FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME 45 
the huge auimal giant ; ” Polemarchus gigas, “ the huge leader in 
war,” and so on. He concludes a description of some of these 
creatures in the following words : “ Such was the fauna of the 
sandstone days in the Connecticut Valley. What a wonderful 
menagerie ! Who would believe that such a register lay buried in 
the strata ? To open the leaves, to unroll the papyrus, has been 
an intensely interesting though difficult task, having all the 
excitement and marvellous developments of romance. And yet 
the volume is only partly read. Many a new page, I fancy, will 
yet be opened, and many a new key obtained to the hieroglyphic 
record. I am thankful that I have been allowed to see so much 
by prying between the folded leaves. At first, men supposed that 
the strange and gigantic races which I described were mere 
creatures of imagination, like the Gorgons and Chimseras of the 
ancient poets. But now that hundreds of their footprints, as 
fresh and distinct as of yesterday, impressed upon the mud, arrest 
the attention of the sceptic on the ample slabs of our cabinets. 
