vers flow along their beds, growing larger with
every mile, and finally empty their waters into a sea, or bay, or lake,
or flow into some larger stream? This is the way of most rivers, but
there are exceptions. In the Far West there are some great rivers that
absolutely disappear before they reach a larger body of water. They
simply sink away into the sand, and sometimes reappear to finish their
courses after flowing underground for miles. Do you know the name of one
great western river of which I am thinking? Is there any stream in your
neighbourhood which has such peculiar ways?

Down in Kentucky there is a region where, it is said, one may walk fifty
miles without crossing running water. In the middle of our country, in
the region of plentiful rainfall, and in a state covered with beautiful
woodlands and famous for blue grass and other grain crops, it is
amazing that, over a large area, brooks and larger streams are lacking.
In most of the state there is plenty of water flowing in streams like
those in other parts of the eastern half of the United States. In the
near neighbourhood of this peculiar section of the state the streams
come to an end suddenly, pouring their water into funnel-shaped
depressions of the ground called sink-holes. After a heavy rain the
surface water, accumulating in rivulets, may also be traced to small
depressions which seem like leaks in the earth's crust, into which the
water trickles and disappears.

It must have been noticed by the early settlers who came over the
mountains from the eastern colonies, and settled in the new, wild, hilly
country, which they called Kentucky. The first settlers built their log
cabins along the streams they found, and shot deer and wild turkey and
other game that was plentiful in the woods. The deer showed them where
salt was to be found in earthy deposits near the streams; for salt is
necessary to every creature. Deer trails led from many directions to the
"salt licks" which the wild animals visited frequently.

Perhaps the same pioneers who dug the salt out of the earth found
likewise deposits of _nitre_, called also _saltpetre_, a very precious
mineral, for it is one of the elements necessary in the manufacture of
gunpowder. With the Indians all about him, and often showing themselves
unfriendly, the pioneer counted gunpowder a necessity of life. He relied
on his gun to defend and to feed his family. There were men among those
first settlers who knew how