meadows of luxuriant grasses, forests of giant trees, and all
manner of vegetable life, but wonderful animal life as well.

One day we saw a great herd of elephants. There must have been
five hundred of these thunder-throated monsters, with their
restlessly waving trunks. They were tearing huge boughs from the
trees and trampling smaller growth into dust like so much
hazel-brush. They would average over 100 feet in length and from
75 to 85 in height.

It seemed, as I gazed upon this wonderful herd of giant
elephants, that I was again living in the public library at
Stockholm, where I had spent much time studying the wonders of
the Miocene age. I was filled with mute astonishment, and my
father was speechless with awe. He held my arm with a protecting
grip, as if fearful harm would overtake us. We were two atoms in
this great forest, and, fortunately, unobserved by this vast herd
of elephants as they drifted on and away, following a leader as
does a herd of sheep. They browsed from growing herbage which
they encountered as they traveled, and now and again shook the
firmament with their deep bellowing.[20]

[20 "Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in
the island: and there was provision for animals of every kind.
Also whatever fragrant things there are in the earth, whether
roots or herbage, or woods, or distilling drops of flowers or
fruits, grew and thrived in that land." -- The Cratylus of
Plato.]

There is a hazy mist that goes up from the land each evening, and