, Germany, and the United States formed a joint protectorate over
+them. Ten years later another outbreak was stirred up by foreign
+adventurers; so the islands were annexed to Germany and the United
+States for the sake of peace. The two largest, Savii and Upolu, were
+ceded to Germany; Tutuila and the Manua group were taken by the United
+States. On condition of having a free hand in the Cook group, Great
+Britain gave up all claims.
+
+A rich soil, tropical temperature, and a generous rainfall make the
+islands productive. Americans who live there claim that in no other part
+of the world can the necessaries of life be obtained so easily as in
+Samoa. Savii, the largest island, has a smaller area of cultivable land
+than the others. Once upon a time, however, it was the most densely
+peopled and the richest island of all Samoa. Then a volcanic eruption
+covered much of its surface with ash and lava. Perhaps in time the lava
+fields may become good soil, as they have in Hawaii.
+
+Tutuila is one of the four islands belonging to the United States; the
+other three, Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga, belong to the Manua group. All of
+them together are not half the size of Rhode Island. Tutuila is perhaps
+the most important island of Samoa, because of its fine harbor, Pago
+Pago--Pango Pango, the Samoans pronounce it. Pago Pago is certainly a
+fine harbor. The entrance is so narrow that it can be closed easily;
+then it widens out into a bay two miles long and nearly half a mile
+wide. When the Panama Canal is completed, Pago Pago will be right in the
+track of steamships from Europe and the United States bound for
+Australia.
+
+Apia, on the island of Upolu, is the port of the Germans. The harbor is
+larger, but it is not so well protected. In 1889, when a typhoon struck
+Apia (both the town and the shipping), very few buildings escaped damage
+or destruction. And the shipping?--well, there was not much left. There
+were six warships and a lot of sailing-vessels in the V-shaped harbor.
+When the storm raged hardest it seemed to grow a bit more furious. Some
+of the vessels dragged their anchors and were piled up as wrecks on the
+beach. Others foundered and went to the bottom with all aboard. Three or
+four managed to get out of the bay into the open sea, where they were
+fairly safe.
+
+But Pago Pago harbor is large and deep. What is still better, it is
+surrounded by bluffs and mountains that will shelter a big fleet against
+even the fury of a typhoon.
+
+Most of the islands are covered with a dense vegetation, tropical and
+richly colored. There is an abundance of hardwood trees, but the
+breadfruit, banana, and cocoa-palm are the most useful. The
+breadfruit-tree grows wild, but it is also cultivated. The fruit is
+about the size of an ordinary cantaloupe. In some species the fruit is
+filled with seeds nearly as large as chestnuts and these are sometimes
+eaten. The best fruit, however, is filled with starchy matter.
+
+It is cooked in many ways, but it is greatly relished when baked in hot
+ashes covered with live coals. After it is thus cooked, it is cut open
+and the rich juicy pulp scooped out. When cooked with meat and gravy it
+is superior to the finest mushrooms.
+
+The cocoa-palm is a source of not a little profit. The thick husk yields
+a fibre that is much used in making coarse mats; the dried meat of the
+nut is the copra of commerce. Large quantities are exported to the
+United States and Europe in order to obtain the oil; and the oil is used
+chiefly to make soap.
+
+The native Samoans are lighter colored than most Polynesians, and are
+the finest native peoples of the South Pacific Ocean. Many years ago
+missionaries and teachers settled in Samoa and they found the natives to
+be pretty apt scholars. By nature they were dignified and polite; they
+also learned quickly the arts of civilized life. Nowadays nearly every
+native village has its church and school-house. The Samoans are fond of
+music and one may hear American hymns and melodies in nearly every
+native house.
+
+The native houses are larger than most of the houses one finds among the
+Pacific islands. Two or more long posts support the ridge pole and a
+great number of shorter posts hold the lower edges of the roof. The roof
+itself consists of closely fitted mats of brush thickly thatched with
+the leaves of wild sugar cane. A well-made roof lasts a dozen years or
+more.
+
+Mats of sugar-cane closely woven are loosely fastened to the outer rows
+of posts so that they can be easily put up or taken down. They form the
+side walls of the house. The floor is made of clay, paved with pebbles.
+Usually there is a floor covering of mats. In the centre of the floor is
+a fire pit which serves for the purpose of cooking during the day and to
+drive out the mosquitoes at night. The beds and chairs are mats and the
+pillows are made of bamboo.
+
+The Samoans know how to live well. With each house there is pretty
+certain to be a garden in which yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas,
+fruit, and chickens are grown. Then, there are fish and shrimps that can
+be caught in abundance. But the chief and most highly prized dish is
+called "poi." Taro and kalo are names--or a name, rather; for they are
+different forms of the same word--given to several plants that grow from
+starchy bulbs. One kind of taro looks much like a lily that grows higher
+than a tall man. The bulb, or root, is first baked and then ground to a
+paste with water. When thus prepared, it is set aside until it begins to
+ferment; then it is ready to be eaten. A great dish or pot of poi is
+placed on a mat and the family gather around, one after another dipping
+it out with their hands. To foreigners poi has a most unpleasant,
+disagreeable taste. When made into cakes and baked, however, it is much
+relished by foreigners.
+
+Kava is the national drink. It is made from the roots of a shrub
+belonging to the pepper family. The root is ground between stones and
+then soaked in water. After a while it is pounded and rubbed until all
+the milky juice is squeezed out of it. When "extra-fine" kava is wanted,
+young girls chew the root until it has become pulpy. After standing a
+day or two it is strained and is then ready to be drunk. It is a cooling
+and refreshing drink, but if taken too freely is apt to tangle one's
+legs uncomfortably.
+
+On account of its delightful climate and beautiful scenery, Samoa is
+one of the most attractive places in the world in which to live. Back in
+the mountains, a few miles from Apia, Robert Louis Stevenson spent the
+last few years of his life, and his body is buried on the top of the
+mountain near by. Stevenson was greatly beloved by the natives, and
+after his death he was mourned by them as one of their very best
+friends.
+
+Of all the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, the Fiji group is the
+most important. All told there are more than two hundred islands, but
+scarcely one-third of them are inhabited, or even habitable. Two of them
+are large. One, Viti Levu, is about the size of Connecticut; the other,
+Vanua Levu, is about two-thirds the size of that State. The famous Dutch
+sailor Abel Janszoon Tasman, whose name is remembered in Tasmania, saw
+the larger islands in 1643. About one hundred and thirty years later
+Captain Cook called at Viti Levu and found himself in the midst of a
+great cannibal feast. In 1840, Captain Charles Wilkes, in charge of a
+United States expedition, explored them; shortly afterward they became a
+possession of Great Britain.
+
+The larger islands are great domes of lava built up by volcanic
+eruptions; many of the smaller ones are coral formations, and all are
+fringed with coral reefs. Dense forests of tropical vegetation cover the
+larger islands. Cocoanut and other palms are everywhere to be found. A
+species of pine, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand, grows on the
+larger islands. Among the forest trees are also several kinds of
+tree-ferns and a tree-nettle. When the pointed leaves of the latter
+prick the skin they sting the flesh as badly as does a wasp.
+
+The English have done well by both the islands and the islanders. They
+have made the islands yield a good yearly profit to the government
+itself, but they have also made the natives industrious and contented.
+When the first British settlements were made in Fiji, the islanders
+were in a most degraded condition. They did no work except to grow a few
+yams, bananas, and breadfruit. Their chief employment was war, and this
+was carried on, not for conquest, but to capture as many as possible. A
+few captives were held as slaves, but most of them were fattened--to be
+killed and eaten at the royal feasts.
+
+[Illustration: Native canoe, Fiji Islands]
+
+Notwithstanding all this there was the making of a very superior people
+in them; for when the missionaries and the teachers got among them the
+natives proved very apt pupils. Now there are more than twelve hundred
+church buildings--and a school-house or two for every church. Some of
+the ministers and teachers are English, but there are about four
+thousand native teachers and ministers, nearly all of whom were trained
+for their work in the island schools.
+
+They are fine farmers, probably the best in the islands of the Pacific.
+They grow bananas, pineapples, peanuts, and lemons for the Australians,
+copra and tobacco for the British, and rice, taro, and garden vegetables
+for themselves. They have learned to irrigate their farms, using open
+ditches and bamboo mains. They make the finest canoes to be found in the
+Pacific. Some of the canoes are barges nearly one hundred feet in
+length; and not even the Hawaiians are more expert in using them.
+
+Not a little profit to the islanders comes from the sea. They are expert
+divers and gather large quantities of pearl shells, which find a ready
+market with the button-makers of Europe. Fish are caught, dried, and
+sold in China. One sea product, the beche-de-mer, a marine animal
+commonly called "sea-cucumber," is highly prized by the Chinese, who use
+large quantities; most of it is gathered by the Fijians.
+
+Sugar, however, is the chief product of the islands, and the sugar
+plantations are owned by great companies that have invested millions of
+pounds sterling in the business. The plantations altogether produce more
+than three million dollars' worth of sugar yearly. The native islanders
+will not work in the sugar fields; so coolies from India were brought to
+the islands to work on the plantations.
+
+Suva (Viti Levu), and Leonka (Ovalu), the two largest towns, are much
+like European cities, except that the houses are low and have large
+yards filled with shade trees and flowers. In the native villages the
+dwellings are much like those in Samoa, though a trifle better, perhaps.
+The side walls are covered with plaited reeds, and the roof is thatched
+with palm leaves securely fastened. In the lowlands it is customary to
+build a platform of rock upon which the house stands and into which the
+foundation poles are set. This is done for two reasons: when a typhoon
+sweeps over the islands, the lowland coast is sometimes flooded;
+moreover, the wind blows with such terrific force that none but the most
+strongly built house will withstand it.
+
+In the centre of the floor is a pit, or fireplace, much like the
+cooking-place one sees in Samoa or in Hawaii. Chickens and pieces of
+meat to be roasted are hung from a frame over the pit. Yams and other
+vegetables are boiled in earthen vessels which the native potters make.
+The floors are covered with closely woven mats; and in order to keep
+them clean an earthen vessel filled with water is kept outside so that
+whoever enters the house may bathe his feet. Inasmuch as the natives go
+barefoot one may see the usefulness of this custom.
+
+Great Britain has many islands in this part of the Pacific; Gilbert,
+Ellice, Tonga, Cook, and some of the Solomon group all fly the Union
+Jack. There is an English governor, or "High Commissioner," as he is
+styled, who looks after British affairs in the islands. In Fiji he is
+the real governor, but in many of the islands native chiefs and kings
+govern their peoples about as they please, provided they do not
+interfere with British interests.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
+
+
+Almost midway between the United States and China a mountain chain more
+than three thousand miles long crosses the tropic of Cancer. Only the
+highest peaks, however, reach above sea level; most of the range is
+fathoms deep in the waters of the Pacific. The eastern end of this great
+chain constitutes the Hawaiian group of islands, or the Territory of
+Hawaii.
+
+Altogether they are pretty nearly as large as the State of New Jersey,
+or five times the size of Rhode Island. All the islands are very rugged
+in surface--steep and high cliffs, deep valleys and canyons, and
+stupendous craters that have vomited great floods of lava. A little way
+from shore the Pacific has some of its deepest beds. If the sea could be
+removed the island of Hawaii would be a great dome five miles high.
+
+The coral polyps have added their mite to the building of these islands,
+and coral reefs are the foundation of the coast plain that surrounds a
+considerable part of the girth of each.
+
+An equable climate throughout the year, a soft and balmy air, brilliant
+coloring on bush and tree, magnificent pictures of sea and sky, and of
+mountain and plain, make the islands a veritable paradise.
+
+It is thought that these islands were peopled by Samoan natives about
+the year 600, and that subsequently their number was augmented by
+emigrants from the Fiji and other southern islands. At first there was
+plenty of land for all, but as their number increased, quarrels arose.
+Each island had its king or chief and some of the larger islands had two
+or more. The result was a condition very much like the feudal system;
+each king had petty chiefs, and these, in turn, their retainers, who
+were little better than slaves. Priests, who ranked equal to the petty
+chiefs, directed their pagan worship and occasionally made human
+sacrifices.
+
+The kings were pretty apt to be at war with one another most of the
+time, but, about forty years before the American Revolution, there came
+a great soldier and leader, Kamehameha I. By the aid of European weapons
+and the counsel of foreign friends, he overcame his rivals and brought
+all the islands under his sway.
+
+The Hawaiian Islands were made known to the rest of the world when that
+plucky English sailor, Captain James Cook, was making his third and
+last great voyage of discovery, in which he had set out to find the
+famous and tragic northwest passage. On a roundabout way to Bering
+Strait, he called at the islands which seemed very attractive to him.
+Perhaps it is not quite right to say that he discovered them, for it
+seems very probable that the Spanish explorer Gaetano discovered them in
+1555.
+
+[Illustration: General view of Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii]
+
+It was 1789 when Cook first visited the islands, and after he had
+continued his voyage through Bering Strait, and had failed to find the
+northwest passage, he turned about and sailed for the islands. While
+ashore with a part of his crew at a landing that is now the village of
+Kealakekua, one of the ship's boats was stolen by natives.
+
+Now Cook had learned to manage South Sea islanders in a very practical,
+though not the most tactful, way. When trouble occurred he used to send
+out a strong landing party, seize the king or chief and take him aboard
+the vessel--a proceeding which usually brought the natives to terms.
+But at this particular time the landing party was driven to the boats
+and Cook was killed.
+
+The group of islands was first named after Lord Sandwich, a patron and
+friend of Cook. At the time of Cook's discovery of the long-forgotten
+islands it was estimated that their population was not far from four
+hundred thousand. Missionaries went to the islands early in the
+nineteenth century and their reports brought many Americans and
+Europeans who settled there permanently. Then the chief business of the
+islands was the ordinary trade with the many whaling vessels that were
+in the Pacific.
+
+For a time the islands were under the protection of Great Britain; then
+they became an independent kingdom. When it was found that the lava
+fields made the best sugar-growing soil in the world, American capital
+came in millions of dollars to be invested in great plantations of sugar
+cane.
+
+Trouble between the queen and American business interests became so
+serious in time that the queen was dethroned and the Republic of Hawaii
+was established. The republic was short-lived, however; for when the
+Spanish-American war occurred, it was seen that Hawaii is the key to the
+Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiians, foreigners and natives, had long wished to
+become a part of the United States. So the islands were annexed and
+shortly became the Territory of Hawaii.
+
+There are six large islands--Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, and
+Lanai. There are many small outlying islets, most of which are not
+inhabited. Wireless telegraph stations connect the principal islands; an
+ocean cable ties the Territory to San Francisco; and steamship lines
+carry on commerce with British, Japanese, and American ports. Even the
+railway-builder has not forgotten Hawaii, for there are not far from two
+hundred miles of railroad, about half of which carry the products of
+the sugar and coffee plantations to the near-by ports.
+
+Hawaii, the largest island, is famous for its great volcanoes, Kea, Loa,
+and Kilauea. From the village or city of Hilo comfortable coaches take
+visitors over a fine road clear to the crater of Kilauea. At times one
+may stand on the edge of Kilauea's rampart and look down on a lake of
+white-hot, molten lava three miles long and half as wide. Every now and
+then bubbles of gas or steam come to the surface and exploding send long
+threads of viscous lava into the air. Some of the glassy threads are
+fine as the finest silk and a blast of air carries them off to the
+cliff; Pele's hair, they call it, and the sea-gulls gather it to make
+their nests.
+
+[Illustration: A lake of white-hot molten lava. The volcano of
+Mauna-Loa, Hawaii]
+
+The highest points of Hawaii island are nearly fourteen thousand feet
+above sea level. Below the line of about ten thousand feet easterly
+winds bring an abundance of rain; above that line westerly winds bring
+occasional showers and snow squalls. As a result one may find places
+only a few miles apart, one of which has almost daily rains while the
+other gets none at all along the lowland coasts.
+
+Oahu is the best-known island because of Honolulu, the capital of the
+Territory. A most beautiful city it is; indeed, there is nothing
+elsewhere to surpass it in attractiveness--wide streets, beautiful
+parks, flower gardens of wonderful plants, fine dwellings, electric
+street cars, good government, and schools that are famous. All these
+things make Honolulu one of the most desirable and attractive cities of
+homes anywhere in the world.
+
+Just back of Honolulu is a volcanic peak with its great crater--the
+"Punch Bowl," they call it, because of its shape. As one looks down from
+the rim of the Punch Bowl the city is half hidden among its palms and
+algeroba trees. Above the trees are the domes and turrets of the
+National Palace, the government building, and the school-houses. In the
+distance here and there are the great plantations--sugar, rice, and
+banana.
+
+In the city streets one will see the people of many lands--Germans,
+English, Americans, native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans,
+Malays, and Hindoos. Many of the native Hawaiians are rich and
+prosperous; some are in business, and others are in professional life.
+Many of the Chinese are well-to-do merchants. The Hindoos, Malays, and
+Japanese were brought to Hawaii to work in the great plantations.
+
+In the native villages one will frequently find a little church building
+and almost always the district school. Perhaps there may also be a
+Chinese store. Black-eyed children are running about dressed in long
+gowns, and some of them carry little bundles of school-books, each tied
+with stout cord or a leather strap.
+
+The Hawaiians will not work in the sugar and the rice fields, and not
+many will stand the easier labor on the coffee plantations. In
+cultivating their little patches of bananas, breadfruit, cassava, and
+taro, however, they are pretty industrious. When the time of the royal
+feast comes, the natives, or "Kanakas," as they call themselves, get
+busy. The feast certainly is a royal one. Roast pig and roast chicken
+are smoking in a dozen dirt ovens. There are steaming yams and sweet
+potatoes by the bushel, great piles of all sorts of fruit--and poi. All
+the rest of the food is commonplace; poi is _the_ dish. It is one-finger
+poi, two-finger poi, or three-finger poi, according as it is thick
+enough to be lifted out of the pot sticking to one finger, or so thin as
+to require a dextrous swish of two or three.
+
+Waikiki is the great resort of Honolulu. There is the finest of bathing
+the year round; and what is more interesting, the native surf swimmers.
+With a piece of plank just large enough to support his weight in the
+water, the bather swims out to the reef in still water. Then he, or
+she--for young girls are most expert swimmers--makes for open water,
+where the combers are forming. Then, lying flat, bather and plank are
+borne along on the swift rolling surf until both are tossed high on the
+beach.
+
+The aquarium is famous for its unique collection of fish and marine
+animals; it is one of the finest in the world. Near by is the race
+course and amphitheatre. What is still better is the winding road
+through ferns and flowers that leads to the crater rampart, Diamond
+Hill.
+
+Half a dozen miles west of Honolulu one goes by rail around the shore of
+Pearl Lochs, or Harbor. Pearl Harbor is large enough and deep enough to
+float all the warships Uncle Sam will ever own, and the possession of
+this magnificent site for a naval station was a very strong inducement
+to annex Hawaii.
+
+Less than one hundred miles away, at Kalaupapa, on the island of
+Molokai, is the leper settlement. Years ago Chinese settlers brought the
+disease to Hawaii; then the natives began to be stricken, and when it
+was found that leprosy was spreading, the lepers were sent to Molokai.
+For many years they had but little care; the government fed and clothed
+the poor victims and that was about all.
+
+In 1873 Father Damien, a plucky Catholic priest, went to Molokai and
+thereby made himself practically a prisoner for life. Father Damien
+procured physicians, trained nurses, and the best possible care for the
+lepers, and they could at least die in comfort if they could not live.
+Then Father Damien himself was stricken and died. By this time, however,
+the government took the matter in hand. A fine hospital was built and a
+laboratory for the study of the disease was established. Those who are
+able to work can partly support themselves, and they are far better off
+when busy than when idle.
+
+In 1848 the "Great Division" took place; that is, the lands for the
+king, for the public domain, and for the people were set aside, so that
+the people who so desired could own their farms and dwellings. At that
+time the islands were important only as a calling place for whaling
+vessels. At the present time Dame Nature is made to yield annually not
+far from one hundred million dollars' worth of products--sugar, rice,
+coffee, fruit, and cattle. A few years hence, tobacco, rubber, cotton,
+and honey will be added to the list of exported products.
+
+Americans own the sugar plantations, which are mainly on the lava fields
+of Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui Islands. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate
+the rice along the coast lowlands of Oahu and Kauai. Sheep and cattle
+are grown on Lanai and Niihau.
+
+Uncle Sam has brought some very valuable additions to his public domain,
+but no investment has paid better than Hawaii, the Paradise of the
+Pacific.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+GUAM
+
+
+While cruising in the Pacific Ocean Magellan discovered a chain of
+islands about fifteen hundred miles east of the Philippine group. While
+he lay at anchor, predatory natives stole some of his belongings;
+thereupon Magellan gave them a bad name, and to this day the islands
+bear the name Ladrones, or "thieves" islands.
+
+Guam, the largest island in the group, became more or less important
+just after the Spanish-American War, inasmuch as it was required as one
+of our chain of naval and coaling stations that pretty nearly encircles
+the earth. As islands go, Guam is of fair size, about thirty miles long
+and from three to ten miles in width. It is mountainous and the surface
+is jungle-covered except where the natives have made trails and
+clearings. Fringing coral reefs, broken here and there, encircle the
+island. One of these breaks is opposite a bight in the coast, San Luis
+d'Apra, or Apra, as it is now called; and the bay and channel together
+form a harbor so well guarded that no transport laden with hostile
+troops would ever attempt landing.
+
+In 1668 a mission was established. At this time the population numbered
+about one hundred thousand. The country was so well cultivated that the
+whole island seemed like a beautiful garden, for the people were pretty
+good farmers. Rice and tropical fruits were cultivated in abundance.
+The natives were also skilful in the making of pottery and they had a
+well-regulated calendar.
+
+For a time they were well disposed toward their intruders; but at
+length, as they began to learn that conversion to the Christian faith
+meant also slavery to the Spanish, they rebelled against a system which
+was so one-sided, and their opposition led to constant strife and
+bloodshed.
+
+In the course of time the severe treatment of the Spaniards, together
+with contagious diseases introduced, so completely wiped out the native
+population that, at the end of seventy years, scarcely two thousand were
+left. Perhaps no peoples in all the South Sea Islands have suffered more
+keenly from contact with Europeans than these aborigines.
+
+Frightened at the terrible mortality they had caused, the conquerors
+turned to the Philippines to replenish the depopulated island. Tagals
+were brought over to occupy the place of the fast-disappearing natives,
+and with these many of the natives intermarried. The half-castes are
+inferior to the original inhabitants, but they have increased in
+population, and now number ten thousand.
+
+Spain ceded Guam to the United States in 1898. Since the acquisition our
+government has established both day and evening schools for the natives,
+and they are making rapid progress in education.
+
+It is a long journey to Guam--thirty-five hundred miles almost from
+Honolulu and not quite half as far from Manila. And how to get there?
+Well, it is not an easy matter. If you go to Apia, or to Manila, and
+remain long enough--perhaps six weeks, maybe six months--a German
+trading schooner will come along and take you aboard. You get there in
+time; for the trading schooner is likely to make a very circuitous trip,
+calling at a dozen islands to get copra in exchange for cloth, knives,
+and cheap jewelry. But if one happens to have the right sort of "pull,"
+one can get a pass on an army transport. That means a most delightful
+trip from San Francisco to Honolulu, and thence to Guam. Uncle Sam does
+the square thing by his soldiers, and the army transports that carry
+them to the distant stations are fitted so as to be as comfortable as
+the best liners. There are a big exercise deck and a reading-room with
+plenty of books. Not the least important part of the equipment is a
+self-playing piano and a good assortment of music.
+
+[Illustration: Native ploughing in rice-field, Guam. One may find
+rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or China]
+
+There is not very much to see after one reaches Guam. One village is
+just about the same as all the others. Perhaps half a dozen huts are
+built of mud, or possibly of coral limestone; the rest are made of
+bamboo frames covered with palm--all in one room in which the family
+and the pig live.
+
+Agana, however, is a village of six or seven thousand people. It is laid
+out in streets which are fairly regular. They are deep with dust during
+the dry season, and with mud the rest of the year. There are several
+government buildings which are neat and trim, two or three churches,
+several school buildings, and a few stores. Most of the people one meets
+on the street speak Spanish; a few speak English. English is the coming
+language, however; for the schools are there to stay and every one of
+the fifteen hundred youngsters who attend school carries away a little
+English. A fine road bordered with palms connects Agana with Apra, seven
+miles south.
+
+There is not much to see in Guam. The scenery is much like that of every
+island in that part of the Pacific. About the only diversion of the
+soldiers stationed there is hunting, which is pretty good if one is
+content to hunt deer and wild hogs. Artistic sportsmen might prefer the
+deer, but all the real fun is the share of the hog-hunters. The hogs are
+savage beasts when cornered; they likewise are full of animal cunning.
+
+Along the coast lowlands one may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated
+as those of Japan or of China. Most of the rice is consumed on the
+island; however, copra, or dried cocoanut, is an export, and its sale
+brings enough money to the natives to purchase the cloth and other goods
+needed. Since American occupation the cacao tree has been cultivated,
+and cocoa bids fair to be the chief export in the near future.
+
+The government of Guam is better under American rule than at any time in
+the previous history of the island. When the late Admiral Schroeder was
+governor of Guam he consulted his log-book and discovered that he was
+altogether too far away from Washington to be tied to rules and
+regulations, or to be tangled up in official red tape. So he cut the
+tape and used good common sense instead. Perhaps the government was a
+bit patriarchal, but it was good, clean, and wholesome--and every one
+profited by it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
+
+
+Our newest possession, the Philippine Archipelago, in a way, is also our
+oldest, for the islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521,
+about twenty-nine years after the great discovery of Columbus. Magellan
+called at several islands, among them Mindanao and Cebu. He anchored in
+the harbor on which the city of Cebu now stands. He seems to have been
+treated in a very friendly manner by the natives of Cebu, but when he
+crossed to a near-by island he was attacked and killed. The friendship
+of the King of Cebu was not very steadfast, for after Magellan's death
+several of his officers were put to death by the king's order.
+
+For two hundred and forty years the islands were a possession of Spain;
+then they were captured by a British fleet. They were soon restored to
+Spain, however, and remained a Spanish possession until 1898, when they
+were ceded to us after the Spanish-American War.
+
+There are more than three thousand islands in the archipelago, and they
+are the partly covered tops of a mountainous and rugged plateau. Many
+volcanoes testify to the volcanic origin of the plateau; indeed, the
+surface of the plateau seems to be a thin crust over--well, over
+trouble; for the dozen or more volcanoes are never quiet long enough to
+be forgotten. Perhaps it was proper to name the islands after Philip II
+of Spain, for he, too, had his full measure of trouble.
+
+The archipelago is of pretty good size. The whole plateau, land and
+water, is about as large as that part of the United States east of
+Chicago; and the islands themselves are pretty nearly as large as the
+State of Texas. Luzon, the largest island, is about as large as
+Pennsylvania, and Mindanao is a bit smaller. Then there are Samar,
+Panay, Palawan, and Cebu--every one large enough to make a State of fair
+size, and every one with enough people to make a State.
+
+There are about seven million people all told, most of whom are of the
+Malay race. As a rule, they are pretty well along toward civilization;
+some of them are educated. There are also tribes of the black
+race--Negritos, they are called--who are just plain savages. They are
+the original inhabitants of the islands, and it is most likely that they
+are the descendants of people from New Guinea. In the southwest is the
+Sulu group, inhabited by Malays, called Moros. They are Muhammadans in
+religion and are the last of the Malays who came to the islands.
+
+Of all the Malay peoples, the Tagalogs of Luzon have been the foremost
+to learn the arts of western civilization. They have surpassed their
+near relatives, the Visayans, who live in the central part of the
+islands. Perhaps it is the closer contact with the Spanish that has
+given the Tagalogs their great progress. At all events they have become
+well to do and prosperous as measured by other Malay peoples.
+
+The Moros, who live mainly in the southern part, have scarcely reached
+civilization. In the Sulu islands they have their own government, at the
+head of which is a native sultan. In many parts of the islands there are
+tribes governed by chiefs called "dattos." Some of the natives are
+prosperous farmers, but many of them are savages.
+
+A great deal has been said about the misrule and cruelty of the Spanish
+governors and officials. Being soldiers and task-masters it is likely
+that they did many things that will not stand the searchlight of
+civilization. But the work of the priests will always leave a pleasant
+flavor. For three hundred years they braved every danger and suffered
+every hardship in their work. For every one that fell a victim to
+disease, or to the bolo, there was another ready to fill his place. They
+not only converted the natives to Christianity, but they also taught
+them to be thrifty farmers and prosperous business men. As a result the
+Filipinos are the only Asian people of considerable numbers that have
+yet become Christians.
+
+[Illustration: The carabao, harnessed to a dray or wagon, shuffles
+along]
+
+When the Philippine Islands became a possession of the United States,
+one of the first things done was to establish several thousand schools.
+A thousand American teachers were at first employed. Training schools
+for teachers were established, and in the course of a few years more
+than five thousand Filipino teachers were conducting native schools.
+English is taught in all the schools, and there are special schools in
+which agriculture, mechanical trades, and commerce are taught.
+
+There is good reason for all this, for the islands have wonderful
+resources. Gold, silver, copper, and iron are abundant. The forests have
+an abundance of hard woods that sooner or later will find a market both
+in Europe and America. The rice-fields will easily produce enough grain
+for the whole population, and a considerable amount to sell in addition,
+when all the rice-lands are cultivated. For want of good wagon roads and
+railways only a small part of the rice-lands are cultivated.
+
+There is an abundance of good grazing land that will produce meat for
+twice the present population. Most of the cattle now grown in the
+islands are of the kind found in India.
+
+The most common beast of burden, however, is the carabao, or
+water-buffalo. What an ugly looking beast it is! It is as clumsy as a
+hippopotamus, as ugly as a rhinoceros, and as kind and gentle as an old
+muley cow. Harnessed to a dray or a wagon, it shuffles along, its big,
+flat feet seeming to walk all over the road. But those same big feet are
+the animal's chief stock in trade. They enable him to walk through both
+sand and deep mud--mud so soft and deep that a horse or a mule would
+sink to its body. Nothing but the carabao's flatboat-like feet could
+drag ploughs through the soft mud of the rice-fields.
+
+Carabaos are easily trained to farm work, and even children can drive
+them--or ride on their backs in going to school. The milk of a carabao
+is as good and wholesome as that of an ordinary cow; the meat is pretty
+tough, but it is not unwholesome.
+
+One thing, however, the carabao must have, and that is a bath several
+times a day. Deprived of its bath, the animal at first becomes restless;
+then it breaks away in a half-crazed condition for the nearest water,
+where it buries itself, all but its head. Native drivers know just how
+to manage their animals and drive them to the nearest water several
+times a day.
+
+There are horses in the islands, but not many. Most of them are very
+much like the mustang. The Spanish brought Andalusian ponies to the
+islands many years ago, but they did not prove very useful. Within a few
+years American horses were introduced, but they could not live on
+Philippine grasses. Mexican mustangs and Mongolian ponies were much
+better, however, but they are used chiefly as riding animals.
+
+Of all the beasts of burden in the Philippine Islands, none is in the
+same class with John Chinaman. Everywhere his bland smile is seen; his
+patience has no end--and, apparently, his work has none. The Filipino
+farmer works merely to keep body and soul together; John Chinaman works
+to save hard cash, and he saves it. Wherever there is any money to be
+made, John is pretty certain to be near by. He is the cook and
+"maid-of-all-work" in the house of the foreign resident, the stevedore
+on the dock, the clerk in the forwarding house, the "boss" in the rice
+plantation, the handy man in the tobacco factory, and the store-keeper
+in the remote Filipino village. Sixteen hours of hard work every day and
+Sunday seem to make him grow fat; the rest of the time he just works for
+fun--and hard cash.
+
+Long before the Chinese coolie came to the United States the Spanish
+raised the cry "The Chinese must go." The Spanish made short work of
+them, killing them by thousands and tens of thousands. But in a year or
+two John was on hand again, smiling and working sixteen hours a
+day--strictly for cash. And he is in the Philippine Islands to stay.
+
+As a rule the Filipinos rarely live isolated as do the American farmers.
+Almost always they cluster in villages of one or two hundred people. The
+Filipino is not likely to cultivate a big farm. Two or three acres will
+supply the family with all the food required, and the Chinese merchant
+will buy enough of his produce to provide a few dollars in cash and the
+cloth for the family wearing apparel. In the smaller villages there is
+an open place that answers for a street, but the houses are apt to be
+scattered about without much regularity of arrangement.
+
+The houses, like those of the Pacific islands generally, are built of
+bamboo frames--heavy pieces for the framework itself and woven bamboo
+splints for the side sheathing. The roof is carefully thatched with the
+leaves of the nipa-palm and these are sewn into a thick mat with ratan.
+In places where the ground is likely to be overflowed, each house is set
+on posts so that the floors are several feet from the ground. In this
+case the "pig" does not "live in the parlor"; the pigs and chickens
+occupy the "ground floor." All told, the Filipino village mansion may
+not be very ornate, but it is extremely comfortable.
+
+The larger villages and cities are built much alike. There is a plaza or
+public square. Around the four sides, and facing the plaza, are the
+church, government buildings, and stores. The more pretentious
+residences are near by. Further away these give place to the Filipino,
+or "nipa houses," as they are called. The street surrounding the plaza
+is broad and well kept; elsewhere the streets are quagmires in the
+rainy, and dust holes in the dry season. Pretty nearly always there is a
+Chinese quarter that is crowded and dirty; quite likely, too, the best
+stores in the town are kept by Chinese merchants. That is the way the
+Spaniards laid out their cities and towns in Spain; they did not change
+the plan in the Philippines. The houses built for them in the islands
+are much like those in Spanish towns--adobe walls plastered with stucco,
+and roofed with tiles.
+
+[Illustration: The harbor of the city. Scene on the Pasig River, Manila]
+
+Manila is the capital and commercial centre of the islands. It is a city
+about as large as Seattle, and is situated at the head of a landlocked
+body of water, Manila Bay. Corregidor Island, a little dark-green islet,
+guards the entrance to the bay; and one cannot see the wicked guns that
+are ready to pour a raking fire into a hostile fleet until one is within
+a few hundred yards of the island. The only thing visible at a distance
+is a flag flying from a high mast; but it is the Stars and Stripes that
+bends to the east wind. The bay is a good-sized bit of water, too. In
+the middle of it one can just barely see the gray, misty hills that
+surround it. Then the shore line begins to take shape and the mouth of
+Pasig River seems to open in front of the incoming steamship. In a few
+minutes the harbor of the city is in sight. Steamships, with their
+painted stacks and funnels, and sailing vessels, with every sort of mast
+and rigging, crowd the harbor. Row-boats by the hundred are moving in
+every direction, and little steam-launches and motor-boats are spitting
+viciously as they go back and forth.
+
+The lower part of the city is almost like Amsterdam; it is traversed by
+canals, great and small, in which are fishing-smacks waiting to have the
+catch taken to market. Puffy, wheezy tugs are making fast to huge
+cascoes, or lighters; for the cargoes must be taken from the docks to
+the steamships and sailing-vessels out in the harbor.
+
+The Pasig is only ten or twelve miles in length. It flows from a near-by
+lake, and both sides of the river are lined with villages, and
+market-gardens, and duck-hatcheries.
+
+The business streets are crowded with carts and drays. Here and there
+are smart-looking carriages carrying well-groomed men, who talk little
+and look rich. There could not be more style and ceremony about them if
+they were in New York, London, or Paris. Trim-looking soldiers in khaki
+uniforms, native Filipinos in white suits, Chinese in silk gowns and
+long sleeves, native women wearing red skirts and black shawls, native
+coolies in loose blouses and short pantaloons--all go to make up the
+throng of the streets.
+
+Most of the houses are two stories in height with arcades or awnings
+that shelter the sidewalks. And such narrow sidewalks!--they are hardly
+wide enough for more than three people to walk abreast. But even the
+business houses are built for comfort. The roof has a broad overhang,
+and quite likely there is a covered veranda.
+
+Many of the Filipinos of Manila are educated and prosperous. Their
+houses are said to be furnished in European style, and likewise their
+clothing. Sure enough everything bears a "made in Germany" mark, but
+everything looks distinctly Filipino. The head of the family wears a
+suit of spotless white duck, but it has a military cut--and perhaps he
+goes about the house barefoot; if so, he knows what real comfort is.
+
+[Illustration: Extracting indigo in Ilocos Province, Philippine Islands]
+
+Mother and daughters wear skirts of beautiful brocaded silk, very wide
+and full; above the skirt is a loose garment much like a shirt-waist cut
+low at the neck, and over this a lace cape with a wide, flowing collar.
+Possibly they wear heelless slippers, but just as likely they, too, are
+barefoot--when no visitors are present. Perhaps such suits are not quite
+so becoming as the trim, tailor-made suits in New York, but they are a
+lot more comfortable.
+
+A short distance from the Escolta, or chief business street, is one of
+the many markets of Manila. The whole space is laid off with rows of
+bamboo booths. Pretty nearly everything to eat, to wear, or to furnish
+the house is on hand--or rather in loose piles--fish, duck's eggs, meat,
+rice, pinole, fruit of forty kinds, straw hats, straw sandals, straw
+raincoats, tin ware from America, wooden ware from Holland, and clay
+stoves "made in Manila."
+
+Every alley has its own wares, and John Chinaman with his baskets
+balanced on a long pole puts a finishing touch to the market. A Filipino
+cannot be emphatic in an ordinary tone of voice. Buyer and seller work
+themselves up to high C pitch until it seems as though nothing short of
+a fit would overtake both. Bedlam is turned loose in every part of the
+market. Usually a man and his wife are required to conduct the business
+at a booth. Their bare feet sticking out from the skirts bob up and
+down, beating time to the clatter of their voices.
+
+Here comes a man whose sole stock in trade consists of a single article,
+namely, a python. His goods are twined about a pole with a cross piece
+for a perch, but the snake's tail has a loving twist around the owner's
+neck. What for?--well, the python has a sweet tooth for rats and mice
+and the sweet tooth of this particular snake is on edge for a square
+meal. Years ago foreign ships brought rats from various countries. In
+the course of time rats and mice became so numerous that it became a
+question whether Manila should exterminate the rats or the rats
+exterminate Manila.
+
+Now, those same ships ought to have brought some cats along, too. But it
+is just as well that they did not, for one python is worth half a dozen
+cats or rat terriers when business is on hand. The only drawback occurs
+when the python insists on getting into bed with his owner to keep warm.
+
+When in Manila, go to Duck-town by all means. It is only a short
+distance from the near-by market. The feeding grounds and hatcheries
+extend for two miles along the river. Hundreds of thousands of ducks are
+reared at the hatcheries, some for eggs, and others for food. The ducks
+are fed on shell-fish, and foreigners imagine that both the meat and the
+eggs have a fishy flavor. Eggs and edible bird's nests are also brought
+from neighboring sea-cliffs to the Manila markets; and both are
+considered great delicacies.
+
+[Illustration: Manila hemp as it is brought in from the country]
+
+Manila is the largest city of the Philippines, but there are also
+several other cities of good lusty growth. Bauan, Lipa, Laoag, and
+Batangas--all in Luzon--and Ilo-ilo in Panay are growing in population
+and business as the resources of the islands develop. Since the
+American occupation, Uncle Sam has done a great deal to make these ports
+centres of business; harbors have been deepened; railways have been
+extended; good roads have been built; and rivers have been made
+navigable.
+
+There are several exports that will always tend to make the Philippines
+rich. Tobacco is an important crop and the Manila leaf, as it is called,
+is of very fine quality. There are those who whisper it about that much
+of the leaf is shipped to Cuba to be made into "Havana" cigars. Sugar is
+also a great export crop, and when the railways now under way are
+completed sugar will become one of the foremost exports. The export of
+copra, or dried cocoanut, is a leading industry, and the Philippine
+Islands produce a large part of the world's product.
+
+One Philippine product, however, connects the islands with almost all
+the rest of the world, namely, Manila hemp. That is, it is called
+"hemp," but it is not hemp at all; the fibre is obtained from a plant
+very closely related to the banana. White leaves or husks grow closely
+around the stalk of the plant, forming a tightly fitting case. This
+envelope is composed of thousands of long, strong fibres that, when
+cleaned and dried, are the hemp that makes the strongest and best rope
+in the world.
+
+After the pulpy leaves are stripped from the stalk, the pulp is squeezed
+out of them and the fibres are left in the sun to dry. The best fibre is
+as soft and fine as silk. Some of it is used in making a fine cloth; the
+coarser fibre is used for rope and hawsers. More than fifteen million
+dollars worth of Manila hemp is sold yearly.
+
+In the treaty with Spain, by which Uncle Sam acquired the islands,
+twenty million dollars was paid to Spain. But the exports from the
+Philippines have averaged nearly thirty million dollars a year ever
+since.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--JAVA
+
+
+The East India Islands is a name which embraces nearly all the islands
+of the Malay Archipelago, together with the Philippines. The largest of
+these are New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, and Java. Nearly all of
+them, except the Philippines and parts of New Guinea and Borneo, are
+controlled by the Dutch. These fertile islands are a source of great
+revenue to the Netherlands; to the rest of the world they are the chief
+source of sugar, spices, and coffee.
+
+Of all the Dutch East Indies, Java is by far the most beautiful and
+productive; it is a garden of the choicest fruits and flowers.
+
+There are two seasons, a wet and a dry. During the wet season the
+torrential rains are accompanied by thunder and lightning. In some parts
+of the island more than a hundred thunder-storms occur yearly. The
+average rainfall is from sixty to one hundred and eighty-five inches,
+most of the rain falling on the windward side.
+
+Many of the streams are perennial, and their waters are conducted away
+to be used in irrigation, thus bringing under cultivation nearly every
+part of the island. Moreover, the streams themselves hold fertilizing
+material much of which has been thrown out by volcanoes. The irrigating
+water itself furnishes sufficient enrichment for the soil, and but very
+little fertilizing is required. The heat, moisture, and fertile soil,
+coupled with skilful farming, produce bountiful harvests and make the
+whole island a smiling field of verdure and plenty.
+
+The hills and mountains in many places are terraced, so that at a
+distance they look like gigantic staircases carpeted with bright green.
+So fertile is the soil that in some places two or three crops are raised
+each year.
+
+About one-fourth of the surface is covered with forest. Among the most
+valuable trees is the teak-wood, which is extensively used in
+ship-building. It is a more durable timber than oak, since it resists
+decay for a long time, even when wholly or partly submerged in sea
+water. There are vessels afloat to-day which were built of teak one
+hundred years ago.
+
+The inhabitants, about thirty million in number, are of the Malay race
+and belong to three nations, speaking closely related but different
+languages--the Sundanese, Javanese, and Mandurese. The island was
+wealthy, populous, and had a high degree of civilization long before it
+was known to Europeans.
+
+Long years ago--twelve hundred or more--the Hindoos invaded the country,
+and in the fifteenth century Muhammadans came. They were followed later
+by the Dutch who first gained trading concessions and then gradually got
+possession of the whole island, much in the same way as England secured
+India. Each conquest left its impress on the people; the Muhammadans
+converted the natives to their religion. Buddhism preceded the religion
+of the great prophet, and some of the teachings of Buddha have been
+retained, together with many pagan customs.
+
+The Dutch wisely made no effort to Christianize the natives and, until
+recently, they have discouraged all such attempts, believing that they
+could control the people better without disturbing the prevailing
+religious conditions. Indeed, they manage affairs with the natives
+wonderfully well.
+
+The island is divided into "residences," in each of which the laws are
+administered by a native governor. A Dutch resident is employed by the
+colonial government to assist the native governor--really to see that
+he manages his people justly and fairly, for strict justice has always
+been observed in dealings with the natives.
+
+[Illustration: A breadfruit tree in Java]
+
+The Dutch residents are called "elder brothers." Each resident watches
+his residency with great care to see that the taxes are collected and
+paid to the government, and that the natives are treated with justice.
+He is usually the judge who settles all family quarrels and disputes
+between neighbors. He is just in his judgments and his decisions are
+not questioned. Affairs are managed in much the same way as the "School
+City" or the George Settlement in the United States.
+
+At the same time the Dutch are very careful to impress their authority
+on the natives. They require the natives to pay great respect to all
+officers of the colony. A native who comes into the presence of an
+official must have his head turbaned and his attire in proper form.
+Under no circumstances is he permitted to smoke, chew betel-nut, or
+behave carelessly.
+
+The daily work of the natives is very carefully supervised. They are
+taught where to plant, what to plant, and how to plant their crops. The
+"elder brothers" also see that the crops are cultivated with care and
+properly harvested.
+
+Java is ruled by a Governor-General and a council appointed by himself.
+The officers are selected because of their fitness, and most of the
+subordinates must pass a civil service examination. Once in the East
+India service an official is fixed for life, and when he has served his
+time he retires on a pension. Most of the pensioners prefer to remain in
+the island the rest of their lives.
+
+The officials and, indeed, all European residents live well. Stone
+houses with marble or tile floors, wide verandas, and large gardens are
+the rule. Breakfast at one o'clock is the substantial meal of the day.
+It marks not the beginning but the end of the day's work. From one to
+five the intense heat keeps every one indoors. At five, official Java
+and all other Europeans bathe, dress, and get ready for dinner. After
+dinner, driving, calling, and gossiping at the clubs is the proper
+thing, and nowhere are people more ceremonious.
+
+The natives have but little ambition and no desire to do anything for
+themselves. Now and then there are exceptions, however; and a native may
+be found pegging away at the studies that will enable him to pass the
+examinations and hold an official position.
+
+As a whole, the native is gentle and polite and yields ready obedience
+to those in authority. He is fond of amusement, feasts, and gambling;
+he, moreover, celebrates every possible event--his marriage, the birth
+of his children, the building of his home, the rice harvest, a return
+from a journey, a recovery from illness, and even the filing of his
+teeth. If he, perchance, has not sufficient money to hold the
+celebration, he can join with a neighbor, then both will share mutually
+the expense. On all occasions his deportment is quiet, and whether moved
+by joy or anger, no loud language or boisterous laughter is ever heard.
+
+The marriageable age of girls is from twelve to fourteen years, and that
+of boys sixteen. The night preceding the wedding must be spent by the
+couple in watching, in order to avert subsequent unhappiness, and the
+next day they repair to a mosque and are married according to Muhammadan
+rites and customs. To symbolize her total submission to her husband, the
+wife washes his feet. Unfortunately, a divorce can be obtained by the
+husband for a trivial cause by the payment of a small fee. A native, on
+being asked why he got a divorce from his wife, replied, "She ate too
+much and I could not afford to keep her."
+
+Early in the morning the highways are thronged with people on their way
+to and from the markets. And the markets?--well, one is certain to find
+John Chinaman in charge. As a matter of fact, there are more than half a
+million Chinese in the island, and they have the control of the trade
+with the natives. But the native Javanese trudges along, balancing two
+baskets on a long bamboo pole. Women and girls help to make up the
+throng, and they, too, are laden.
+
+At the market pandemonium seems to be loose, and both buyer and seller
+are shrieking at the top of their voices over a bargain price. There is
+no question as to which wins; the Chinese merchant is there for
+business. When the native receives the pay for his produce quite as
+likely as not he makes for the nearest gambling-house and in half an
+hour loses the savings of a month.
+
+To the natives the greatest terrors are lightning and tigers, both of
+which claim hundreds of victims each year. They often refrain from
+killing the tigers, since the tigers kill the wild pigs which destroy
+their crops.
+
+The tiger is killed usually by capturing him in a sort of box-trap, and
+then the trap is taken to the nearest stream, where it is submerged and
+the animal drowned, to avoid injury to the skin, which brings a good
+price. The claws and whiskers are carefully removed and sold as
+fetiches, since they are considered to be very efficacious.
+
+Notwithstanding their hard lot, the people seem happy and there is no
+starvation poverty. They and their ancestors from time immemorial have
+always worked hard under task-masters and they know of no better
+condition. Since their scanty clothing costs but little, if they can
+have enough to eat and a little amusement occasionally, they are
+content. When they have money they spend it recklessly, regardless of
+the future. If the needs of the present are supplied, that is
+sufficient. When misfortune or disaster overtakes them they merely say:
+"It is the will of God."
+
+The temples built centuries ago are among the most wonderful structures
+in the world. They vie in size and grandeur with those of India.
+Thousands of these ruined temples are found scattered everywhere over
+central and eastern Java, and many of them are built on the slopes and
+summits of mountains. These ruins give evidence of the wonderful skill
+in sculpture and building attained by the people in by-gone ages, a
+skill not excelled even in modern times, but lost to the present
+inhabitants.
+
+The ruins of the great temple of Boro-Bodor, situated in the
+south-central part of Java, are among the largest and most striking in
+the world. This temple is square and was built in six terraces or steps
+on the summit of a hill. The first terrace measures about five hundred
+feet on each side, while each of the five decreases in size toward the
+top. The last one is crowned by a cupola fifty-two feet in diameter,
+surrounded by sixteen smaller ones.
+
+Here in this great temple of the dead past may be seen scores of
+statues, showing on their countenances the peace of Nirvana. On both
+inside and outside of the structure are hundreds of images of Buddha and
+carvings of scenes connected with his life. It is estimated that all of
+the sculptures occupy an extent of wall at least three miles in length.
+All the figures are carved from large blocks of lava.
+
+This wonderful temple is built of lava blocks without lime or mortar,
+the huge stones being jointed most accurately by tenons, mortises, and
+dovetails which bind them solidly together.
+
+Many of the temples erected by the Buddhists and Brahmanists were
+destroyed by the Moslem invaders, and others abandoned. All of these
+edifices became, during the succeeding centuries, overgrown with the
+luxuriant tropical vegetation and partly buried. Some of them, like that
+of Boro-Bodor, have been uncovered, displaying hundreds of statues and
+long lines of bas-relief.
+
+Java is one of the most productive regions of the world, otherwise
+thirty millions of people could not live there. The greater part of the
+islands consists of government plantations, but there are more than
+twenty thousand private plantations. The Dutch government has built fine
+wagon roads and miles of railways, otherwise the great crops of rice,
+sugar, coffee, and tea could not be moved to the great trade centres and
+seaports. Rice is the chief crop, but so much is consumed that only a
+little is left for export. The export rice is sold in Borneo. Most of it
+is grown on the low coast plains, and these are watered by a net-work of
+canals.
+
+Coffee is the crop that has made Java famous, and Java coffee is
+regarded the best produced. A few years ago it was the custom to sort
+the coffee with great care and then to store it several years in order
+to improve the flavor. The coffee thus seasoned was known as "old
+government" coffee. Much of the crop is now grown by private owners and
+is known as "private plantations" coffee.
+
+Sugar has become the foremost export crop. Most of it goes to Europe; a
+small part of it is sent to the refineries of the United States. The
+great sugar plantations are likewise on the lowlands. Most of the
+plantations are owned by wealthy Hollanders, or by Dutch companies. The
+cane grows taller than that of the Cuban plantations; usually it is
+twice the height of the native laborers and grows so thickly as to make
+the field like a jungle. It requires a great sum of money to carry on a
+sugar plantation, for thousands of dollars must be spent in preparing
+the land.
+
+But when one sees the great mills with their ponderous machinery, the
+thousands of native workmen, and the train loads of sugar which seem to
+be swallowed by the great steamships, one cannot help thinking that the
+sugar-planters make a lot of money in their business. Their homes, many
+of them, are beautiful palaces--as costly as can be found anywhere in
+Europe.
+
+Indigo is another famous product of Java. The indigo plant would look
+like a rank bunch of weeds were it not planted in rows. The leaves,
+which contain the coloring matter, are picked two or three times a year
+and soaked in water. When they begin to rot, the coloring matter leaves
+the plant and mixes with the water, from which it is afterward
+separated by boiling. The coloring matter itself is called indigo; it is
+a beautiful blue used for dyeing yarns and cloth. The blue cotton cloth
+so much worn by the Dutch peasants is colored with indigo, and both the
+cloth and the dye find a market in pretty nearly every country in the
+world.
+
+[Illustration: Coffee-drying in Java]
+
+Years ago an enterprising Dutch botanist brought to Java some cinchona
+trees from South America. The experiment was successful and so many
+trees were afterward planted that Java now furnishes about half the
+world's supply of quinine, which is extracted from the bark of the tree.
+
+Tobacco is extensively grown in Java, but one does not hear much about
+it, because a great deal of it is sold as "Sumatra" leaf. Tea-growing
+has become a great industry in Java and the tea in quality is as fine
+as that grown in China. Women and girls are the pickers. They work with
+head and arms bare, each wearing a loose gown resembling a Japanese
+kimona without sleeves. As fast as they are picked the leaves are piled
+on squares of white cloth. When the cloth contains enough to make a
+bundle of good size the picker carries it on her head to the factory,
+where the leaves are first wilted, rolled into compact form and then
+dried on great stone floors that are shielded from the sun. The hundreds
+of pickers with their brightly colored gowns and white bundles, form a
+wonderful kaleidoscope picture.
+
+In recent years petroleum, long known to the natives, has added much to
+the wealth of Java. The thrifty Hollander studied well-drilling in
+Pennsylvania and California; then he put his training to work on the
+Javanese oil-fields. As a result Java is beginning to supply not only
+the East Indies, but also Japan with coal-oil.
+
+Years ago travellers used to tell marvellous stories about a certain
+poison valley of Java in the centre of which stood an upas-tree. The
+tree itself was famed for the deadly effects of its poisonous
+exhalations, which killed man, beast, or bird that came near it. These
+stories proved to be mere fabrications. They grew out of the fact that
+near by was a valley from which arose at times carbonic-acid gas in
+sufficient quantity to kill small animals running over certain low
+places. But the upas played no part, though the juice of the tree is
+poisonous.
+
+Batavia is the capital of the Dutch East Indies. It is on low, flat
+land, half a dozen miles from the artificial harbor which has not long
+been finished; for the old port had but little protection from stormy
+seas and high winds. The swampy land on which the city is built has been
+drained by canals. Excepting the business streets, the city is almost
+hidden by the gardens with their profusion of plants. It is the
+Amsterdam of the Old World; and one will find as good wares in Batavia
+as in Holland. During the eruption of Krakatoa, Batavia was buried deep
+in dust and ragged cinders of lava. More than twenty thousand dead were
+under the heaps of ash.
+
+Surabaya is larger than Batavia and has a population of more than one
+hundred and fifty thousand. But Surabaya has not much trade with Europe;
+its commerce is mainly with the ports of Asia. The harbor is good and it
+has become the chief naval station of the Dutch East Indies.
+
+The Dutch authorities do not encourage visitors to Java. All visitors
+must have passports or permits; and if one goes to the interior,
+officials question him at every turn and demand his permit at every
+district.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--SUMATRA AND CELEBES
+
+
+Two lofty mountain ranges with a deep valley between them lie at the
+eastern side of the Indian Ocean. The Malay Peninsula is one range; the
+island of Sumatra is the other. The floor of the valley between them is
+covered by the sea and forms the Strait of Malacca.
+
+As islands go, Sumatra is of goodly size--larger than New York,
+Pennsylvania, and the New England States together. From end to end its
+length is about the distance between Boston and Chicago. Greenland,
+Borneo, New Guinea, and Madagascar are each larger. The equator crosses
+Sumatra at its central part.
+
+Sumatra is also a possession of the Dutch East Indies, but it is not
+very important as compared with Java. Although it is three times as
+large as Java, it has scarcely one-tenth the population. There is a
+pretty good reason for this. In the first place, the mountainous region
+is very rugged and much of it is covered with jungle; therefore, it is
+neither habitable nor productive for mankind. In the second place, the
+broad plain on the east side of the island is not well adapted to
+cultivation; it is cut by deep river valleys in the higher parts, swampy
+in the middle part, and covered with water next the coast during a part
+of the year.
+
+Rather singularly the lakes--and there are many--are not in the low,
+swampy lands; most of them are high in the mountains. What is still more
+singular, these lakes are the craters of inactive volcanoes. But
+Sumatra, like Java, has many active volcanoes. One of these, Dempo, is
+almost constantly active. Every now and then it discharges great
+quantities of sulphur gases; these are caught by the rain and, falling
+on the cultivated lands, kill pretty nearly everything touched.
+
+In the jungles nature has been very lavish with life. The forests
+contain more than four hundred kinds of trees--among them teak, ebony,
+camphor, and even good pine. Sumatra is also the home of several trees
+and plants from which gutta-percha is obtained. Railroads to connect the
+forest belts to the coast are the one thing needed to make Sumatra a
+lumber-producing country.
+
+For some reason or other many of the wild animals that crossed the
+shallow water between the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra did not cross the
+Sunda Strait to Java. There are many more kinds of animals in Sumatra
+than in Java; indeed, nearly all the larger species of wild animals of
+southern Asia are found in Sumatra, and only a few are in Java. There
+are many elephants in the uplands; the rhinoceros lives in the lowlands;
+the tiger lives in the jungle, as in India. The flying "fox" is one of
+the curiosities of Sumatra. So much for a name, however, for the animal
+is not a fox but a very large bat. Its wings are membranes that connect
+the limbs corresponding to one's fingers. Like other bats, it hangs from
+the limb of a tree, head down, in the daytime, and goes to business at
+night. Its body is not much larger than that of a hare, but when in
+flight it is four or five feet from tip to tip.
+
+[Illustration: Natives in the jungle, Sumatra]
+
+The flying "cat" is likewise a misnamed animal that bears no
+relationship to pussy, but is a kind of lemur. The wild dog, however, is
+very much dog and nuisance at the same time--as much of a nuisance as
+the coyote of the western United States, and far more numerous. The
+"coffee" rat is likewise a great nuisance wherever found; unfortunately
+it is found almost everywhere. Monkeys are also numerous.
+
+The natives of Sumatra, like those of Java, are Malays. Unlike them,
+however, they are difficult to govern; some of the interior tribes are
+fierce and warlike. Near the coast, and in places controlled by the
+Dutch, the native ruler is subject to an "elder brother" or Dutch
+commissioner. Most of the tribes of the interior are Muhammadans; they
+believe that they will be blessed if they are killed in war, and,
+therefore, they take every opportunity to make war. The natives of
+Acheen, a province in the northwestern part of the island, have always
+given the Dutch a great deal of trouble, and they are not fully
+conquered, even after a hundred years of warfare.
+
+One of the interior tribes, it is thought, came from India several
+hundred years ago, for their religion and customs are much the same as
+those of the Hindus. Although they are surrounded by savage tribes, and
+far removed from the civilization, both of India and Europe, they have
+reached a remarkable condition of civilization of their own. They are
+excellent farmers and stockmen; they also make firearms, cloth, and
+jewelry which they sell to the Malay peoples about them.
+
+Throughout the island the houses are much like those of Malay peoples
+elsewhere, with timber frames and thatched roofs. As in the other
+islands, they are set on posts wherever floods are likely to occur. The
+larger timbers of many houses are beautifully carved, although many of
+the designs are grotesque and even hideous. All the houses are clustered
+in villages. This is done partly for protection against man-eating
+tigers, and partly because the people are inclined to social life. The
+club-house is usually to be found in the villages. It is the town hall,
+bazaar, market, lounging place, and social club combined. Perhaps a
+wedding and a funeral may be going on there at the same time. Men
+gamble, and women gossip and chew betel-nut; the peddler likewise shows
+his bargain-counter wares at the club-house.
+
+The great plantations of sugar, coffee, and tobacco are managed much the
+same as in Java. The rice-fields are cultivated usually by the Chinese,
+and they have much of the trade in the rice. Sumatra is famous for its
+tobacco. The plants grow larger and higher than those cultivated in the
+United States. The leaves are large and the best of them are used as
+"wrappers," or outer coverings for fine cigars. Sumatra leaf commands a
+high price, and a considerable amount of the best tobacco is shipped to
+Cuba and the United States.
+
+The coffee crop is also of excellent quality. Some of it reaches the
+market as "Java" coffee; and, indeed, it is equal to the best coffee
+grown in Java. The beans are large, light in color, and of fine flavor.
+Carefully sorted Palembang coffee commands a high price.
+
+Sumatra is famous for its pepper, and not far from one-half the world's
+product of pepper comes from this island. The plant producing pepper is
+not the pepper-tree so commonly grown for its beautiful foliage and
+bright red berries in California and Mexico; it is a vine or climbing
+bush. It is commonly planted near to a sapling, around which it twines;
+but in many plantations the plants are pruned and trimmed so that they
+grow unsupported. The pepper of commerce consists of the dried berries
+or fruit of the vine. It is the custom to pick the berries as they turn
+red. The berries shrivel and turn black as they dry. These, when ground,
+are the black pepper of commerce. When fully ripe the color of the berry
+turns to a pale yellow and the outer skin is easily removed. The
+"husked" berries are used for making the white pepper of commerce.
+
+Sago is also an important product of Sumatra. It is the starchy pith of
+a kind of palm-tree--the sago-palm. The pith is dried, ground to a
+powder and washed in order to remove the stringy fibre. In the process
+of washing, the starchy granules sink to the bottom, while the woody
+fibre floats off.
+
+[Illustration: A jungle, scene in Sumatra]
+
+There are several large towns in Sumatra--Siboga, Padang, Benkulen,
+Telok Belong, and Palembang--but their names are rarely seen in print or
+spoken. The reason is not hard to find; Singapore, just across the
+Strait of Malacca, is a free port, with a fine harbor. Vessels from
+every part of the world call at Singapore, and it is much more
+convenient to have the Sumatra products marketed there than to send them
+from Sumatra ports.
+
+A few miles to the east of Sumatra are the islands of Banka and
+Billiton, famous for their tin mines. These mines produce about
+two-thirds the world's supply of tin. It is interesting to know that the
+silver-white metal, with which so many of our kitchen utensils are
+coated, has travelled more than half-way around the world to be used,
+but this is probably the case.
+
+Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. In this narrow strait is
+situated the island of Krakatoa, remarkable for one of the most
+destructive volcanic eruptions that have ever occurred. The great
+eruption was preceded by low rumblings and slight explosions for three
+months before the volcano burst out in all its fury, on the night of
+August 26, 1883. The explosions were heard at a distance of many hundred
+miles and over an area equal to one-thirteenth of the earth's surface.
+The entire southern part of the island was blown away and the earth was
+shaken for thousands of miles, the shock being recorded as far as South
+America.
+
+The upheaval caused a tidal wave one hundred and twenty feet high which,
+with the lava clots and ash ejected, destroyed all of the towns and
+plantations bordering on both sides of the straits. In this disaster
+more than forty thousand persons perished and every vestige of animal
+and vegetable life in the surrounding region disappeared. The only
+person left to look out upon the scene of destruction was the keeper of
+the light-house, a structure one hundred and thirty feet high, whose
+light the gigantic waves merely succeeded in extinguishing.
+
+A cubic mile of material is said to have been thrown out in the form of
+lapilli and dust by the successive explosions. The dust, estimated to
+have reached the height of several miles, was disseminated by the upper
+currents of air and caused the brilliant sunsets seen for months in
+nearly every part of the civilized world.
+
+Celebes is the most curiously shaped island in the world. It has a
+central body from which project four large arms, making it look like a
+huge starfish. These radiating peninsulas are mountain ranges, here and
+there peaked with volcano cinder cones. There are no low-lying marshes;
+the position and high surface render this one of the healthiest islands
+in the Malay Archipelago.
+
+The Dutch have had settlements here for more than two centuries; and
+their wise and just treatment of the natives has made the island famous
+for peace and prosperity. Except a few tribes of the interior, all the
+islanders are at least partly civilized. The natives who live in the
+coast regions are intelligent and industrious. Paganism and corrupted
+Muhammadanism are the prevailing religions, but Christianity has secured
+a firm hold in a few places. A written language and literature have
+prevailed for centuries.
+
+All able-bodied men are compelled to work and each year to give a few
+days' labor to keep the excellent roads in good repair; but they reap
+the reward of their industry and are happy and contented.
+
+The best coffee land in the East Indies is to be found on this island.
+The most favorable soil for coffee is the rich, black volcanic ash that
+covers the mountain slopes in many parts of north Celebes.
+
+The Menado coffee is said to be the finest the world produces.
+
+The coffee-trees are allowed to grow to the height of six feet, when the
+tops are cut off, so as to strengthen the growth of the lateral branches
+which bear the fruit.
+
+Besides a fungus disease, coffee has many other enemies. Both rats and
+mice are fond of the juicy stalks of the berries when they are nearly
+ripe, and they nibble at them until the berries fall. The long-haired
+black rat is the greatest of these pests. Cats are kept on each
+plantation to prey upon the animal pests; but, unfortunately, the
+natives are very fond of cats--not as pets, but as articles of food.
+This feline appetite on the part of the workmen causes the owner to keep
+a vigilant watch over his cat family, and to severely punish any
+offender. Perhaps in time they will learn to employ the python as a
+rat-catcher, for the python is not surpassed for this purpose.
+
+The forest trees are much like those of the adjacent islands. There are
+no very large animals, those peculiar to Celebes being the tailless
+baboon and the "pig-deer," which has tusks and curving horns.
+
+Parts of the interior of Celebes still remain unexplored and are said to
+be inhabited by cannibals and head-hunters.
+
+Macassar is the capital and chief city. It is situated in the southern
+part of the southwestern peninsula, and in commerce ranks next to the
+largest cities of Java. Its trade totals upward of three million dollars
+annually.
+
+The principal exports of the island are coffee, rice, nutmegs, cloves,
+dammer, copal, rattan, copra, tobacco, trepang, and tortoise-shell;
+coffee greatly outranking all the other products.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+BORNEO AND PAPUA
+
+
+Hot, damp, and swampy along the coast lowlands; rugged and fairly
+pleasant in the high plateau lands--that is Borneo, an island as large
+as the State of Texas. Borneo has a great future, however, when a race
+of civilized people can be found who can inhabit it, for it is even more
+unhealthful than Sumatra.
+
+But the wealth is there--diamonds that are rather poor in color, gold,
+copper, iron, coal, and petroleum. That is a good list, and it remains
+only to find a people who can live there and make the great wealth of
+the island available to the world. Perhaps it may be the Japanese--less
+likely the Chinese, for they are content to trade with the natives.
+Possibly it may be the Filipinos--for some of the Filipinos, especially
+the Moros, are the descendants of Borneo peoples.
+
+Safe it is to say that the native tribes will not accomplish this
+result, for they are among the most debased and disgusting savages on
+the face of the earth. Many of these tribes are Malays governed by
+chiefs, or dattoes. Some of the tribes near the coast carry on a crude
+sort of farming, which is encouraged by the Chinese merchants who buy
+their produce. Some of the interior tribes just live, being both lazy
+and vicious. For food, there is an abundance of bananas and meat. As to
+the meat, it makes little or no difference about the kind; any animal
+whose flesh has become putrid is relished.
+
+The most interesting natives of Borneo, however, are the Dyaks, the
+people from whom the Moros of the Philippine Islands are descended. They
+are perhaps the most intelligent, but certainly the most troublesome
+peoples. They are best known as the "head-hunters" of Borneo. Among
+themselves, the one who has killed the greatest number of people is the
+greatest man of the tribe, and the heads of his victims are the
+testimony to his greatness. So the head-hunters kill just for the
+pleasure of killing, and the heads of their victims are kept as
+trophies. Not all Dyak tribes are head-hunters, however.
+
+When they are not off on head-hunting expeditions, the Dyaks are very
+industrious farmers. They are fond of ornaments. The men of some of the
+tribes wear richly embroidered jackets; the women may wear waists made
+of fine rattan strung with metal beads and ornaments. They may even wear
+crowns of burnished metal; at all events, they are certain to wear
+earrings of astonishing size--perhaps three or four inches across and
+made of solid brass. To hold these pieces of native jewelry the lobes of
+the ears, after they have been pierced, are stretched until they form
+loops two inches or more in length.
+
+The men also are fond of earrings and similar ornaments, but a real Dyak
+swell does not consider himself properly in style until his front teeth
+are filed away so that they are notched and shut together like the teeth
+of a steel trap. Moreover, he cannot hope to obtain a wife unless he has
+at least one head as a trophy.
+
+In hunting, the Dyak often makes use of the blow-gun. This weapon, for
+short distances, is about as sure and true as a rifle. It is a wooden
+tube four or five feet in length, the bore of which is made very
+straight and smooth. The arrow, or dart, fits the bore of the tube. To
+make sure of the game the tip of the dart is dipped in a most deadly
+poison; so that, if it merely breaks the skin of the animal at which it
+is shot, it makes a wound that is quickly fatal.
+
+Unlike most of the natives of the tropical Indies, instead of living in
+villages, the Dyaks frequently live in communal houses. Sometimes twenty
+or more families live in the same house, which is not unlike the
+communal houses of the American Indian, except that it is surrounded by
+a broad veranda.
+
+Hunting honey in the forests is one of the native sports. The forests of
+certain parts of Borneo seem to be alive with wild bees. As a result,
+honey and wax are very abundant. The honey-bear gets a good share of the
+wild honey, for his shaggy hide is proof against the stings of the bees.
+The Dyak hunter has no shaggy coating to protect him; so he goes about
+robbing the bees in a more scientific manner.
+
+The bees seem to prefer the mengalis tree, which has so many angles and
+hollow places about its trunk that to build the comb is an easy matter.
+Not infrequently there may be fifty or more swarms in a single tree.
+When a bee-tree is to be robbed, great piles of a certain plant or weed
+are collected and put in such a position that the smoke will be carried
+against the nesting-places of the swarms. The piles are then fired. The
+smoke neither kills the bees nor does it drive them off; it merely
+stupefies them. When the humming of the bees is hushed, comb and honey
+are easily removed. A considerable part of the wax is exported, but
+thousands of tons are wasted.
+
+Hunting in the forests of Borneo has its unpleasant features, for the
+leeches are almost as numerous as the leaves of the trees. They are big,
+fat, ugly-looking slugs, but they can stretch their bodies into a small,
+thin form. When waiting for a victim they lengthen and sway their
+threadlike bodies to and fro, ready to launch out at the first
+opportunity. So gently do they commence their work that the pricking
+sensation is felt only when they are gorged with blood and begin to
+loosen their hold.
+
+The gathering of edible birds' nests, built by a kind of swallow, is
+quite an industry, and is confined to the rocky-cliff sections of
+certain parts of the coast where cover abounds. This species of swallow
+is smaller than the common swallow and builds its nest either in the
+dark limestone caverns or in the crevices and nooks of the overhanging
+cliffs. The chief material used in constructing the nest is a glutinous
+saliva produced by the bird itself. The Chinese are very fond of the
+nests, and Chinese merchants buy most of them.
+
+The roofs of some of the caves frequented by these swallows are several
+hundred feet above their floors, and to reach the nests, scattered over
+the curved roofs and sides, it is necessary to construct ladders and
+stages. These are made out of rattan and bamboo and are fastened by pegs
+driven into the limestone walls. Crawling up on these slender supports
+with a candle and forked bamboo pole, the native proceeds to detach the
+nests, which he passes to a companion below. When the nests are built
+in caves and crevices, near the top of cliffs, a swinging ladder is
+dropped from above.
+
+There are two kinds of nests, the clear yellowish-white ones, and the
+dark ones. The former bring a price as high as twelve dollars per pound;
+the latter only one-tenth as much. The best nests are found in the
+darkest caves.
+
+Bird-nest gathering is a perilous calling, and serious accidents are not
+infrequent. The nests are gathered two or three times a year.
+
+The northern part of Borneo is British territory, and the British also
+control the States of Sarawak and Brunei; the rest of the island is a
+part of the Dutch East Indies. The British are more interested in the
+minerals and jungle produce, such as gutta-percha, rattan, rubber, and
+birds' nests, than in the cultivation of plantations. The Dutch, on the
+other hand, are trying to establish the great plantations there that
+have made Java famous. Already these are producing great quantities of
+sago, tobacco, and sugar.
+
+There are no large cities and only a few ports with good harbors, but
+German steamships make the rounds of the ports and carry the produce to
+Singapore, the clearing-house of the East Indies.
+
+Scarcely one hundred and fifty miles north of Australia lies Papua, or
+New Guinea. Next to Greenland it is the largest island in the world, and
+in many ways it is the world's wonderland. It was one of the first large
+bodies of land discovered after the discovery of America, and one of the
+last to be settled by Europeans. Most likely dry land at one time
+connected Australia and New Guinea, for the animal and plant life of the
+two are much the same. Even the Great Barrier Reef that skirts the east
+coast of Australia extends part-way around New Guinea.
+
+Of all the islands southeast of Asia, New Guinea is the most
+interesting. It is rich beyond measure with things useful and
+beautiful. Sugar-cane grows wild from sea to mountain; wild oranges,
+lemons, and limes can be had for the picking; and land adapted for
+growing rice, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cocoanuts, and cinchona is
+plentiful. There are mountain summits clad in everlasting snow,
+healthful plateaus abounding in delightful scenery, and dank coast
+plains in which lurks the deadly jungle fever.
+
+Dense forests cover most of the island, but the forest trees of the East
+Indies are not to be found except here and there in the northwest neck
+of the island. The famous eucalyptus abounds in the lowland regions; so
+also does the nipa-palm. Pines, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand,
+grow in the high plateaus. Most singular of all, in the high mountain
+regions one may find the alpine plants of Europe, New Zealand, the
+Antarctic islands, and the Andine heights of South America. Still
+another strange feature is to be found: while the forest trees are
+Australian kinds, the plants that make the forests a thicket are the
+rattans and other jungle plants of India!
+
+New Guinea is noted for birds of beautiful plumage, especially birds of
+paradise, of which there are many kinds. Among the insects is one
+commonly known as the "praying" mantis. It is related to the grasshopper
+and is found also in many other parts of the world. In New Guinea the
+praying mantis is three or four inches long and at first sight seems to
+be nothing but a broken twig. In various parts of the world it is known
+as "preacher," "nun," "soothsayer," and "saint." It has received its
+name from the fact that it rests in a sort of kneeling position, holding
+its forelegs in a devotional attitude.
+
+Its character, however, is anything but saintly; it is a most vicious
+wretch that may well be called the tiger of the insect world. The
+devotional attitude is the position in which it can best seize its
+insect prey; for when an unsuspecting insect lights on what seems to be
+a green twig, snap!--those blade-like forelegs armed with sharp spikes
+come together like scissors, and the unlucky victim is cut to pieces in
+an instant.
+
+John Chinaman has discovered a use for the praying mantis--a very
+practical use, too. John and his near-by friends capture a lot of the
+insects, carry them to a convenient bungalow, turn them loose in a
+cockpit, and bet on the survivor. When the insects are turned loose
+there is business on hand, for they go to work at once, cutting one
+another to pieces by the most approved methods of surgical amputation.
+The owner of the survivor wins.
+
+The native Papuans much resemble the bushrangers of Australia; they are
+Negritos, with black skins and woolly hair. There are a few tribes of
+natives that much resemble the peoples of Samoa and Hawaii; there are
+also other tribes that resemble the Malays of southeastern Asia.
+
+The Papuan tribes of the coast are about as degraded as the bushrangers
+of Australia. Some of the tribes are cannibals who have a fondness for
+sailors that have been wrecked on the shores of New Guinea. They are
+neither better nor worse than most of the other tribes of islanders.
+Like other islanders, too, they are tractable and easily governed by the
+Europeans who treat them decently. Not very much is known about the
+tribes in the interior, except that some of them have neither houses nor
+clothing. They live in the trees, and wear no clothing. They are hardly
+better off than the troops of monkeys, but unlike them eat raw flesh
+instead of fruit and nuts.
+
+Missionaries have established schools along the coast settlements, and
+the native children trained in these schools make amazing progress. They
+learn to read and write quickly, are neat in dress, and polite in
+manners. Many of the boys who attend the mission schools are trained to
+skilled labor on the plantations; some go to the interior as missionary
+teachers.
+
+A few of the Papuan tribes have reached a condition of barbarism much
+like that of the Iroquois Indians in New York when the white men found
+them. They live in houses, some of them four or five hundred feet in
+length. Perhaps thirty or forty families may occupy a single house. The
+houses are divided into apartments, each family living separately.
+
+In some of the tribes the men live in a communal house by themselves.
+The women live in small huts, two or three together. They cook the food,
+which they carry to the communal house; they also do all the work
+required in cultivating the gardens of yams, bananas, and vegetables.
+War, hunting, and fishing are the only pursuits of the men.
+
+Three nations, Holland, Great Britain, and Germany, have divided New
+Guinea among them. The Dutch have the eastern half of the island. The
+British and Germans possess each about one-quarter, British New Guinea
+being situated opposite to Queensland, Australia. The British own the
+Solomon Islands to the eastward of New Guinea, also.
+
+The Dutch are laying out plantations and teaching the natives to work
+them in the same way that they are managed in Java. The British are busy
+exploring the interior, looking especially to the rich mines in their
+possession. They have also established a considerable trade in copra,
+sago, pearl shell, and cocoa-fibre mats. They are planting rubber-trees,
+for there is no better land in the world for rubber. They have one great
+advantage, namely, the Fly River, which is navigable six hundred miles
+from its mouth, and opens a trading route far into the interior. Port
+Moresby is the trade centre of British New Guinea.
+
+The Germans make their share of the island pay expenses by taxing and
+licensing the traders who go there to do business, and they manage to
+get a considerable profit out of it. When they find that a trading
+company is making too much money they buy the company out and carry on
+the business themselves; and this is profitable, too.
+
+Although less is known about New Guinea than almost any other part of
+the earth, enough is known to make it certain that it is one of the most
+desirable bodies of land in the world.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
+AND OCEANIA***
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