Our planet, its past and future; or, Lectures on geology . flowingtlirough numerous winding- channels, and causing theportions left in relief to assume the appearance of lantas-tic ruins. The region is thus described by David DaleOwen : — From the uniforin, monotonous, open prairie, thetraveller suddenly descends one or two hundi-ed feetinto a val!ey that looks as if it hud sunk away from thosurrounding world, leaving standing all over it thousandsof abrni)t, irregular, prismatic, and columnar masses, fre-([uently capped with irregulai- pyi-amids, and stretchingup to a height of from one to tw
Our planet, its past and future; or, Lectures on geology . flowingtlirough numerous winding- channels, and causing theportions left in relief to assume the appearance of lantas-tic ruins. The region is thus described by David DaleOwen : — From the uniforin, monotonous, open prairie, thetraveller suddenly descends one or two hundi-ed feetinto a val!ey that looks as if it hud sunk away from thosurrounding world, leaving standing all over it thousandsof abrni)t, irregular, prismatic, and columnar masses, fre-([uently capped with irregulai- pyi-amids, and stretchingup to a height of from one to two hundred feet or more. So thickly are these natural towers studded over thesurface of this extraordinary region, that the travellerthreads his way through dee[), confined, labyrinthine pas-sabres not unlike thenarrow, irregularstrecits and lanes ofsoino quaint old townof the European con-tinent. Numerous fossils,once end)edded inthe clay, have beenwashed out, and ob-tained ; among them,many turtles. from its hemispherical shape. Jhe weight of. Tcstiido iHtiii-iilurM-a. 41, from this regit)n, derives 218 LECTURES ON GEOLOGY. some specimens now lying there lias been cstimatcf^lit a ton. The tertiary period seems to have been emi-nentlv favorable for turtles, especially the early part ofit: most deposits of that age contain remains of basked on the logs that lay in the rivers; tlieyIJ«)ated on the tepid waters of the shallow lakes; theyMjade paths along the sandy shores to their nests, whereeggs innumerable were buried, from which new broodswere continually raised. Forty species of extinct mammals have been discov-ered in the beds of the manccases terres: eight of themcarnivorous, or flesh-eaters, and related tt)the hyena, dog,and panther; and twenty-five herltivorou^^, (u* vegetable-feeders, and resembhag tlie deer, hog, camel, and jaw of one paleotliere (resembhng tlio*e of theParis basin, but larger) measures five feet along therange of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidourplanetits, bookyear1881
