288 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



eye so strikingly characteristic of that timid quad- 

 ruped. This genus approaches also very closely to 

 another from the Paris Basin, and both of them 

 resemble a small quadruped called hyrax, a native 

 of Africa and some parts of Asia, more than any 

 other existing pachyderm. 



Having now considered in detail these various 

 groups, let us next attempt to group together the 

 principal geological observations of the early tertiary 

 period in Europe. In doing so it may be noticed, 

 first, that at this time all the great plains of Europe 

 and the districts through which the principal rivers 

 now run were then probably submerged ; and that 

 in all probability the land chiefly extended in an 

 east and west direction, far out in the Atlantic, 

 possibly even trending greatly to the south and con- 

 necting the western shores of England with the 

 western islands of Africa. The land now forming 

 the great mountain chains intersecting Europe, the 

 Pyrenees, the Alps, the Appenines, the mountains of 

 Greece, the mountains of Bohemia, and the Carpa- 

 thians, existed then only as chains of islands in an 

 open sea. Elevatory movements, having an east and 

 west direction, had already commenced, and were 

 producing important results, laying bare the Weal- 

 den district in the south-east of England. The 

 southern and central European district, and parts 

 of western Asia, were then the recipients of cal- 

 careous deposits (chiefly of Foraminifera), forming in 

 deep water what is now the Appenine limestone, 

 while the numerous islands were gradually lifted 

 above the sea level, and fragments of disturbed 

 and fractured rock were washed upon the neigh- 



