PDF - Wallace Online
PDF - Wallace Online PDF - Wallace Online
444 TROPICAL NATUREsurrounding plain or valley.What was once a single lavastream now forms several detached hills, the tops of whichcan be seen to form parts of one gently inclined plane, thesurface of the originallava flow, now 1000 feet or moreabove the adjacent valleys.The American and Yuba valleyshave been lowered from 800 to 1500 feet, while the Stanislausriver gorge has cut through one of these basalt-coveredhills to the depth of 1500 feet.While travelling by stage, in the summer of 1887, fromStockton to the Yosemite valley, I passed through this verydistrict, and was greatly impressed by the indications ofvast change in the surface of the country since the streams oflava flowed down the valleys. In the Stanislaus valley thenumerous " table mountains " were very picturesque, oftenrunning out into castellated headlands or exhibiting longranges of rugged black cliffs. At one spot the road passedthrough the ancient river-bed, clearly marked by its gravel,pebbles, and sand, but now about three or four hundred feetabove the present river. We also often saw rock surfaces ofmetamorphic slates far above the present river-bed, thusproving that the original bed-rocks of the valley, as well as thelava and gravels, have been cut away to a considerable depthsince the epoch of the lava flows. The ranges of " tablemountains," now separated by deep valleys more than 1000feet below them, could easily be seen, by their perfect agreementof slope and level, to have once formed part of anenormous lava stream spread over a continuous surface ofgravel and rockFossil Remains under the Ancient Lava BedsThese great changes in the physical conditions and in thesurface features of the country alone imply a great lapse oftime, but they are enforced and rendered even more apparentby the proofs of change in the flora and fauna afforded by thefossils, which occur in some abundance both in the gravels andvolcanic clays. The animal remains found beneath the basalticcap are very numerous, and are all of extinct species. Theybelong to the genera rhinoceros, elotherium, felis, canis, bos,tapirus, hipparion, equus, elephas, mastodon, and auchenia, andform an assemblage entirely distinct from those that now
vin THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN NORTH AMERICA 445inhabit any part of the North American continent. Besidesthese we have a tolerably abundant series of vegetable remains,well preserved in the white clays formed from the volcanicash. These comprise forty-nine species of deciduous trees andshrubs, all distinct from those now living, while not a singleconiferous leaf or fruit has been found, although pines and firsare now the prevalent trees all over the sierra. ProfessorLesquereaux, who has described these plants, considers themto be of Pliocene age with some affinities to Miocene ;whileProfessor Whitney, the State geologist of California, considersthat the animal remains indicate at least a similar antiquity.These abundant animal and vegetable remains have mostlybeen discovered in the process of gold-mining, the gravel andsand of the old river-beds preserved under the various flowsof basalt being especially rich in gold. Numerous shafts havebeen sunk and underground tunnels excavated in the auriferousgravels and clays, and the result has been the discovery notonly of extinct animals and plants, but of works of art andhuman remains. The former have been found in nine differentcounties in the same gravels in which the extinct animalsoccur, while in no less than five widely separate localities,underneath the ancient lava flows, remains of man himselfhave been discovered. In order to show the amount of thisevidence, and to enable us to appreciate the force or weaknessof the objections with which, as usual, it has been received, abrief enumeration of these discoveries will be made. We willbegin with the works of art as being the most numerous.Works of Art in the Auriferous GravelsIn Tuolumne County from 1862 to 1865 stone mortarsand platters were found in the auriferous gravel along withbones and teeth of mastodon ninety feet below the surface,and a stone muller was obtained in a tunnel driven underTable Mountain. In 1870 a stone mortar was found at adepth of sixty feet in gravel under clay and " cement," as thehard clay with vegetable remains (the old volcanic ash) iscalled by the miners. In Calaveras County from 1860 to1869 many mortars and other stone implements were foundin the gravels under lava beds, and in other auriferous gravelsand clays at a depth of 150 feet. In Amador County stone
- Page 410 and 411: 394 TROPICAL NATUREzones ;while, es
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- Page 414 and 415: 398 TROPICAL NATUREvery minute and
- Page 416 and 417: 400 TROPICAL NATUREsmall brown seed
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- Page 422 and 423: 406 TROPICAL NATUREThe seeds of a p
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- Page 428 and 429: 412 TROPICAL NATUREthese were the o
- Page 430 and 431: 414 TROPICAL NATUREHomer's time he
- Page 432 and 433: VIIIndications of Man's Extreme Ant
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- Page 436 and 437: 420 TROPICAL NATUREprotoplasm up to
- Page 438 and 439: 422 TROPICAL NATUREtogether, indica
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- Page 442 and 443: 426 TROPICAL NATUREing three miles
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- Page 448 and 449: 432 TROPICAL NATUREadvance, man's i
- Page 450 and 451: 434 TROPICAL NATUREdoubt, accusatio
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- Page 454 and 455: 438 TROPICAL NATUREMan Coeval with
- Page 456 and 457: 440 TROPICAL NATUREthan twenty feet
- Page 458 and 459: 442 TROPICAL NATUREare made of a cu
- Page 462 and 463: 446 TROPICAL NATUREmortars have bee
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- Page 466 and 467: IXTHE DEBT OF SCIENCE TO DARWIN 1Th
- Page 468 and 469: 452 TROPICAL NATUREanatomy could be
- Page 470 and 471: 454 TROPICAL NATUREthat each specie
- Page 472 and 473: 456 TROPICAL NATUREof comparing the
- Page 474 and 475: 458 TROPICAL NATUREHe also saw, at
- Page 476 and 477: 460 TROPICAL NATUREbotanists, farme
- Page 478 and 479: 462 TROPICAL NATUREshapes of the pr
- Page 480 and 481: 464 TROPICAL NATUREway caused the p
- Page 482 and 483: 466 TROPICAL NATUREmade showing tha
- Page 484 and 485: 468 TROPICAL NATUREour gardens, sho
- Page 486 and 487: 470 TROPICAL NATUREearth thus attac
- Page 488 and 489: 472 TROPICAL NATUREDarwin had colle
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- Page 492 and 493: INDEXABBOTT, C. C., on American pal
- Page 494 and 495: 478 INDEXBelt, Mr., on leaf-cutting
- Page 496 and 497: INDEXColour of flowers, as explaine
- Page 498 and 499: INDEXEquatorial climate, uniformity
- Page 500 and 501: 484 INDEXHeliconidae, not attacked
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- Page 504 and 505: 488 INDEXOxyrhopus petolarius, 0. t
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- Page 508: 115472492 INDEXWeale, Mr. J. P. Man
vin THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN NORTH AMERICA 445inhabit any part of the North American continent. Besidesthese we have a tolerably abundant series of vegetable remains,well preserved in the white clays formed from the volcanicash. These comprise forty-nine species of deciduous trees andshrubs, all distinct from those now living, while not a singleconiferous leaf or fruit has been found, although pines and firsare now the prevalent trees all over the sierra. ProfessorLesquereaux, who has described these plants, considers themto be of Pliocene age with some affinities to Miocene ;whileProfessor Whitney, the State geologist of California, considersthat the animal remains indicate at least a similar antiquity.These abundant animal and vegetable remains have mostlybeen discovered in the process of gold-mining, the gravel andsand of the old river-beds preserved under the various flowsof basalt being especially rich in gold. Numerous shafts havebeen sunk and underground tunnels excavated in the auriferousgravels and clays, and the result has been the discovery notonly of extinct animals and plants, but of works of art andhuman remains. The former have been found in nine differentcounties in the same gravels in which the extinct animalsoccur, while in no less than five widely separate localities,underneath the ancient lava flows, remains of man himselfhave been discovered. In order to show the amount of thisevidence, and to enable us to appreciate the force or weaknessof the objections with which, as usual, it has been received, abrief enumeration of these discoveries will be made. We willbegin with the works of art as being the most numerous.Works of Art in the Auriferous GravelsIn Tuolumne County from 1862 to 1865 stone mortarsand platters were found in the auriferous gravel along withbones and teeth of mastodon ninety feet below the surface,and a stone muller was obtained in a tunnel driven underTable Mountain. In 1870 a stone mortar was found at adepth of sixty feet in gravel under clay and " cement," as thehard clay with vegetable remains (the old volcanic ash) iscalled by the miners. In Calaveras County from 1860 to1869 many mortars and other stone implements were foundin the gravels under lava beds, and in other auriferous gravelsand clays at a depth of 150 feet. In Amador County stone
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