Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania

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Redway's Geographical Readers

WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES AND OCEANIA

by

JEWETT C. GILSON
Former Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, California

Illustrated







[Illustration: From the National Geographic Magazine, copyright 1911:
The great Rainbow natural bridge of southern Utah]



Charles Scribner's Sons
New York 1913

Copyright, 1913,
by Jewett C. Gilson




PREFACE

Although the term "Waste Places" carries an implied meaning of
"worthless," yet, interpreted in the light of Nature's methods, each
region described, useless as it may apparently seem, possesses a
definite relation to the rest of the world, and therefore to the
well-being of man. The Sahara is the track of the winds whose moisture
fertilizes the flood-plains of the Nile. The Himalaya Mountains condense
the rain that gives life to India. From the inhospitable polar regions
come the winds and currents that temper the heat of the tropics.

Nature has secreted many of her most useful treasures in most forbidding
places. The nitrates which fertilize so much of Europe are drawn from
the fiercest of South American deserts, and the gold which measures
American commerce is mined in the arctic wilds of Alaska or in the
almost inaccessible scarps of the western highlands. The description of
these regions and the portrayal of their relation to the rest of the
world is the purpose of Part I of this book.

Part II of the book deals with Oceania--more especially with our island
possessions in the Pacific Ocean. It presents the salient features of
the ocean grand division in the light of most recent knowledge.

The author wishes to give credit to Mr. Jacques W. Redway, F.R.G.S., for
suggesting the subject of Part I and for the inspiration he received
from the distinguished geographer in developing the subject.

J. C. G.

Oakland, California,
December 25, 1912.




CONTENTS

PART I--WEALTH OF THE WORLD'S WASTE PLACES
                                                                    PAGE

INTRODUCTION                                                           1

    CHAPTER
         I. THE WEALTH OF THE ARID SOUTHWEST                           4
        II. THE GRAND CANYON OF THE COLORADO                          27
       III. YELLOWSTONE PARK                                          35
        IV. TWO PREHISTORIC CEMETERIES--GIANT REPTILES
            AND GIANT TREES                                           51
         V. DEATH VALLEY                                              58
        VI. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF THE ANDES                           67
       VII. THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN                                 82
      VIII. THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA                              97
        IX. THE PRIMAL HOME OF THE SARACEN                           105
         X. THE SAHARA                                               115
        XI. POLAR REGIONS--THE CONQUEST OF THE ARCTIC                128
       XII. POLAR REGIONS--ANTARCTICA                                147
      XIII. ICELAND, THE MAID OF THE NORTH                           160
       XIV. GREENLAND                                                170
        XV. WHERE THE TWO GREAT OCEANS MEET                          175
       XVI. RECLAIMABLE SWAMP REGIONS                                183
      XVII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--NATURAL BRIDGES                 190
     XVIII. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA    195
       XIX. STRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS--GIBRALTAR                       199
        XX. THE BAKU OIL FIELDS                                      206
       XXI. THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS                         211

PART II--OCEANIA

      XXII. THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC                               226
     XXIII. AUSTRALIA                                                233
      XXIV. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF                                   244
       XXV. THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA                             250
      XXVI. TASMANIA                                                 258
     XXVII. NEW ZEALAND                                              262
    XXVIII. SAMOA AND FIJI                                           270
      XXIX. THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS                                     277
       XXX. GUAM                                                     285
      XXXI. THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS                                   289
     XXXII. THE DUTCH EAST INDIES--JAVA                              301
    XXXIII.