side of the thrower, and
when the boomerang in its gyrations approached us, every black
fellow had his eyes sharply fixed on it. The fact stated by
them that it was dangerous was well shown in one instance,
where it suddenly wheeled and flew so close over us that I and
Toolabar fell over each other in dodging it."

A WESTERN LAVA FIELD.

Lieutenant Ruffner describes one of the great lava outflows in the West
in a way that serves to set before the reader the magnitude of the
eruptions which have made America _par excellence_ the volcanic
continent. It is in New Mexico.

From the Conejos river, in Colorado, one continuous sheet of lava covers
the face of the country to the south, for eighty miles unbroken; and
then for fifty miles further is now exhibited in outlying areas and
detached masses, separated from the main body by the exercise of the
power of erosion through prolonged ages. One hundred and thirty miles in
length, and perhaps thirty in breadth at its widest, the area of a
principality lies swallowed up for ever. From craters existing probably
in the San Antonio mountain and in the Ute Peak, near the boundary of
Colorado, and possibly from other centres, this flood poured over the
land. Reaching to the east, it was checked by the mountains of the
Sangre de Cristo range; flowing to the west, the mountains and hills of
the main divide, and the spur now between the Chama and the Rio Grande,
limited its extent. To the south it was deflected westwardly by the spur
of the mountains called the Picuris range, some fifteen miles south of
Taos. Protected by this spur, we find the east bank of the Rio Grande
for many miles free from the flux. Confined on the west by the slopes of
the Jemez mountains, the breadth of the field is narrowed. But from the
village of San Ildefonso to Pena Blanca, we find the lava on both sides
of the Rio Grande, spreading to the east as far as the Santa Fe creek.
Secondary centres in the Jemez mountains possibly contributed to this
extension, but the main force of the eruptions was probably felt further
to the north. However, in this vicinity the edges and extremity of the
field have been reached, and there has been so much erosion in places
since its deposition, that outlying masses, as in the bluffs to the west
of San Felipe, alone remain. Throughout the whole region thus depicted,
the lava field is the great and controlling element. The streams that
have eaten the