22 History of Hingham. 



were formed the terraces so common along the borders of some 

 of the river valleys of New England, and of the kames, so-called, 

 of which notice will be presented hereafter. 



Following the passing away of the ice-sheet came another great 

 change over the area which it had so long occupied. The sun's 

 rays again rested upon and warmed the surface of the land, ren- 

 dering it a fit abode for the manifold forms of vegetables and 

 animals that appeared upon its remodelled hills and plains. The 

 green herb and the fruit-bearing tree sprang up, and adorned the 

 landscape with beauty. Rivers again teemed with life, birds and 

 insects hovered in the air, and beasts small and large trod the 

 earth ; while among these last walked with majestic mien Man, 

 the crowning glory of all created forms. 



The remains of life of this period, and even of the Glacial pre- 

 ceding it, demonstrate the existence of a great number of species 

 of enormous size, such as were not found in either earlier or later 

 eras. Of course, while the ice covered the surface but few forms 

 could maintain life within its area, but it was otherwise south of 

 its margin, and when it had passed away huge monsters roamed 

 over the surface, spreading from more southern regions far to- 

 wards the Arctic Circle in both hemispheres. In Europe, elephants 

 of great size, gigantic deer, tigers surpassing the Bengal of the 

 present day, horses and oxen proportionally large, and many 

 other beasts occupied the land in vast numbers ; while in America 

 there were elephants, mastodons, horses, beavers, and sloths, 

 including the megatherium, the mylodon, and megalonyx, — all of 

 colossal dimensions compared with the animals of like character 

 now living. But of far greater importance than all else, Man as 

 stated, undoubtedly appeared. With feeble frame he came among 

 races of gigantic stature and strength ; but he came to wield do- 

 minion over them, and to subdue and conquer by other power 

 than that hitherto possessed on earth. It is not known precisely 

 when Man first appeared, but the evidence is strong that it was 

 in a pre-glacial period, as implements undoubtedly of human con- 

 struction have been found in transported material from deposits 

 of an anterior date. 



Again, a great change in the surface level of the North, and 

 increased cold followed in Europe by a second glacial era, which 

 by its sudden advance carried death to many of the animals that 

 had found a home far north in the warmer Champlain Period. 

 This is shown by the carcasses of elephants, and the perfect 

 preservation of their flesh in Arctic ice. The change must have 

 been not only sudden, but the cold extremely severe to account 

 for these encased remains, and for other phenomena, such as the 

 extension of the range of the reindeer and other Northern species 

 to southern France where their bones have been found abund- 

 antly. This, and the advance of ice again over parts of northern 

 Europe gave the name of Reindeer, or Second Glacial Epoch to the 

 early part of the Recent Period. There is no conclusive evidence 



