The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-04-22

thing more tEan what he represented |
himself.'D 2 7.-t' H'l. 5--1-
A RIVER UNDER THE ROCKY NOM
TAINs.
.Is --- .ss -H-.. - t-- "
Curious Letter from George Catlin.
Trubner,s Record contains the fol-
lowing letter from from Mr.. Catlin:
Mr.: Catlin, the American ethno-
graphist, whose extensive travels have
led him through the widest and drnd-
est scenery of America, has turned his
attention for several years past from
the Indians to rocks, and has made in
these studies voyages to South Amer
lea, to the Rocky Mountains, the An
des and the Antilles, the results of
which he is preparing to publish in
work entitled The Lifted and Sub
sided Rocks of America, with their
Influences on the Oceanic, Atn,ospher-
ic and Land Currents And one Of
the striking features of this book
seems to be, to quote his own words,
".the discovery of q river under the
Rocky Mountains many times larger
than the Mississippi, its course nearly
twice the Mississippi length, and giid-
ing through the clean and vast rocky
cellars of the upheaved mountains
without the losses by alluYial absorp-
tions and solar corporations, which
diminish valley rivers, it takes along
in its course the sinking streams and
lakes of the mountains of Mexico,
and with them, perhaps a hundred
mouths in its deep bed, debouches un-
seen into the Caribbean Sea and the
Gulf of Mexico. il3i 8i.i isua .H5hiiH9
"HThe frequent Moaatagnes qui .fis-
ment,' 'Roches qai treneblent,' and
Blowing Caves which occur in the
Rocky Mountain range Che says) in
dicate submontagne cascades caused
by the, waters of melting snoWs, of
rains, of glaciers, and a thousand sink
ing rivers and lakes, which, amongst
broken up and angular rocks,o are on
their way to the ocean level,a all san
Through the vast and heated vaults
underneath the Andes, contemplate
similar river, running from the thir-
tieth degree of south latitude to the
north, and carrying their overHowing
waters also the Caribbean Sea. a., 5r
/" The Antilles, now partially, sunk
in the ocean, are but q chain of noun
tain tops which, six Thousand years
ago, stood up in their grandeur, a part
(and, probably, the glory Of the An
des; and at that date the two mighty
submontagne rivers, meeting and de-
bouching together into the ocean, east
OF north of the Antilles, combined
with extraordinary volcanic indu-
ences, undermined the Antilles chain,
which went down in the Cstaclysm
well established in Indian traditions
which I have gathered both in Nortt
and South America, and also by un'
impeachable records on the rocks
themselves-by shapes and grooves
left in the giant walls at Caracas and
Santa Martha, on the coast of Yene.
zuela, where this mighty chain wa
broken records which, ! have twic,
seen, which may be read by al
ages to come, and which are not mythl
OF fables. e.r..{ sT;lla.yE
In this tremendous catastrophe
probably the most stupendous tina
ever took place on the surface of tn,
globe, the Peninsula of Yucstan, will
its splendid Aztec cities, sank, ani
since has partially risen, leaving th'
two grand sunken estuaries, the Gul
, of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, int
which the two subterrAnean rivers
from the constant overflow of thei
vast cisterns under the mountains
now spread their clear and blue wa
, ters, heated by the volcanic furnace
they have passed. By the joint in
fiux of these rivers into the uCaribeal
Sea, its western surface is elevatet
several feet above the level of tn,
ocean and pouring into the Gulf o
, Mexico, sweeping its western coast
and taking in its way the waters o
Rio del Norte and the Mississippi
this vast food debouches with then
into the Atlantic, at the Florida Cape
, and there becomes the Gulf Stream
until now one of the mooted puzzle
of the world. ;NGfA2F q
D 5Tr .aI...s GEORGE CATLIN.r