The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1868-01-15

rial of which the mobile Saxon
never heard. The Indians in the
vicinity tell US it has always been
thus. Ont of this plain. OF valley,
rather, which extends over an area
of fifty miles, issues a million OF
sharp jets of blush white flame,
.interspersed with ftful puffs of
pearly vapor, which sail upwards
in endless turbinated conyelutions,
until reaching a high altitude,
they dissolve and blend with
the ductuating cloud which hangs
over the valley, as if to shield it
from mortal eyes. The plain, is
dotted with innumerable ramps,
from whence these .yapory and
fiery columns are emitted. La their
formationthey resemble miniature
volcanoes. ,Flre-springs like these
may be found in China, and the
geysers Of Iceland are: but; results
of f;volcanic action of the same ma
ture, though Of, greater force and
powerthan the hot springs in the
valley of the Yellow stone One
cannot help thinking that fercest
fires rage somewhere below the
external development Of the plain,
to. thus fan and force flames above
the surface. A gentleman and q
savaat. connected with our party
.ascribes these igneous streams to
gases escaping from a :'veiled hell
Another speciality of volcanic &C
tion may be observed by closer in
vestigation+ Of the: eonicaf hills
which loom up from the surface in
every direction. Though" there
are no deep2craters IN their sum
n1its, it is an easy matter to detect
q gentle hollow in each, more or
less deep; covered with erumbhng
particles of iaFa-like rock. The
base and sides are also thickly
strewn with the like porous de-
posits--somer of very large =,sizs'
ike enormous cindery cakes, the
refuse Of a foundry furnace. A
sulphurous odor is 10 the atmos-
phere, reminding one<of our COM
panions; of his. experience Of a
choke damp. Surrounding the en-
tire plain are lofty zealeiferoas
rocks, eroded and skeietonized by
action of rains or shifting bodies
of water, which now bear the ap-
peafance .of inverted pyramids,
prisms, and various other confgu'
rations,. Besides preparing detrs-
las, which: lay piled in heaps at
the foot Of the cliffs, frequent tor
rents had so eorroded and dis
mantled tho rocks that one would
imagine that a destructive fire had
raged'and burned up a city, BY the
quantity of fallen columns which
lay. scattered around in the most
indescribable : confusion. In the
interstices of the debris there bub-
.bled numerous saline springs, and,
continuing our examination fur
ther, we discovered several hot
water springs from whence vapory
columns continually assembled.
On testing the warmth Of the
water with Farenheit's thermome-
ter, the mercury, which stood pre-
viously at eighty degrees, shot up
to one hundred and eighty degrees.
The tread of our horses feet sound
ed hollow, while the noise seemed
to rcverberate along the earth like
an echo. Not a blade Of grass
waste be seen. except along the
margin of the tiny streams. The
whole aspect of the plain was arid
in the extreme. Ghostly relics Of
animal life covered the ground
along the stream. This was eyi,
IDENTIFY caused by the gathering Of
the Bufaloes in the fall to cross
the Sweet Grass, where they lux.
uriated for a season, protected by
the rising hills from the bleak
winds, which with the force OF
simoons sweep over the northern
prairies, until the severity of the
season and the scarcity Of grass
compelled them to leave, when
they found their egress prevented
by the deep SHOWS in the passes
and they must have perished from