OF CREATION. 89 



There also should we find the Sigillaria, its tapering 

 and elegant form sustained on a large and firm basis, 

 enormous matted roots almost as large as the trunk 

 itself being given off in every direction, and shooting 

 out their fibres far into the sand and clay in search of 

 moisture. The stem of this tree would appear like a 

 fluted column, rising simply and gracefully without 

 branches to a great height, and then spreading out a 

 magnificent head of leaves like a noble palm tree. 

 Other trees more or less resembling palms, and others 

 like existing firs, also abounded, giving a richness and 

 variety to the scene ; while one gigantic species, strik- 

 ingly resembling the Altingia, or Norfolk Island pine, 

 might be seen towering a hundred feet or more above 

 the rest of the forest, and exhibiting tier after tier of 

 branches richly clothed with its peculiar pointed and 

 pear-like leaves, the branches gradually diminishing in 

 size as they approach the apex of a lofty pyramid of 

 vegetation. 



Tree ferns also in abundance might there be recog- 

 nized, occupying a prominent place in the physiognomy 

 of vegetation, and dotted at intervals over the dis- 

 tant plains and valleys, the intermediate spaces being 

 clothed with low vegetation of more humble plants 

 of the same kind. These we may imagine exhibiting 

 their rich crests of numerous fronds, each many feet 

 in length, and produced in such quantity as to rival 

 even the palm trees in beauty. Besides all these, other 

 lofty trees of that day, whose stems and branches 

 are now called Calamites, existed chiefly in the midst 

 of swamps, and bore their singular branches and 

 leaves aloft with strange and monotonous uniformity. 

 All these trees, and many others that might be associ- 



