II

THE DIVINE ABYSS

I





In making the journey to the great Southwest,--Colorado, New
Mexico, and Arizona,--if one does not know his geology, he is pretty
sure to wish he did, there is so much geology scattered over all
these Southwestern landscapes, crying aloud to be read. The book of
earthly revelation, as shown by the great science, lies wide open in
that land, as it does in few other places on the globe. Its leaves
fairly flutter in the wind, and the print is so large that he who
runs on the California Limited may read it. Not being able to read
it at all, or not taking any interest in it, is like going to Rome
or Egypt or Jerusalem, knowing nothing of the history of those
lands.

Of course, we have just as much geology in the East and Middle West,
but the books are closed and sealed, as it were, by the enormous
lapse of time since these portions of the continent became dry land.
The eroding and degrading forces have ages since passed the meridian
of their day's work, and grass and verdure hide their footsteps. But
in the great West and Southwest, the gods of erosion and degradation
seem yet in the heat and burden of the day's toil. Their unfinished
landscapes meet the eye on every hand. Many of the mountains look as