132 MIGHTY ANIMALS 



prints of animals which walked over that stone 

 when it was soft mud around the edge of the little 

 body of water that, long ago, occupied the site of 

 the prison. 



There are impressions in the rock which show 

 that a deer walked down to that water's edge. In 

 another place there is a path trodden by a Mammoth. 

 In another are deep impressions where some creature 

 sat down, perhaps to gnaw at a bone, and even the 

 marks of the coarse hair on this animal's body are 

 in the rock. Then there are footprints showing 

 that two animals had a struggle on this very spot. 

 One braced himself on his heels as if to resist the 

 attack of the other which stood on his toes as he 

 struck at his foe or tried to bite him. The peculiar 

 shape of their footprints tells us that these two 

 fighters belonged to one of the strongest families of 

 animals that ever lived — the family of the sloths. 

 The real home of the sloths was in South America, 

 but some of them wandered into North America, 

 and this was particularly true of the species called 

 Mylodon. The footprints of the fighting animals 

 at Carson City seem to have been made by My- 



