E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 23546-h.htm or 23546-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h/23546-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/5/4/23546/23546-h.zip) 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