NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



discord as they swing themselves from bough to bough 

 with their powerful hands. Hardly have they passed 

 than the water of the stream is seen in commotion, 

 and three or four huge slate-coloured beasts appear 

 floating on the surface, like so many submarines. 

 About eighteen feet long and stoutly built, they some- 

 what recall a dugong or manatee ; but as they roll and 

 splash lazily in the tepid water they are seen to 

 carry short trunks, while powerful tusks sprout from 

 the lower jaw. These are deinotheria ; less terrible 

 beasts than would have been supposed, they lead a 

 peaceful existence in the depths of the forest, playing 

 and wallowing in the woodland marshes, and tearing 

 up supplies of vegetable food with their ivory 

 mattocks. 



Abrupt indeed is the transition from Miocene 

 times to the bustling world of to-day, with its 

 wireless telegraphy and motor cars. Yet here and 

 there, even in this unromantic age, linger traces 

 of the mighty forests and dreamland animals of 

 the Tertiary Period. Thus the island of Celebes, 

 in the East Indies, is thought to be the remnant of 

 an ancient continent ; as late as 1894 much of it was 

 still unknown, and it yet harbours that curious living 

 fossil, that survivor of Miocene times the babirusa 

 hog. 



The babirusa (Babirusa alfurus) stands about 27^ 

 inches at the shoulder, and measures about 47 inches 

 from the tip of the snout to the root of the twelve-inch 



