108 BUFFALO LAND. 



sor's theory, that the imprints are those of human 

 feet. The surface of the stone has been decided by 

 experts to be bent down, not chiseled out. Science 

 not long ago ridiculed the primitive man, which it 

 now accepts. It is not strange, therefore, that 

 science should protest against its oldest inhabitant 

 stepping out from ages in which it had hitherto for 

 bidden him existence. 



We also found on the rocks fine impressions of 

 leaves, resembling those of the magnolia, and gathered 

 a bushel of petrified walnuts and butternuts. There 

 were no other indications whatever of trees, the 

 whole country, as far as we could see, being a deso- 

 late prairie. 



" Gentlemen," said the professor, " as surely as you 

 stand on the shore of a great lake, which passed 

 away in comparatively modern times, science stands 

 on the brink of important revelations. We have 

 here the evidence of the rocks that man existed on 

 this earth when the vast level upon which you are 

 about to enter was covered by its mass of water. 

 The waves lapped against the Rocky Mountains on 

 the west, and against the ridges on which you are 

 standing, upon the east. From previous explorations, 

 I can assure you that the buffalo now feed over a sur- 

 face strewn with the remains of those monsters 

 which inhabited the waters of the primitive world, 

 and the grasses suck nutriment from the shells of 

 centuries. Geology has held that man did not exist 

 during the time of the great lakes. I assert that he 

 did, gentlemen, and now an inhabitant of that period 

 steps forward to confirm my position. This man 



