THE HUMAN SPECIES. V * 



haps, fancifully, but not without truth, cast a pictorial 

 gknce over the aspect of organic nature, as it may 

 have been presented to the light of day in the bright- 

 ness of youthful creation, with verdant meads and 

 dense forests, composed of botanical families still ex- 

 tant, abounding in Palms of different genera, in species 

 of giant Arundinacea and Marsh Plants, at this day 

 flourishing in warm regions. Imagination might be- 

 hold remaining Pachyderms on the borders of lakes ; 

 huge ruminants swarming on the plains ; Saurians not 

 as yet reduced in location, and numbers basking or 

 floundering on the banks of the waters ; Hyaenas by 

 the borders of the wood, or glaring from opening 

 caverns ; and, perhaps, a distant solitary column of 

 white smoke ascending from the forest, the certain 

 indication of Man's presence, as yet humble, and in 

 awe of the brute monarchs around him ; possessing no 

 weapons beyond a club, nor a tool beyond a flint knife ; 

 timid on earth, because he is still unacquainted with 

 his own rising superiority over other animated beings, 

 though they be more powerful than himself; and igno- 

 rant of his destiny to survive their duration of exis- 

 tence, though he may already have witnessed convul- 

 sions, which, while they tend to benefit him, and set 

 bounds to the rest, are yet causes of apprehension, 

 because he cannot wholly escape their operation. 



Whether such a condition of life, one that may be 

 seen at the present time in those regions and latitudes, 

 where the active minded European has not yet over- 

 turned the old innate habits of savage life. Whether 



