4 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
records are written in strange hieroglyphs, yet it is not difficult to 
interpret their meaning; and thus many an old story, many an 
old scene, may be pictured in the mind of man. 
Shall we call this earth-drama a tragedy or a comedy? Doubt- 
less tragic scenes occurred at times; as, for instance, when 
fierce creatures engaged in deadly combat: and _ probably 
amusing, if not comic, incidents took place occasionally, such as 
might have provoked us to laughter, had we been there to see 
them. But let us simply call it a drama. Backgrounds of 
scenery were not wanting. Then, as now, the surface of the 
earth was clothed with vegetation, and strange cattle pastured on 
grassy plains. Vegetation was at times very luxuriant. The 
forests of the coal period, with their giant reeds and club-moss 
trees, must have made a strange picture. Then, as now, there 
rose up from the plains lofty ranges of mountains, reaching to 
the clouds, their summits clothed with the eternal snows. These, 
too, played their part, feeding the streams and the rivers that 
meandered over the plains, bringing life and fertility with them, 
as they do now. The sun shone and the wind blew: sometimes 
gently, so that the leaves just whispered in an evening breeze ; at 
other times so violently that the giants of the forest swayed to 
and fro, and the seas lashed themselves furiously against rocky 
coasts. Nor were the underground forces of the earth less active 
than they are now: volcanic eruptions often took place on a mag- 
nificent scale ; volcanoes poured out fiery lava streams for leagues 
beneath their feet; great showers of ashes and fine dust were 
ejected in the air, so that the sun was darkened for a time, and 
the surface of the sea was covered for many miles with floating 
pumice and volcanic dust, which in time sank to the bottom, 
and was made into hard rock, such as we now find on the top of 
Snowdon. 
Earthquake shocks were quite as frequent, and no doubt the 
ground swayed to and fro, or was rent open as some unusually 
great earth-movement took place, and perhaps a mountain 
