The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1869-12-09
TIE DEAD SEA OF cALrFoaN1A
BY MARX TWAIN.

HdE CuIloSiltCSy pul uSiifS SituatCu III
a very out-ef-thc-way corner of the
country, and away up among the eter-
nal SHOWS of the Sierras, it is little
known and very seldom visited. A
mining excitement carried me there
once, and 1 spent several months in
its vicinity. Ii lies in Il lifeless, tree
less, hideous desert, 5000 feet above
the level of the sea, and is guarded by
mountains, 1900 feet higher, whose
SUBMITS are hidden in the clouds.
This solemn, silent, sailless sea-this
lonely tenant Of the loneliest spot on
earth-is little graced with the pictur-
esque. 1t is an unpretending expanse
of grayish water, about hundred
miles in circumference, with two is
lands in its center, mere upheavals Of
rent, and scorched and blistered lava,
showed over with gray banks and
drifts of puInice stone and ashes, the
winding sheet of the dead volcano,
whose vast crater the lake has seized
upon and occupied.
The Lake is 1000 feet deep, and its
sluggish watersare so strong with al
kali that if you dip the most hopeless
ly soiled garment into them once OF
twice, and wiring it out, it will be
found as clean as if it had been
through the hands of your ablest
washerw oman. While we encamped
there our laundry work was easy.
We tied the weeks washing astern
of our boat, ind sailed quarter of a
mile, and he job was complete, all to
tie Nlir2irg out. IF we threw
the water on our heads, and
gave them rub or SO, the white
lather would pile up three inches high
This water is not good for bruised
places or abrasions of the skin. We
had a valuable dog. He had raw pla-
ces on him. He had more raw places
on him than sound ones. He was the
rawest dog 1 almost ever saw. He
jumped overheard one day to get rid
of the flies. But it was bad judge
ment. In his condition it would have
been just as comfortable to jump into
the fire. The alkaii water nipped him
in the raw places simultaneously and
he struck out for the shore with con-
siderable interest. He, yelped and
barked and lowled as he went-and
by the time he got to the shore there
was no bark to .him-for he had bark
ed the bark all out of his inside, and
the alkali water had cleaned the bark
all off his outside, and he probably
wished he never embarked in any
such enterprise. He ran round and
round in circle, and paved the earth
and clawed the air, and threw double
somersetts, sometimes backwards and
sometimes forwards, in the most fran
tic and extraordinary manner He
was not demonstrative dog as gen
eral thing, but rather of grave and
serious turn of mind, and / never saw
him take so much interest in anything
before. He finally struck out over
the mountains, at gate which we es-
timated at about $50 miles an hour,
and he is going yet. This was about
five years ago. We look for what is
left of him along here every day,
A white nam can not drink the
waters Of Mono Lake, for it is nearly
pure lye. 1t is said the Indians in
the vicinity drink it sometimes,
though. 1t is not improbable, for
they are among the purest liars I ever
saw. There will be no additional
charge for this joke, except to parties
requiring an explanation of it. This
joke has received high commentator
from some ofthe ablest minds of the
age. Horace Greely remarked to a
friend of mind that if he were ever to
make joke like that he would not
desire to live any longer.l
There are no fish in Mono Lake
no frogs, no snakes, no nothing in
fact, that goes to make life desirable.
Millions of wild ducks and seagulls
swim about the surface, but no living
thing exists under the surface, except
white feathery sort of worm, one
half inch long, which looks like bit
of white thread frayed at the sides.
If you dip up gallon of water, you
will get about fifteen thousand of
these. They give to the water sort
of grayish-white appearance. Then
there is fly, which looks like our
house fly. These settle on the beach,
to eat the worms that wash ashore
and any time you can see there belt
of flies all inch deep, and six feet wide
and this belt extends clear around the
lake-a belt of flies hundred miles
long. If you throw a stone among
them, they swarm up so thick that
they look dense like a cloud. You
| can hold them under water as long as
you please-they don't mind it-they
are only proud of it. When you let
them go, they pop up to the surface
as dry as patent Office report, and
walk off as unconcernedly as if they
had been educated especially with a
view to affording instructive enter
! tainment to man in that particular
way. Providence leaves nothing to
go by chance. All things have their
uses, and their parts in natures econ
omy, The ducks and gulls eat the flies
the flies eat the worms-the Indians
eat the f1ies-the wild cats eat the
Indians-the white folks eat the wild
cats when the crops fail-and thus all
things arc lovely.
Mono Lake is $50 miles in straight
line from the ocean-and between it
and the ocean are two ranges of noun
tains-yet thousands of sea gulls go
there every season to lay their eggs
and hatch their young. One would
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