The Wonders of the Permian 183 



bians who lived in the water or the land as 

 pleased their fancy. 



As I knew I would like to return to the place 

 where I first awoke to the realities of life, and 

 from past experiences Maud was likely to appear 

 near here too. My first act after sliding down 

 from the tree was to divest myself of all my cloth- 

 ing except a pair of shoes a pair of pants, and 

 a woolen shirt and light hat, with a broad rim 

 I had worn so long. On account of the moist cli- 

 mate and thick vegetation, the air was heavy 

 with carbonic acid gas. The only place where 

 fresh winds were blowing and the air was rich in 

 oxygen, was on top of the forests, or as I hoped 

 along some lake-shore where the winds of heaven 

 would be able to ripple the waters at least. So 

 ready armed with my pick to cut a pathway or 

 defend myself from some hungry amphibian or 

 reptile because I expected to find amphibians 

 with huge heads, and bodies larger than my own, 

 armed with terrible teeth. It seemed strange too. 

 that though in the twentieth century the order 

 to which these giants belonged, frogs and sala- 

 mander were ready to disappear. Here they were 

 the dominant type so abundant that the Permian 

 Age has been called the Age of Amphibian or 

 Batracians, I found the work fatiguing on ac- 

 count of the great heat and close and oppressive 

 atmosphere, that constantly seemed to be on me 

 to take a nap, yet with the power man has over 

 material and sensual things, I cut a path-way 



