The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-18

.eport. which is of especial interest just
Now, is the description of the Great
#ift valley. AS the readers of this
zrticle are aware, by far the greater
hart Of the contour of the earth's crust.
H. we now see it. has been formed,
&culptured as il were, by erosion of
Iivers and glaciers. A third shaping
Hgency has been volcanic eruption, and
hose huge cataciysms or cracks known
Is geological faults, wherein the
frust of the earth has been lifted up
III pressure from beneath to height,
here il has parted. and in the drop
Eack ore portion has sunk much lower
Than the other.
Though these faults are to be found
Everywhere, yet they are not as a rule
"a great extent. That to which the
= ,rpatioa of the Great Rift valley of
.2stern Africa was due, appears to
1--we been more than 1000 miles in
xngth. Whether this vast geological
q catastrophe was simultaneous through
ut the entire length of the Rift or oc-
&,rred at different times. DR.. Gregory
Md -hose who have studied the story
its rocks are not able to determine.
nut what is clear is that this mon
&rous trough extends in practically an
lbroken line from northern Syria and
2alestine through east Africa and al
7,orn enc end to another of its course
Il presents many aspects different from
<nything else upon the surface of the
&arth. Not only does it seem to have
different geological history. but scat
&sred along its floor is a series of over
thirty lakes, including the high expanse
u Victoria Nyanza, only one of which
8as an outlet TO the sea. Mora than all
<his although the plateau of east At
8ica Is among the most ancient portions
Ne our present land area. there being
Evidence that never throughout geo.
logical eras did it sink below the sea,
Here is evidence. on the other hand.
zhat the formation Of this continental
Trough, and of Rift valley in partieu-
17r was of comparatively recent date,
Perhaps reaching down to within the
tcope of human tradition.
AND LEGENDS OF
g THE STRUCTURAL CHANGE.
4 All along the line the natives have
kAditions and legends of great changes
q the structure of the country The
&rabs tell us that the Red sea is sim
$ly water than did not dry UP after
35oaa's deluge. The Somali. who live
"a tc the south OF the Soudan, say
at when their ancestors crossed from
|IHDltl TO l1IIlCd lIltIt WIS a ld9lQ COI-
*ection between the two across the
trait Of Babel Mandeb. The natives of
4fji1i q Thousand miles further to the
5outh. have folk lore that goes back
10 the time when Lake Tanganyika
svas formed by the flooding of a fertile
&lain, rich In cattle and plantations.
Evhile at the extreme northern end of
fae valley we have accounts of the de-
<truction of the towns Of Sodom and
L -
&,uted to- have invited the wrath of the
$ubterranean elements.
/ In support of these traditions there
~ geological evidence to show that
Ereaf earth movements have happened
#ionz this Rift valley, as it may be
Eermed. at so recent a date that 1t is
n distinctly probable that the traditions
re predictions of geographical
Manages. The structure of the Rift val
8y has. therefore, a varied interest.
alone from its singular and unex-
Mount Of it's explanation of some of
trhat DR. Gregory. with a complacenr
&sr. is pleased to cali the best known
atcries in our folk lore meaning
Whereby some Of the variations of the
-3ftse. But the valley seems of further
Interest to science in yet another way.
Astronomers have long been puzzled as
Z D the origin Of q series cf long. narrow
&lefts surrounding the ring systems
Ne the moon. If. says Dr. Gregory, all
&he air and water were removed from
earth then the Rift valley would
&9resent much of the same aspect to an
4uhahltant Of the moon as some of the
3ars7er Of the lunar riiis present to US.
N The existence OF what might be called
&Rift valley proper. that IS to say. that
PORTION Of the great trough which lies
s@s-szeen about two degrees north OF the
k0NI fcr a1a five degrees south, has
y cen lxn6'Nn to African travellers more
r. less lly hearsay for a considerable
Lime, and IN 1888 the valley itself