THE MASTODON. 33 



development and final extinction of various animals. It 

 saw the gradual change going on in the surface of the earth, 

 and the tropical plants gradually circumscribed to their 

 present narrow limits. It lived for untold ages, and at last 

 became extinct itself. In Europe it ceased to exist long 

 before the historical period, probably three or four hun- 

 dred thousand years, but in America it survived until a 

 comparatively recent period. 



XI. FIRST APPEARANCE. 



When the mastodon first roamed through the forests the 

 world was far different from what it is now. It was at a 

 time when old forms had become extinct, and a new order 

 of existences had taken their place. It was pre-eminently 

 the Age of Mammals, when creatures of this order not only 

 flourished everywhere, but increased in size to their greatest 

 development. The internal heat had to a great extent ceased 

 to make itself felt on the surface on account of the earth's 

 crust increasing in thickness, in consequence of which 

 changes in the climate gradually took place. The temper- 

 ature, at the beginning of this period (Miocene), all over 

 the world, was not unlike that of the tropics at the present 

 time ; but this change in the climate, after a series of ages, 

 resulted in cold making itself felt not only at the poles, 

 but also in regions near the temperate zones. 



In this age of sylvan beaut}^, the mastodon dates its 

 birth. It was the middle period of the Age of Mammals, 

 or the Tertiary. If a panorama could be presented before 

 us, representing this epoch, the grandeur, beauty, and 

 curious forms would for the moment bewilder the eye, and 

 were it possible for us to be transported to those scenes, we 

 would realize a world outrivalling all human conception. 

 Language cannot picture it, nor mind conceive its beauty. 

 From the relics left of that age, we can, in a measure know 

 something of the scenes and the epoch which gave the 



