Chapter I: Front Matter

FROM MONKEY TO MAN
OR
Society in the Tertiary Age

A Story of the Missing Link

SHOWING THE FIRST STEPS IN INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, GOVERNMENT,
RELIGION AND THE ARTS

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT EXPEDITION FROM COCOANUT
HILL AND THE WARS IN ALLIGATOR SWAMP

BY
AUSTIN BIERBOWER
Author of “The Virtues and Their Reasons,” “The Socialism of
Christ,” “The Morals of Christ,” Etc.

Illustrated by H. R. HEATON

CHICAGO
INGERSOLL BEACON CO
1906

COPYRIGHT 1906
BY
WM. H. MAPLE
CHICAGO

M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
PRINTERS AND BINDERS
407-429 DEARBORN STREET
CHICAGO

PUBLISHER’S PREFACE.

The extraordinary interest which this book has excited has induced the publisher to issue a new and revised edition at a reduced price, believing that, as it is the first attempt at a prehistoric novel, it will have a wide reading. The subject, the characters and the period are here for the first time introduced into fiction.

The scenes are laid in the Tertiary Age when, according to the Darwinian Theory, men were emerging from the Ape, and they portray the supposed exploits of our ancestors at that stage of development. The author has aimed to exhibit the features of the time—climate, foliage, animals, etc.—as understood by Geologists and Biologists, and to be scientifically accurate, with no more variations in proportion than are usual in historic fiction.

If Evolution is the true theory of man’s origin there is a long period of forgotten history, covering thousands of centuries, during which men lived and fought and learned, and this book seeks to revivify it and make it realizable. In this period nearly all the arts and industries were started, and the author suggests their crude origin in a variety of episodes. The origin of arms, building, religion and government, the first use of fire and clothing and the primitive form of many social and business problems are indicated in the course of a simple story.

In addition to its valuable scientific hints, the work is rich in practical wisdom. It is also spiced throughout with a vein of quiet humor which provokes mirth and makes it highly entertaining as well as instructive.

The illustrations by H. R. Heaton, an artist of national reputation, are believed to be the best work of his genius.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

FRONTISPIECE

SOSEE’S MOTHER ENCOUNTERS THE SNAKE 10

SHAMBOO’S RIDE 20

THE ROBBERS OF THE AMMI 31

“SEE BELOVED HOW THE MIGHTY FALL AT THE WORD OF SIMLEE
AND THE STROKE OF SHOOZOO” 36

“I HAVE BROUGHT ONE OF THE AMMI INSTEAD” 51

KOREE AND SOSEE ENCOUNTER A MONSTER 58

THE RESCUE OF ORLEE 69

THE BATTLE IN THE SWAMP 80

THE CATASTROPHE 97

THE FIGHT WITH THE FIRE-MONSTER 102

THE GREEDY OKO 120

POUNDER’S MISHAP 129

THE BATTLE BEGINS 139

KOREE’S CHALLENGE 149

THE RETREAT OF THE LALI 161

SOSEE WARNS THE AMMI 172

THE WOOD-EATING ANIMAL IN THE CAMP OF THE AMMI 191

THE AMMI BREAKING THROUGH THE ICE 198

SOSEE’S STRATEGY 212

RETURN OF THE AMMI TO COCOANUT HILL 225