228 SKETCHES OF CREATIOX. 



place of American freedom. The subsidence which had 

 restored the genial climate of the Tertiary Age extended 

 from the Arctic to the Temperate regions. By degrees, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and other Northern 

 States disappeared beneath the waves. Here the denizens 

 of the land had held undisputed sway during the long ages 

 since the coal-bogs were made vocal with the croaking of 

 gigantic Batrachians. Now all that had been gained was 

 lost. The trident of Neptune waved again where stately 

 trees had reared their palmy heads, and the mastodon had 

 hurried through the forest with his thunder-waking tread. 

 Such are the fortunes of contests in the natural as in the 

 social world. 



