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

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It will thus be seen that the fight between the Monkeys and Snakes on Cocoanut Hill, which was important in the history, became more important in the mythology of the Apes, and, from its prominence in their profane and sacred traditions, it is natural that the Apes should make it the commencement of an epoch.

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After the Snakes had been driven from the region of Cocoanut Hill, and the land thus rid of both wild beasts and reptiles, the Apes, who had now undisputed possession, got to fighting among themselves for the land. Those, therefore, who had united for defense now divided for conquest.

There were two principal varieties of Apes, as we have said,—the Ammi from whom the Men are descended, and the Lali, who, while resembling the former, were inferior in manners, and more closely resembled the present Orang-outang. They had both sprung from the same original stock, and, until several generations before, lived together in a more southerly country. At length they separated, (while still in the south), the Ammi going eastward, and the Lali westward, like the separation between Abraham and Lot.