Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-08-25
WHEN THE EARTH is HUNGRY.
Ways OF the Planet is Eating Up Its
Substance


Substance.
When one reads or hears of some sud
den and Violent alteration in the crust Of
this planet OF ours one instinctvely puts
1t down TO something in the way of u vol
canic outburst. In most cases 1t is So
But not always. Mother Earth has many
fashions of building up what she likes
ana getting rid OF what she is tired of.
One hardly wonders that Indian tribes
VINO frequented the shores of the Column
bia river used to Worship as the AL
DeNuurinS One" Il great cliff near the
Cascades, which for many years past has
been steadily advancing upon the river
us bed ami forming huge lake above.
TINS Will Inevitably happen. The noun
tain. which Is 2.COO feet high and eight
miles long, has been proved to be moving;
forward and downward at rate OF one
&c three feet Il year. The railway track
stantly altered The reason of this pom
| derous landslide is that the mountain
rests on layer of soft sandstone, which
The village of Sainte Fey de Tarentaise.
In Eastern France. seems doomed to be
II stands is being eaten away by the
rapid waters of the I.crc. The houses,
of our Cheshire .Northwich. Some. day
there Will be !. short, sharp shock and
T3rentaisc will no longer exist.
islands 30 and come so constantly that
them. Submarines volcanoes are RESPONSE
Ole Tor most of these disappearances. but
Others are harder to account for. Mctis
Island. Tor instance in the South Pacific.
pore no sign OF volcanic action about it,.
| being. $50 feet. Last year 1t had gone
Vanished utterly without leaving Il trace,
On the site of another small cuano island
on thc coast OF Southern California re.
cent souudinss showed % fathoms OF
water. Tansier Island. in Chesapeake
or iHl2. II has sunk steadily. till now
those fortincationa are under water.
The shifting sands of the Great Desert
arc as hungry as the pitiiess sea itself.
Many OF the samllor cases in the Sahara
nave disappeared from sight in an hour
or TWO. buried deep by tile deadly simeon.
Some 400 miles southeast of the old city
OF kaShSar. far out in the yellow desola-
ton OF the Desert OF Cobb the great
Swedish explorer Sven ilcdin saw some
thing protecting from the smooth side of
one OF the long doons. u was the wood
en- roof Of house Further investigation
showed that 1t was but one of thousands.
a tccmnS city of highly civilized Aryans
had long, existed on this spot, until the
Until December Is. 1871 the eastern part
OF Craishcad county. Arkansas. was one
of prairie Imaginable; intersperscd with
tracts of lovely woodland Pretty rivers
ran between high clay banks and the
morning Of December 10. in place Cf riv-
crs and rolling prairie. a great lake rip
pied i'll the sunlight In the night the
| whole region, l20 miles long and Go wide.
had sunk 20 to 40 feet. To-day the weird
lakes of the Arkansas sunk lands otter
| the most beautiful scenery and some OF
the best sport in all the Southern States.
Nothing Is too big or too saml To cs-
QuiclSsands are the traps she spreads for
smaller fry. Probably the worst and most
dangerous in the world are the 'Shotts"
| of the Sahara. These are perhaps the
! drcgs of some prehistoric sea. Now they
are covered over with II thick crust of
| salt and sand. hole caravans have walked
unconsciously into these death traps and
! been quickly swallowed up. Rcciis. the
great French authority, declares YOU can
| sound these Quici<Sands To Il depth of 30l
| feet without finding bottom, London
Mail.