4 6 



THE NEXT GENERATION 



had died there before man had so much as appeared on the 

 scene. He found head bones of some, leg bones of others, 

 numberless huge teeth, and a few skeletons that were com- 

 plete in every detail. 



Darwin named one of these the toxodon. He said it was 

 as large as an elephant, and one of the strangest animals ever 

 discovered. By its teeth he knew it had gnawed its food, 

 just as rats and rabbits also gnaw when they eat ; and from 



THE BEAGLE LAID ASHORE FOR REPAIRS 



the position of its eyes and ears and nose he knew it was 

 an animal that lived in the water. In one place he came 

 upon what he calls " a perfect catacomb of monsters of 

 extinct races." 



Keep the giants themselves in mind, then note theseother 

 facts : Within the memory of man no such creatures have 

 been alive in South America ; all were extinct and turned to 

 fossils when man first found himself in the land which had 

 belonged to those earlier huge inhabitants. So true is this that 

 in South America to-day the only wild living creatures are 



