24 THE DELUGE 



A series of rock waves folded, forming the 

 coast or island ranges from California north- 

 ward and culminating in the stupendous Alps 

 of St. Elias. There gathered a lesser Ice-cap, 

 pouring its glaciers down the Alaskan and 

 British Columbian fjords. 



It was this barrier of ice which put an end 

 to all migrations of animals. The Alps of St. 

 Elias closed the path-way between those two 

 groups of continents which so far had been 

 the common breeding ground for beasts and 

 men. Within the narrowed breeding ground 

 of the Americas the horse together with the 

 camel, and many other species, became 

 extinct. 



Old Bering Land had become sub-Arctic, 

 the home of the Mammoth, a maned roan 

 elephant. Then the Pacific flooded the plains 

 of the Lower Yukon, and formed the shoals 

 of Bering Sea. Both in Asia and in America 

 faint memories remain of a drowned world. 

 In Assyria and in British Columbia the legend 

 tells us of a hero, and of rescued folk in a fleet 

 of three hundred canoes. 



So the two groups of continents were finally 

 cut apart at Bering Straits. And now a ring 

 of flaming craters girdles the Pacific, the fit 

 finale to a tremendous drama. 



