The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-06-30

over it. like the ribs of some gigantic skeleton
| from which the flesh had fallen.
Seen in the distance, these rocky piles, s.
tall, so vast so multtudinous intersected b.
labyrinthne passages, their turreted walls
truncated pyramids, and sharp, clustering
spires, rising into light from the black masses
OF their shadows, assume the appearance OF ar
tifcial structures-a wild nightmare dream o
| Cyclopean MISUNDERSTANDING buttress ant
| lofty arch, shaft, colonnade, and spire-th'
| Petrea of the Western Wilderness silent city
of the Misunderstanding out to the horizons lint
on the right hand and on the left, and west
wardly in endless succession Of towers anc
mural escarpments, to the grim background o
the Black Mountains scene to remind ont
of the runous stony halls of Istakar, through
the portals of which the mad Caliph in Vathel
sought the presence Of the internal deities.
$50 thickly,n says the geological surveyo
of this wonderful tract, in his report to Con
gress, ARE these natural towers studded owe
this extraordinary region, that the travelle
threads his way through deep intricate passa
ges not unlike some quaint old town Of tn
European continent
cone might almost imagine oneself ap
preaching some magnificent city of the dead
where the labor and genius of forgotten ma
tons had left behind them a multitude o
monuments of their art and skill.
"On descending from the heights, however
and proceeding to thread this vast labyrinth
and inspect in detail its deep intricate recess
es, the realities of the scene soon dissipate the
illusions of distance. The castellated forms
which fancy had conjured up vanish, and
around one, on every side, is bleak and barren
| desolation."
The whole region is, in fact one of savage
and irremediable desolation. The curse OF
sterility broods over it--treeless and pathless-
a maze of innumerable defles, choked with de-
bris and overhung with ash-colored walls of
rock.
For the geologist however this melancholy
tract has no lack of interest 1t is rich in
fossil remains of animal races long extinct,
and heretofore unknown. Grim secrets Of an
of rudimental life present themselves in some
localities, at every turn. The enormous Palo-
cotherium, which formed connecting link
between the tapir and the rhinoceros, the horse
and the hog-one specimen of which measured
five feet along the range of its teeth-the Ar
chiotherium, uniting in itself the characters Of
the pachyderous, plautigrades, and the digiti-
grades foreshadowing in its singular combi-
nation the hog, the bear, and the oat--the
small rhinoccros Nebrascenss, bearing a
marked resemblance to the living babyrousa
and peccary together with many other remark
able and novel varieties Of animal life roamed
over these lands at period so remote that the
mind staggers under the effort of computa-
ton. Geology ascrites the date of their ex-
istence TO time when, of all which now con-
stitutes Europe and Asia only few scattered
islands slowly rising from wide waste Of
ocean, were visible; when Mount Etna and
aud the plateau of Sicily were still deep under
the tertiary Mediterranean sea when the Alps
and the great sub-Himmalayan range Of North
ern indla were yet uniformed; when, on this
continent the nov far inland mountain chains
We're the seaboard Of the Atlantic whose
waves washed the great Mississippi valley. and
beat against the bluas Of Yicksburg These
fossil deposites are exciting great degree Of
interest in the scientific world and already.
during the present season, three expeditions.
one of them composed Of European savans,
have left St Louis TO renew the investigation
Of their mysteries, and decipher their marvel.
lous record Of the history Of our planet
The Mauvaises Terres, notwithstanding their
great extent occupy in reality but a small por.
ton Of the beautiful Territory Of Nebraska
Close around their waste and desolstion,
Spreading between the streams are the wondrou
beautiful prairies,
Billowy bays Of grass ever rolling in sunshine an,
shadow.
Bright with luxuriaut clusters Of roses and purpl
smorphas
Over them wander the buffalo herds and the elk. an
the roe buck
Over them wander the wolves and the herds Of rider
less horses
Fires that blast and blight and winds that are wear
Of travel
And all is the sky the clear crystalline heaven
Like the protecting hand Of God inverted aboy
| them"
The promise which this country holds gu
to the enigrant is, il must be owned, great
abated by the proceedings of the late sossio
of Congress on the bill for its organization as
Territory Of the United States. That bill wa
rejected in the Senate, after q brief debate
disclosing the settled hostility of the Southern
members to any increase Of free territory Tn
delegate of the Nebraska settlers was told b
one OF thess GelteHen, that he had "rathe
see the whole Territory SUNK TO poll than OF
ganized as free soil" There is reason TO bt
licve that the territorial organization has bee
delayed for the purpose of enabling slaveholC
era with their Slaves &c obtain ioothold i
Nebraska. That the Government sosld cour
tenance such a design to the extent OF Il
power there is little doubt; and thus, wha
natural causes have done to portion Of tn
Territory, may be inflicted upon the whole b
the folly ale wickedness of man The tide O
free emigration is nov ,aEidly rolling acros
Iowa. and filling up the great bends OF "
Missouri. Ii remains to be seen whether tina
emigration shall pause ON the confines of Ne
braska, and, recoi'ias from its green luxuri
ance, as the traveller now does fros4 TIE Gloom
Geaert which it encircles, turn away TO the irc
homes of Oregon and Minnesota. The re
striction of the old Missouri Compromise find
little respect in the eyes Of Southern props