THE WONDERS OF THE PERMIAN
How wonderfully God works in one’s life! I must have fallen from the
log, for I dreamed, Maud and I had both disappeared into a sluggish
lagoon. When I came to my senses, I discovered that I was in a great
jungle of vegetation; that belonged to a very early age I recognized
the dense forest of many species of Carboniferous Tree Ferns and Tree
Rushes; and many species of Cycads. Nearly all the trees were inward
growers, with plumes of vegetation on top of the scar-marked trunks,
from which the leaves had already fallen during their growth upward.
I knew that only a thin, hard, outer covering protected the pith
beneath of most of the trees around me. Although there were pines, the
_Angiosperms_ had not yet appeared. Everywhere were dense masses of
sponge-moss, and moss-like trees.
_Lepidodendrons_ bushy crest
Wave back and forth, together prest;
While sponge-moss hangs in festoons gay
Across the thickly planted way.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Urn-shaped mass of rock. Page 129.]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Egyptian Sphinx-like rock. Page 129.]
The climate was tropical; the heat intense. The water was fresh; no sea
in sight.
I climbed to the top of a tree fern, from which point of vantage, I had
an uninterrupted view of the surrounding country; which was one great
level stretch of fern plumes, densely intermingled with ancient pines,
lepidodendrons, and cycads. The latter resembling gigantic pine apples,
with a plume of leaves on top; or with tree-like trunk, and plume of
crowded pinnate leaves. These first clung closer to the ground. While
the others sought the direct sunlight perhaps fifty feet above. From
my field of vision, these vast masses of the most delicate foliage
imaginable, moved by the gentle breeze in gentle undulations, with only
here and there a break in their carpet-like compactness. While swinging
below, as I have already noted, were hanging mosses in various hues.
The ground densely covered with sponge-moss. In the lower places pools
of water into which the moss extended often completely covering them, a
land of treacherous bogs. One must watch his footing as I soon proved,
by cutting a rush whose length was over twenty-five feet, and pushed it
easily down into one of these small moss-ponds, through the peat and
failed to reach the bottom, I realized how easily one might lose his
footing, and slip into one of these mossy swamps and disappear.
And another thought came to me of the wonderful bone-bed Miller found
along the Big Wichita in Texas, in 1909 where many complete skeletons
covering a space six or seven feet wide, ten or twelve feet long and
two feet thick. In this limited interval, according to Dr. S. W.
Williston, who has been so fortunate as to study the material secured
by Miller were dozens of complete skeletons packed like sardines in a
box of the wonderful fauna of the Permian of Texas.
From a slight observation of the flora of the region into which we had
been miraculously transplanted, it had convinced me that I had gone
back from the twentieth century some twelve million years to the close
of the Carboniferous, that great age of Coal Plants, when vast regions
packed with the moss and other vegetation had been engulfed in the sea,
and after ages converted into coal.
So, how easily it was for me to realize that one of these lovely moss
covered pools, might prove a death-trap to any animal whose spoor lay
through this region. It was lucky for me that I still possessed a
Marsh pick with its broad duck-billed end, with which I could easily
hew my way through the dense but easily felled trees and rushes, that
obstructed in jungles of vegetation my progress. I judged that the open
spaces I saw in the distance from my lookout in the crown of a tree
fern, must represent ponds or lakes and there, would be by far a better
place to study the fauna of this strange region, because I knew from my
own discoveries in the Permian of Texas that many of the vertebrates
were Amphibians who lived in the water or the land as pleased their
fancy.
As I knew I would like to return to the place where I first awoke to
the realities of life, and from past experiences Maud was likely to
appear near here too. My first act after sliding down from the tree
was to divest myself of all my clothing except a pair of shoes, a pair
of pants, and a woolen shirt and light hat, with a broad rim I had
worn so long. On account of the moist climate and thick vegetation,
the air was heavy with carbonic acid gas. The only place where fresh
winds were blowing and the air was rich in oxygen, was on top of the
forests, or as I hoped along some lake shore where the winds of heaven
would be able to ripple the waters at least. So ready armed with my
pick to cut a pathway or defend myself from some hungry amphibian or
reptile because I expected to find amphibians with huge heads, and
bodies larger than my own, armed with terrible teeth. It seemed strange
too, that though in the twentieth century the order to which these
giants belonged, frogs and salamander were ready to disappear. Here
they were the dominant type so abundant that the Permian Age has been
called the Age of Amphibian or Batracians, I found the work fatiguing
on account of the great heat and close and oppressive atmosphere, that
constantly seemed to be on me to take a nap, yet with the power man has
over material and sensual things, I cut a pathway broad enough for two
to walk in it side by side, I knew if Maud was discovered, she would
want not to follow me like an Indian in single file, but beside me. I
often stopped to listen, as I rapidly progressed toward one of the open
spaces I had noted from the tree, because born on the slight breeze
that rustled the leaves above me, I could hear the croaking of frogs
that grew louder and louder, the sound put me in mind of a lot of frogs
singing through a megaphone. Suddenly without warning, I cut through
the jungle and found myself facing an inland lake of fresh water
bordered in places with reeds and rushes and moss that reached into the
water.
At another place near where I caught my first view of the waters,
was a sandy beach. Peopled with life, both reptiles and batracians
were everywhere. The great Salamander _Eryops_ of Cope of which I had
secured so much material in the Red Beds of the Big Wichita River in
Texas both for Cope, Zittel and Von Hume, swam in the waters before
me or measured their six feet of length upon the sand. The frog-like
noise I concluded came from these huge monarchs of the Amphibians. I
could see them resting on logs that were half submerged in the water,
or swimming below the water; lying on the bottom or crawling along the
shore. Emerging from the jungle that fringed the lake on the further
margin from me were strange reptiles. One I noticed in particular was
the largest of his tribe we were likely to see here. I say we because
I could not believe that He who had brought Maud and me through so many
adventures would take her bright presence away forever. These thoughts
were in my mind as I watched a reptile come into full view out of the
jungle.
The most wonderful thing about him, was that he carried on his back an
enormous hump. The spines in the center of the column were at least
three feet high, and packed around the base were masses of muscle and
ligaments, tapering to a sharp point at the top of the spine. A cross
section would be wedge shaped. I learned afterwards from a study of
the skeleton, that as the centra of the vertebrae were very weak they
were held firmly in place by the crossing ligaments that were wound
around the centra and spines in intermingled masses. This creature had
come out of the jungle for water interested me greatly. He was about
ten feet long from head to the long end of the delicate tail. I was
surprised to see him suddenly dive back into the jungle with all the
speed at his command. The _Eryops_ too suddenly stopped croaking and
a nerve wrecking silence, covered me as with a pall. The reptiles and
amphibians sought refuge in the jungle of the bottom of the lake. And
that body of water but a second before so full of life and activity
lay a mirror, silent as the grave, looking in the direction from which
neither reptile or amphibian had run for shelter, I heard too, an
unaccustomed sound in these swamps and everglades, it sounded very
much like the cutting of trees. I could hear the crush of mingled
vegetation as if a tree fern had been felled at one strong blow and
it came sliding down against the thickly planted vegetation, I could
hear the swish as it was dragged away, to make room for another that
quickly fell. Yes! I could hear human voices I was sure, and soon I
heard wafted across the lake the loved name Maud. I could see the
trees swaying, and then one by one come down in a straight line for
the lake, and I knew that in these solitudes I was not alone. That God
had brought others to this young earth. Whose surface still felt the
subterraneous heat, whose crust was so thin it often sank into the sea
or was raised just above high tide. I sprang forward on the beach to
the water’s edge just as the last obstruction in the shape of a trunked
cycad with its tangled mass of leaflets crushed to the earth and behind
the ambuscade of vegetation stood my whole family from Mamma to Levi,
and close beside him was Maud. George and Charlie were the ones who
wielded their picks, Mabel and Myrtle and the children and the others
dragged the trees away and they had their hands on the cycad when they
suddenly beheld me standing petrified on the beach. Such a shout went
up was never heard before. I waved my pick speechless with surprise,
for once at least in my life, as you have all found out my dear
readers, as my father used to say “I talk too much.”
All at once I recovered the use of my organs of speech and shouted:
“Why don’t you come over?” They all waved branches of the palm like
cycad they had torn from its head, as they shouted back: “_Why don’t
you come over?_” Well it did appear to me that it would be easier for
me to cross the smooth waters than such a crowd. So trimming off the
plumes from a mass of cycad and tree ferns, I soon had enough trunks
to build me a raft, I lashed them together with the mid ribs of the
cycad leaflets, which proved as strong and pliable as buck-skin thongs.
In a very few minutes I had a raft that floated like a cork, as the
centers of the trunks were full of pith. We afterwards found this pith
was quite starchy and made very acceptable sago flour. In the mean
time, the party on the other shore had erected huts covered with leaves
above, and open below so the wind might circulate through them and the
roofs would not only deflect the ardent heat of the sun but protect us
from torrential rains. With a reed for a paddle I sprang on my raft and
soon ferried across to my beloved ones, I had never expected to meet in
the Permian at least. Of course I was delighted to find Maud.
After our greetings they gathered in affectionate groups under the
trees and told me of their experiences since we last met. Mamma said
after I disappeared so suddenly and mysteriously from my home in
Lawrence, she had induced George and Charlie to move their families
into the home nest, from which they had taken flight. She had imagined
all kinds of things, and even the Government had missed their fossil
hunter and had exhausted the resources of the Detective Division as
well as that of the United States in the endeavor to locate me, but I
had disappeared as effectually as if the earth had opened her mouth and
swallowed me up. Only day before yesterday Levi suddenly disappeared,
and left her in a terrible state of suspense as to what it all meant.
Last night she had a family council with George and Charlie and their
wives. They went over the same old ground again and again and were no
nearer solving the perplexing problems than at first. The children had
been sent to bed and there were rocking chairs enough to go round in
which the grown ups were seated comfortably. Mamma she told me, was
the first to doze off and Charlie soon followed suit. The girls and
George smiled over the others, but before they realized it they too,
had dropped off. George was the first one to wake with a start. He
could hardly believe his senses. They were in a dense forest of tree
ferns, in fact only a few miles from where I was at the time. They were
all there but Levi, and as George’s surprised exclamation woke them
all they heard a rustling noise in the edge of a little clearing and
before they could say a word Levi broke through the jungle with Maud
clinging to his arm. “Well,” Mamma said, “ask Maud to tell the rest of
the story.” Which I gladly did. It seems, that as Maud had been through
a lengthy experience in the Ancient World, she had become a leader.
“Well Papa,” she remarked, “you remember when we disappeared in the
water of the Lagoon, I lost all consciousness, but came to my senses
in this jungle. My first thought was of course another providential
occurrence. I could hear what seemed the bellowing of great frogs and
strange sounds my ears had never listened to before. I wondered where
you could be, and was so anxious to find you, that I could not stand
it, remaining there all alone in this strange country, so I plunged
madly on, forcing the thick stems and trunks apart and squeezing
through them, I called to you too, ‘papa, papa, where are you!’ I
could not see an inch ahead for the vegetation. The moss tangled in my
hair that fell down and I must have looked a perfect fright. I came
suddenly on a clear space only a couple of yards across, covered with
the loveliest moss you could imagine. I sprang into the very middle of
it in my haste, and broke through and began to sink. I screamed, ‘Papa,
Papa,’ and threw out my arms toward the other side when suddenly I saw
two human hands spring out of the jungle and grasp mine, and strong
arms drew me bodily out of the treacherous pit, I stood beside smiling
brother Levi. He told me that he had gone to sleep in his room at
home in Lawrence and had awakened here the day before and that he had
wandered around in an almost dazed condition. Every thing so strange.
He could not tell what to make of it. I then told him our experiences
together in the other ages and regions we had explored, of our boat
on Mosasaurian Bay, and the many adventures we had enjoyed together
and expressed the belief that we would soon find you and we started
on the quest. Levi had his pick and cut a way while I dragged out the
trees he felled and piled them in the thick jungle. We had not gone a
great ways, when we suddenly heard a shout in front of us. ‘That is
George I know,’ cried Levi, ‘I recognize his voice,’ and he raised an
answering shout that made the very leaves tremble. We soon reached him
and there was Mamma and all the rest of our family. It was a joyful
meeting but Mamma would not allow us to remain there talking of our
wonderful experience because she was sure you could not be far off. As
the boys had their picks they cut a broad path while the rest of us
pulled the light trees out of the way and we were progressing famously
when we saw your astonished face across the narrow lake.” I could only
thank God that I had been reunited with my people and that Maud also
was there. It would have seemed terrible to remember her sinking into
the treacherous lagoon, then suddenly find myself separated from it
by millions of years. Ethel and little Raymond had gone off to the
sandy beach to play in the sand and Charlie too. They romped until
they were tired and Ethel returned to Mabel and asked her if dinner
was ready. We had not thought of it. But had been so excited at our
reunion, after so many weeks, so much occupied with our talk, that we
forgot to be hungry. Just before the family council had gone to sleep
George had been at work inventing some cooking utensils, and had not
only made diagrams of them but had secured some sheets of aluminum.
He had put them in his collecting bag along with the usual tools he
carried in the field, and when he woke with the rest of the family he
still had them. So I told him if he would make a cooking kettle I would
get something to put in it for dinner. Maud knowing the resources of
a forest better than the others gathered some dry sticks and Levi by
her advice cut some crotched sticks he drove in the earth, and a cross
stick to swing the kettle on. George soon found a round water-worn
cobblestone on the beach to use as a mold and hammered a sheet of
aluminum around it, and soon had a pot ready. He cut off a narrow strip
for a handle and punched holes in the upper rim to fasten it to. In
the meantime I wove together a lot of leaves and made a tray, which I
took to one of the cycad stumps (we had cut off the trunk). Then with
my pick scraped out a quantity of the pith that fell as white powder
into the tray. On my return Maud had the water boiling and we stirred
in sago flour and as soon as it thickened into porridge it was ready
for a lot of hungry mouths. Charlie had made some spoons, so with the
pot in the midst we thanked our heavenly Father for the food from his
hand and the glad reunion in the Old Permian of Texas. After a hearty
meal we planned for the future. Resolving to thoroughly explore the
jungle and try and reach tidewater; as we felt sure the old Permian
ocean was not far away. After our excited voices had reached quiet and
ordinary tones, we were pleased to see the Amphibians and reptiles
come out on the beach. One of the most abundant was _Labidosaurus_
an Amphibian like reptile about three feet long. It had short legs
and an enormous head compared with its length. I remember a quarry of
these reptiles I discovered on the west fork of Coffee Creek in Baylor
County, Texas. I found several fine skulls for the late Professor Cope,
and later by digging into the greenish sandstone, I secured a number
more for Dr. Von Zittel of Munich. Another reptile appeared from the
edge of the jungle that so closely resembles a South American lizard
of the twentieth century, it was called Varanus, by Dr. Broili. It was
about four feet in length, had a long head, delicate lizard-like tail.
Still another form soon attracted our attention coming from across
the narrow pond out of the woods. It was about four feet long, had
strong limbs and short head with many small teeth. The giant amphibian
_Eryops_ too, soon found the courage to come out of the water and
start his unmelodious croak to be soon answered by a friendly fellow
in the distance. So the life and noises of the quiet jungle took up
the accustomed tenor of their ways. The children clapped their hands
and shouted when a new form appeared, as delighted as if a menagerie
were on the tapis, and all the family were deeply interested. I had
the boys drive rush stakes into the ground around our clearings, so as
to protect us from the inroads of the big reptiles and amphibians, and
admit the air freely. We needed all of that we could possibly get. So
we passed the day and night fall found us all gathered in our enclosure
listening to the strange noises around us. We had already arranged
huts for the entire party and after reading a chapter (for Mamma had
her Bible with her) we offered our evening prayers and went to restful
sleep. In the morning we were early astir. It was no need to warn the
younger men and women to beware of the treacherous bogs as they already
had learned of Maud’s adventure. We made another appetising dish from
the sago flour and I caught some little reptiles not over eight inches
long and gar-pike. We fried these in their rich grease, and with the
sago mush, had an excellent breakfast. The presence of my beloved
family added much to my own pleasure.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Dog Creek, Montana. Notice effects of
vulcanism. Page 113.]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Badlands near Cow Island, Montana. Page 118.]
My feeble pen would fail to describe the beauty of the Tree Fern and
Cycad forest. The enormous fronds of fern leaflets that crowned the
marked trunks around us, put me in mind of the Australian Tree Ferns
in the Carnegie Conservatories at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Only they
were much larger and the massive fern branches formed larger crowns.
There was such a wealth of variety here too that delighted me. All
were lost in wonder at the strange scenery and life, both in its flora
and fauna. We determined to cut our way in a southerly direction as
I felt sure I scented the distant sea. Charlie and myself using our
picks, cut a wide swath of ferns and cycads and other carboniferous
trees. Our women folks hauling them out of the way. We were constantly
coming across the strange reptilian and amphibian life of that far-away
day, and our exclamations of surprise at the beauty of this ancient
forest came involuntarily from our lips. The moss too, in many gorgeous
colors, and hues carpeted the damp ground beneath our feet, or hung in
tapestry-like folds from the branches overhead. Many hands made rapid
progress and though the heat was excessive we all perspired freely. We
often came across the bogs of great extent, ponds and lakes bordered
with peat moss, and saw countless reptiles on shore or amphibians in
the water. With the earnest hope that we might reach salt water, we
labored on under the glaring sun above, that penetrated the thick
vegetation and as we opened the way, the heat was very trying on our
unprotected heads. At last a strong breeze began to sweep the crowns of
verdure above us into great billows, making music among the delicate
branches, and I was sure we were reaching the open sea. So Charlie
climbed the trunk of a tall fern and when he got to the strong bases
of the ferns he stood erect on them and shouted, “There it is to the
south;” for as he told us, a great ocean lay before him as far as his
eyes could reach. So with renewed courage we hurried on and before
dark broke through the dense jungles we had been traveling through, on
the beach, and into a strong wind that was blowing from the south and
curling the waves into swaying masses. It was indeed a glorious sight
and we all rushed down and ran into the curling breakers near shore
and let them roll over us. Thoroughly refreshed, we returned to the
edge of the jungle and went to work building shelters for the whole
family. We were delighted when George and Charlie brought us a mess of
fishes, sturgeon-like in appearance, which, with the cycad flour, the
women got up a fine meal. Levi and Maud came in later and we enjoyed an
appetising meal. While we were resting after supper and watching the
boundless sea, I recited some of the poems I had written. The first one
in honor of Jennie McKee’s wedding day. She had been a very dear friend
indeed:
I.
O! Jennie McKee,
I am thinking of thee,
My heart beating time
With that heart of thine.
How I hope, and I pray,
That your wedding day,
May be a day of the greatest joy,
A day of pleasure without alloy.
II.
O! Jennie McKee,
I am longing with thee,
That the future for you
May never be blue,
And like birds on the wing
You ever may sing.
That your dear life may be blest,
Full of joy and of rest.
III.
O! Jennie McKee,
Your heart once so free,
Bound in fetters of love.
May God bless from above:
Two hearts beat as one,
While your course you will run,
In currents both peaceful and sweet,
Until golden shores you will meet.
IV.
O! Jennie McKee,
My thoughts turn to thee.
And days that have flown
Since you, I have known
To the man of your choice
And I well may rejoice,
For you give all a woman can give,
Your love, and yourself while you live.
V.
O! Jennie McKee,
Contentment for thee,
In the home you will make,
In the love you awake,
In the strong heart and true,
Who has pledged all to you,
Fill that home full of love
A forecast of mansions above.
VI.
O! Jennie McKee,
God’s blessings on thee!
Like Mary of yore,
May He sit at your door.
O! sit at His feet,
Learn wisdom so sweet,
That will bless you as long as you live,
While to Him your best service you give.
The children had gone to bed and our camp fire of dry fern stumps
burned brightly, or faded away as Levi and Maud replenished it. At
last worn out with the excessive heat and labor we all retired to
our respective huts. We were soon lost in sleep. When the Amphibians
greeted the rising sun with their chorus of what to us seemed like
discordant notes (doubtless they were melodious to the natives of these
early wilds where foot of man had never trod before). The human element
stirred themselves, and after breakfast we all wandered down to the
beach for an early plunge. We dried our salty clothes by running or
walking along the level sandy shore.
Maud had called our attention, in a land locked bay to a fleet of
Ammonites. Those lovely nautilus-like chambered shells, who had spread
their transparent sails to the morning breeze. Some were enormous, over
two feet in diameter, and resembled huge cornucopias. They floated as
lightly and as elegantly as a flock of swans. They were arrayed in
all the colors of the rainbow. We could also see fishes, all clad in
armor of enameled scales, in many a lovely hue, gar-pike and sturgeon
were among the most common. The bony fishes did not appear until the
Cretaceous Age, you remember.
What the children loved to do most was to dig in the sand or hunt for
the nests of small reptiles, six or eight inches long, that often lay
coiled a few inches below the surface, their heads could enter mamma’s
silver thimble. My parties found many of them in the Red Permian Beds
of Baylor County, Texas. As the sun rose higher the children became
drowsy and we returned to our huts and laid them down in some soft
fern leaflets that made a bed as light as eider down. We talked of our
wonderful adventures in quiet tones, so as not to disturb them, and
before we knew it, we too, had fallen asleep.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Badlands of the Missouri River. Page 118.]