How vast a
time, also, must have passed away ere the warmth reached its
climax!"[2]
[1. Bancroft's "Native Races," vol. iii, p. 100.
2. "The Great Ice Age," p. 184.]
{p. 220}
And all this time the rain fell. There could be no return of the sun
until all the mass of moisture sucked up by the comet's heat had been
condensed into water, and falling on the earth had found its way back
to the ocean; and this process had to be repeated many times. It was
the age of the great primeval rain.
###
THE PRIMEVAL STORM.
In the Andes, Humboldt tells us of a somewhat similar state of facts:
"A thick mist during a particular season obscures the firmament for
many months. Not a planet, not the most brilliant stars of the
southern hemisphere--Canopus, the
{p. 221}
Southern Cross, nor the feet of Centaur--are visible. It is
frequently almost impossible to discover the position of the moon. If
by chance the outlines of the sun's disk be visible during the day,
it appears devoid of rays."
Says Croll:
"We have seen that the accumulation of snow and ice on the ground,
resulting from the long and cold winters, tended to cool the air and
produce fogs, which cut off the sun's rays.
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