CHAPTER I.ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN.
IN the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilisation.

From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence.

Nor is Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district.

It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys.

There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged canons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are grey with the saline alkali dust.