4 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



or to search in coal-mines, or under cliffs at the seaside, and we 

 can consult her records. As the ancient Egyptians built tombs, 

 pyramids, and temples, from which we may learn their manner 

 of life and partly read their history, so Nature has entombed, not 

 one race only, but many races of the children of life. Her 

 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 



