A Study in Scarlet (Serial Edition Cover) — page 99: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PART It. The Country of the Saint ~ 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 civilization. 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 through- out this grim district. It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys. There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged can- yons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are gray with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve, however, the com- men characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery. There are no inhabitants of this land of despair. A band of Pawnees or of Blackfeet may occasionally tra- verse it in order to reach other hunting-grounds, but the gl. (COLA @ NOOKS (C@