Moreover, when the cold passed away and the country began again to be covered with oak and pine forests where animals might feed and flourish, we find that a new enemy had made his appearance. Man--active, thinking, tool-making man--had begun to take possession of the caves and holes of the rocks, making weapons out of large flints bound into handles of wood, and lighting fires by rubbing wood together, so as to protect himself from wild beasts and inclement weather. In America and in England alike, as well as in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and India, we know that man was living at this time among animals, many of them of species which have since become extinct, and with his rude weapons of jagged flint was conquering for himself a place in the world. He must have had a hard struggle, for we find these flint implements now lying among the bones of hyænas, sabre-toothed tigers, cave-lions, cave-bears, rhinoceroses, elephants, and hippopotamuses, showing that it was in a land full of wild beasts that he had to make good his ground. “By the swamp in the forest The oak-branches groan, As the savage primeval, With russet hair thrown O’er his huge naked limbs, swings his hatchet of stone. “And now, hark! as he drives with A last mighty swing, The stone blade of the axe through The oak’s central ring, From his blanched lips what screams of wild agony spring! There’s a rush through the fern-fronds, A yell of affright, And the Savage and Sabre-tooth Close in fierce fight, As the red sunset smoulders and blackens to night.”[201] Many and fierce these conflicts must have been, for the wild beasts were still strong and numerous, and man had not yet the skill and weapons which he has since acquired. But rough and savage though he may have been, he had powers which made him superior to all around him. For already he knew how to make and use weapons to defend himself, and how to cover himself at least with skins as protection from cold and damp. Moreover, he had a brain which could devise and invent, a memory which enabled him to accumulate experience, and a strong power of sympathy which made him a highly social being, combining with others in the struggle for life. And so from that early time till now, man, the last and greatest winner in life’s race, has been taking possession of the earth. With more and more powerful weapons he has fought against the wild beasts in their native haunts; and by clearing away the large forests, cutting up the broad prairies and pastures, and cultivating the land, he has turned them out of their old feeding grounds, till now we must go to the centre of Africa, the wild parts of Asia, or the boundless forests of South America, to visit in their homes the large wild animals of the great army of milk-givers. * * * * *