344 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



of the tertiary period northern Asia was probably 

 almost entirely under water, and a broad tract of 

 shallow sea may have extended, broken only by a few 

 islands, from the latitude of 50 north to the North 

 Pole. A chain of islands, nearly continuous, may 

 then have existed in what is now the North Pacific 

 Ocean, bringing the islands east and south of the Phi- 

 lippines into close relation with Australia, and with 

 the archipelagos extending many hundred miles to 

 the east of that continent, while Australia may also 

 have then extended westward and northward be- 

 tween the tropics. A considerable part of southern 

 India was no doubt covered by the sea ; but land ex- 

 tended probably towards the east and west from 

 central India, perhaps connecting Arabia with the pe- 

 ninsula of Malacca. Within this broad tract of land 

 there appears to have been, during a great part of 

 the tertiary period, a very extensive fresh- water lake, 

 whose northern shore extended within the temperate 

 zone ; and on the banks of this lake lived vast herds 

 of the larger Mammalia of all kinds, with those other 

 animals characteristic of the old continent and the 

 tertiaries of India, whose remains are so abundantly 

 distributed in many distant regions. The disturb- 

 ances which were then in action breaking up the 

 chalk in England and elevating the Weald ; those 

 which, advancing eastward, formed hills in the great 

 Alpine countries of Europe ; those which also lifted 

 the Caucasus from the sea-bottom, and partly found 

 vent in the now extinct volcanoes of Asia Minor, 

 had not yet disturbed this vast and thickly-peopled 

 district, which was not greatly modified till very late 

 in the tertiary epoch. 



