existed when the first colonists reached their new homes, in
numbers comparatively small, but still sufficient to occasion much
danger and alarm to the early settlers, and to cause their
destroyers to be regarded as among the greatest heroes of the time
and the greatest benefactors of mankind. The Hindoo tradition of
the tortoise on whose back stands the elephant which upholds the
world, and the account of Leviathan in the Book of Job, seem to
point in the same direction. [Footnote: For additional instances
see Tylor's Early History of Mankind, p. 303.]

But, after all, the question is not one of a few thousands of
years more or less, but of six common days, or many thousands of
years. It may help us to arrive at a right conclusion on the
subject if we endeavour to ascertain, in the first instance,
whether there are any strongly-marked indications that the writer
of the first chapter of Genesis did possess some accurate
information on some points in the history of Creation which he was
not likely to obtain by his own researches. For this purpose we
will place in parallel columns the leading facts recorded by
Moses, and a table of the successive formations of the rocks,
abridged from the last edition (1871) of Sir C. Lyell's Student's
Geology. This process will bring to light certain coincidences
which may serve as landmarks for our investigation.

The Days. THE ROCKS.

1. Creation of light.

2. Creation of the Atmosphere.