A FOSSIL CONTINKNT 99 



tho most iuitinu!ii(>(l niul unproiifn'ssivo of contincnls. 

 For tho Ausiniliiiii bhu-k-l'i'llow must liiivo jjfot tluTc a vory 

 lonjj; timo aufo iiulct'd ; lio bt'loni^^H to an oxtrcnu'ly iincicnt 

 lnim;ui ty|H<, and strikiii^dy nu-alls in liis jaws and sUull 

 tlio Ni'andiM'tlial savajjjo and otlior early prehistoric races ; 

 whiU) the wooUv-headed Tasmaniiin, a memhi'r of a totally 

 distinct lunnun family, and perhaps tho very lowest sample 

 of Innnanity that has survived to modern times, nnist have 

 crossed over to Tasmania t>ven earlier still, his brethren on 

 tho mainland having no doubt bt>en exterminated latt>r on 

 when tho stone-ai:;o Australian black-ftdlows first jjfot cast 

 ashore upon the continiMit inhabited by tlu? yi't more 

 barbaric and helpless nejj:i'ito race. As for the dini^o, or 

 Australian wild doi,', only half (bnuesticated by the savasj^e 

 natives, he repr(>sents a low anc(>sira.l do.u; type, half wolf 

 and half jackal, incapable of the hii^her canine traits, and 

 with a susincious, ferocious, <;larin!j; eyc^ thatbi^travs at once 

 his uncivilisable tiMid(MU'i(>s. 



Omittinfjf th(>se latcM' importations, however — the modern 

 ])lants, birds, and human beinjjfs it may be fairly said that 

 Australia is still in its secondary sta,L,'e, while tlu^ rest of 

 tho world has i'c>ached the* t(>rtiary and (juattM'nary piM'iods. 

 ller(> aj^ain, howevtn", a (Uuluction nmst luMuade, in ordi-r 

 to attain the ncH'essary accm'acy. Kven in Australia the 

 world never stands still, 'rhouj^'h the Australian animals 

 aro still at bottom tho Kuroiunin and Asiatic animals of tho 

 siH'ondary a^'(\ they are those animals with a ditViM-ence. 

 Thoy liave underjj^ono an evolution of tlu>ir own. It has 

 not been tho evolution of the great continents; but it has 

 boon evolution all the same ; slowm*, nun'o local, narrower, 

 more restricted, y(^t evolution in tho tru(>st sensi>. ()n«» 

 mij^lit compare tho dilViM'cnce to tho dilVc'rence between 

 tho civilisation of Murope and tlu» civilisation of ]\Ie\ico or 

 Poru. Tho -Mexicans, when Cortez blotted out their in- 



