296 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



which the human species, aided by some domes- 

 tic animals, peaceably governs and fertilizes the 

 earth, and that it is only in the deposits formed 

 since the commencement of this age, in alluvial 

 matters, peat-bogs, and recent concretions, that 

 bones are found in the fossil state, which belong 

 all of them to known and still living animals. 



Such are the human skeletons of Guadaloupe, 

 imbedded in a species of travertine formed of land 

 shells, slate, and fragments of shells and madre- 

 pores of the neighbouring sea ; the bones of oxen, 

 deer, roes, and beavers, common in peat-bogs, and 

 all the bones of men and domestic animals found 

 in the mud and sand deposited by rivers, in bury- 

 ing grounds, and upon ancient fields of battle. 



None of these remains belong either to the 

 great deposit formed at the time of the last catas- 

 trophe, nor to those of preceding ages. 



