Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania

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.	The Dutch East Indies—Sumatra and Celebes	311
XXXIV.	Borneo and Papua	319

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