What He Was 



5 



shadows of ravines and kloofs were to him a 

 million years of carving by Time's sharp chisel. 



Such then is the Martian prehistoric world into 

 which this young Englishman was flung, and in 

 this fantastic country and amongst its queer 

 denizens he was content for over sixty years to 

 dwell in exile self-imposed. Not for him the busy 

 haunts of men, when he could roam those pristine 

 glades, where lava rivers ran but now stand 

 petrified ! Not for him the puny chase of wily 

 fox or nimble hare, when he could leap basaltic 

 dykes, and, like a Titan, tame the megalosaure ! 

 Not for him effeminate sport, when he could 

 wrestle with giant ten-ton reptiles, wrenching 

 them limb by limb from the firm grip of adaman- 

 tine rocks, and leading them captive into the glass 

 cages of Museums ! No need for him of gun or 

 snare, when, with nothing but a keen eye and a 

 toylike geologist's pick, he could track down and 

 bag the fearsome cynodonts with their doglike 

 tusks, sporting with them in his drawing-room 

 not so much as trophies but more as one might 

 with playful puppies ! 



But this curious and most successful hunter 

 had yet a modern eye for all those gems that 

 strew the floor of that fairyland in which he 

 dwelt, and he gathered loads of agates, cornelians, 

 serpentines, topazes, jaspers and amethysts with 



I 



