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Disburdened of her load, and sinking from the stimulant of battle, she now became faint, through loss of blood, and was about to drop to the ground; for, in the struggle with the serpent, she had been severely bitten and wrenched, so that her own blood was mingled with that of the reptile on her body.

As she was about to faint away, however, she observed that her child was gone, when all the excitement returned which had attended her in battle, and, on hearing of its capture, she sent up a wail which echoed through the forest, and flew into a rage that terrified the bystanders.

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The events related in the preceding chapter occurred, as we have said, about ninety years after the fight between the Monkeys and Snakes on Cocoanut Hill. As the time of the Ammi is reckoned from this fight, we shall go back, for awhile, to the affairs which immediately preceded it.

The Apes of all kinds had, till then, been roving promiscuously over the country along with wild beasts of every description. The forests being free to all, and likewise the swamps, there was a scene like that of the jungles of Central Africa to-day. Land and water teemed with life, and were animated with struggles for the food of the region. Gigantic lions, tigers, woolly rhinoceroses, mastodons, cave-bears and other savage beasts sported in their favorite element. Serpents were particularly abundant, especially in the great Alligator Swamp, from which they emerged to the high country to catch rabbits and other game. The Apes, which were mostly vegetarians, did not at first interfere with the more savage beasts hunting in these forests; so that there was an endless variety of animals in the region of which we speak.