272 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XVI. 



Central America, " every tribe related, more or less 

 distinctly, their tradition of the deluge, in which one, or 

 three, or eight persons were saved above the waters, on 

 the top of a high mountain."* 



If Atlantis were low lands connecting the "West Indian 

 islands with America, the other islands mentioned by 

 Plato may have been the Azores, also greatly increased 

 in extent by the lowering of the ocean ; and the over- 

 whelming of this low land, on the melting of the ice at 

 the close of the glacial period, may be that great catas- 

 trophe that is recorded on both sides of the Atlantic, 

 but is more clearly remembered in the traditions of 

 America, because all the high lands there had been 

 covered with ice, and the inhabitants were restricted to 

 those that were overwhelmed by the deluge. 



I approached this subject from the side of Natural 

 History. I was driven to look for a refuge for the 

 animals and plants of tropical America during the 

 glacial period, when I found proofs that the land they 

 now occupy was at that time either covered with ice or 

 too cold for genera that can now only live where frost is 

 unknown. I had arrived at the conclusion that they 

 must have inhabited low lands now submerged, and 

 following up the question, I soon saw that the very 

 accumulation of ice that made their abode impossible 

 provided another for them by the lowering of the sea. 

 Then pursuing the subject still further, I saw that all 

 over the world curious questions concerning the distri- 

 bution of races of mankind, of animals, and of plants, 

 were rendered more easy of solution on the theory that 



* u 



Lifted and Subsided Rocks in America," by G. Catlin, p. 182. 



