THE TKlUMFll OF hlFE 



the largest mosasaurus wound itself among the 

 herd between the plant pillars, an ocean reptile 

 with yawning jaws and that completely corre- 

 sponds to pictures of hobgoblin "great sea 

 serpents" of today. Can it be that this "sea 

 serpent'* exists at present a persistent water- 

 legend, a species of the old reptile of the chalk 

 age that until today has concealed itself from 

 the eye of the investigator in the sea-weed for- 

 ests of the boundless ocean, like the surprising 

 giraffe like animal okapi * that we have held to 

 be extinct since the old tertiary period when gi- 

 raffes and elephants yet lived in Greece, until it 

 finally appeared out of the blue twilight of the 

 untouched primitive forest of the Congo? In 

 any case not far off rises the western coast of 

 America, the inlets of which, these mosasaurs 

 once visited in throngs. On the Galapagoes 

 Islands a hideous, hateful lizard three feet long 

 with a high thorny crest regularly descends to 

 the under sea-weed forests (contrary to the cus- 

 tom of all other living lizards) in order to feed 

 itself on the leaves of the vegetation. 



So this primitive water forest was not with- 

 out its spooks and mystery. In the depths the 

 primitive world and legend twine themselves to- 

 gether like lianas. t A skillful artist could not 

 better typify "Silence in the Woods" than 



•An animal of the giraffe family discovered in 1899. — Trans. 

 tA climbing woody plant. — Trans. 



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