Читать книгу From Monkey to Man, or, Society in the Tertiary Age онлайн

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Sosee, who spoke these words, was a comely girl of twelve years, one of the new race which had recently separated from the Apes, and would no longer recognize them as equals. There was a hostility between the Apes and these upstarts, and frequent incursions were made from the territory of one on that of the other.

The Apes had mostly retreated to the swamps and forests beyond, while the new race were occupying the region about Cocoanut Hill, which their ancestors of two generations before had taken, after many conflicts, from the Apes, and from which they had driven the savage beasts. Here the parents of Sosee were living, and here Sosee had grown to womanhood.

The Cocoanut Hill region was a large tract, in what is now Southern France, stretching from Alligator Swamp toward the mountains in the distance. This section was plentifully covered with fruit trees—mangos, palms, figs and limes; the under brush furnished berries and succulent herbs; the waters of the swamp, which bordered this land, abounded in fish, frogs, turtles, snakes and alligators; while great flocks of ducks, geese and other water fowl frequented it at seasons. The forests abounded in Uri, Woolly Oxen, Musk-Deer and other game. This abundance of vegetable and animal life supplied food for the Ammi, as the new race was called, and they would have lived in comfort but for the attacks of the Apes beyond the water, who, keeping an envious eye on these fruits, often came over the Swamp for food.