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PKE-HISTOBIC TIMES

AS ILLUSTRATED BY

ANCIENT REMAINS, AND THE MANNERS
AND CUSTOMS OF MODERN SAVAGES

THE ET. HON. SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M. P.

1'. C. K.. 1,1,. I *., I1 . K. S.

PRINCIPAL OF THE LONDON WORKING MEN'S COLLEGE ; PRESIDENT OF THE LONDON CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE ; AND CHAIRMAN OF THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL

FIFTH EDITION

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1892

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

TN this Work I present to the public some essays
on Pre-historic Archaeology, part of which have
appeared in the Natural History Beview, viz. that
on —

The Danish Shell- mounds, in October, 1861.

The Swiss Lake-dwellings, in January, 1862.

The Flint Implements of the Drift, in July, 1862.

North American Archaeology, in January, 1863.

Cave-men, in July, 1864.

Messrs. "Williams and Norgate suggested to me to
republish these articles in a separate form ; and I was
further encouraged to do so by the fact that most of
them had re-appeared, either in France or America.
The conductors of the Annales des Sciences Naturelles
did me the honour to translate those on the Danish
Shell -mounds and the Swiss Lake - dwellings. The
latter also appeared in Silliman's Journal ; and the
article on American Archaeology, with the exception of

VI PREFACE.

the last paragraph, was reprinted in the Smithsonian
Eeport for 1862.*

At first I only contemplated reprinting the papers
as they stood ; but having, at the request of the
managers, delivered at the Eoyal Institution a short
course of lectures on the Antiquity of Man, it was
thought desirable to introduce the substance of these,
so as to give the work a more complete character.

My object has been to elucidate, as far as possible,
the principles of pre-historic archeology, laying spe-
cial stress upon the indications which it affords of the
condition of man in primeval times. The tumuli, or
burial-mounds, the peat-bogs of this and other coun-
tries, the Kjb'kkenmoddings or shell-mounds of Den-
mark, the Lake-habitations of Switzerland, the bone-
caves and the river-drift gravels, are here our principal
sources of information.

In order to qualify myself, as far as possible, for
the task which I have undertaken, I have visited, not
only our three great museums in London, Dublin,
and Edinburgh, but also many on the Continent, as,
for instance, those at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lund,
Flensburg, Aarhuus, Lausanne, Basle, Berne, Zurich,

* The article on Cave-men was also translated in the Annales des
Sciences Naturelles, Fifth Ser. vol. ii., and that on North American
Archaeology in the Revue Archeologique for 1865.

PREFACE. Vll

Yverdon, Paris, Abbeville, etc., besides many private
collections of great interest, of which I may particu-
larly specify those of M. Boucher de Perthes, Messrs.
Christy, Evans, Bateman, Forel, Schwab, Troyon,
Gillie'ron, Uhlmann, Desor, and, lastly, the one recently
made by MM. Christy and Lartet in the bone-caves of
the Dordogne.

Sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with
Messrs. Prestwich and Evans, I have made numerous
visits to the Yalley of the Somme, and have examined
almost every gravel-pit and section from Amiens down
to the sea. In 1861, with Mr. Busk, and again in
1863, I went to Denmark, in order to have the
advantage of seeing the Kjb'kkenmoddings themselves.
Under the guidance of Professor Steenstrup, I visited
several of the most celebrated shell-mounds, particu-
larly those at Havelse, Bilidt, Meilgaard, and Fanne-
rup. I also made myself familiar with so much of the
Danish language as was necessary to enable me to read
the various reports drawn up by the Kjokkenmodding
Committee, consisting of Professors Steenstrup, Wor-
saae, and Forchhammer. Last year I went to the
north of Scotland, to examine some similar shell-
mounds discovered by Dr. Gordon, of Birnie, on the
shores of the Moray Firth, which appear, however,

X PREFACE.

and for much valuable assistance in other ways. My
thanks are due to Professor Steenstrup for many of
the figures by which the "Work is illustrated. Others,
through the kindness of Sir W. E. Wilde, Mr. Franks,
and Dr. Thurnam, have been placed at my disposal
by the Society of Antiquaries and the Eoyal Irish
Academy. To Professor Steenstrup, Dr. Keller, M.
Morlot, and Professor Eiitimeyer, I am indebted for
much information on the subject of their respective
investigations. Finally, Mr. Busk, Mr. Evans, and
Professor Tyndall, have had the great kindness to read
many of my proofs, and to them I am indebted for
various valuable suggestions.

CHISELHURST,

February, 1805.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION,

TN preparing a New Edition of PEE-HISTOEIC TIMES,
I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to avoid
unduly increasing the size of the book ; and although
the present "Work will be found to contain a great
number of new facts, some of the chapters being indeed
almost re-written, still it is only increased in size to
the extent of one hundred pages. Nearly half of these
are occupied by the addition of more than seventy
new figures, which will tend to diminish, rather than
increase, the time occupied by its perusal.

This course has compelled me to omit all reference
to many researches of much merit and interest, while
in other cases I have been obliged to treat the labour
of years in a few short sentences. The true force of
the evidence in support of archaeological conclusions
is thus materially weakened, by being deprived of its
cumulative character ; but I have endeavoured in many
cases to meet this objection by the introduction of
statistical tables.

Xll PREFACE.

Since the First Edition was published, I have visited
the principal German and Italian museums, and have
been in correspondence with the most active archaeo-
logists both in Europe and also across the Atlantic.

I cannot attempt here to express in any suitable
manner my gratitude for the assistance which I have
received. Every museum which I have visited has
been thrown open to me with the greatest liberality,
and every archaeologist whom I have consulted has
given me the readiest and fullest information.

No one can be more sensible than I am of the
many shortcomings of this "Work. Those, however,
who perceive them most clearly, will, I am sure, be
disposed to judge them leniently, because they will
best be able to appreciate the difficulty of keeping
pace with a science which has so many and such
enthusiastic votaries ; the results of whose earnest
labour are to be found scattered through a number
of periodicals, published in many different countries
and in various tongues.

ELMS, DOWN, KENT,
March, 1869.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

PAGE

Division of Pre-historic archaeology into four periods — First disco-
very of metal — Allusions to bronze in ancient writers — Lucretius—
Tiefenau — Find of iron objects at Nydam, in Slesvick — Owner's
marks — Inscriptions at Nydam — Nature of archaeological evi-
dence— Statistics — Pottery of the different ages — Bronze weapons
not of Roman origin — Geographical distribution of bronze wea-
pons— Summary of argument — Bronze weapons not Saxon -
Hallstadt I

CHAPTER II.

ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES.

Bronze celts — Bronze swords — Bronze spears — Bronze fish-hooks
and sickles — Bronze knives — Bronze ornaments — The metal-
lurgy of the Bronze Age — Gold ornaments — List of Bronze
objects — Dress — Burial during the Bronze Age — Hut-urns-
Pen-pits — Picts' houses — Beehive houses —The Burgh of Moussa
-Staigue fort, Kerry ... 27

CHAPTER III.

THE BRONZE AGE.

Similarity of bronze implements in different countries — The Bronze
Age and the Phoenicians — Ancient voyages — Himilco — Pytheas
— Phoenician colonies and commerce — Copper — Tin — Traces of
Baal worship in Northern Europe — Objections to the Phoenician
theory ............ 60

2531

xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

THE USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES.

PAGE

The great abundance of stone implements — Stone implements used
after the discovery of metal — Materials preferred — Jade — Flint
— Grimes' Graves — Pressigny — The fracture of flint — Modern
flakes — Manufacture offtakes in Mexico, and among the Esqui-
maux— Ancient manufactories — Stone axes — Pierced hatchets-
Scrapers — Shell-mound axes — Chisels— Awls — Spears — Daggers
-Sling-stones — Arrow-heads — Saws — Bone implements — Awls
-Harpoons — Flint finds ........ 79

CHAPTER V.

MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS AND TUMULI.

Tumuli — Menhirs — Stone circles — Mention of stone circles and
tumuli in ancient history — Megalithic monuments not Druidical
— Abury — Silbury Hill more ancient than the Roman road-
Stonehenge — Carnac — Megalithicmonuments in India — Modern
Indian dolmens — Modes of burial in tumuli — Use of tumuli as
dwellings --Yurts and gammes — Hut -burial among modern
savages — Picts' houses — The mound-builders — Long barrows —
Objects buried with the dead not always intended for actual use
-List of interments — Tabulated interments — Statistics — Models
of implements sometimes buried — Barrows belong to very dif-
ferent periods — Difficulty of determining the period to which
a tumulus belongs — Danish tumulus in the Island of Moen—
Description of a barrow at West Kennet — Pottery from the
West Kennet tumulus — Breton tumuli — Sepulchral pottery-
Rock sculptures — Bones of animals in tumuli — Sepulchral feasts
-Sacrifices — Pre-historic races of men — Desirability of pre-
serving megalithic monuments . . . . . . . 113

CHAPTER VI.

THE ANCIENT LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND.

Lake-dwellings mentioned by Herodotus — Modern Lake-dwellings
— Irish crannoges — Pile-dwellings in other parts of Europe—
Lake-dwellings found in most of the Swiss lakes — Attempt to
make a census — Construction of the platforms — Comparison of
Lake-dwellings of different periods — Condition of the objects

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

found — Preparation of the piles — Number of the piles used-
Description of the remains at Wauwyl — Weapons and imple-
ments of the Lake-men — Implements of bone and wood — Pot-
tery— Dress — The fauna of the Lake-dwellings — Comparison
of bones belonging to wild and domesticated races — Oxen-
Absence of extinct species — Aurochs — Elk — Ibex — General
character of the fauna — Comparison of the different Lake villages
— The flora — Grain — fruits — flax — Ancient agriculture — Scarcity
of human remains — Objects of bronze — The worship of Lakes-
Pottery of the Bronze Age — Inhabitants of the Lake villages-
Character of the objects found in different Lake villages — Anti-
quity of Lake villages . . . . . . . .181

CHAPTER VII.

THE DANISH KJOKKENMODDINGS, OR SHELL-MOUNDS.

Danish tumuli — Kjokkenmoddings, or shell-mounds — Description
of the shell-mounds — Distribution of the shell-mounds — Shell-
mounds in Scotland — Shell-mounds in other countries — Flora
of the Danish shell-mounds — Fauna of the shell-mounds — Con-
dition of the bones — Prevalence of certain bones — Habits of the
mound-builders — Flint implements — Absence of polished flint
implements — Food of the shell-mound builders — The Fuegians
— The relation of the shell-mounds to the tumuli — The opinions
of Messrs. Steenstrup and Worsaae — Antiquity of the shell-
mounds 227

CHAPTER VIII.

NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.

Bibliography — Classification of antiquities — Implements — The use
of copper— Ancient copper-mines— Pottery — Ornaments — Forti-
fications— Earthworks — Enclosures — Sacred enclosures — Earth-
works of the Scioto Valley — Aztalan — Vitrified walls — Modern
earthworks — Chunk yards — Sepulchral mounds-- So-called
sacrificial mounds — Grave Creek mound — Temple mounds-
Animal mounds — Rock carvings — Wampum- -The mound-
builders — Evidence of ancient population — Traces of ancient
agriculture — Antiquity of the remains — Condition of the bones
—American forests — Indications of four periods — Man and the
mastodon — Antiquity of man in America 253

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

QUATERNARY MAMMALIA.

PAGE

Succession of species— The cave-bear- -The cave-hyaena— The
cave-lion — The mammoth — Existence of the African elephant in
Europe— The quaternary species of rhinoceros — Rhinoceros
Tichorhinus— The musk-ox— The hippopotamus— The Irish elk
—Wild horses— The reindeer— The aurochs— The urus— Elk-
Lemming-- Snowy owl --Mollusca— Links between existing
species— Climate of the quaternary period— Probable fluctua-
tions of climate .

CHAPTER X.

CAVE-MEN.

Caves in the South of France— Belgian caves— Kent's Hole-
Brixham cave — Sicilian caves — Gibraltar caves — Aurignac-
Wokey Hole — Caves in the Dordogne — Fauna of the Dordogne
caves — Absence of domestic animals — Flint implements — Rela-
tive antiquity of the remains — Absence of polished implements
— Bone implements — Representations of animals — Drawing of
reindeer and mammoth — Sculpture — Habits of the cave-dwellers
— Human remains — The Engis skull — The Neanderthal skull-
Cave-men .... . 311

CHAPTER XL

RIVER-DRIFT GRAVEL-BEDS.

M. Boucher de Perthes — Mr. Prestwich and Mr. Evans — Mr. Frere's
discovery in 1800 — Similar discoveries elsewhere — Similar dis-
coveries in other countries — Antiquity as shown by physical
geography — The questions at issue — Evidence derivable from
the flints themselves — The forgeries— Character of the true drift
implements — Drift implements never ground — Scarcity of human
bones — Scarcity of men in ancient times — Proportion of men to
other animals in the Hudson's Bay Territory — The mammoth and
rhinoceros — Characteristics of the drift-beds — Physical geogra-
phy of the Somme Valley — St. Acheul — Organic remains -
Mineralogical constituents of the river-drift gravels — Objections
to the proposed theory — Ice action — Fresh-water origin of the
gravels — Inapplicability of cataclysms — Alteration of the river
level — Gradual excavation of the valley — The lower level gravel-
beds — Their fauna — The peat — Objects found in the peat-
Relation of the loess to the gravel — Continual changes of river
courses — Elevation of the land — Recapitulation . . .341

CONTENTS. xvii

CHAPTER XII.

ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

PAGE

Historical evidence — Ethnological evidence — Evidence derivable
from physical geography — The vegetation of Denmark — The
cone of the Tiniere — The Valley of the Thiele — The formation
of Egypt — The gradual elevation of the country, owing to the
annual deposit of Nile mud — Mr. Horner's Egyptian researches
—Age of the Mississippi delta — Lapse of time, as indicated by
the change of climate — Sir J. W. Lubbock on the earth's axis-
Effect of a change in the Gulf-Stream — Astronomical causes-
Precession of the Equinoxes — M. Adhemar's argument — The
cupola of ice at the South Pole — Objections to M. Adhemar's
theory- — Probable effect of precession — The excentricity of the
earth's orbit — Date suggested for the glacial epoch — Effect of
rivers on the level of continents — The obliquity of the ecliptic—
M. Adhemar on changes in the sea-level — Geological changes
in the Quaternary period — Geological time — Reported evidence
of man in the Pliocene period — Miocene man .... 383

CHAPTER XIII.

MODERN SAVAGES.

The untrustworthiness of tradition — Tendency to the marvellous

-No evidence of degradation -- Progress among savages -
Hottentots: dress; food; weapons; metallurgy; customs; cha-
racter ; Bushmen — Veddahs — Andaman I slanders — Australians:
houses ; food ; rock-engravings ; canoes ; implements ; clubs ;
spears; throwing-sticks ; the boomerang; fire; clothes; orna-
ments; tattooing; initiation ceremonies; games; superstition;
modes of burial; language; marriage — Tasmanians — Fiji Is-
landers: food; weapons; houses; temples; religion; canoes;
pottery ; games ; agriculture ; women ; dress ; tattooing ; burial ;
customs ; parricide ; horrible rites ; cannibalism ; character of
the Fijians — Maories: food; dress; ornaments; tattooing;
houses ; fortifications ; weapons ; canoes ; burial ; music ; cha-
racter; religion; cannibalism — Tahiti: implements; fish-hooks;
nets; baskets; mats; bark-cloth; dress; canoes; music; furni-
ture ; weapons ; food ; fire ; cookery ; ava ; a chief's dinner ;
solitary meals ; surgery ; modes of burial ; Oberea's morai ;
government ; ideas of right and wrong ; the Arreoy society ;
general character — The Tongans ...... 426

XV111 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

MODERN SAVAGES — continued.

PAGE

Esquimaux: tents; houses; lamps; absence of cleanliness ; stores
of food; cookery ; difficulty of obtaining water; fire; implements
and weapons; modes of hunting and fishing; sledges; boats;
scrapers ; clothes, ornaments, cheek-studs ; music ; drawings ;
religion ; modes of burial ; things buried with the dead ; charac-
ter— North American Indians: dress; ornaments; labrets ; the
practice of head-moulding; religion; social position of women;
character; cruelty; infanticide; implements; weapons; boats;
fire ; dwellings ; agriculture ; maize ; rice ; animal food ; burial ;
art— Paraguay Indians — Patagonians: stature; huts; dress;
weapons; food; burial; religion — Fucgians: huts; implements;
weapons; food; stature; habits; mode of fishing; cannibalism;
absence of religion ; canoes ; dress ; fire ..... 492

CHAPTER XV.

MODERN SAVAGES — concluded.

Skilfulness of savages — Varieties of implements — Neatness in sew-
ing— Art of drilling — Important works erected by savages-
Differences in the Stone Age — Different lines of civilization-
Differences of weapons — Isolation of savages — Geographical
distribution of weapons, etc. — Differences between savages-
Different uses for the dog — Different modes of obtaining fire-
Different modes of burial — Descent of property — Differences in
prevalent sounds — Differences in signs — Ideas of decency-
Ideas of virtue — Deification of white men — Curious customs-
Social position of women — Savages and children — Moral and
intellectual inferiority of savages — Poverty of savage languages
Deficiencies in numeration — Absence of religion — Rudiments of
religion — Lowideas of the deity — Witchcraft — General wretched-
ness of savages .......... 543

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

The higher animals — The primitive condition of man — Diffusion

of man — Early races of man — Natural selection applied to man

-The influence of mind — Increase of happiness — Sufferings of

savages — Superstitious terrors — Self-inflicted sufferings — The

blessings of ci\ ili/ation — The diminution of suffering — The

diminution of sin — The advantages of science — The future . 583

APPENDIX ... ... . 603

INDEX .... .613

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

1. Ancient Danish arrow-head, with owner's mark.

Engelhardt, Denmark in the Early Iron Age, p. xiii, fig. 35.

2. Modern Esquimaux arrow-head, with owner's mark.

In my collection, one-half natural size.

3. Owner's marks from various ancient Danish arrows.

Denmark in the Early Iron Age, pp. i — xiii.

4. Copper (?) celt from Waterford — 6 inches long, 3^ wide at the

broader end, and i% at the smaller, which is about i-i6th thick.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 363.

5. Winged celt, or Paalstave, from Ireland. Ibid. p. 373.

6. Socketed celt from Ireland, one-third of the actual size. Ibid. p. 385.
7-9. The three principal types of celts, and the manner in which they

are supposed to have been handled. Ibid. p. 367.

10. Kalmuck Axe. Iron. In the collection of the late Dr. Klemm.

11. Copper (?) celt from Ireland, one-half of the actual size.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 363.

12. Half of a celt-mould from Ireland. It is of mica slate, 6^ inches

long, 4 wide, and presents upon the surface the apertures by
means of which it was adjusted by the other half. Ibid. p. 91.

13. Decorated celt from Ireland — 8^ inches long, 4 wide at the blade

end, and half-an-inch thick. Ibid. p. 365.

14. Simple celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size.

Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, No. 178.

15. Ornamental celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 179.

16. Socketed celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 195.

17. Bronze celt, Naples. In my collection, one-half nat. size.

1 8. „ „ Le Puy. „ „ two-thirds nat. size.

19. Stone Axe, Denmark. ,, „ „ ,,

20. Modern African Axe. „ „ one-sixth nat. size.

21. Iron sword from a cemetery at Brighthampton in Oxfordshire, one-

eighth of the actual size.

Archseologia, vol. xxxviii. pi. 2, fig. i.

22. Sword from Ireland — 23^ inches long, i$i wide in the centre of

the blade, which is margined by a grooved feather edge.
Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 444.

XX DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

23. Sword from Sweden, one-fourth of the actual size.

Nilsson's Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-invanare, pi. I, fig. 7.

24. Sword from Switzerland, one-fifth of the actual size.

In the museum of Col. Schwab, Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich,
Bd. xii. H. 3.

25. Sword from Concise on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-fourth of the

actual size.

In the Museum of Col. Schwab, Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich,
Bd. xiii. H. 3.

26. Sword from Scandinavia.

Atlas for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, pi. 4, fig. 42.

27. Sword from Denmark, found in the Treenhoi tumulus.

Afb. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmaeker, H. 5.

28. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size.

Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, No. 121.

29. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size. Ibid. No. 123.

30. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one-fourth of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 128.

31. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one-fourth of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 127.

32. Bronze dagger-blade from Ireland — 10^ inches long, by 2^ wide.
The four rivets by which it was fastened to the handle are still in situ.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 448.

33. Bronze dagger from Ireland, two-thirds of the actual size. Ibid.

p. 458.

34. Bronze dagger-blade from Ireland, one-third of the actual size.

Ibid. p. 463.

35. Bronze spear-head from Ireland — \\% inches long, by \% broad.

Ibid. p. 499.

36. Bronze spear-head from Ireland — 13% inches long, by 2% broad.

Ibid. p. 496.

37. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.

Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, No. 167.

38. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 169.

39. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Ibid.

No. 1 66.

40. 41. Bronze knives from the lake-village of Estavayer, on the lake

of Neufchatel, one-half of the actual size.

Keller, Mitth. der Antiq. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2,

H. 3, pl- 5, figs- 19, 20.
42-45. Razor-knives from Denmark, one-half of the actual size.

Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, Nos. 173,
172, 171, 175-

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XXI

46. Small bronze knife in a leather case, from Denmark, two-thirds of

the actual size. Ibid. No. 164.

47. Bronze knife, actual size, Denmark. Ibid. No. 170.

48. Bronze knife, found by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, at Thebes.

Lee's Keller, p. 276.

49. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod, on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-

third of the actual size.

Troyon's Habitations Lacustres, pi. n, fig. 28.

50. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod, on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-

third of the actual size. Ibid. pi. u, fig. 18.
5 1-54. Bronze hair-pins from the Swiss lakes, one-half of the actual size.

Keller, /. c. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3.

55. Bronze awl from the Swiss lakes, actual size. Ibid. pi. 3.
56-60. Various small objects of bronze from the Swiss lakes. Ibid. pi. 3.

61. Bronze celt, one-half nat. size. Showing the line of junction of the

two halves of the mould in which it was cast.

Found at Aylesford, Kent ; and presented to me by Sir G. W.
Dasent.

62. Bronze brooch, Mecklenburg, three-tenths nat. size. Showing the

manner in which it has been mended.

Lisch. Alterthiimer, H. vii. pi. 4, fig. 2.

63. Bronze celt. Showing the air-vents bent over.

64. Gold torque, consisting of a simple flat strip or band of gold, loosely

twisted, and having expanded extremities which loop into one
another. It measures 5^ inches across, and was found near
Clonmacnoise, in Ireland.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 74.

65. Gold fibula, one-half of the actual size. The hoop is very slender;

the cups deep and conical. Ibid. p. 56.

66. Smooth, massive, cylindrical gold ring, with ornamented ends, one-

half of the actual size. Ibid. p. 52.

67. Gold fibula, one-third of the actual size. The external surfaces of

the cups are decorated with circular indentations surrounding a
central indented spost. There is also an elegant pattern where the
handle joins the cups. It is 8fg inches long, and weighs 33 ounces,
being the heaviest now known to exist. Ibid. p. 60.
67*. Iron ornament, Africa.

68. Inscribed celt, Museum Kircherianum, Rome, one-half of the

actual size.

Rossi Rap. Sugli. Stud, e Sulle Scop. Paleo. nel bacino delle,
Campagna Romana.

69. Woollen cap, one-third of the actual size. Found with the bronze

sword (fig. 27) in a Danish tumulus.

Afb. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmaerker. Madsen, H. 5.

XX11 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

70. Another woollen cap, one-third of the actual size. Found with the

preceding.

71. A small comb, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding.

72. A woollen cape, one-third of the actual size. Found with the pre-

ceding.

73. A woollen shirt, one-third of the actual size. Found with the pre-

ceding.

74. A woollen shawl, one-third of the actual size. Found with the

preceding.

75. A pair of leggings, one-third of the actual size. Found with the

preceding.

76. Hut urn. Albano.

77. Urn apparently representing a lake -dwelling. In the Munich

collection.

Lisch. Die Alterthiimer Unserer Heid. Vorzeit, H. x. T. 3.

78. Group of beehive houses, Scotland.

Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. i. part xii.

79. The Burgh of Moussa. Shetlands.

80. Staigue Fort, in the county of Kerry.

From a model in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.

8 1. Flint core or nucleus, from which flakes have been struck, Jutland.

One-half of the actual size.

In my own collection.

82-84. Three views of a flint flake from the Kjokkenmodding at Fanne-
rup, in Jutland, one-half of the actual size, a represents the bulb
of percussion, which is also shown by the shading in fig. 84.

In my own collection.

85. Arrow-shaped flake from Ireland. It is worked up at the butt end,
as if intended for a handle.

Catalogue of Royal Irish Academy, p. 72.
86-88. Flakes from a Danish shell-mound, actual size.
In my own collection.

89. Minute flint flake from Denmark, actual size.

In my own collection.

90. Sections of flakes, a is that of a simple triangular flake ; b is that

of a large flat flake split off the angle from which the smaller flake
a had been previously taken. Consequently the section is four-
sided.

91. North American two-bladed knife, made of two flakes.

Reliquiae Aquitanicas, p. 43, fig. 16.

92. Australians making flakes.

Geol. and Nat. Hist. Repertory. May, 1866.

93. Australian flake, one-half actual size.

In my own collection.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XXlli

94. Flake from the Cape of Good Hope, actual size.

In my own collection.

95. Head of New Caledonian javelin, one-half of actual size.

In my own collection.

96. New Caledonian javelin, one-sixth actual size.

In my own collection.

97. Stone celt or hatchet. Formed of felstone, 5 ^ inches long and 2 broad.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p, 41.

98. Stone celt or hatchet, actual size. Found in the river Shannon.

One of the smallest yet found in Ireland. Ibid. p. 45.

99. Stone celt with a wooden handle, Monaghan, Ireland. Ibid. p. 46.
IOQ. Stone celt with wooden handle, one-third actual size. Found at

Concise. From Desor.

101,102. Danish axe, re-ground. One-half actual size.
From my own collection.

103. Skin-scraper from Bourdeilles in the south of France, actual size.

Found by me.

104. Ditto, under side.

105-107. Skin-scraper used by the modern Esquimaux of the Polar
basin, within Behring's Straits, actual size. It was fastened into
a handle of fossil ivory. In the Christy Museum.

108. Flint axe from the shell-mound at Meilgaard, in Jutland, actual

size. Upper surface.
In my own collection.

109. Ditto, under surface,
no. Ditto, side view.

in. Modern New Zealand adze, actual size. Upper surface.
In the British Museum.

112. Ditto, under surface.

113. Ditto, side view.

The New Zealand adze is partially polished; this is not the
case with the Danish adze, because flint naturally breaks
with a smooth surface. The projection in fig. no is acci-
dental, and owing to some flaw in the flint. They generally
have the under side flat, as in fig. 113.

114. Hollow chisel from Denmark.

In my own collection.

115. Danish dagger.

In my own collection.

116. Flint dagger, one-half of the actual size. This beautiful specimen

was found in a large tumulus with a second imperfect dagger, a
rude flint core, an imperfect crescent-shaped knife, one or two
flakes, two amber beads, and some bits of pottery. Denmark.
In my own collection.

XXIV DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

117. Another form of flint dagger. Also from Denmark.

In my own collection.

1 1 8. Oval tool-stone.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 94.

119. Triangular flint arrow-head, actual size. Ibid. p. 19.

120. Indented flint arrow-head, actual size. Ibid. p. 20.

121. Barbed flint arrow-head, actual size. Ibid. p. 22.

122. Leaf-shaped flint arrow-head, actual size. Showing the gradual

passage into the spear-head. Ibid. p. 22.

123. French arrow-head, actual size.

In my own collection.

124. North American arrow-head, actual size.

In my own collection.

125. Fuegian arrow-head, actual size.

From Nilsson's Stone Age.

126. Stone saw in wooden handle, Switzerland, one-half actual size.

After Keller.

127. Bone pin or awl from Scotland, actual size.

128. Bone chisel, actual size. From Wangen, on the Lake of Constance.

In my own collection.

129. Bone harpoon, actual size.

Afb. af. Danske Olds. og. Mindesmaerker, 5 Heft.

130. Ancient bone harpoon, actual size. Dordogne.

After Christy and Lartet.

131. Bone scraper, North America.

Reliquiae Aquitanicae, part v. p. 43, fig. 26.

132. A tumulus of the Stone Age, at Roddinge in Denmark. It con-

tains two chambers.

Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, pi. 4.

133. Ground plan of ditto.

134. Stone circle, Denmark. Ibid. pi. i.

135. Dolmen, Denmark.

136. Stone circle. Ibid. pi. 2.

137. Kit's Coty House, near Maidstone.

After Cof. Forbes Leslie : Early Races of Scotland.

138. Carnac, Brittany.

From a drawing by Sir J. D. Hooker, F.R.S.

139. 140. Indian Dolmens.

After Captain Meadows Taylor.

141. Summer and winter dwellings in Kamschatka.

Atlas to Cook's Voyage, pi. 77.
141*. Laplander's gamme or hut.

142. Kumbecephalic skull from Derbyshire.

After Bateman: Ten Years' Diggings, p. 146.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XXV

143. Ground plan of a sepulchral chamber in a large tumulus on the

Island of Moen.

Ann. for Nordiske Oldkyndighed, 1858, p. 204.

144. Brachycephalic skull from the same tumulus, one-quarter of the

natural size.

145. Ditto, side view.

I am indebted for these two drawings to the kindness of my
friend Mr. Busk.

146. Interior of the sepulchral chamber in the long barrow near West

Kennet.

Archasologia, vol. xxxviii. p. 405.

147. 148. Flint scrapers from the above tumulus, two -thirds of the

actual size. Ibid.

149. Flint flake from the same, two-thirds of the actual size. Ibid.

150. Flint implement from the same, two-thirds of the actual size. Ibid.

151. Fragment of pottery from the same, two-thirds of the actual size.

Ibid.

152. Fragment of pottery from the same, actual size. Ibid.
I53~I55- Fragments of pottery from the same, two-thirds of the actual

size. Ibid.
1.56. Fragment of pottery, actual size. Ibid.

157. Urn from Flaxdale barrow. The original is 14 inches in height.

Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Grave-
hills, p. 280.

158, 159. Two vases from Arbor Low, in Derbyshire. Ibid. p. 283.

160. Drinking cup from Green Low. Ibid. p. 286.

161. Sculptures on the Lower Rock at Auchnabreach, Argyllshire.

After Sir J. Y. Simpson : Proc. Soc. Ant. Sc. vol. vi. p. 23.

162. Crannoge in Ardakillin Lough, near Stokestown, county of Ros-

common. It is constructed of stones and oak piling. The top
line shows the former highest water level ; the second, that of
the ordinary winter flood ; the third, the summer level.

163. Section of the lake-dwelling at Niederwyl.

From Lee's Keller, pi. 16, fig. 2.

164. Swiss axe of serpentine, actual size. From Wangen, on the Lake

of Constance.

In my own collection.

165. Spindle whorl, actual size. From Wangen, on the Lake ofConstance.

In my own collection.

1 66. Piece of pottery, showing the impressions of the finger-tip, and

the marks of the nail, actual size. Lake of Zurich.

168. Piece of tissue, actual size. From Robenhausen.

In my own collection.

169. Portion of the vertebra of a cow.

xxvi DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

170. Corresponding portion of the vertebra of a bison.

171. Bronze pin, actual size. Found in a shell-mound near Elgin, and

now in the museum at that place.

172. Flint awl from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae.
173-175. Lance-heads (?) from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae.

176. Rude flint axe from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae.

177. Copper arrow or spear-head, Cincinnati, one-third actual size.

Whittlesey: Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist. vol. i. pi. 16, fig. 6.

178. Copper lance-head, Ontarragon, one-third actual size. Ibid. fig. 4.

179. Molar tooth of E. antiquus, one-third actual size. After Lyell.

1 80. Molar tooth of the mammoth, one-third actual size. After Lyell.

1 8 1. Flat stone implement of uncertain use, actual size. La Madeleine.

182. Stone implement, resembling in some respects those characteristic

of the drift gravels, actual size. From Moustier.
In my own collection.

183. Ditto, seen from the side.

184. Ditto, seen from the other side.

185. A cylindrical piece of reindeer horn, on which are engraved two

outlines of fishes, one on each side. La Madeleine, Dordogne.
After Lartet and Christy.

1 86. Piece of the palm of a reindeer's antler, on which is engraved the

head and neck of an ibex. Laugerie Basse, Dordogne.
After Lartet and Christy.

187. Group of figures. Dordogne. After Lartet and Christy.

1 88. Group of reindeer.

From a photograph presented to me by the Marquis de Vibraye.

189. Poniard of reindeer horn. From the cave at Laugerie Basse.

190. The Engis skull seen from above.

Huxley's Man's Place in Nature, p. 126.

191. Ditto,, seen from the front.

192. The Neanderthal skull, seen from the side, one-half natural size.

193. Ditto, seen from the front, one-half natural size.

194. Ditto, seen from above, one-half natural size. Ibid. p. 139.

The outlines from camera lucida drawings by Mr. Busk; the
details from a cast and from Dr. Fiihlrott's photographs.
a, glabella ; £, occipital protuberance ; d, lambdoidal suture.

195. Rude flint implement from the drift gravel at Hoxne, one-half

actual size.

After Frere: Archaeologia, 1800, pi. 15.

196. Ditto, side view.

197. Another specimen. After Frere. Ibid.

198. The same, side view.

199. 200. Stone implements, Madras.

From specimens found and presented to me by Mr. Bruce Foot.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XXVli

201. Section across the Valley of the Somme at Abbeville, after Prest-

wich ; the proportion of the length is reduced to one-third.

202. Section of St. Acheul, near Amiens.

203. Section taken in a pit close to the Joinville station.

b. Red angular gravel, containing a very large sandstone block.
d. Grey subangular gravel.

204. Diagram to illustrate deposit of loess and gravel.

a Loess corresponding to and contemporaneous with the gravel a.
b' Loess „ „ „ „ b.

c Loess „ „ „ „ c.

1. Level of valley at period a.

2. Level of valley at period b.

3. Level of valley at present.

205. Australian knife. Presented to me by A. W. Franks, Esq.

206. Australian club, one-fifth of the actual size.

207. Australian spear and spear-caster. After Eyre.

208. Australian boomerang, one-sixth of the actual size.

209. Tasmanian fire-sticks, one-third actual size.

From specimens presented to me by Mr. Robinson.

210. New Zealand patoo-patoo, one-fourth of the actual size.

In my own own collection.

211. Stone axe with wooden handle, one-fourth of the actual size.

In my own collection.

212. South Sea axe of ceremony.

In my own collection.

213. South Sea fish-hook, one-half of the actual size.

In my own collection.

214. Esquimaux knife. From a specimen presented to me by Mr. Flower.

215. 216. Esquimaux knife.

In my own collection.

217. Esquimaux arrow-head, actual size. Ibid.

218. Esquimaux spear-head, actual size. Ibid.

219. Esquimaux bone-harpoon, one-third of the actual size. Ibid.

220. Esquimaux cheek-stud of stone. Presented to me by Dr. Rae.
221-223. Drawings on Esquimaux bone implements.

Presented to the Ashmolean Museum, by Captain Beechy,
1832.

224. Dacotah fire-drill-bow. From Schoolcraft's Indian tribes.

225. Iroquois fire-pump-drill. From the same.

226. Fuegian harpoon, one-half of the actual size.

In my own collection.

227. 228. Ogham stones. Found in Kerry.

Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 135.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.

The three great tumuli at Upsala, popularly supposed to be those of

Odin, Thoa, and Freya. (Frontispiece!]
Diagram of Abury. (To face page 124.)

P LATE I . (To face page 80. )

Fig. i. A flint axe from a tumulus, one-third of the actual size.

2. Another form of stone axe, with a hole for a handle, one-third

of the actual size.

3. A flint saw, one-half of the actual size.

4. A flint dagger, one-sixth of the actual size.

5. A flint chisel, one-half of the actual size.

6. One of the "cores" from which the flint flakes are splintered,

one-half of the actual size.

7. One of the flakes, one-half of the actual size.

8. 9. Rude axes from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one-half

of the actual size.

10. Flint axe from drift at Moulin Quignon, near Abbeville, one-

half of the actual size.

11. Flint axe from Abbeville, showing that the part stained white

is parallel to the present surfaces, and that the weathering
has taken place since the flint was worked into its present
shape; one-half of the actual size.

12. Sling-stone from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one-half of

the actual size.

PLATE II. (To face page 333.)

Sketch of mammoth, on a piece of ivory found at La Madeleine in the
Dordogne.

PLATE III. ( To face page 341.)

A flint implement found near Abbeville, slightly reduced.
In my own collection.

The artist has been so careful to present a faithful image of
this specimen, that he has even copied exactly my rough
memorandum as to the place and date of its discovery.

PRE-HISTOKIC TIMES.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

THE first appearance of man in Europe dates from a
period so remote, that neither history, nor even tra-
dition, can throw any light on his origin, or mode of life.
Under these circumstances, some have supposed that the
past is hidden from the present by a veil, which time will
probably thicken, but never can remove. Thus our pre-
historic antiquities have been valued as monuments of ancient
skill and perseverance, not regarded as pages of ancient his-
tory; recognized as interesting vignettes, not as historical
pictures. Some writers have assured us that, in the words
of Palgrave, " We must give it up, that speechless past ;
whether fact or chronology, doctrine or mythology ; whether
in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America ; at Thebes or Palenque,
on Lycian shore or Salisbury Plain : lost is lost ; gone is gone
for ever." Others have taken a more hopeful view, but in
attempting to reconstruct the story of the past, they have too
often allowed imagination to usurp the place of research, and
have written in the spirit of the novelist, rather than in that
of the philosopher.

Of late years, however, a new branch of knowledge has
arisen ; a new Science has, so to say, been born among us,
which deals with times and events far more ancient than any
which have yet fallen within the province of the archaeologist
The geologist reckons not by days or by years ; the whole six

2 DIVISION OF PRE-HISTORIC

thousand years, which were until lately looked on as the sum
of the world's existence, are to him but one unit of measure-
ment in the long succession of past ages. Our knowledge of
geology is, of course, very incomplete ; on some questions we
shall no doubt see reason to change our opinion, but on the
whole, the conclusions to which it points are as definite as
those of zoology, chemistry, or any of the kindred sciences.
Nor does there appear to be any reason why those methods
of examination which have proved so successful in geology,
should not also be used to throw light on the history of man
in pre-historic times. Archaeology forms, in fact, the link
between geology and history. It is true that in the case of
other animals we can, from their bones and teeth, form a
definite idea of their habits and mode of life, while in the
present state of our knowledge the skeleton of a savage could
not always be distinguished from that of a philosopher. But
on the other hand, while other animals leave only teeth and
bones behind them, the men of past ages are to be studied
principally by their works ; houses for the living, tombs for
the dead, fortifications for defence, temples for worship, imple-
ments for use, and ornaments for decoration.

From the careful study of the remains which have come
down to us, it would appear that Pre-historic Archaeology
may be divided into four great epochs.

I. That of the Drift ; when man shared the possession of
Europe with the Mammoth, the Cave bear, the Woolly-haired
rhinoceros, and other extinct animals. This we may call the
"Palaeolithic" period.

II. The later or polished Stone Age; a period character-
ized by beautiful weapons and instruments made of flint and
other kinds of stone ; in which, however, we find no trace of
the knowledge of any metal, excepting gold, which seems to
have been sometimes used for ornaments. This we may call
the " Neolithic" period.

ARCHAEOLOGY INTO FOUR PERIODS. 3

III. The Bronze Age, in which Bronze was used for arms
and cutting instruments of all kinds.

IV. The Iron Age, in which that metal had superseded
bronze for arms, axes, knives, etc. ; bronze, however, still being
in common use for ornaments, and frequently also for the
handles of swords and other arms, though never for the blades.

Stone weapons, however, of many kinds were still in use
during the Age of Bronze, and even during that of Iron, so
that the mere presence of a few stone implements is not in
itself sufficient evidence that any given " find " belongs to
the Stone Age. In order to prevent misapprehension, it may
also be well to state, at once, that, for the present, I only
apply this classification to Europe, though, in all probability,
it might be extended also to the neighbouring regions of Asia
and Africa. As regards other civilized countries, China and
Japan for instance, we, as yet, know but little of their pre-
historic archaeology, though recent researches have gone far to
prove that the use of iron was there also preceded by bronze,
and bronze by stone. It is evident, also, that some nations,
such as the Fuegians, Andamaners, etc., are even now, or
were very lately, in an Age of Stone.

It is probable that gold was the metal which first attracted
the attention of man ; it is found in many rivers, and by
its bright colour would certainly attract even the rudest
savages, who are known to be very fond of personal deco-
ration. Silver does not appear to have been discovered
until long after gold, and was apparently preceded by both
copper and tin; for it rarely, if ever,* occurs in tumuli of
the Bronze Age ; but, however this may be, copper seems to
have been the metal which first became of real importance to
Man ; no doubt owing to the fact that its ores are abundant
in many countries, and can be smelted without difficulty;
and that, while iron is hardly ever found except in the form

* Horse ferales, p. 60.
B 2

4 FIRST DISCOVERY OF METAL.

of ore, copper often occurs in a native condition, and can
be beaten at once into shape. Thus, for instance, the North
American Indians obtained pure copper from the mines near
Lake Superior and elsewhere, and hammered it at once into
axes, bracelets, and other objects.

Tin also early attracted notice, probably on account of the
great heaviness of its ores. When metals were very scarce, it
would naturally sometimes happen that, in order to make up
the necessary quantity, some tin would be added to copper,
or vice versd. It would then be found that the properties of
the alloy were quite different from those of either metal, and
a very few experiments would determine the most advan-
tageous proportion, which for axes and other cutting instru-
ments is about nine parts of copper to one of tin. No
implements or weapons of tin have yet been found, and
those of copper are extremely rare, whence it has been in-
ferred that the art of making bronze was known elsewhere
before the use of either copper or tin was introduced into
Europe. Many of the so-called " copper " axes, etc., contain
a small proportion of tin ; and the few exceptions indicate
probably a mere temporary want, rather than a total ignorance,
of this metal.

The ores of iron, though more abundant, are much less
striking in appearance than those of copper. Moreover,
though they are perhaps more easily reduced, the metal, when
obtained, is much less tractable than bronze. This valuable
alloy can very easily be cast, and, in fact, all the weapons and
implements made of it in olden times were cast in moulds of
sand or stone. The art of casting iron, on the other hand,
was unknown until a comparatively late period.

In the writings of the early poets, iron is frequently charac-
terized by the epithet TroAi'/c/^ros, and its adjective, o-iSijptos,
is used metaphorically to imply the greatest stubbornness.

While, however, these facts tend very much to remove the

ALLUSIONS TO BRONZE IN ANCIENT WRITERS. 5

d priori improbability that a compound and comparatively
expensive material like bronze should have been in general
use before such a common metal as iron, we must, of course,
seek elsewhere for evidence that it was so.

Hesiod, who is supposed to have written about 900 B.C.,
and who is the earliest European author whose works have
come down to us, appears to have lived during the transition
between the Bronze and Iron Ages. He distinctly states
that iron was discovered later than copper and tin. Speaking
of those who were ancient, even in his day, he says that they
used bronze, and not iron.

rots 8 rjv ^d\Kca /xev rev^ea. ^d\K€OL Se re o?KOt,
^aA/<a) 8 elpydfovTO jtxeAas 8 OVK ecr/ce crt'S^pos.

It is also significant that the word xa^K€V€LV> from xa^KO<s>
bronze, means to work in metal. Moreover, the forms of early
weapons indicate that those in iron were copied from bronze,
not those in bronze from iron. Hesiod's poems, as well as those
of Homer, show that nearly three thousand years ago the value
of iron was known and appreciated. It is true that, as we
read in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Eoman Antiqui-
ties, bronze " is represented in the Iliad and Odyssey as the
common material of arms, instruments, and vessels of various
sorts; the latter (iron) is mentioned much more rarely." While,
however, the above statement is strictly correct, we must
remember that among the Greeks the word iron (0-1877/00$) was
used, even in the time of Homer, as synonymous with a sword,
and that steel also appears to have been known to them under
the name of aSapxs, and perhaps also of KUCU/OS, as early as the
time of Hesiod. We may, therefore, consider that the Trojan
war took place during the period of transition from the Bronze
to the Iron Age.

In the Pentateuch, excluding Deuteronomy, bronze, or, as
it is unfortunately translated, brass, is mentioned thirty-eight
times, and iron only four times.

6 EAELY HISTORY OF METALS.

Lucretius distinctly mentions the three ages. He says, —

Arma antiqua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt
Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami,
Posterius ferri vis est, serisque reperta,
Sed prior seris erat, quam ferri cognitus usus.*

Coming down to more modern times, Eccard-f- in 1750,
and Goguet in 1758, J mention the three latter ages in plain
terms ; § the same idea runs through Borlase's History of
Cornwall, and Sir Richard Colt Hoare also alludes to " instru-
ments of stone before the use of metals was known," and
expresses the opinion that instruments of iron " denote a
much later period" than those of bronze.

To the Northern archaeologists, however, — especially to
Mr. Thomsen, the founder of the Museum at Copenhagen,
and to Professor Nilsson, — must be ascribed the merit of
having raised these suggestions to the rank of a scientific
classification.

Copper is said to have been used in China as far back as
the reign of Ki, 2000 B.C. ; and iron in that of Kung Kiu,
about 1900 B.C., but this can scarcely perhaps be regarded as
proved. Copper axes of very simple type have also been dis-
covered in India, but we have no means of determining their
date. It is probable, indeed, that iron was known in Egypt
and Assyria before its introduction into Europe. The earliest
evidence of iron in Assyria is an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser
(1120 B.C.), who says : " In the desert of Mitani near Araziki,
which is in front of the land of Hatti, I slew four mighty
buffaloes with my great bow and iron arrows, and with my
lance." As regards Egypt, there is a prayer in the Harris
papyrus, written during the reign of Eameses III. (1300 B.C.),
that the words of the King may be " firm as iron." In the

* V. 1282. des Arts et des Sciences. See Ch. iv.

f Eccard. De Origins etMoribus and the preface.
Germanomm. § See Khind in Arch. Ins. Jour. V.

I Goguet. De 1'Origine des Lois, xiii.

EARLY HISTORY OF METALS. 7

same papyrus vessels of iron are mentioned, and the king is
said to have made the wall of the temple of Horus like a " hill
of iron." Objects of iron are also mentioned in the Karnac
tribute. In the lists of Thothmes III. (1600 B.C.) iron comes
third in the series of metals paid as tribute. These refer-
ences, however, imply that the use of iron was already well
known.* This renders less improbable the authenticity of the
piece of iron said to have been found wedged in between two of
the stones of the Great Pyramid.-)- Maspero, moreover, in 1882
found some pieces of iron in the Black Pyramid of Abousir
(Vlth Dynasty) ;{ but no iron has been found in any of the
tombs belonging to the earlier Egyptian dynasties, and the
oldest weapon of iron of which the date can be certainly deter-
mined is an Egyptian blade, found by Belzoni under one of the
Sphinxes at Karnac, and supposed to date about 600 B.C.

The date of the introduction of iron into the North of Europe
cannot at present be satisfactorily ascertained ; nevertheless
it is most likely that the use of this metal spread rapidly.
Not only does it seem a priori probable that such an impor-
tant discovery would have done so, but it is evident that the
same commercial organization which had already carried the
tin of Cornwall all over our continent, would equally facilitate
the transmission of iron, as soon as that even more useful metal
was discovered and rendered available. However this may be,
the soldiers of Brennus were provided with iron swords, and
when the armies of Eome brought the civilization of the South
into contact with that of the North, they found the value of
iron already well known to, and in general use among, their
new enemies. Nor is there any reason to suppose that arms of
bronze were also at that time still in use in the North, for, had
this been so, they would certainly have been mentioned by the

* I am indebted for these par- J Maspero. Guide du Musee de
ticulars to Mr. Budge. Boulaq, p. 296.

f Vyse. Pyramids of Gizeh, vi.
p. 275.

IRON IN ANCIENT EUROPE.

Eoman writers ; whereas the description given by Tacitus of
the Caledonian weapons shows that in his time the swords
used in Scotland were made of iron. Moreover there are
several cases in which large quantities of arms belonging to
the Eoman period have been found together, and in which
the arms and implements are all of iron. This argument is
in its very nature cumulative, and cannot therefore be fully
developed here, but out of many, I will mention a few cases
in illustration.

Some years ago, an old battle-field was discovered at
Tiefenau, near Berne, and described by M. Jahn. On it
were found a great number of objects made of iron ; such
as fragments of chariots, bits for horses, wheels, pieces of
coats of mail, and arms of various sorts, including no less
than a hundred two-handed swords. All of these were
made of iron, but with them were several fibulse of bronze,
and some coins, of which about thirty were of bronze, struck
at Marseilles, and presenting a head of Apollo on one side
and a bull on the other ; both good specimens of Greek art.
The rest were silver pieces, also struck at Marseilles. These
coins, and the absence of any trace of Eoman influence, suffi-
ciently indicate the antiquity of these interesting remains.

A very similar collection of antiquities has been obtained
from the ancient lake-village near La Tene, on the Lake of
Neufchatel. This interesting locality will be referred to
again in the chapter on Swiss lake -villages, and I will here
only observe that 50 swords, 5 axes, 4 knives, and 23 lances
have been discovered, but not a single weapon of bronze.
Nine coins have been also found here, while not a single one
has been met with in any of the Stone Age or Bronze Age
villages. Yet the Gauls had a coinage of their own 300 years
before Christ, and in our own country, as Mr. Evans* has
well shown, about 150 years later.

* The Coins of the Ancient Britons, 1864, by John Evans, Esq., F.R.S.

IRON IN NORTHERN EUROPE. 9

Some very interesting "finds" of articles belonging to
the Iron Age have been made in the peat bogs of Slesvick,
and described by M. Engelhardt, Curator of the Museum at
Flensborg. One of these, in the Moss of Nydam, comprises
clothes, sandals, brooches, tweezers, beads, helmets, shields,
shield bosses, breastplates, coats of mail, buckles, swordbelts,
sword sheaths, 100 swords, 500 spears, 30 axes, 40 awls, 160
arrows, 80 knives, various articles of horse gear, wooden
rakes, mallets, vessels, wheels, pottery, coins, etc. Without
a single exception, all the weapons and cutting implements
are made of iron, though bronze was freely used for brooches
and other similar articles.*

In the summer of 1862, M. Engelhardt found in the same
field a ship, or rather a large flat-bottomed boat, seventy
feet in length, three feet deep in the middle, and eight or
nine feet wide. The sides are of oak boards, overlapping
one another, and fastened together by iron bolts. On the
inner side of each board are several projections, which are
not made from separate pieces, but were left when the boards
were cut out of the solid timber. Each of these projections
has two small holes, through which ropes, made of the inner
bark of trees, were passed, in order to fasten the sides of the
boat to the ribs. The rowlocks are formed by a projecting
horn of wood, under which is an orifice, so that a rope,
fastened to the horn and passing through the orifice, leaves
a space through which the oar played. There appear to
have been about fifty pairs of oars, of which sixteen have
already been discovered. The bottom of the boat was
covered by matting. I visited the spot about a week after
the boat had been discovered, but was unable to see much

* See Lubbock in Nat. Hist. Eev. interesting spot with M. Engel-
Oct. 1863, and Stephens in Gent. hardt in 1862. See also " Denmark
Mag. Dec. 1863. On one of the in the Early Iron Age," by C. En-
arrows were some Runic characters. gelhardt.
1 had the pleasure of visiting this

10 IRON IN NORTHERN EUROPE.

of it, as it had been taken to pieces, and the boards, etc.,

were covered over with straw and peat, that they might dry

slowly. In this manner, M. Engelhardt hoped that they

would perhaps, at least in part, retain their original shape.

The freight of the boat consisted of iron axes, including a

socketed celt with its handle, swords, lances, knives, brooches,

whetstones, wooden vessels, and, oddly enough, two birch

brooms, with many smaller articles. Only those, however,

have yet been found which remained actually in the boat;

and, as in sinking it turned partly over on its side, no

doubt many more articles will reward further explorations.

It is evident that this ancient boat was sunk on purpose,

because there is a square hole about six inches in diameter

hewn out of the bottom : and it is possible that these objects

were sunk as offerings to the Lake, but, on the whole, it

seems more probable that in some time of panic or danger

the objects contained in it were thus hidden by their owner,

who was never able to recover them. Even in recent times

of disturbance, as, for instance, in the beginning of this

century, and in 1848, many arms, ornaments, household

utensils, etc., were so effectually hidden in the lakes and

peat mosses, that they could never be found again. Much

interest is added to this vessel and its contents, by the fact

that we can fix almost their exact date. The boat lies, as I

have already mentioned, within a few yards of the spot

where the previous discoveries at Nydam were made, and as

all the arms and ornaments exactly correspond, there can be

little doubt that they belong to the same period. Now the

previous collection included nearly fifty Eoman coins, ranging

in date from A.D. 67 to A.D. 217, and we cannot therefore be

far wrong in referring these remains to the third century.

A very similar discovery has been made at Thorsbjerg
in the same neighbourhood, but in this case, owing to some
chemical difference in the peat, the iron has been almost

IRON IN NORTHERN EUROPE.

entirely removed. It may naturally be asked why then this
should be quoted as an instance of the Iron Age ? And the
Fia. l. FIG. 2. FIG. 3.

answer seems quite satisfactory. All the swords, lance-
heads and axe-blades have disappeared, while the handles
of bronze or wood are perfectly preserved, and as the orna-
ments and other objects of bronze are well preserved, it is
evident that the swords, etc., were not of that metal ; and it
is therefore reasonable to conclude that they were of iron.,
more especially as the whole character of the objects resem-
bles that of those found at Nydam, and the coins, which are
about as numerous as those from the latter place, range from
60 A.D. to A.D. 197; so that these two great "finds" may be
regarded as almost contemporaneous.

Not only are the weapons in these finds all of iron, but
their forms and the character of the ornamentation are very

12 IRON IN NORTHERN EUROPE.

different from those of the Bronze Age ; resembling in some
respects Roman arms, in others they are quite peculiar, and
evidently representative of northern art.

Many of the arrows had owner's marks on them (figs. 1
and 3) resembling those on the modern Esquimaux arrows
(fig. 2). The Nydam swords also bear seven inscriptions ;
three of them are illegible, the others are "ricus, riccim,
cocillus, and umored." On the umbo of one of the shields is
inscribed, in dotted Eoman letters, AEL. AELIANUS ; while
another one has a short Runic* inscription, which Mr. Haigh
reads as Aisc Ah (Aisc owns) ;•(• two figures resembling Runic
letters are also inlaid with golden wire on one of the sword
blades. One of the Thorsbjerg scabbards also has a Runic
inscription of two lines, each containing ten letters.

I particularly dwell on these cases, because no inscriptions
or coins have yet been found which can be referred to the
Bronze Age.

For the same reason the abundance of silver is very signifi-
cant; out of two hundred buckles and square silver girdle orna-
ments, the greater number are of bronze plated with silver, and
silver was also used to ornament shield rims, sandals, brooches,
breast-plates, sword-hilts, sword-sheaths, girdles, harness, etc.,
as well as for clasps, pendants, boxes, and tweezers, while one
helmet was formed entirely of this comparatively rare metal.

The ornamentation also of the shields, etc., is of a character
altogether unlike any that occurs in the Bronze Age.

An assemblage of objects very similar to those of Nydam
and Thorsbjerg has also been found in the "Virnose," or
" Moss of the Temple." It comprises no less than 1500
lance-heads, 40 axes, and 30 swords, all of iron ; abundance
of silver ; one Roman and three Runic inscriptions ; and a
coin of Faustina Junior. Here, again, bronze weapons are
entirely absent, though bronze was used for ornaments, etc.

* See Appendix No. 1. t Archaeological Journal, 1863.

EARLY USE OF BRONZE. 13

From these and similar discoveries, it appears evident that
the use of bronze weapons had been discontinued in the North
before, probably long before, the commencement of our era.
Erom the ease with which bronze could be worked, this metal
was still used for brooches and ornaments ; but in the manu-
facture of swords, axes, and similar implements, it had been
entirely superseded by iron. There are many cases on record
of iron swords with bronze handles or scabbards, but scarcely
an instance of the reverse.

Conversely, as bronze weapons are entirely absent from the
great "finds" of the Iron Age, so are iron weapons altogether
wanting in those instances where, as for instance at Nidau,
on the Lake of Bienne, and Estavayer, on that of Neufchatel,
large quantities of bronze tools and weapons have been found
together.

To sum up this argument, though the discoveries of bronze
and of iron weapons have been very numerous, yet there
is hardly a single case in which swords, axes, daggers, or
other weapons of these two different metals have been found
together ; nor are bronze weapons found associated with in-
scriptions, or with coins, pottery, or other relics of Eoman
origin.

So, also, though no doubt stone weapons were used during
the Bronze Age, there are many cases in which large numbers
of stone implements and weapons have been found without
any of metal.

In illustration of this argument, I must call attention to
the following table. Objects found singly teach us compara-
tively little, but when numbers occur together they become
much more instructive. The first ten localities are some of
the Swiss lake- villages, which will be described in Chapter VI. ;
to which I have added the Nydam find just alluded to, and
two of the great French bronze finds.

Now from the ancient lake -village in the peat moss of

14 WEIGHT OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE.

Moosseedorf we have a list comprising 75 flint nuclei, 25
arrow-heads, 12 spear-heads, 90 scrapers, 30 saws, 96 axes,
310 long flakes, and about 2000 small ones, 25 hammers,
45 grindstones, etc., 71 awls of bone, 12 pointed ribs, 160
bone chisels, 18 sharpened boar's teeth, 8 perforated boar's
teeth, 2 perforated bear's teeth, 5 harpoons of horn, 8 chisels
and 4 awls of horn, besides 30 axe-handles or sockets, with-
out a trace of metal. The result, so far as six stations are
concerned, is shown in the following table (p. 15).

If, for instance, we commence with the remains discovered
at Wangen, on the Lake of Constance, we have an even more
remarkable case. M. Lohle has found there more than 1500
axes, 100 whetstones, 150 corn -crushers, and 2500 arrow-
heads, flint flakes, chips, etc. ; altogether more than 4450
instruments of stone, besides about 350 of bone, making, with
100 earthenware spinning -weights, a grand total of nearly
5000 objects, and yet not a trace of metal. The number
of corn-crushers and spindle-whorls is interesting, when we
remember that Wangen alone, among these four localities,
has supplied us with specimens of carbonized grain, and flax
fabrics.

Now let me ask the reader to compare with the four cases
given in the table on p. 15 the list of remains from the
Bronze Age settlements of Merges, ISTidau, Estavayer, Cor-
taillod, and Corcelettes, and the two Bronze Age finds of
Larnaud and Reallon. The manner in which the collections
were made accounts, probably, for the absence of whetstones,
and, perhaps, to a great extent, for that of the flint flakes,
etc. On these points, therefore, I lay little stress ; but the
total absence of stone axes at Merges, and their rarity at
Nidau and Estavayer, is very remarkable. At the former
M. Forel, after the most careful search, has found but one
object of iron. The large number of corn-crushers and the
presence of spinning-weights are also significant.

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16 OBJECTS BELONGING TO

Col. Schwab's splendid collection from Nidau tells the same
tale. He has only 33 stone axes, and yet as many as 335
corn-crushers. The other articles of stone he has not appa-
rently collected. He has nearly 200 spindle-whorls, and many
earthenware rings, specimens of which have also been found
at Merges, but which, are entirely wanting at the Pont de
Thiele, at Wauwyl, at Moosseedorf, and at Wangen.

It is, of course, possible that very different states of civi-
lization may co-exist in different parts of the same country ;
but in this case we must remember that the settlement at
Nidau is only about fifteen miles from Moosseedorf. Nor can
we suppose that the differences were merely a question of
wealth ; the bronze fish-hooks, axes, small rings, pins, etc.,
which are found in such large numbers, show that bronze
was used not for the articles of luxury only, but also for the
ordinary implements of daily life.

Nor is it only in the presence or absence of bronze that
the Pfahlbauten differ from one another; there are many
other indications of progress. We cannot expect to find
much evidence of this in the implements of bone or stone ;
but, as has already been mentioned, the better forms of stone
axe, and those which are perforated, are very rare, if not
altogether absent, in the Stone Age, none having been found
at the Pont de Thiele, at Moosseedorf, or at Wauwyl, and
only two at Wangen.

Again, it is not only by the mere presence of bronze, but
by the beauty and variety of the articles made out of it, that
we are so much struck. In a collection of objects made at
any of the Stone Age settlements, no one can fail to remark
the uniformity which prevails. The wants of the artificers
seem to have been few and simple. In the Bronze Age all
this is altered. We find not only axes, arrows, and knives,
but, in addition, swords, lances, sickles, ear-rings, bracelets,
pins, rings, and a variety of other articles. On page 46 is a

THE BRONZE AGE, 17

list of the objects found in some of the Swiss Lake Settlements,
while, as regards France, M. Chantre gives the following
numbers: — Celts, 9153; swords and daggers, 727; lances,
513; knives, 342; sickles, 225; pins, 1220; needles, 204;
bracelets, 1086; rings and chains, 1572; arrow-heads, 213;
hammers, 23; anvils, 5; chisels, 58 ; gouges, 31; razors, 62;
saws, 8; hooks, 172; moulds, 74; and a variety of other
articles, making altogether no less than 20,000 objects.

The pottery also shows a considerable advance. The
potter's wheel indeed seems to have been unknown during
both the Bronze and Stone Ages, but the material of which
the Stone Age pottery is composed is rough,* containing
large grains of quartz, while that used during the Bronze
Age is more carefully prepared. The ornaments of the two
periods show also a great contrast. In the Stone Age they
consist of impressions made by the nail or the finger, and
sometimes by a cord twisted round the soft clay. The lines
are all straight, or if curved are very irregular and badly
drawn. In the Bronze Age all the patterns present in the
Stone Age are continued, but in addition we find circles and
spirals ; while imitations of animals and plants are charac-
teristic of the Iron Age.

So again the distinction between the Bronze and Iron Ages
does by no means rest merely on the presence of iron. The
pottery is different, the forms of the implements and weapons
are different, the ornamentation is different, the knowledge
of metallurgy was more advanced, silver and lead were in
use, letters had been invented, coins had been struck. The
entire absence of silver, of coins, and of inscriptions, in the
bronze finds, is very remarkable.

* The extreme coarseness of the the vessels found in tumuli of the

Swiss Lake pottery is, perhaps, Stone Age, the material was often

partly owing to its having been more carefully prepared,
intended for kitchen purposes ; for

18 BRONZE WEAPONS NOT OF ROMAN ORIGIN.

This class of evidence is by no means confined to the
Swiss lake discoveries. In various parts of Europe more or
less extensive deposits of bronze implements have been
found. They may be divided into two principal classes-
treasures, which were hidden away by their owners and never
recovered, and founders' stocks. The former consist of im-
plements, weapons, and ornaments, entire, and often almost
new ; the latter principally of worn and broken objects,
often with lumps of rude metal. In the table given on the
preceding page I have given two of these finds, one (Eeallon)
a treasure, the other (Larnaud) a founder's stock. These finds
are particularly instructive, because the objects found in
them are evidently contemporaneous. It will be seen from
the tables on pp. 15 and 46 that the numbers of bronze ob-
jects are very considerable, indeed for France and Switzerland
alone they amount to between 30,000 and 40,000, and the
number is continually increasing.*

The value of this evidence will be better appreciated after
reading the following extract from Mr. Wright's Essays on
Archaeology :•(•

"All the sites of ruined Eoman towns with which I am
acquainted present to the excavator a numerous collection of
objects, ranging through a period which ends abruptly with
what we call the close of the Eoman period, and attended
with circumstances which cannot leave any doubt that this
was the period of destruction. Otherwise, surely we should
find some objects which would remind us of the subsequent
periods. I will only mention one class of articles which are
generally found in considerable numbers, the coins. We in-
variably find these presenting a more or less complete series
of Eoman coins, ending at latest with the emperors who
reigned in the first half of the fifth century. This is not

* Chantre, Age du Bronze, vol. ii. t Essays on Archaeology, p. 105.
p. 275.

BRONZE WEAPONS NOT OF ROMAN ORIGIN. 19

the case with Eoman towns which have continued to exist
after that period, for then, on the contrary, we find relics
which speak of the subsequent inhabitants, early Saxon and
Mediaeval. I will only, for want of space, give one example,
that of Eichborough, in Kent. The town of Kutupise seems
to have capitulated with the Saxon invaders, and to have
continued until its inhabitants, in consequence of the retreat
of the sea, gradually abandoned it to establish themselves at
Sandwich. Now the coins found at Eichborough do not end
with those of the Eoman emperors, but we find, first, a great
quantity of those singular little coins which are generally
known by the name minimi, and which, presenting very bad
imitations of the Eornan coinage, are considered as belonging

O ' O O

to the age immediately following the Eoman period, and pre-
ceding that of the Saxon coinage."

We may assume, then, on the authority of Mr. Wright him-
self, that if all the bronze arms which are so abundant in our
museums were really of Eoman origin, many of them would
have been found from time to time in conjunction with other
Eoman remains ; whereas bronze weapons are never found in
association with coins, pottery, or other relics of Eoman origin.

Mr. Wright, indeed, has called this fact in question, but in
spite of his profound acquaintance with archaeological litera-
ture, he has only been able to bring forward three cases in
support of his argument, not one of which appears to me to
be satisfactory.

For a full statement of his views I must refer to his Memoir
on Bronze Weapons, in the Transactions of the Ethnological
Society,* which, in conjunction with my brother Frederic, I
have endeavoured to answer before the same learned body.t
I will, however, refer to the only three cases which Mr. Wright
has been able to discover.

* Transactions of the Ethnologi- t Ditto, N.S. vol. v. p. 105.
cal Soc., N.S. vol. iv. p. 176.

C'2

20 BRONZE WEAPONS NOT OF ROMAN ORIGIN.

The first is that of the bronze sword figured in Stuart's
Caledonia Romana, PL v. " This sword," says Mr. Wright,
" is stated to have been found at the Eoman station of Ardoch,
in Scotland, on the wall of Antoninus, and there appears no
reason to doubt the statement." In truth, however, there is
no such statement ; Mr. Wright has been misled by the fact
that the sword is figured on the same plate with some Roman
remains from Ardoch.

The second case quoted by Mr. Wright is that of a sword
described by Mongez before the French Institute, on the
"16th Prairial, An. 9," i.e. 5th June, 1801. It is stated to
have been found in a peat-moss at Heilly, near Abbeville,
with the skeletons of a man and a horse, and four coins of
the Emperor Caracalla. "This sword, therefore," says Mr.
Wright, " was that of a Roman cavalry soldier, not older, and
perhaps a little later, than this reign, who had sunk in the
bog to which this turbary had succeeded."

Mongez, on the contrary, concluded that the skeleton
could not have been that of a cavalry soldier at all, because
a cavalry soldier would not have been armed with a short
sword ; and so far from regarding the sword as Ptoman, " On
ne pourroit," he says, " egalement pas Tattribuer aux Remains,
si Ton ne raisonnoit que d'apres la matiere dont elle est faite."*
And in the next page he adds, " We are therefore certain, that
after the second Punic war the Roman swords were made of

iron/'f

It is true that five months later he altered his opinion, and
came to the conclusion that, after all, the bronze swords were
Roman, but I cannot consider that much weight should be
attached to this opinion, which was in direct opposition to
that which he entertained a few months previously.

* Loc. cit., p. 193. conde guerre Punique, fut fabriquee

t " Nous voila done certains que en fer," p. 194.
'epee des Remains, depuis la se-

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF BRONZE WEAPONS. 21

Finally, Mr. Wright cites an instance of a bronze sword
found with some Eoman coins of Maxentius, who reigned
from 306 to 312 A.D. This sword was discovered in a turbary
at Piquigny, near Abbeville, in a large boat, which it would
seem had been sunk, and in which were several skeletons.
The reason for referring this bronze sword to the Eoman
epoch was the presence in this case, as in the last, of
Eornan coins. But it is somewhat remarkable, that the
antiquaries who recorded the discovery attributed so little
importance to the presence of these coins that they did not
in either case take the trouble to specify the exact position
which these occupied with reference to the bronze weapons ;
in fact they only mention the coins casually, and as it were
by an after- thought, in a foot-note. I may be pardoned, then,
if I do not myself look upon them as being certainly of the
same date as the weapons near which they are said to have
been discovered. But even if it be admitted that in these
two cases bronze weapons were actually discovered in associa-
tion with Eoman coins, and in such a position that the weapons
and the coins must certainly have been embedded together,
still, when we consider the great abundance of Eoman coins
on the one hand, and of bronze weapons on the other, we
cannot be surprised that there should be one or two cases in
which they have been found associated together.

Again, the geographical distribution of bronze weapons
and implements does not favour such a theory. The Eomans
never entered Denmark; it is doubtful whether they ever
landed in Ireland ; no Eoman road, masonry, or earthwork
has ever been found there. Yet while more than 350 bronze
swords have been found in Denmark,* more than 400 in
France, and a very large number in Ireland,f the Italian

* If daggers are included the t TLe Museum at Dublin con-
number would reach nearly 1200, tains 282 swords and daggers: the
and 480 for Sweden. — Chantre, Age number of swords is not stated
du Bronze, vol. i. p. 134. separately.

22 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT.

museums only contain about 50. Indeed, the rich museums
at Florence, Eome, and Naples do not appear to possess a
single specimen of those typical, leaf-shaped bronze swords,
which are, comparatively speaking, so common in the North.
That the bronze swords should have been introduced into
Denmark by a people who never occupied that country, and
from a part of Europe in which they are very rare, is, I think,
a most untenable hypothesis. I may add that no swords or
celts of bronze have been found in the excavations at Pompeii.*

Moreover, the use of the word "ferrum" (iron) as synony-
mous with a sword, clearly proves that the Roman swords
were made of that metal.

I have already mentioned that silver and lead do not occur
in Bronze Age finds, that coins and letters are equally absent,
and that the ornamentation of the Bronze Age, though some-
times very beautiful, is not of a Roman character.

Lastly, the bronze which was so largely used by the Romans
for ornaments, etc., was composed partly of lead, whereas that
of the Bronze Age consists of copper and tin only. Other
metals, indeed, such as iron, silver, nickel, and lead itself, are
present ; but in small quantities, never having been purposely
introduced, but only occurring as impurities.

The reasons, then, which satisfy me that our bronze weapons
cannot be referred to Roman times, may be summed up as
follows : —

Firstly. They have never been found in company with
Roman pottery, or other remains of the Roman period.

Secondly. They are very abundant in some countries, as
for instance in Denmark and Ireland, which were never
invaded by Roman armies.

* This statement has been ques- from Pompeii. During a visit to

tioned by Mr. Wright, who pointed Naples, I looked out these celt?,

out that two bronze celts in the and found that they did not come

museum at Naples have been from Pompeii, but from an ancient

figured and described as coming tomb in Magna Grtecia.

BRONZE WEAPONS NOT SAXON. 23

Thirdly. The bronze swords do not resemble in form those
used by Eoman soldiers.

Fourthly. The Latin word " ferrum" was used as synony-
mous with a sword, showing that the Komans always used
iron.

Fifthly. The ornamentation is not Roman in its character.

Sixthly. The bronze used by the Komans contained, gene-
rally, a large proportion of lead, which is never the case in
that of the Bronze Age.

In Plutarch's Essay on the Pythian Responses, Philinus
describes certain ancient bronze statues which were of a
peculiar colour, and says : Was " there then some mode of
alloying and preparing the bronze used by the ancient artificers,
like the traditional tempering of swords, which process being
lost, bronze obtained exemption from warlike employment" ?*
The evidence, therefore, seems conclusive.

Nor is there any subsequent period to which we can refer
the weapons and implements of bronze. Great numbers of
Saxon interments have been examined both in this country
and on the Continent, and we know that the swords, lances,
knives, and other weapons of that time were all of iron.
Besides this, if the bronze implements and weapons had
belonged to post-Roman times, we should certainly, I think,
have found some of them in the ruined towns, and with the
pottery and coins of that period. Moreover, the similarity
to each other of the weapons found in very distant parts of
Europe, implies more extended intercourse between different
countries than any which existed in those centuries. On the
whole, then, the evidence appears to show that the use of
bronze weapons is characteristic of a particular phase in the
history of European civilization, and one which was anterior
to the discovery of iron, or, at any rate, to the general use
of that metal for cutting purposes.

* Plutarch. On the Pythian Responses.

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'OiaViSTIVH

HALLSTADT. L'~

It is, moreover, I think, clearly established that the use
of iron was general throughout Northern Europe for a con-
siderable time before the invasion of Csesar.

Evidently, however, the transition from the use of bronze
weapons to those of iron must have been gradual, and there
must have been a time when the two were in use together.
M. Eamsauer, for many years director of the salt-mines at
Hallstadt, near Salzburg, in Austria, has discovered an exten-
sive cemetery belonging to this transitional period. He has
opened no less than 980 graves, evidently of those who even
at that early period worked the salt-mines which are still so
celebrated. The objects discovered are described and figured
in an album, which has unfortunately never been published,
but of which Mr. Evans and I secured a copy. The following
table will sufficiently prove the importance of the discovery.

That the period to which these graves belonged was that
of the transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages, is
evident; both because we find cutting instruments of iron
as well as of bronze, and also because both are of somewhat
unusual, and we may almost say of intermediate types. The
same remark applies to the ornamentation. Animals are
frequently represented, but are very poorly executed, while
the geometrical patterns are well drawn. Coins are entirely
absent. That the transition was from bronze to iron, and
not from iron to bronze, is clear ; because here, as elsewhere,
while iron instruments with bronze handles are common,
there is not a single case of a bronze blade with an iron
handle. This shows that, when both metals were in use, the
iron was preferred for blades. Another interesting point in
the Hallstadt bronze, as in that of the true Bronze Age, is
the absence of silver, lead, and zinc (excepting, of course, as
mere impurities in the bronze). This is the more significant,
inasmuch as the presence, not only of the tin itself, but also

26 HALLSTADT.

of glass, amber, and ivory, indicates the existence of an ex-
tensive commerce.

Moreover, as Morlot well pointed out, the absence of silver
cannot be accidental, because the bronze of Hallstadt contains
no lead, and the absence of lead entails that of silver, since
the latter could not, at least in Europe, be obtained without
the former.*

* For further information on the Bronze Implements of Gt. Britain
subject of this chapter, I may refer and Ireland," which has appeared
to Mr. Evans' admirable "Ancient since the last edition of this work.

CHAPTEE IT.

ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES.

commonest and, perhaps, most characteristic objects
JL belonging to the Bronze Age are the so-called "celts"
(figs. 4 — 16), which were probably used for chisels, hoes, war-

FlG. 4.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 6.

Copper Celt from Waterford. Winged Celt from Ireland. Socketed Celt from Ireland,
FIG. 7. FIG. 8. FIG. 9.

The three different types of Celts, and the manner in which they are supposed to have

been handled.

BRONZE CELTS.

axes, and a variety of other purposes. Implements similar,

FIG. 10. FIG. 11. FIG. 12.

Kalmuck Axe.

FIG. 13.

Copper (?) Celt from
Ireland.

Fm. 14.

Celt-mould from Ireland.

FIG. 15.

FIG. 16.

Decorated Celt from Ireland.

Danish Celts.

BRONZE CELTS.

though not identical, and made of iron instead of bronze,
are even now employed in Siberia (fig. 10) and some parts
of Africa.* More than two thousand are known to exist in
the different Irish collections, of which the great Museum
belonging to the Eoyal Irish Academy at Dublin contained
in the year 1860 no less than six hundred and eighty-eight,^
no two of which were cast in the same mould. They vary
in size from an inch to a foot in length, and may be divided
into three principal classes (figs. 7 — 9) according to the
manner in which they were handled ; though we must re-

FIG. 17.

FIG. 19.

FIG. 18.

Bronze Axe. Le Ptiy.

Bronze Axe. Naples.

* Klemm's Culturgeschichte cler
Menschen, vol. iii. p. 160. Horse
ferales, p. 77.

SRjgl ! -

Stone Axe.

t In the Museum at Edinburgh
are more than 100, at Copenhagen
350.

30 BHONZE CELTS.

member that there were many intermediate forms. The
first class (figs. 4, 7, 11, 13, 14, and 15) is the simplest in
form, and is considered by some antiquaries (as, for instance,
by Sir "W. E. Wilde*) to be the oldest, partly because they
are " evidently formed on the type of the old stone celts '
(conf. figs. 11 and 18 with figs. 19 and 160), partly because
some of them (nearly thirty for instance in the Dublin
Museum) are of red, almost unalloyed, copper, and are
"almost the only antique implements of any kind formed
out of" this metal, and partly because the copper ones at
least are always unornamented. On the other hand, the
simplicity of form exhibited by the copper axes, which may
be observed in those from other countries as well as from
Ireland, is perhaps to be accounted for by the great difficulty
of casting copper, so that the founders, when dealing with
that metal, would naturally confine themselves to the simpler
forms. There can be little doubt that these simple celts
were handled in the manner indicated (fig. 7). Fig. 20
represents a modern African axe in my collection. Here,
however, the blade is of iron.

FIG. 20.

Modern African Axe.

Evidently, however, in such an axe the blade would tend
to split the handle in which it was placed. To remedy this
defect, a stop, or ridge, was raised across the celt, and the

* Cat. Irish Acud., p. 361.

BRONZE SWORDS. 31

metal and wood were made to fit into one another (figs. 5
and 8). This second form of celt is known as a Paalstab, or
Paalstave, and has often a small loop on one side (the sup-
posed use of which is indicated in the figure), as well as a
wing on each side. A still further improvement consisted
(figs. 6, 9, 16) in reversing the position of the metal and the
handle, making the axe hollow at one end, and so passing the
handle into it.

Bronze celts are generally plain, but sometimes ornamented
with ridges, dots, or lines, as in figs. 6, 9, 13, 15, and 16.
That they were made in the countries where they are found
is proved by the presence of moulds (fig. 12). It is difficult
to understand why the celt-makers never cast their axes as
we do ours, with a transverse hole, through which the handle
might pass. ISTo bronze implement of this description has,
however, so far as I know, been yet found in Great Britain,
though a few have occurred in Denmark, where they are of
great beauty and highly decorated.

The swords of the Bronze Age (figs. 22 — 29*) are always
more or less leaf-like in shape, double-edged, sharp -pointed,
and intended for stabbing and thrusting rather than for
cutting. This is evident, not only from the general shape,
but also from the condition of the edges. They never have any
hand-guards: the handles are sometimes solid (figs. 25 — 31) ;
this is generally the case with those found in Denmark :
sometimes (figs. 22 — 24) flat, thin, and evidently intended to
be plated with wood or bone: while sometimes the sword
expands at its base, and is fastened to a handle by from two
to four rivets. Swords of this class are generally shorter
than the others, and indeed we find every intermediate form
between the true sword and the dagger (figs. 32, 33, 34) :
of the two classes together, the Dublin Museum contains

* In Fig. 21 an ancient iron sword is represented, in order to show the
difference in form.

BRONZE SWORDS.

FIG. 23.

FIG 25.

FIG. 21.

Ancient

Iron

Sword

from a

Saxon

tomb,

England.

FIG. 22.

Ireland.

Scandinavia.

Sweden.

Lake of
Neufchatel.

BRONZE SWORPS.

BRONZE SPEARS.

nearly 300. The handles of -the bronze swords are very
short, and could not have been held comfortably by hands
as large as ours, a characteristic much relied on by those who

FIG. 27.

FIG. 28.

FIG. z9.

FIG. so.

FIG. 31.

Sword-handles from Denmark.

attribute the introduction
of bronze into Europe to
a people of Asiatic origin.
The Danish Museum con-
tains more than 350 bronze
swords.

The next classes of bronze
objects are the heads of
Sjiears (figs. 35, 36), jave-
lins, and arrows; two hun-
dred and seventy - six of
which are in the Dublin
Museum ; in length they
vary from two feet and a half to an
inch, and their shapes are also very
various ; but it is unnecessary to
describe them in detail, because they
are repeated in similar weapons of

all ages, countries, and materials. Bronze arrows, however,
are not very common in Northern Europe, probably because
flint was so much cheaper, and almost as effective.

Swords from Denmark.

BRONZE FISH-HOOKS AND SICKLES.

More than a hundred bronze fish-hooks have been found at
Nidau in the Lake of Bienne, but elsewhere they appear to be
rare ; the Museum at Dublin contains only one. Sickles are
more numerous; at Copenhagen there are twenty-five, at
Dublin eleven; in the lake -village at Merges eleven have

FIG. 32.

FIG. 33.

FIG. 34.

Irish Bronze Daggers.

been found, at Nidau eighteen ; they are generally about six
inches in length, flat on one side, and raised on the other ;
they were always intended to be held in the right hand.

BRONZE KNIVES.

FIG. 36.

Bronze knives (figs. 37 — 41) are frequently found in the
Danish tumuli, and among the remains of the Swiss lake
habitations ; twenty, for instance, at Merges, twenty-six at
Estavayer, and about a hundred at Nidau ; in Ireland they
appear to be very rare ; the Dublin Museum Fw- 35-
does not contain one. They were generally
fitted into handles of bone, horn, or wood,
and the blade was almost always more or less
curved ; those of iron knives, on the contrary,
being generally straight.

Fig. 48 represents a bronze knife found
at Thebes by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, and
figured in Lee's translation of Keller, page
276.*

The small bronze razor-knives (figs. 42 —
45), indeed, have straight edges, but they
are quite of a different character from the
iron knives : from the ornaments engraved

Spear-lieads from

on them, I am disposed to regard them as Ireland,
belonging to a late period in the Age of Bronze, if not in
some cases to the beginning of that of Iron. Indeed, the
Flensborg Museum contains a razor-knife, said to have been
found together with objects of the latter metal.

Ornaments of bronze do not, like the weapons of that
metal, characterize a definite period, but may belong to any
age. Therefore, before we refer any particular ornament to
this period, we must know the circumstances under which it
was found. The following illustrations are principally from
the Swiss lake-villages.

The personal ornaments which may, I think, safely be
referred to the Bronze Age, consist principally of bracelets

* See also for Egyptian Bronze a 1'Hist. Prirn. de 1'Homme, 1869,
implements and weapons, Mr. A. p. 376.
Arc-elm's paper in the Mater, p. Ser.

D 2

BRONZE KNIVES.

(figs. 49, 50), pins (figs. 51 — 53), and rings. The bracelets
are either simple spirals, or rings open at one side, and
decorated by those combinations of straight and curved
lines so characteristic of the Bronze Age. Like the weapons,
they generally indicate small hands, but, like the bronze
ornaments of various existing savages — for instance, of many
Negro tribes, of the Khonds in Orissa, &c. — they are often
extremely heavy.

FIG. 40.

FIG. 37.

Bronze Knives from Denmark.

FIG. 41.

Bronze Knives from
Switzerland.

Bronze pins are very abundant : for instance, 239 from
Estavayer, 600 from Nidau, and more than 6000 from the two

BRONZE KNIVES.

lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel.* They are also very frequently
found in graves, where they were used, as pointed out by Sir

FIG. 42. FIG. 43. FIG. 44. FIG. 45.

Razor-knives from Denmark.
FIG. 46.

FIG. 47.

Small Knives from Denmark.

E. C. Hoare, to secure the linen cloth which enveloped the bones.
Although brooches of bronze are very common, they have

* See Appendix.

BRONZE ORNAMENTS.

generally been found in conjunction with iron, and during the
Bronze Age their place seems to have been generally filled by
mere pins, Many of the latter articles found in the Swiss

FIG. 48.

•

•; ' r

Egyptian Knife.

FIG. 49.

FIG. 50.

FIG. 51.

Bracelets. --Switzerland.
FIG. 52. FIG. 53.

FIG. 54.

Bronze Hair-pins.— Switzerland.

lakes appear, however, to have been hair-pins. Some of them
are nearly a foot in length, and two found near Berne even

BRONZE ORNAMENTS.

as much as 2ft. 9 in. Many of the pins have large hollow
spherical heads, as in figs. 51, 52 ; the others vary so much
that it is impossible to give any general description of them.
There can be little doubt that these ^10.55. FIQ.SS. ¥10.57. FIG ss.
pins really belong to the Bronze Age ;
but the fact that similar ones con-
tinued in use long after the introduc-
tion of iron is equally well established.
One of these later bronze pins is repre-
sented in fig. 171. Some other small
objects of bronze, including two needles,
from the Lake of Neufchatel, are repre-
sented in figs. 55 — 60. Bronze ham-
mers are very rare ; it is probable that
stones were used for this purpose.
Gouges are more common. Small saws
have been discovered in Germany and
Denmark, but not, as yet, in Great

FIG. GO.

FIG. 59.

Small objects in Bronze.— Switzerland.

Britain. Studs or buttons, though not very abundant, are
found both in Switzerland and Scandinavia.* Silver, lead,-f-
and zinc appear to have been unknown during the Bronze
Age. Glass beads were in use, but no vessels of glass have
yet been discovered ; in the same manner there are barbarous
tribes now which are well supplied with European beads, but
which possess no glass vessels.

* Further information as to the
objects of bronze from Switzerland

f Lead, however, is mentioned
in the inscriptions of Karnak. See

will be found in the chapter on the Lepsius, Les metaux dans les Ins.

Swiss lake habitations.

P- 58-

THE METALLURGY

The weapons and ornaments of the Bronze Age are all
cast, and show considerable skill in metallurgy.* Three
modes of casting were employed. One was that in a mould,
either of stone or metal. Of course in this case the mould
was necessarily in two halves, and the line of junction was
generally visible, as in fig. 61, representing a celt, which has
evidently been cast in this manner. This specimen was found
in Kent, and presented to me by Sir George Dasent. It is
FIG- 61- clear, however, that such an

object as the knife in fig. 40
could not have been cast in
this manner. Neither were
the pins, figs. 51 — 54, for if
they had been, the line of
junction between the two
halves of the mould must
have been traceable.

Indeed this mode of cast-
ing was evidently unusual.
This is proved by the con-
dition of the objects, by the
scarcity of moulds, and also
by the fact that we seldom
find any two bronze objects
exactly similar to one ano-
ther. Thus, out of the six
hundred and eighty -eight
Kentish ceit. specimens in the Dublin

Museum, no two were cast in the same mould, clearly showing
that the moulds were not permanent.

The second mode of casting was by making a model of

* See Morlot's interesting me-
moir : " Sur le passage de Tage de
la pierre a 1'ft.gc du Bronze et sur

les metaux employes dans 1'age du
Bronze/' Copenhague, 1866.

OF THE BRONZE AGE. 41

the object in wood or some other hard substance, and press-
ing it on fine sand, so as to obtain a corresponding hollow.
The sand must of course have been contained in two boxes
or frames, fitting like the solid moulds one on the other.
Objects cast in this manner would therefore also show the
line of junction. The advantage of this method is that sand
can easily be worked into the required form, and wooden
models were much more easily made than hollow moulds,
either of stone or metal. Like the former, however, this
method was applicable to very simple castings only. Speci-
mens in which the line of junction is not exactly central, or
symmetrical, were probably cast in this manner, the model
having been pressed into the one mould rather more deeply
than into the other.

The third method of casting was with wax or wood. In
this case, as in the former, a model was made and enclosed
in prepared earth, made of some clayey soil mixed probably
with cow -dung, or some other inflammable substance, in
order that when subjected to heat, it might become porous.
The frame was then heated until the wax or wood dis-
appeared. This mode of casting required fewer instruments,
and did not, like the other two methods, involve a line of
junction, which was a great advantage, because in the absence

of steel the projecting ridge thus produced was very difficult
to remove, especially when the objects were ornamented. In
one case M. Morlot observed on an object of bronze the mark
of a finger, evidently resulting from an impression on the soft
wax. Occasionally, again, when the wax was heated carelessly,
it burned and left a carbonized film, which of course produced
a corresponding mark on the object cast. The use of wax in
this manner, though presenting many advantages, does not
appear to have been frequent in Great Britain.

In some few cases the interiors of bronze vessels show the
marks of the spatula with which the wax was worked.

THE METALLURGY

The evidences of imperfect metallurgical knowledge and
appliances are also very interesting. M. Morlot has called
attention to a striking instance of this presented by one of
the large Schwerin brooches (fig. 62). This was evidently

FIR. 62.

Mended Brooch.— Mecklenburgh.

a chef d'ceuvre, but the intermediate bow connecting the two
great discs had been accidentally broken. In order to mend
it again, the two pieces were put into their proper relative
position, and the broken bow was covered with a layer of
FIG. 63. wax. The whole was then surrounded with the
usual preparation of clay, etc., the wax was melted
out and replaced with bronze.

Again, besides the orifice through which the
bronze was poured into the mould, it was neces-
sary to leave one or more holes through which the
air might escape. The first, being funnel-shaped,
was easily removed, but the latter were frequently
beaten over, as is seen at the top of fig. 63, for
without steel it was almost impossible to cut them
off. Indeed, the smiths of the Bronze Age seem
to have been unable to pierce bronze, and the
holes for rivets, as in the swords, etc., are cast,
and not pierced.

OF THE BRONZE AGE.

Even the ornamentation in circles, spirals, etc., on the
bronze objects is mostly cast, and though beautifully drawn,
was evidently done with the free hand ; compasses seem there-
fore to have been unknown.

In some cases, however, the ornamentation appears to have
been engraved on the objects themselves. For this purpose
short instruments were used, in which there was a much
larger proportion of tin than usual. Such implements are
very hard, but at the same time very brittle, and therefore not
suited for ordinary purposes. Instruments of this character,
though rare, have been met with in the great bronze find at
Larnaud and elsewhere.

On some of the bronze vessels the ornamentation has been
produced by hammering. This, however, indicates a consider-
able progress in metallurgy.

FIG 64.

Gold Torque.— Ireland. Found near Clonmacnoise.

GOLD ORNAMENTS.

FIG. 66.

FIG. 65.

FIG. 67.

Gold Ornaments.— Ireland.
FIG. 67*.

Iron Ornament.— Africa.

GOLD ORNAMENTS. 45

Soldering seems to have been entirely unknown during the
Bronze Age, and even during the earlier times of the Iron
Age. Thus the Hallstadt bronze vessels, when broken, were

always riveted together.

I have also figured a group (figs. 64 — 67) of Irish gold
ornaments. The earlier ones probably belong to the Bronze
Age ; a torque much like fig. 64 formed part of the great
Larnaud find, but they appear to have come down to a
much later period. The fact is interesting that very similar
ornaments, made however not of gold, but of iron, are now
worn by the natives of Africa. One of these is represented
in fig. 67.*

The ornamentation on the objects of bronze is of a pecu-
liar, and at the same time uniform, character ; it consists of
simple geometrical patterns, and is formed by combinations
of spirals, circles and zigzag lines ; representations of animals
and plants being very rarely attempted. Even the few ex-
ceptions to this rule are perhaps more apparent than real.
Thus, two such only are figured in the Catalogue of the
Copenhagen Museum ; one is a rude figure of a swan (fig.
37), the other of a man (fig. 39). The second of these
forms the handle of a knife, which appears to be straight
in the blade, a type characteristic of the Iron Age, but
rarely found in that of Bronze. As regards one of them,
therefore, there is an independent reason for referring it
to the period of transition, or at least to the close of the
Bronze Age. There is, indeed, one type of pattern, usually
found on the razor-knives, but sometimes also on others,
intended probably for a rude representation of a ship (figs.
42 — 45). Even, however, if we admit this to be the case,
and if we accept these objects as belonging to the Bronze
Age, this will only show how little advance had yet been
made in the art of representing natural objects.

* Archseologia, vol. xliii. p. 442.

LIST OF BROXZE OBJECTS.

=3
03

"5
%

Moerigen.

Estavayer.

Cortaillod.

Corcelettes.

Auvernier.

<»

CD
O
CS
rH

Total.

Celts arid Fragments

Swords

Hammers

Knives and Fragments

102

193

Pins

611

239

183

237

1367

Small Rings

496

115

195

202

1053

Earrings

238

116

440

Bracelets and Fragments . . .
Fish-hooks

55
189

14
12

16
43

21
71

26
9

11
2

2
1

145

248

Awls

262

Spiral Wires

101

Lance-heads .

Arrow-heads

Buttons

Needles

Various Ornaments

Saws

Dancers .

Sickles

Double-pointed Pins

Small Bracelets

Sundries

124

Total

2004

208

618

835

539

4346

ORNAMENTATION. 47

The foregoing table, which I owe to the kindness of Dr.
Keller, and the list given on p. 17, will give an idea of the
relative numbers of the different objects. Since it was drawn
up the numbers have considerably increased, and the total
number of bronze objects recovered from the two lakes of
Bienne and Neufchatel alone now exceeds 20,000.

Dr. Thurnam gives the following list of the bronze objects
found by Sir E. C. Hoare in the Wiltshire tumuli.

OBJECTS OF BRONZE.

With Unburnt With Burnt

Bodies.

Total

Celts

Blades of knives, daggers, etc.

Awls and drills

Crutch-headed screws ....

Large pin with rings

Prong with rings

...

Rivets and pieces of bronze-

• • •

mounted shield (?)

Bracelet

Buckle

Bead

Total ... 29 79 108

There is, I believe, only one case in which any bronze
weapon or implement bears an inscription ; a fact which is
the more significant when we remember how often letters
are met with on those of iron. Fig. 68 represents this inte-
resting specimen, which is a winged celt, and is in the
Museum Kircherianum of the Collegio Romano, at Rome.
No explanation of the inscription has yet been given, nor do
we even know to what alphabet the letters belong. It was

DRESS DU1UNG

FIG. 68.

Inscribed Celt.

found in the Campagna, but there is unfortunately no record
of the circumstances under which it was discovered.

The skill displayed in the manufac-
ture of the objects described in this
chapter, as well as the beauty of their
form and ornamentation, shows a con-
siderable development of art. The dis-
covery of a bar of tin at Estavayer, and
of a mould for casting celts at Morges,
has proved that some at least of these
objects were made in Switzerland, just
as evidence of a similar nature shows
that other countries in Europe, as, for
instance, Denmark, England, Scotland,
and Ireland, had also their own foundries. The similarity of
form and ornamentation appears also to indicate some com-
munication between different parts of Europe ; but as Corn-
wall, Saxony, and Spain* are the only known European
sources from which tin can be obtained in any quantity, the
mere presence of bronze is in itself a sufficient evidence
not only of metallurgical skill, but also of commercial inter-
course.

We should hardly, perhaps, have hoped to ascertain much
of the manner in which the people of the Bronze Age were
dressed. Considering how perishable are the materials out
of which clothes are necessarily formed, it is wonderful that
any fragments of them should have remained to the present
day. There can be little doubt that the skins of animals
were extensively used for this purpose, as indeed they have
been in all ages of man's history ; many traces of linen tissue
also have been found in English' tumuli of the Bronze Age,

* Tin is said to have anciently
been obtained in Pannonia, near
the modern Temesvar, but I do not

know whether the mines were ex-
tensive. See Howorth, Stockholm
Fre-hist. Congress, p. 533.

THE BRONZE AGE.

and in the Swiss Lakes. Fig. 168 represents a piece of fabric
from Bobenhausen in Switzerland; it belongs, however, in
all probability, to the Stone Age. Even a single fragment
such as this throws much light on the manufactures, if we
may call them so, of the period to which it belongs ; but for-
tunately we need not content ourselves with any such partial
knowledge as this, as we possess the whole dress of a chief
belonging to the Bronze Age.

On a farm near Eibe, in Jutland, is a tumulus known as
Treenhoi, which was examined in 1861 by MM. Worsaae
and Herbst. It is about fifty ells in diameter and six in
height, being composed of a loose sandy earth. In it, near
the centre, were found three wooden coffins, two of full size

FIG 70.
FIG. 69. FIG 71.

Comb.

Woollen Caps.

and one evidently intended for a child. The coffin with
which we are now particularly concerned was about 9ft. Sin.
long and 2ft. 2 in. broad on the outside; its internal measure-
ments were 7Jft. long and 1ft. 8 in. broad. It was covered
by a movable lid of corresponding size. The contents were
peculiar and very interesting. While, as might naturally
be expected, we find, in most ancient graves, only the bones
and teeth, all the soft parts having long ago decayed away,
in some cases — and this was one of them — almost exactly
the reverse has happened. Through the action of water,
owing perhaps to the fact that it was strongly impregnated
with iron, the soft parts of the body had been turned into

DRESS DURING THE BRONZE AGE.

FIG. 72.

Woollen Cloak.

FIG. 73.

FIG 74.

Woollen Shirt.

Woollen Shawl.

BURIAL DURING THE BRONZE AGE. 51

a dark, greasy substance ; and the bones, with the excep-
tion of a few fragments, were changed into a kind of blue
powder.

Singularly enough, the brain seems to have been the part
which had undergone least change. On opening the coffin,
it was found lying at one end, where no doubt the head had
originally been placed, covered by a thick hemispherical
woollen cap, about six inches in height (fig. 69). The outer
side of the cap was thickly covered by short loose threads,
every one of them ending in a small knot, which gave the
cap a very singular appearance. The body of the corpse had
been wrapped in a coarse woollen cloak (fig. 72), which was
almost semicircular, and hollowed out round the neck. It
was about 3ft. Sin. long, and broad in proportion. On its
inner side were left hanging a great number of short
woollen threads, which gave it somewhat the appearance of
plush.

On the right side of the body was a box, closed by a
lid of the same diameter. It was 7 Jin. in diameter, 6Jin.
high, and was fastened together by pieces of osier or bark.
In this box was a similar smaller one, without a lid, and
in this, again, were three articles, namely, a cap 7 in. high,
of simply woven woollen stuff (fig. 70) ; a small comb
Sin. long, 2 Jin. high (fig. 71); and a small simple razor-
knife.

After the cloak and the bark-box had been taken away,
two woollen shawls came to view, one of them covering the
feet, the other lying nearer to the head. They were of a
square shape, rather less than 5ft. long, 3ft. 9 in. broad, and
with a long fringe (fig. 74). At the place where the body
had lain was a shirt (fig. 73), also of woollen material, cut
out a little for the neck, and with a long projecting tongue
at one of the upper angles. It was fastened at the waist by
a long woollen band, which went twice round the body, and

BURIAL DURING THE BRONZE AGE.

Leggings.

hung down in front. On the left side of the corpse was a
bronze sword (fig. 27), in a wooden sheath. It is 2ft. Sin.
in length, and has a solid simple handle.

At the feet were two pieces of woollen
stuff, about 14J in. long and 3 J in. wide
(fig. 75), the use of which does not seem
quite clear, though they may be sup-
posed to have been leggings. At the
end of the coffin were found traces of
leather, doubtless the remains of boots.
In the cap, where the head had been,
was some black hair, and the form
of the brain was still recognizable.
Finally, this ancient warrior had been
wrapped round in an ox's hide, and so
committed to the grave.

The other two coffins were not examined by competent
persons, and the valuable information which they might have
afforded was thus lost to us. The more indestructible things
were, however, preserved ; consisting of a sword, a brooch, a
knife, a double-pointed awl, a pair of tweezers, a large double
button or stud, all of bronze ; a small double button of tin,
and a javelin-head of flint.

The baby's coffin produced only an amber bead, and a small
bronze bracelet, consisting of a simple ring of metal.

Another tumulus on the same farm contained four wooden
coffins, in which were bodies clothed in woollen garments,
a bronze sword in a wooden sheath ornamented with carv-
ings, two bronze daggers, a wooden bowl ornamented by a
large number of tin nails, a vase of wood, and a small box
of bark.

In another instance, near Aarhuus, the dress of a woman
was discovered under similar circumstances. Over her head
were two shawls, one rather fine, the other coarser. She wore

HUT-UENS. 53

a cloak with sleeves, and a long shirt tied round the waist
by woollen cords. She also had been buried with a bronze
dagger.

There can, therefore, be no doubt that these very interest-
ing tumuli date from the Bronze Age, and I am inclined to
place them somewhat late in that period, partly on account
of the knife and razor-knife, both of which belong to forms
which there are, as already mentioned, other reasons for
referring to the close of the Bronze Age, and to the begin-
ning of that of Iron. Bronze brooches are also very rarely
found in the Bronze Age, and are common in that of Iron.
The sword, again, belongs to a form which is regarded by
Professor JSTilsson as being of late introduction.

Finally, the mode of sepulture, though other similar cases
are on record, is, to say the least, very unusual ; in the age
of Iron, indeed, the corpse was generally extended, but in
that of Bronze the dead were, with few exceptions, burned,
or buried in a contracted attitude. In Denmark, cremation
appears to have been almost universal; in England, I have
taken out the statistics of 100 cases of tombs containing
objects of bronze, 37 recorded by Mr. Bateman and 63 by
Sir R C. Hoare ; and the following table shows the manner
in which the corpse had been treated.

Contracted. Burnt. Extended. Uncertain.

Bateman ... 15 10 5 7

Hoare 4 49 2 8

19 59 7 15

In 100 cases recorded by Mr. Greenwell, all were contracted
or burnt.

We may consider, therefore, that during this period the
corpse was sometimes, though very rarely, extended on its
back, and more frequently it was buried in a sitting or

54 HUT-URNS.

crouching position, and in a small chamber formed by large
stones, but that the most usual practice was to burn the dead,
and collect the ashes and fragments of bones in or under an
urn.

The ancient funeral customs, however, will be more fully
considered in a subsequent chapter.

We know as yet very little about the architecture of the
Bronze Age. Bougemont* considers that the Eound towers
belong to that period, but I know no sufficient reason for
this opinion. In the next chapter I shall give my reasons
for referring some at least of our so-called Druidical remains
to that period, and many of the Swiss lake -villages cer-
tainly belong to it. These remains, indeed, give us little
information as to the kind of houses then in use. Certain
" hut-urns," however, or urns in the form of huts, which
have been discovered in Italy and Germany, appear to be-
long to the close of the Bronze Age. The Italian " hut-

urns" were discovered in ISl?")* at Albano, near Borne,
under an undisturbed layer of peperino or consolidated
volcanic ash, and belong, therefore, to a time when the
volcanoes near Kome were still in a state of activity. The
volume of the Archseologia for 1869 contains a full account
by Prof. Pigorini and myself of the numerous vases and
other objects found with these hut -urns. The pottery is
peculiarly dark and compact, and with it were found several
bronze knives. The presence of some fragments of iron,
however, appears to show that the huts belong quite to the
close of the Bronze Age, or rather to the commencement of
that of Iron. The following figure will give an idea of the
urns themselves, as well as of the houses they were intended
to represent.

* L'Age du Bronze, pp. 12, 380. chrali rinvenuti nelle vincinanze
t See Lettera del Signer D. A. della antica Alba-Longa. Roma,
Visconti sopra alcimi vasi sepol- 1867.

PEN-PITS.

FIG. 77.

These cases are not isolated. FIG. 76.

In the year 1837 Dr. Beyer found

near Parchim a somewhat similar

hut-urn in a tumulus, which, both

from its form and as containing

bronze, is considered by Dr. Lisch

as certainly belonging to the

Bronze Age.*

In 1849 an urn, evidently in-
tended to represent a house with

a tall straw roof, was found in Hut-urn. -Aibano.

a tumulus at Aschersleben. From its colour and material

Dr. Lisch refers this urn also to the Bronze Age.

The Museum at Munich
contains a very interest-
ing piece of pottery (fig.
77), apparently intended
to represent a Lake-
hamlet comprising seven
small round huts. The
huts are arranged in
three rows of three each,
thus forming three sides

Urn apparently representing a Lake-dwelling. Q£ ^ SQUare. The fourth

side is closed by a wall, in the centre of which is an opening
leading into a porch, which is represented as being thatched.
The platform on which the huts stand is supported by four
columns represented as consisting of logs, lying one upon the
other. The roofs are unfortunately wanting. The sides are
ornamented with the double spiral so characteristic of the
Bronze Age.

In North Germany and Denmark also urns have been
discovered somewhat resembling that in fig. 76. In these
* Ueber die Hausurnen. Schwerin, 1856.

56 PICTS' HOUSES.

cases the "door" is in the roof. Dr. Lisch considers that
these last urns are the earliest, and represent a form of
dwelling even more ancient than those in which the door
is in the side. To me, I confess, it seems more probable
that these urns belong to a later period, when the repre-
sentation of the dwelling was more conventional, and the
resemblance consequently less.

Many of the dwellings in use during the Bronze Age were
no doubt subterranean or semi-subterranean. On almost all
large tracts of uncultivated land ancient villages of this
character may still be traced. A pit was dug, generally
from 6 to 16 feet in diameter, and the earth which was
thrown out formed a circular wall, the whole being then
probably covered over with boughs. The "Pen -pits/' near
Gillingham, in Wiltshire, have been supposed to be of this
character, but Gen. Pitt Eivers has clearly shown that they
are merely ancient stone quarries. In Anglesea similar hut-
circles have been well described by the Honourable Owen
Stanley.* On Dartmoor and elsewhere, where large blocks of
stone abounded, the natives saved themselves the trouble of
excavating, and simply built up circular walls of stone. In
other cases, probably when concealment was an object, the
dwellings were entirely subterranean. Such ancient dwell-
ings are in Scotland known as " weems," from " Uamha," a
cave. In one of these, at Monzie, in Perthshire, a bronze
sword was discovered.^ Such underground chambers, how-
ever, appear to have been used in Scotland as dwellings, or
at least as places of concealment, down to the time of the
liomans ; for a weem described by Lord Eosehill| was con-
structed partly of stones " showing the diagonal and diamond

* On "Remains of the Ancient t Wilson, Pre- Historic Annals

Circular Habitations in Holy head of Scotland, vol. i. p. 104.

Island. By the Hon. W. 0. Stanley, £ Lord Rosehill, Proc. of theSoc.

M.P. of Ant. of Scotland, 1869, p. 109.

BEEHIVE HOUSES. 57

markings peculiar to Roman workmanship." The so-called
Picts' houses, which are so common in the north of Scotland,
are but slightly, and often not at all, sunk beneath the sur-
face, though, being covered with earth, they are scarcely
distinguishable externally from the larger tumuli : but on
digging into the green mound, it is found to cover a series of
large chambers, built generally with stones of considerable
size and converging towards the centre, where an opening
appears to have been left for light and ventilation. These
differ little from many of the subterranean weems, excepting
that they are erected on the natural surface of the soil, and
have been buried by means of an artificial mound heaped
over them. It may seem improbable that a people living in
such rude dwellings should possess a knowledge of metal-
lurgy, but the Kaffirs and other existing African tribes pre-
sent us with a similar case.

Group of Beehive Houses.— Scotland.

From these we pass naturally to the beehive houses, which
are constructed of dry, thick walls in the form indicated
by the name.* No doubt many of these are very ancient,
and some probably date from the Age of Stone; but on
the other hand they also come down to the present day,
and fig. 78 represents a group in Long Island, on the shore
of Loch Resort, which was inhabited down to the year 1823.

* See Capt. Thomas on Beehive also Petrie, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot-
Houses, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, land, vol. vii. p. 201.
vol. iii. p. 133 ; vol. vii. p. 153. See

58 THE BURGH OF MOUSSA.

Even now some few beehive houses are still occupied in the

Island of Uig.

FIG. 79.

The Burgh of Moussa.

The celebrated "brochs" or "burghs" which abound in the
north of Scotland, as well as in the Orkneys and Shetlands,
are of a very peculia.r character. They have been supposed
by some to be Scandinavian, but no similar buildings occur
in Norway, Sweden, or Denmark.

Fig. 79 is copied from a photograph of the celebrated
Bourg of Moussa, in the Shetlands, the best preserved speci-
men of this curious style of architecture. I visited this
most interesting building in 1867. It stands close to the
sea, on the little Island of Moussa, and may be taken as a
typical specimen. They are all circular, about 60 feet in
diameter, with walls about 15 feet thick, enclosing a court-
yard about 30 feet in diameter. The walls contain a stair-
case, which leads to the top of the building, several horizontal
galleries, and some small conical chambers, all opening on
the inside ; the only external orifice being the door, which is
about 7 feet high.

The absence of trees and abundance of stone probably led
to this curious style of architecture. Although, moreover, so
archaic in character, these burghs continued in use down to

STAIGUE FORT, KERRY.

historical times, in fact until the introduction of lime, and
the knowledge of the true principle of the arch, enabled the
natives to construct buildings of a more modern character ;
they are extremely numerous in Caithness, in the Orkneys
and the Shetlands ; but this Moussa Burgh is one of the few
that are mentioned in history. Torfoeus tells us that about
the year 1150 Eiiing carried off the beautiful Margaret, mother
of Harold, the then Earl of Orkney, and was besieged in
Moussa by Harold, who, however, being unable to take the
place, at length thought it politic to consent to the marriage.
By far the greater number of the burghs are mere ruins, and
the so-called Dun of Dornadilla, supposed to have been erected
by the ancient Scotch King of that name, is the only one
which is at all as complete as that of Moussa. Whether any
of the burghs are referable to the Bronze Age it is impossible
to say. It is remarkable, however, that in the Island of Sardinia
there are archaic buildings known as " nurhags," which very
closely resemble the British burghs.

FIG. so.

Staigue Fort.— Kerry.

In a future chapter I shall endeavour to show that Stone-
henge and Abury belong to the Bronze Age. Some of the
ancient fortifications also probably are of this period, but a
large proportion, as for instance the Staigue Fort, in the
county of Kerry, fig. 80, belong in all probability to a much
later period.

CHAPTER III.

THE BRONZE AGE.

npHERE are four principal theories as to the Bronze Age.
According to some archaeologists, the discovery, or
introduction, of bronze was unattended by any other great
or sudden change in the condition of the people ; but was
the result, and is the evidence, of a gradual and peaceable
development. Some attribute the bronze arms and imple-
ments, found in Northern Europe, to the Roman armies, some
to Phcenician, some to Etruscan merchants ; while others,
again, consider that the men of the Stone Age were replaced
by a new and more civilized people of Indo-European race,
coming from the East, who, bringing with them a knowledge
of bronze, overran Europe, and dispossessed — in some places
entirely destroying — the original or rather the earlier inha-
bitants.

M. Wibel* is of opinion that the ancient bronze was ob-
tained, not by the fusion of copper and of tin, but directly
from ore containing the two metals. This, I confess, seems
to me extremely improbable ;•(• indeed, I am assured by Sir
H. H. Vivian, than whom we have no higher authority in this
country, that in his judgment it is almost impossible that
bronze can ever have been so obtained. I cannot, therefore,
but agree with those who maintain that the knowledge of
bronze must necessarily have been preceded by the separate
use of copper and of tin. Yet no single implement of the
latter metal has been hitherto found in Europe, while those

* Die Cultur der Bronze-zeit Nord-und Mittel-Europas. Dr. F. Wibel,
Kiel.

t See Appendix.

SIMILARITY OF BRONZE IMPLEMENTS. 61

of copper are extremely rare ; Hungary and Ireland, indeed,
have been supposed to form partial exceptions to this rule.
The geographical position of the former country is probably
a sufficient explanation ; and as far as Ireland in concerned,
it may perhaps be worth while to examine how far that
country really forms an exception. In the great Museum at
Dublin there are 725 celts and celt-like chisels, 282 swords
and daggers, and 276 lances, javelins, and arrow-heads ;
yet out of these 1283 weapons only 30 celts and one sword-
blade are said to be of pure copper.* I say " are said to be,"
because they have not been analyzed, but are supposed to
be copper only from the " physical properties and ostensible
colour of the metal : " indeed one of these very celts, which
was actually analyzed by Mr. Mallet, was found to contain a
small percentage of tin. It is possible that for some of the
purposes to which celts were applied, copper may have been
nearly as useful as bronze, and at any rate it might some-
times have happened that, from a deficiency of tin, some
implements would be made of copper only.

M. De Pulszky has questioned this opinion expressed in the
earlier editions of this work, on the ground that if the existence
of objects of copper were due to the occasional absence of tin,
the types of the copper objects ought to be the same as those
of bronze. To show that this is not so, he gives the follow-
ing interesting table of the copper and bronze objects in the
Museum at Buda-Pesth : —

Copper. Bronze.

Coins et haches a rebords 51 18

Haches a ailerons 1 79

Haches a douille 186

Ciseaux 37

Gouges 5

* One even of these is with good reason considered by Dr. Wilde to
be an American specimen.

62 SIMILARITY OF BRONZE IMPLEMENTS

Copper. Bronze.

Haches, marteaux primitifs et pics cle

mineurs 74 1

Haches ornementees 60

Epees, poignards, tetes de lances . . 3 203

129 589

It will be observed, however, that the types made in copper
are the simplest, and this is perhaps due to the fact that it
is much more difficult to cast with copper than with bronze.
In the absence of tin, therefore, they would be compelled to
content themselves with the simpler forms, and hence per-
haps the difference of type.

In Spain also copper was no doubt extensively used. Mr.
Siret* states that in 2000 objects of the Bronze Age from the
south-east of Spain, two -thirds, in round numbers, wrere of
copper, and only one-third of bronze. Moreover, the hatchets,
halberds, knives and arrow-heads were always in copper. Of
the poniards the majority were of copper, but nearly half were
bronze ; of the ornaments half were of copper, half of bronze ;
while the swords, which indeed were not numerous, were all
of bronze. The form of these copper implements, however,
indicates that they belong to the Bronze Age.

Taking these facts into consideration, Europe certainly does
not appear to present any strong evidence of an age of copper,
while no one has ever pretended to find either there, or any-
where else in Europe, a trace of any separate use of tin,-f- and
on the whole the evidence seems to me to indicate that the
art of making bronze was introduced into, not invented in,
Europe.

Another circumstance which strongly militates against the
theory of a gradual and independent development of metal-

* Les Premiers Ages du Metal poses of ornamentation, but that of
dans le Sud-Est de 1'Espagne, 1888. course does not affect the present
t It was sometimes used for pur- argument.

IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 63

lurgical knowledge in different countries, is the fact which
has been broadly stated by Mr. Wright, that whenever we
find the bronze swords or celts, " whether in Ireland, in the
far west, in Scotland, in distant Scandinavia, in Germany,
or still farther east in the Sclavonic countries, they are the
same, not similar in character, but identical." The great
resemblance to each other of stone implements found in
different parts of the world may be satisfactorily accounted
for by the similarity of the material, and the simplicity of
the forms. But this argument cannot be applied to the
bronze arms and implements. Not only are several varieties
of celts found throughout Europe, but some of the swords,
knives, daggers, etc., are so similar that they seem as if
they must have been cast by the same maker. Compare, for
instance, figs. 4, 6, and 13, which represent Irish celts, with
14, 15, and 16, which are copied from Danish specimens ;
the three swords, figs. 22, 23, and 24, which come respec-
tively from Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the two,
figs. 25 and 26, of which the first is Swiss, the second
Scandinavian. It would have been easy to multiply ex-
amples of this similarity, and it is not going too far to say
that these resemblances cannot be the result of accident.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that each country
has certain minor peculiarities. Neither the forms nor the
ornaments are exactly similar. In Denmark and Mecklen-
burgh, spiral ornaments are most common ; farther south,
these are replaced by ring ornaments and lines. The Danish
swords generally have solid and richly -decorated handles,
as in figs. 25 — 31, while those found in Great Britain (fig. 22)
terminate in a plate which was riveted to pieces of wood or
bone. Again, the British lance-heads frequently have loops
at the side of the shaft-hole, as in fig. 35, which is never the
case with Danish specimens.

The impurities in the bronze indicate, as was shown in the

04: THE BRONZE AGE AND THE PHOENICIANS.

last chapter, that the copper ore was not all derived from
one locality ; and lastly, the discovery of moulds in Ireland,
Scotland, England, Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere,
proves that the art of casting in bronze was known and prac-
tised in many countries. Under these circumstances, it
appears most probable that the knowledge of metal is one of
those great discoveries which Europe owes to the East, and
that the use of copper was not introduced into our Continent
until it had been observed that by the addition of a small
quantity of tin it was rendered harder and more valuable.

I have already, in the first chapter, given the reasons which
have convinced me that the bronze weapons are not of Roman
origin. M. Wiberg* has recently attempted to show that
bronze was introduced into the North by Etrurian merchants ;
but we have not, I think, any evidence that Etruria ever
enjoyed so extensive a commerce as that indicated by the
great number of bronze objects which have been found in
northern and western Europe.

We may, therefore, pass on to the views of those who
attribute the Bronze Age civilization to the influence of
Phoenician commerce, a theory which has recently been main-
tained with great ability by Professor Nilsson.-f- Sir George
Cornewall Lewis,! on the other hand, while admitting§ that
Cornwall was the great source of tin in ancient times, has
endeavoured to prove that this metal found its way " to the
nations in the east of the Mediterranean by the overland route
across Gaul, and that the Phoenician ships brought it from the
mouth of the Rhone, without sailing as far as Britain."

He regards, therefore, the accounts of ancient voyages as

* Arch. f. Anthrop. 1870, p. 10. the Right Hon. Sir George Corne-

t Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-in- wall Lewis, 1862.

van are. Af. S. Nilsson, Stockholm, § Celts, spears, and other objects

1862. of bronze have been not nnfre-

£ An Historical Survey of the quently met with in old Cornish

Astronomy of the Ancients. By minings.

ANCIENT VOYAGES. HIMILCO. 65

being in many cases either mythical, or at least exaggerated,
but he does not make sufficient allowance for the fact that our
knowledge of them is often derived from unfriendly critics or
political allusions ; nor need we go further than Sir Cornewall
Lewis's own work to show how authors may suffer by this
mode of treatment.*

Take, for instance, the case of Himilco, who was sent during
the prosperous times of Carthage to examine the north-western
coasts of Europe. His writings have unfortunately perished,
and our knowledge of them derived from the " Ora maritima,"
a geographical poem by Avienus, is thus summed up by Sir
Cornewall Lewis : " The report of Himilco, that the voyage
from Gades to the Tin Islands (i.e. to Cornwall) occupied at
least four months ; and that navigation in these remote waters
was impeded by the motionless air, by the abundance of sea-
weed, and by the monsters of the deep — fables which the
ancient mariners recounted of unexplored seas — would not be
very attractive for the traders of the Carthaginian colonies."
This argument is surely very weak, because, if Himilco really
did make this voyage, then such voyages were possible ; and,
on the other hand, if he did not do so, and if his statements
were such mere fables, we may safely assume that the shrewd
merchants of Carthage would detect the imposition, and would
extract the truth, if not from Himilco himself, at any rate
from some of those by whom he was accompanied.

But let that pass: we will examine the four "fables"
specially referred to by Sir G. C. Lewis. It is unnecessary
to say anything about the "motionless air;" it would be
doing an injustice to Sir Cornewall Lewis to suppose that
he regarded this as a serious objection. It may be an
invention, but it is not an improbability. Neither is the
time occupied by an exploring expedition any test of that

* In the long chapter which he logy and Hieroglyphics, the name
devoted to the Egyptian Chrono- of Dr. Young is not once mentioned.

66 HIMILCO.

which would be required for a commercial voyage. Nor
can I lay any stress on the statement that Himilco's ves-
sels were "impeded" by the monsters of the deep. What
Avienus really said was, as Sir Cornewall Lewis admits in
another passage, that while becalmed and lying in a helpless
state, the ships were "surrounded by marine monsters/'*
It might fairly be argued that whales were in all probability
more numerous on our coasts in ancient times than they are
now ; the great mammalia of the sea, as well as those of the
land, have given way before the overwhelming power of man.
But it is unnecessary to urge this hypothesis ; the great mon-
sters of the deep have in all ages appealed strongly to the
imagination of mankind, and no poet would fail to allude to
them in describing the dangers which beset those " who go
down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great
waters."

The third point alluded to by Sir Cornewall Lewis, so far
from throwing any doubt on the veracity of Himilco, appears
rather to be an argument in his favour. His ships, he says,
or at least Avienus says for him, were " surrounded by sea-
weed." Where was he when this took place ? All that
we can say in answer to this question is, that he sailed
through the Pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic Ocean,
and we know that a few days' sail in this direction would
have brought him to the "Mare di Sargasso," a sea which
has actually taken its name from the quantity of seaweed
(Sargasso) growing in it. Sir C. Lewis says, "The notion
of remote seas being impassable by ships, either from their
shoals, or from the obstacles to navigation produced by the
semi-fluid and muddy properties of the water, frequently
recurs among the ancients ;" and it is true, no doubt, that
statements of this kind are made by many ancient writers,
as, for instance, by Herodotus, Plato, Scylax, and even Aris-

* See Appendix.

PYTHEAS. 67

totle; but not one of these writers alludes to "seaweed" as
an impediment to navigation, and it can hardly be accidental
that the only voyager by whom this is referred to was one
who sailed on a course which, if persevered in for a few days,
would have brought him to that which is even now known as
the Sea of Seaweed.*

Pytheas is another ancient writer whose character has
suffered very much in the hands of Sir C. Lewis, who, rely-
ing on the authority of Polybius and Strabo, does not hesi-
tate to stigmatize him as a mendacious impostor. Polybius
doubts the journeys of Pytheas, because Pytheas was a
poor man; but the great travellers and explorers of the
present day do not generally belong to our wealthy fami-
lies. Strabo seems to have been prejudiced against Pytheas,
because he professed to have visited countries which ought,
according to Strabo's theories, to have been uninhabitable.
Moreover, we should remember that the first travellers in the
North must have seen, and on their return would describe,
many things which would appear impossible or incomprehen-
sible to dwellers on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
Sir C. Lewis refers specially to four incredible assertions
made by Pytheas. First, he is said to have related that
" if any person placed iron in a rude state at the mouth of
the volcano in the island of Lipari, together with some
money, he found on the morrow a sword or any other article
which he wanted, in its place." This, however, merely
shows that the myth of Valand, Wieland, Weland, or in
our popular dialect, Wayland Smith, was current in the
Lipari islands at the time of Pytheas.f This myth, more-
over, is but a very slightly modified account of what actually

* May not the belief in the causes which are usually assigned
" Atlantis" be as probably owing for it ?

to the " gulf- weed," which would t On this interesting subject, see
so naturally suggest the idea of Wright. Archseol. vol. xxxii.p.315.
sunken land, as to any of the other

PYTHEAS.

has taken place more than once when an ignorant people,
living by the side of a more civilized race, and attributing
their superiority to magical arts, has been anxious to benefit
by their necromancy, and yet afraid to come in contact with
the magicians themselves. Thus "the Veddahs of Ceylon,
when they wanted arrows, used to bring some flesh in the
night, and hang it up in a smith's shop, also a leaf cut in
the form they will have their arrows made, and hang by it ;
which if the smith do make according to their pattern, they
will acquite and bring him more flesh."* If our knowledge
of this peculiar mode of barter had been derived from the
Veddahs, it would undoubtedly have taken the form of the
old European myth. The metallurgists of old, to preserve
their monopoly, evidently had a great interest in keeping up
this superstition.

Sir Cornewall Lewis, in the second place, accuses Pytheas
of having described the sea round the Lipari islands as being
in a boiling state. But we do not know what his exact words
were, and cannot fairly judge him, for it makes a great
difference whether he was repeating a statement made to
him, or making one on his own authority. Moreover, we
must remember that there have been submarine eruptions
in the Mediterranean, and that the Lipari islands lie between
Mount Etna and Vesuvius, in the very centre of an active

* Knox's Historical Relation of
the Island Ceylon. London, 1861.
Quoted in the Ethnological Society's
Trans, vol. ii. p. 285, N.S. See also
Sir J. E. Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i.
p. 593. The Belgian form of the
myth as related by Schmerling
(Ossements fossiles, vol. i. p. 43)
still more closely resembles the
account given by Knox. Speaking
of the caves near Liege, he says:
" Ces ouvertures sont connues des

habitans cle 1'enclroit sous le nom
de Trous des Sottais. Us preten-
dent que jadis ces grottes servaient
d'habitation a une espece huniaine
d'une tres petite taille, Sottais,
nains, pygmees, qui y vivaient de
leur industrie, et restauraient tout
ce qn'on deposait pres des ouver-
tures, a condition que Von y ajoutdt
des vivres. En tres peu de temps
ces effets etaient repares, et remis
a la meme place."

PYTHEAS. 69

volcanic area. These two mountains, which for the last two
thousand years have been more or less frequently in eruption,
seem to have enjoyed a long period of rest, during which the
Lipari islands served as a vent. It seems to me, therefore,
highly probable that this statement made by Pytheas was a
perfectly truthful record of an actual occurrence.

The third difficulty is the assertion that round the island
of Thule Pytheas saw a substance which was neither earth,
air, nor water, but a substance resembling medusae or jelly-
fishes (TTvetyxovi $aA<xaWw eot/<os), which could neither be passed
on foot nor in ships. This passage, which has completely
puzzled southern commentators, is justly regarded by Professor
Nilsson as a striking evidence of Pytheas's veracity. For
when the Northern Ocean freezes, this does not happen as
in our ponds or lakes, but small, separate plates of ice are
formed, and as soon as this process commences, the fisher-
men hurry to the shore, lest they should be caught in the
ice, which for some time is too thick to permit the passage
of a boat, yet too weak to support the weight of a man. A
very similar description is given by Captain Lyon. "We
came," he says, "amongst young ice, in that state called
sludge, which resembles in appearance and consistency a far
better thing — lemon ice. From this we came to small round
plates, of about a foot in diameter, which have the appear-
ance of the scales of gigantic fishes."* Eichardson also
particularly mentions the " circular plates of ice, six or
eight inches in diameter."-)- These discs of ice tossed about
by the waves suggested to Professor Nilsson himself, when
he first saw them, the idea of a crowd of medusae, and if we
imagine a southerner who had never before witnessed such a
phenomenon, and who on his return home wished to describe
it to his fellow-countrymen, it would have been difficult to
find an apter or more ingenious simile. It is, moreover, one
* Lyon's Journal, p. 84. t Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 97.

70 PYTHEAS.

which would hardly have occurred to any one who had not
witnessed the actual phenomenon.

" Fourthly," says Sir C. Lewis, " Pytheas affirmed that in
returning from his great northern voyage, in which he first
obtained accounts of the remote island of Thule, he had sailed
along the entire coast of the ocean between Gadeira and the
Tanais ; that is from Cadiz, round Spain, Gaul, Germany, and
Scythia, to the river Don, which was considered by the
ancients as the boundary of Europe and Asia. This state-
ment furnishes an additional proof of the mendacity of
Pytheas, because it is founded on the belief, received in his
time, that Europe did not project far to the North, and that
the Ocean swept along its shores to the north of Scythia and
India." Pytheas, however, did not, in reality, lay himself
open to any such accusation ; the passage on which Sir C.
Lewis relies only affirms that after his return from the north
(eVaveA#wv evflevSe) he travelled along the whole coast of Europe
from Cadiz to the Don. This, which evidently refers to a
second journey, is a very different statement, and one which
I see no reason to doubt.

According to Geminus, Pytheas in his northern journey
reached a place where the nights were only two or three
hours long, and he adds that the Barbarians took him to
see the place where the sun slept. These two statements
seem to point to Donnas as the northernmost point of his
voyage. Here the shortest night is two hours long, but
behind the town is a mountain, the top of which is the
southernmost point from which the midnight sun can be
seen. The inhabitants took Professor Nilsson here in the
year 1816, to show him the place where the sun rested, just
as their predecessors may have conducted Pytheas to the
same spot, for the same purpose, more than 2000 years
before. On this subject I will only add that Pytheas was
no mere wanderer, but a distinguished astronomer, who with

PHCENICIAN COLONIES AND COMMERCE. 71

the help of the gnomon only, estimated the latitude of Mar-
seilles at 43° 17' 8", a calculation which differs merely by a
few seconds from the result given by modern astronomers —
namely, 43° 17' 52".

I have dwelt at some length on this part of my subject,
for while we are all anxious to pay due honour to our modern
travellers, to Livingstone and Galton, to Speke and Grant,
we ought not to forget those who led the way. The memory
of great men is a precious legacy, which we cannot afford
lightly to surrender, and not the least valuable part of Professor
Nilsson's work on the Bronze Age is the chapter in which he
has rescued the memory of Pytheas from the cloud by which
it has been so long and so unjustly obscured.

But even if Sir Cornewall Lewis could have established his
case, and destroyed our faith in these particular expeditions,
still there remain overwhelming proofs of an important and
extended commerce in even more ancient times than those
of Pytheas or Himilco. The evidence of this has been well
put together by Dr. Smith,* of Camborne, to whose work I
would refer those who may wish for more detailed informa-
tion; for the present I must content myself with referring
to a few well-known facts, which, however, will be sufficient
for my present purpose.

We know, then, that Marseilles was founded by the Pho-
cean Greeks, B.C. 600; Carthage is supposed to have been
built by the Phoenicians about 800 B.C.; and Utica, according
to Strabo and Pliny, about 300 years earlier still ; while,
according to Velleius Paterculus and Pomponius Mela, the
city of Gades (Cadiz) was founded by the Tyrians not long
after the fall of Troy. Before such facts as these the sup-
posed improbability of Pytheas's voyage to Norway falls to
the ground. The distance between Cadiz and Phoenicia is
more than 2000 miles, and it is greater than that between
* The CassiterideSj by George Smith, LL.D.

72 PHOENICIAN COLONIES AND COMMERCE.

Cadiz and Norway. Even, therefore, if Pytheas effected all
that has been claimed for him, he will not have made a longer
voyage than hundreds of his countrymen had done a thousand
years before.

The above-given dates must not, of course, be considered
as exact, but there is no reason to doubt their general accu-
racy. Not only do the writings of Hesiod and Homer, which
are probably not of a later date than 800 B.C., and most likely
somewhat earlier, but even more conclusively the Biblical
narrative, and the Assyrian and Egyptian evidence,* show
that the nations on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean
were at a very early period highly civilized, and had a con-
siderable commerce. Indeed, brass, i.e. bronze, is mentioned
in the fourth chapter of Genesis, which would be, according to
the chronology of the established version, 3875 B.C.; but there
is so much doubt about these dates that I do not feel disposed
to rely on this isolated passage. The high civilization of Egypt
in the time of Joseph is apparent to every reader of the book
of Exodus ; but it appears to be still uncertain at what period
the Egyptians first became acquainted with bronze. When
Solomon prepared to build the temple in Jerusalem, he sent
to the king of Tyre for cedar -trees out of Lebanon; " for
thou knowest," he said, "that there is not among us any
that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians"
(1 Kings v. 6); and again we read (I. c. vii. 13, 14) that "King
Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a
widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a
man of Tyre, a worker in brass : and he was filled with
wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works
in brass." It is admitted that the word which here, and in
so many other passages, is translated " brass," should rather
be " bronze." This latter, which was the common metal of
antiquity, is never mentioned in our version, while on the

* See ante, p. 6.

COPPER. 73

other hand, the alloy which we now term brass, and which
is composed of copper and zinc, was not known in ancient
times.

Now this bronze, which from the wholly independent state-
ments of Homer and in the Book of Kings, as well as from
Assyrian and Egyptian records, we find to have been abun-
dant in the East at any rate three thousand years ago, was
composed of copper and tin, in the proportions of about nine
parts of the former to one of the latter; and the question
therefore arises, whence were these metals obtained ?

Copper is found in so many countries that we cannot, as
yet, form any definite opinion as to the source, or sources,
from which it was first derived. Nevertheless, we have
some reason to hope and expect that we shall eventually
be able to do so, because the slight impurities by which it
is accompanied afford a clue to the country from which it
was obtained. As regards tin, the case is very different ;
although ores of this metal are found in other countries, as
for instance in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Saxony, and
in Siberia, still almost all the tin now used is derived either
from Cornwall or from the island of Banca, which lies
between Sumatra and Borneo. In ancient times a certain
amount of tin was no doubt obtained in Spain,* but, as
Dr. Smith observes,-)- "the most remarkable feature in tin
mining seems to be the enduring character of the mines.
Wherever tin has been produced in any considerable quan-
tities, within the range of authentic history, there it is still
abundantly found. In Banca, we are told, the supply is
inexhaustible ; and Cornwall can now supply as large a
quantity annually as it ever could." The result of inquiries
made of the Government Engineers, at the College of Mines
in Madrid, is as follows : " I cannot learn that Spain ever

* See Howortli, Trans. Ethn.Soc. t The Cassiterides, p. 45.

1867, p. 80. See also Appendix.

74 SUPPOSED TRACES OF PHOENICIAN COMMERCE.

produced any quantity of this metal. The Government do not
work any mines of tin. The quantity being produced at present
is very small, chiefly by streamers ; or rather labourers, while
out of their regular employment, search some of the rivers
near the granite hills in Galicia and in Zamora. I cannot
learn that there is any tin mining in the country."

Unless, then, the ancients had some source of tin with
which we are unacquainted, it seems to be well established,
and is indeed admitted even by Sir Cornewall Lewis, that
the Phoenician tin was mainly derived from Cornwall, and,
consequently, that even at this early period a considerable
commerce had been organized, and very distant countries
brought into connection with one another. Sir C. Lewis,
however, considers that the tin was " carried across Gaul to
Massilia, and imported thence into Greece and Italy." Doubt-
less much of it did in late times come by this route, but the
Phoenicians were in the plenitude of their power 1200 years
B.C., while Massilia was not built until 600 B.C. Moreover,
Strabo expressly says that in early times the Phoenicians
carried on the tin trade from Cadiz, which we must remember
was nearer to Cornwall than to Tyre or Sidon.

We are, therefore, surely quite justified in concluding that
between B.C. 1500 and B.C. 1200 the Phoenicians were already
acquainted with the mineral fields of Spain and Britain ; and
under these circumstances it is, I think, more than probable
that they pushed their explorations still farther, in search of
other shores as rich in mineral wealth as ours. Indeed, we
must remember that amber, so much valued in ancient times,
could not have been obtained from any nearer source than
the coast of the German Ocean.

Professor Nilsson has attempted, as already mentioned,
to show that the Phoenicians had settlements far up on the
northern shores of Norway. His arguments may be reduced
to seven, namely, the small size of the sword-handles, brace-

TRACES OF BAAL WORSHIP IN NORTHERN EUROPE. 75

lets, etc. ; the character of the ornaments on the bronze imple-
ments ; the engravings in Bronze Age tumuli ; the worship of
Baal; certain peculiar methods of reaping and fishing; and
the use of war-chariots.

The implements and ornaments of bronze certainly appear
to have belonged to a race with smaller hands than those of
the present European nations ; the ornaments on them are
also peculiar, and have, in Professor Nilsson's opinion, a
symbolic meaning. Although the great stones in tumuli
attributed to the Bronze Age are very seldom ornamented,
or even hewn into shape, still there are some few exceptions ;
one of these being the remarkable monument near Kivik in
Christianstad. From the general character of the engravings,
Professor Nilsson has no hesitation in referring this tumulus
to the Bronze Age, and on two of the stones are representa-
tions of human figures, which may fairly be said to have a
Phoenician, or Egyptian appearance.

On another of the stones an obelisk is represented, which
Professor Nilsson regards as symbolical of the Sun-God ; and
it is certainly remarkable that, in an ancient ruin in Malta,*
characterized by other decorations of the Bronze Age types,
a somewhat similar obelisk was discovered; we know also
that in many countries Baal, the God of the Phoenicians, was
worshipped under the form of a conical stone.

Nor is this, by any means, the only case in which Professor
Nilsson finds traces of Baal worship in Scandinavia. Indeed,
the festival of Baal, or Balder, was, he tells us, celebrated
on Midsummer's night in Scania, and far up into Norway,
almost to the Loffoden Islands, until within the last fifty
years. A wood fire was made upon a hill or mountain, and
the people of the neighbourhood gathered together in order,

* For an account of the ruins of p. 407, or Dr. Adams's Archseol.
Hagiar Kem, see Furse, Trans. Int. and Nat. Hist, of the Nile Valley,
Congress of Pre-hist. Archaeol. 1868, and the Maltese Islands.

76 OBJECTIONS TO THE PHCENICIA.N THEORY.

like Baal's prophets of old, to dance round it, shouting and
sino-in^ This Midsummer's-nicrht fire has even retained in

o o o

some parts the ancient name of " Baldersbal," or Balders-
fire. Leopold von Buch long ago suggested that this custom
could not have originated in a country where at Midsummer
the sun is never lost sight of, and where, consequently, the
smoke only, not the fire, is visible. A similar custom also
prevailed until lately in some parts of our islands. Baal has
given his name to many Scandinavian localities, as, for in-
stance, the Baltic, the Great and Little Belt, Belteberga*
Baleshaugen, Balestranden, etc.

The ornamentation characteristic of the Bronze Age is,
in the opinion of Professor Nilsson, decidedly Semitic rather
than Indo-European. He lays considerable stress on two
curious vase-carriages, one found in Sweden and the other
in Mecklenburg, which certainly appear to have been very
like the "vases" made for Solomon's temple, and described
in the first Book of Kings. Finally, he believes that the
use of war chariots, the practice of reaping close to the ear,
and a certain method of fishing, are all evidences of Phcenician
intercourse.

Professor Nilsson is so great an authority as an archaeo-
logist, and his labours have contributed so much to place the
science on a sound basis, that his opinions are deserving of
the most careful consideration. Nor can they fairly be judged
by the very short abstract which has been given above, as
many of his arguments must be followed in detail before
they can be properly appreciated. That the Phoenicians
have left their traces in Norway is, however, in my opinion,
all that can fairly be deduced from the facts on which he
relies, even if we attribute to them all the significance claimed
for them by him. Further evidence is required before it
would be safe to connect them with the Bronze Age. As
regards the srnallness of the hands, we must remember that

OBJECTIONS TO THE PHOENICIAN THEOEY. 77

Hindoos share this peculiarity with Egyptians ; this character
is therefore not less reconcilable with an Indo-European than
with a Phoenician origin of the Bronze Age civilization.

There are three strong objections to the theory so ably
advocated by Professor Nilsson. The first is the character of
the ornamentation on the bronze weapons and implements.
This almost always consists of geometrical figures, and we
rarely, if ever, find upon them representations of animals or
plants ; while on the ornamented shields, etc., described by
Homer, as well as in the decoration of Solomon's temple,
animals and plants were abundantly represented. Secondly,
the burial customs of the Phoenicians differed altogether from
those of the Bronze Age, and although it may be said that
those who attribute the presence of bronze in Northern and
Western Europe to Phoenician commerce, do not necessarily,
on that account, assume that the population of those countries
became Phoenician, still in this case the hypothesis explains
the presence of bronze, but not the Bronze Age, of which
the use of bronze, though the most striking, is by no means
the only characteristic. Thirdly, the Phoenicians, so far as
we know them, were well acquainted with the use of iron ;
in Homer we find the warriors already armed with iron
weapons, and the tools used in preparing the materials for
Solomon's temple were of this metal. It is very remarkable
that scarcely any traces of ancient commerce have been found
in Cornwall, and it is much to be regretted that our museums
possess so few specimens of Phoenician art. When these wants
shall have been supplied, as we may hope that ere long they
will be, there is no doubt that much light will be thrown on
the subject.

Owing to the habit of burning the dead which prevailed at
that period, we have, as yet, very few skulls which can safely
be referred to the Bronze Age. This is to be regretted, as the
form of the skull would have been very instructive.

78 OBJECTIONS TO THE PHOENICIAN THEORY.

On the whole, then, though there is, I think, ample evi-
dence to prove that the general use of bronze weapons and
implements characterizes a well-marked epoch in history, it
must also be admitted that we have still very much to learn
in regard to this interesting phase in the development of
European civilization, and the race by whom the knowledge
of metals was introduced into our Continent.

CHAPTEE IV.

THE USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES.

rTIHE preceding chapters have been devoted t© the Age of
I Bronze. We must now pass on to still earlier times and
ruder races of men ; to a period which, for obvious reasons, is
called by archaeologists the Stone Age.*

The Stone Age, however, falls naturally, as has been already
stated, into two great divisions.

First. That of the Drift, which I have proposed to call
the Palaeolithic or Archaeolithic period.

Secondly. The later Stone Age, for which I have sug-
gested the term Neolithic, and in which the stone implements
are more skilfully made, more varied in form, and often
polished. We will now consider this later period, reserving
the earlier for a subsequent chapter.

The immense number of stone implements which occur, in
all parts of the world, is sufficient evidence of the important
part they played in ancient times. M. Herbst has favoured
me with the following list of the numbers contained in the
Copenhagen Museum : —

Flint axes and wedges 1070

Broad chisels 285

Hollow ditto 270

Narrow chisels 365

Hollow ditto 33

Poniards 250

Lance-heads 656

* For further information on the to Mr. Evans's excellent work on
subject of this chapter, I may refer "Ancient Stone Implements."

80 THE GREAT ABUNDANCE OF STONE IMPLEMENTS.

Arrow-heads 171

Half-moon shaped implements . . . 205

Pierced axes and axe-hammers . . . 746

Flint flakes 300

Sundries 489

4840
Rough stone implements from the Kjok-

kenmb'ddings 3678

Bone implements 171

Ditto from Kjokkenmoddings . . . . 109

8798

These figures refer to the year 1864, and if duplicates and
broken specimens were counted, M. Herbst thinks that the
number would have been between 11,000 and 12,000. He
has also had the kindness to estimate for me the numbers in
private and provincial museums, and, on the whole, he believes
we shall be within the mark if we consider that the Danish
museums contain 30,000 stone implements, to which, more-
over, must be added the rich stores then at Flensborg and
Kiel, as well as the very numerous specimens with which the
liberality of Danish archaeologists has enriched other countries,
for there is scarcely any important collection in Europe which
does not possess some illustrations of the Danish stone imple-
ments.

The museum of the Royal Irish Academy includes nearly
700 flint flakes, 512 celts, more than 400 arrow-heads, and
50 spear-heads, besides 75 "scrapers," and numerous other
objects of stone, such as slingstones, hammers, whetstones,
querns, grain-crushers, etc. Again, the museum at Stockholm
is estimated to contain between 15,000 and 16,000 specimens.

In addition to those cases in which large numbers of stone
implements have been found on spots which were evidently

-£.*r ••% m

-J^-*T: -^t. -:-.•&

STONE IMPLEMENTS USED AFTER DISCOVERY OF METAL. 81

the sites of dwellings or villages, there are many instances in
which considerable numbers have been met with under cir-
cumstances which show that they were purposely deposited,
either hidden away for future use, or perhaps, as Worsaae has
maintained,* as offerings to the gods. Thus at Frederickville
in Illinois, 3500 disks of flint were found at a depth of about
five feet ranged carefully side by side ; in Eoss County, Ohio,
4000 disks and pointed instruments of stone were found near
some ancient mounds known as Clark's Work.

We have indeed in our very language evidence of the exist-
ence of a stone age, for our word " chisel" is merely the German
kiesel, flint, and carries us back to the time when the chisel
was not steel, but merely a sharp stone.

Yet the very existence of a Stone Age is, or has lately
been, denied by some eminent archaeologists. Thus Mr.
Wright, the learned Secretary of the Ethnological Society,
while admitting that " there may have been a period when
society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones were
the only implements with which men knew how to furnish
themselves," doubts "if the antiquary has yet found any
evidence of such a period." And though the above figures
are sufficient to prove that stone was at one time used for
many implements which we now make of metal, this is not
in itself a conclusive answer to Mr. Wright, nor in fact would
it be denied by that gentleman. Moreover, there is DO doubt
that in early ages stone and metal were used at the same
time, the former by the poor, the latter by the rich.

If we consider the difficulties of mining in early days, the
rude implements with which men had then to work, their
ignorance of the many ingenious methods by which the opera-
tions of modern miners are so much facilitated, and, finally, the
difficulties of carriage either by land or water, it is easy to see
that bronze implements must always have been very expensive.

* Met. p. Serv. 1882, p. 131.
G

82 MATERIALS PREFERRED FOR STONE IMPLEMENTS.

In addition, moreover, to the a priori probability, there is
plenty of direct evidence that bronze and stone were in use
at the same time. Thus Mr. Bateman records thirty-seven
instances of tumuli which contained objects of bronze, and
in no less than twenty-nine of these stone implements also
were found. At the time of the discovery of America, the
Mexicans, though well acquainted with the use of bronze,
still used flakes of obsidian for knives and razors, and even
after the introduction of iron, stone was still used for various
purposes.

Still, however, there appears to be enough evidence to justify
us in believing, not only that there was a period " when society
was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones" (to which we
must add horns and bones) " were the only implements with
which men knew how to furnish themselves," but also that
the antiquary has found clear " evidence of such a period."

Our knowledge of this ancient period is derived principally
from four sources, to the consideration of which I propose to
devote four separate chapters : namely, the Tumuli, or ancient
burial-mounds ; the Lake habitations of Switzerland ; the
Kjokkenmoddings, or shell-mounds, of Denmark ; and the
Bone-caves. There are, indeed, many other remains of great
interest, such, for example, as the ancient fortifications, the
" castles" and " camps" which crown so many of our hill- tops ;
and the great lines of embankment, such as Offa's-dyke and
the Wans-dyke, which cross so many of our uplands ; there
are the so-called Druidical circles and the vestiges of ancient
habitations; the "Hut-circles," "Cloghauns," "Weems," "Pen-
pits," " Picts' houses," etc. The majority of these belong, how-
ever, in all probability to a later period ; and at any rate, in
the present state of our knowledge, we cannot say which, or
how many, are referable to the Stone Age.

As regards material, every kind of stone, hard and tough
enough for the purpose, was used during the Stone Age in

JADE.

the manufacture of implements. The magnificent collection of
celts at Dublin has been specially studied, from a mineralogical
point of view, by the Kev. S. Haughton, and the results are
thus recorded by Wilde :*

"Of the better qualities of rock suited for celt-making, the
type of the felspathic extreme of the series of trap rocks is
the pure felstone, or petrosilex, .... of a pale blueish or
greyish green, except where the surface has been acted upon,
and the average composition of which is 25 parts quartz and
75 felspar. Its physical characters are absence of toughness,
and the existence of a splintery conchoidal fracture almost as
sharp as that of flint ..... At the hornblendic extreme of the
trap rocks we find the basalt, of which also celts were made ;
tough and heavy, the siliceous varieties having a splintery
fracture, but never affording so cutting an edge as the former.
.... Intermediate in character between these two rocks, we
find all the varieties of felstone, slate, and porphyry streaked
with hornblende, from which the great majority of the fore-
going implements have been made."

It is very remarkable how carefully the best kinds of stone
were selected, even when very rare. Of this the most interest-
ing example is afforded by the axes, etc., of Jade or Nephrite,
of Jadeite and of Saussurite. These minerals are very
distinct chemically, but so similar in appearance that they
can only be distinguished by analysis. Objects made from
them, though far from common, are not very rare. M. Fischer
gives the following table :

France. Germany. Switzerland.

Jade or Nephrite . . 0 3 1118

Jadeite ...... 77 46 138

Chloromelanite ... '53 17

Till 1884, no European locality of Jade or Nephrite was known,
* Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 72.

84 FLINT.

but Traube has announced that it has been found in Silesia.
Even if this is confirmed, however, it is the only European
locality known, so that their implements must have travelled
great distances from hand to hand. This applies even more
to those of Jadeite, that metal not having been found native
in any part of Europe;* they must therefore have passed
from tribe to tribe by a sort of barter.

Again, beads of Callais, a mineral not known to occur in
Europe, have been found in the tumuli of Brittany and some
other parts of France.

Other facts of a similar nature are on record. Thus
Messrs. Squier and Davis tell us that in the tumuli of the
Mississippi valley we find " side by side, in the same mounds,
native copper from Lake Superior, mica from the Alleghanies,
shells from the Gulf, and obsidian (perhaps porphyry) from
Mexico." Eair representations of the sea-cow or manatee
are found a thousand miles from the shores inhabited by that
animal, and shells of the large tropical Pyrula perversa are
met with in the tumuli round the great lakes, two thousand
miles from home.

On the whole, however, flint was the stone most frequently
used in Europe : and it has had a much more important
influence on our civilization than is generally supposed.
Savages value it on account of its hardness and mode of
fracture, which is such that, with practice, a good sound
block can be chipped into almost any form that may be
required.

In many cases, blocks and pebbles of flint, picked up on
the surface of the ground, were used in the manufacture of
implements ; but in others much labour was spent in obtain-
ing flint of good quality. A good illustration of this is
afforded by the so-called Grimes' Graves, near Brandon,

* See Appendix.

ANCIENT WORKINGS FOR FLINT. 85

one of which has recently, by the kind permission of Mr.
Angerstein, been explored by Mr. Green well;* who has shown
them to be excavations made in the chalk for the purpose of
obtaining flint. They are depressions, 254 in number, vary-
ing in diameter from 20 to 60 feet, placed irregularly, gene-
rally about 25 feet apart, and occupying rather more than 20
acres. Although they are now comparatively shallow, Mr.
Greenwell has proved that the pits originally went down to
a depth of 39 feet, when they branch out into passages,
often communicating with one another. On the east side is
a mound, apparently consisting of chalk taken from the first
pit ; after which it would seem that when a new pit was dug,
most of the material was thrown down the old shafts, which
were thus filled in, to within a few feet of the surface. As
usual in the Upper Chalk, the flint is disposed in layers,
which differ in quality, while maintaining the same character
over considerable areas. It may be remarked that, as Mr.
Flower has well pointed out,-)- Brandon, " though situated in
a bleak and barren district, has evidently been a place of
considerable resort from a very remote period — a circum-
stance which can only be attributed to the abundance and
good quality of the flint found there." Palaeolithic imple-
ments abound in the drift gravels ; the surface is strewn with
flint flakes and fragments of flint implements; and at the
present time is the only place in England where gun-flints
are still made. For this purpose, one particular layer of
flint is found to be peculiarly well adapted, on account of its
hardness and fineness of grain ; while another layer, less
suitable for gun-flints, is known as " wall-stone," being much
used for building purposes. Now it is interesting to find
that, even in very early times, the merits of the gun -flint
layer were well known and appreciated; for although there
is abundance of flint on the surface, the ancient flint -men
* Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 419. f Ibid. p. 437.

86 ANCIENT WORKINGS FOE FLINT.

sank their shafts down past the layer of " wall-stone," which
occurs at a depth of 19 J feet, to the gun-flint layer, which at
the spot in question is 39 feet deep, although about a mile to
the S.W., where it is now worked, it is much nearer the
surface.

At present the workmen excavate the chalk both above
and below the layer of flint ; but in the old galleries, perhaps
from the greater difficulty of raising the material, the chalk
below the flint bed was in no case removed. The implements
used in making these excavations were deer's horns; the brow
tine being used as a pick, and the others removed. Thus
treated, a deer's horn closely resembles in form a modern
pick, but of course it is subject to rapid wear by use, which
accounts for the large numbers of worn-out implements found
by Mr. Greenwell among the rubbish.

In one case the roof of a passage had given way. On
removing the chalk which had fallen in, the end of the gallery
came in view. The flint had been hollowed out in three places,
and in front of two of these recesses, pointing towards the
half - excavated stone, were two deer-horn picks, lying just
as they had been left, still coated with chalk dust, on which
was in one place plainly visible the print of the workman's
hand. The tools had evidently been left at the close of a
day's work ; during the night the gallery had fallen in, and
they had never been recovered.

"It was a most impressive sight," says Mr. Greenwell,
" and one never to be forgotten, to look, after a lapse, it may
be, of 3000 years, upon a piece of work unfinished, with the
tools of the workmen still lying where they had been placed
so many centuries ago."

Similar shafts and chambers have been excavated and
described by Col. Lane Fox,* now General Pitt Rivers, in and
round Cissbury Camp, near Worthing. In these excavations
* Journ. Anthr. Inst. vol. viii. p. 357.

GRIMES' GRAVES. — PRESSIGNY. 87

the horns of deer were the principal tools used, but " the wedge
and punch, driven into cracks in the chalk with the thick end
of the horn," seem to have been more employed than the pick.
These excavations were, some of them at least, certainly ante-
rior to the Camp.

Deer-horn picks have been found in other localities, where
chalk has been worked for flint, and also in the Cornish Tin
Stream Works.* Near Spiennes also, in Belgium, there are
extensive workings, consisting of a system of shafts and
galleries, very like those of Grimes' Graves. These have been
described by MM. Malaise, Briart, Cornet, and Houzeau de
Lehaie.-f- Many tools of deer's horns have been obtained, but
they are of a very different character, having been apparently
used as hammers, the horn being cut off just above the brow
tine, which served as a handle.

In addition to the deer -horn picks, a few adze -shaped
tools of flint have been discovered in Grimes' Graves, and a
basalt hatchet, in form resembling that represented in fig. 97,
but with an oblique cutting edge, the marks of which were
distinctly seen upon the sides of the gallery ; showing that
it had been used in excavating the chalk.

As already mentioned, it was very desirable, in the manu-
facture of flint implements, to have the flint of a good
quality, free from cracks and flaws, and easily accessible.
Hence, places which fulfilled these conditions were specially
frequented in ancient times, and whole districts were sup-
plied from these favoured localities. One of the most re-
markable of these manufactories is that discovered by Dr.
Leveille at Pressigny-le- Grand, in France, about half-way
between Tours and Poitiers. Here there is an abundance
of good flint of a honey colour, and of even, though coarse,
texture. This flint was largely used in ancient times: the

* See, for instance, Kep. of the f Mem. de la Soc. des Sciences,
Koy. Inst. of Corn wall, 1871, p. xxii. des Arts, &c., du Hainaut, 1866-7.

THE FRACTURE OF FLINT.

fields are covered with nuclei, flakes, etc.; and implements
made here, and easily recognizable by the peculiar colour,
have been found in various parts of France, and even, it
would seem, in Belgium. I have in my collection a block of
Pressigny flint, from which a flake more than twelve inches
in length has been struck. The large nuclei of this form,
which from their shape are known as " livres de beurre," have
excited a good deal of discussion. They are generally from
eight to thirteen inches in length, shaped more or less like a
boat, with a broad butt at one end, tapering gradually to the
other. The form has been attained by a succession of lateral
chips, at right angles to the longer axis, while generally one
or more longitudinal flakes have also been removed.

Many of the flint flakes were certainly never intended to
serve as knives, but were worked up into saws, awls, or arrow-
heads. Savages use flint or chert in this manner, even at
the present day; and the Mexicans, in the time of Cortez,
used precisely similar fragments of obsidian.

The operations of modern gun-flint makers give us a very
clear insight into the mode of manufacture of ancient flint
implements, and the process is one of considerable interest.

If we take a rounded hammer, and with it strike on a
flat surface of flint, a conoidal fracture is produced, the size
of which depends, in a great measure, on the form of the
hammer. The surface of fracture is propagated downwards
through the flint, in a diverging direction, and thus embraces
a cone, the apex of which is at the point struck by the ham-
mer, and which can afterwards be chipped out of the mass.
Flint cones, formed in this way, may sometimes be found
among heaps of stones broken up to mend the roads, and have
doubtless often been mistaken for casts of fossil shells.

If a blow is given, not on a flat surface, but at the angle
of a more or less square flint, the fracture is at first semi-
conoidal or nearly so, but after expanding for a short distance,

FLINT FLAKES.

it becomes flat, and may be propagated through a length of
as much as thirteen inches, thus forming a blade-like flake
(figs. 82 — 89), with a triangular cross section (fig. 90). The
consequence is, that a
perfect flint flake will
always have a small
bulb, or projection (fig.

FIG. 82.

FIG. 83. FIG. 84.

83 a), at the butt end,
on the flat side ; this
has been called the

FIG. 81.

Flint core or nucleus. Flint Flakes.— Denmark.

bulb, or cone, of percussion. After the four original angles
of a square block have been thus flaked off, the eight new
angles may be treated in a similar manner, and so on. Fig.
81, and pi. 1, fig. 6, represent blocks, or cores, from which
flakes have been struck off. A flake itself is represented in
pi. 1, fig. 7, and a very long one from Fannerup in Jutland

FLINT FLAKES.

FIG. 85.

Arrow-shaped Flint Flake.— Ireland.

is figured, one-half of the natural size, in figs. 82, 84 The
bulb is shown in figs. S3 a and 84, and the flake has been

FIG. 86. FIG. 87. FIG. 88. FIG. 89.

Flint Flakes.— Denmark.

worked into a point at the end. The largest flake I am
acquainted with is described by M. de Caneto, in the KeVue
de Gascoyne, for 1865. It was found in the commune of
Pauilhaic, and is 13 J inches in length. Fig. 85 is an arrow-
shaped flake, chipped away at the base, apparently to adapt
it to a handle or shaft.

DIFFICULTY OF MAKING FLINT FLAKES. 91

Figs. 86 — 89 represent small Danish flakes : forms exactly
similar may be found in any country where the ancient in-
habitants could obtain flint or obsidian. In fig. 86 we see
that another flake had been previously taken from the same
block. Figs. 86, 88, represent flakes of which the points have
been broken off, but we see along their whole length the
depression caused by the previous removal of other flakes.
The section of such a flake is, therefore, not triangular, as in
fig. 90 a, but four-sided, as in fig. 90 &. Sometimes, though
not often, a wide flake is taken off in such a way as to over-
lap two previous flakes, as in the case of the one represented
in fig. 89. In this instance, the section is pentagonal; the
flat under-surface remaining always the same, but the upper
side showing four facets.

Easy as it may seem to make such flakes as these, a little
practice will convince any one who attempts to do so, that a
certain knack is required ; and a gun-flint maker at Brandon
told me that it took him two years to acquire the art. It
is also necessary to be careful in selecting the flint. It is
therefore evident that these flakes, simple as they may appear,
are always the work of man. To make one, the flint must

be held firmly, and
then a considerable
force must be applied,
either by pressure or
by blows, repeated

three or four times,

sections of Flakes. but at least three, and

given in certain slightly different directions, with a certain
definite force ; conditions which could scarcely occur by acci-
dent ; so that, simple as it may seem to the untrained eye, a
flint flake is to the antiquary as sure a trace of man, as the
footprint in the sand was to Eobinson Crusoe.

It is hardly necessary to say, that the flakes have a sharp

V ft

MODERN FLAKES.

cutting edge on each side, and might therefore be at once
used as knives, as in fig. 91, which represents a North
American two-bladed knife: they are indeed so named by

FIG. 91.

North American Knife.

FIG. 92.

m m^

Australians making Flakes.

some archaeologists ; but it seems to me more convenient to
call them simply flakes, and to confine the name of knife to
implements more especially intended and adapted for cutting
purposes. Fig. 92, from a drawing by Mr. Baines,* represents
an Australian making rude flakes. Fig. 93 represents an

* See Geol. and Nat. Hist. Repertory, No. 13, May, 1866.

MANUFACTURE OF FLAKES IN MEXICO.

Australian flake, and fig. 94, one from the Cape of Good Hope.
Figs. 95, 96, represent a New Caledonian javelin, with an
obsidian flake (fig. 96) for a head.

FIG. 93.

Australian Flake.

FIG. 04.

Flake from the Cape of Good Hope.

Some of the old Spanish writers in Mexico give us a
description of the manner in which the Aztecs obtained their
obsidian flakes. Torquemada,* who is confirmed by Her-
nandez, tells us — I quote from Mr. Taylor's Anahuac —
"they had, and still have, workmen who make knives of

* Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana. Seville, 1615.

MANUFACTURE OF FLAKES

a certain block stone or flint (obsidian), in
this manner: one of these Indian workmen
sits down upon the ground, and takes a
piece of this black stone, which is like jet>
and as hard as flint. . . . The piece they
take is about eight inches long, or rather
more, and as thick as one's leg, or rather
less, and cylindrical; they have a stick as
large as the shaft of a lance, and three
cubits or rather more in length, and at the
end of it they fasten firmly another piece
of wood, eight inches long, to give more
weight to this part ; then pressing their
naked feet together, they hold the stone
as with a pair of pincers, or the vice of a
carpenter's bench. They take the stick
(which is cut off smooth at the end) with
both hands, and set it well home against
the edge of the front of the stone, which
also is cut smooth in that part; and then
they press it against their breast, and with
the force of the pressure there flies off a
knife, with its point and edge on one side,
as neatly as if one were to make them of a
turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the
fire."

Thus it appears that the obsidian flakes
were made, not by blows, but by strong
pressure ; and the same is the case with
the chert implements of the Esquimaux,
according to the description given by Sir
E. Belcher.* "Selecting," he says, "a log
of wood in which a spoon-shaped cavity was

-"*•

•Section.

New Caledonian
Javelin.

* Trans, of the Ethnological Soc., New Series, vol. i. p. 138.

AMONG THE ESQUIMAUX. 95

cut, they placed the splinter to be worked over it, and by
pressing gently along the margin vertically, first on one side,
then the other, as one would set a saw, they splintered off
alternate fragments, until the object, thus properly outlined,
presented the spear or arrow-head form, with two cutting
serrated sides." A very similar account is also given by
Lieutenant Beckwith of the method used by the North Ameri-
can Indians;* among whom certain men devoted themselves
specially to the manufacture of arrow-heads.-)-

Next to flint flakes, the axes, wedges, or celts, are, perhaps,
of most importance. The largest and finest specimens are
found in Denmark ; one in my possession, of beautiful white
flint, is 13in. long, IJin. thick, and 3|in. in breadth. The
Seeland axes have very often, indeed generally, perpendicular
sides ; in Jutland a large proportion have sloping sides ; this
is also usually the case in other parts of North-western
Europe. In Switzerland, however, the axes, which are much
smaller than those from Denmark, have perpendicular sides
(fig. 164). The common Danish axe or wedge is figured in
pi. 1, fig. 1. Figs. 97 and 98 represent forms which, though
rare in Seeland, are common in other parts of Europe. Those
found in Denmark are sometimes polished, but almost, if not
quite as often, left rough. On the contrary, in other parts
of North-western Europe, the axes are usually ground to a
more or less smooth surface. That some were held in the
hand is evident, but that others were fixed in wooden handles
is equally clear, in many specimens, from the presence of
peculiar polished spaces, which have been produced by the
friction of the wood. In almost all cases, the wooden handle
has long perished, but there are one or two instances on
record in which it has been preserved. Fig. 99 represents

* Eeport of the Explorations and t Bancroft. Native Races of the
Surveys of the Pacific Railroad, Pacific States, vol. i. p. 342.
1855, vol. ii. p. 43.

STONE AXES.

a stone hatchet, found, some years ago, in the county of
Monaghan ; the handle was of pine, and was 13 Jin. long. A
somewhat similar specimen, found in Solway Moor, is pre-
served in the British Museum.

Fig. 100 represents another stone axe
in its handle ; this specimen was found
at Concise, on the Lake of Neufchatel,
and closely resembles the modern
African axe (fig. 20). In the latter
case, however, the blade is of iron.
It will be observed that the Swiss
specimen differs from the other two in

FIG. 99.
FIG. 98.

Stone Axes.- Ireland.

Stone Celt in handle.

having an intermediate piece of horn. These horn sockets
are very numerous in some of the Swiss lake villages.

To us, accustomed as we are to the use of metals, it seems
difficult to believe that such things were ever made use of;
we know, however, that many savages of the present day
have no better tools. Yet, with axes such as these, and
generally with the assistance of fire, they will cut down large
trees, and hollow them out into canoes. The piles used in

THE USE OF STONE AXES. 97

the Swiss Stone Age lake habitations were evidently, from
the marks of the cuts on them, prepared with the help of
stone axes ; and in the Danish peat bogs, several trees have
been found with the marks of stone axes, and of fire, upon
them, and in one or two cases, stone celts have even been
found lying at the side. In the excavations known as Grimes'
Graves again, as already mentioned (ante, p. 82), a basalt
hatchet was found, which had evidently been used for exca-
vating the gallery, as shown by the marks still distinctly

visible on the walls.

FIG. 100.

Swiss Stone Axe.

One use of the North American tomahawk was to crush
bones for the sake of the marrow ;* and it is most probable
that the ancient stone axes also served the same purpose.

In many cases the axes themselves bear unmistakable marks
of long continued use. For instance, the specimen represented
in figs. 101, 102, has no doubt once been much longer, and
had surfaces consisting of one continuous sweep, as in pi. 1,
fig. 1. The edge, however, having been destroyed by use,
it was again chipped sharp and re-polished, the new surface
meeting the old one at a. A second time the edge became
destroyed, and the owner, as may be seen in fig. 102, has
commenced the formation of a new one.

That they were also weapons of war is probable, not only
on a priori grounds, but also because they have frequently

* James' Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. L p. 193.

THE USE OF ANCIENT STONE AXES.

been found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze
daggers. About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kircud-
brightshire, popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King
Aldus M'Galdus, was removed by a farmer. "When the
cairn had been removed, the workmen came to a stone coffin
of very rude workmanship, and on removing the lid, they

FIG. 101.

FIG. 102.

Danish Axe.

found the skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones
were in such a state of decomposition that the ribs and
vertebras crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them.
The remaining bones, being less decayed, were taken out,
when it was discovered that one of the arms had been almost
separated from the shoulder by the stroke of a stone axe,
and that a fragment of the axe still remained in the bone.
The axe was of greenstone, a material which does not
occur in this part of Scotland. There were also found with
this skeleton a ball of flint, about three inches in diameter,

PIERCED HATCHETS. 99

which was perfectly round and highly polished, and the head
of an arrow, also flint, but not a particle of any metallic
substance."*

We know also the North American stone axe or tomahawk
served not merely as an implement, but also as a weapon,
being used both in the hand and also as a missile.^

Another class of stone hatchets are those which are pierced
for the handle, as in pi. 1, fig. 2. From the nature of flint
these were scarcely ever made of that material. There are,
however, in Copenhagen, two such hatchets, in which advan-
tage has been ingeniously taken of a natural hole in the flint.
In many kinds of hard stone, however, it is quite possible to
drill a hole by means of a cylinder of bone or horn, with a
little sand and water ; yet it is very doubtful whether this
class of implements truly belong to the Stone Age. The
pierced axes are generally found in graves of the Bronze
period, and it is most probable that this mode of attaching
the handle was used very rarely, if at all, until the discovery
of metal had rendered the process far more easy than could
have been the case previously.

The so-called "scrapers" (figs. 103, 104), are oblong stones
rounded at one end, which is brought to a bevelled edge by
a series of small blows. One side is flat, the other, or outer,
one is more or less convex ; sometimes they have a short
handle, which gives them very much the appearance of a
spoon. They have been found in England, France, Den-
mark, Ireland, Switzerland, and other countries. They vary
from one to four inches in length, and from half an inch to
two inches in breadth. An Esquimaux scraper used in pre-
paring skins is represented in figs. 105 — 107. These modern
specimens are of exactly the same form as the old ones.

* New Statist. Ace. Kircudbrightshire, vol. iv. p. 332. Quoted by
Wilson, Pre-his. Ann. of Scotland, 2nd edit. vol. i. p. 187.
f Colden's History of the Five Nations, vol. i. p. 10.

H 2

100

SCRAPERS.

It is curious, that while these spoon-shaped scrapers are
so common in Europe, they are very rare, if indeed they occur
at all, in North America south of the Esquimaux region.

FIG. 103.

FIG. 104.

Scraper

To the small, triangular "axes" (figs. 108- -110), which are
very characteristic of the Kjokkenmoddings, as well as of
the Coast-finds, I have applied the name by which they are
usually known, but without wishing to prejudge the question
as to their purpose. They are flat on one side, and more or
less convex on the other ; rudely triangular or quadrangular
in shape, with the cutting edge at the broader end ; and from
2^ in. to 5Mn. in length, with a breadth of IJin to 2 Jin.
They are never ground, and the cutting edge, though not

SHELL-MOUND AXES.

101

sharp, is very strong, as it is formed by a plane, meeting the
flat side at a very obtuse angle. Professor Steenstrup doubts
whether these curious and peculiar implements were ever
intended for axes, and regards them as having been, in all
probability, mere weights for fishing-lines, in support of
which view he figures some not, perhaps, very dissimilar stone
objects, used for that purpose by the Esquimaux. The so-

FlG. 105

FIG. 107.

Esquimaux Scraper.

called edge, in his opinion, neither has nor could have been
used for cutting, but is merely the result of that form
which was found by the fishermen to be most convenient.
He also calls attention to the polished facets on their sur-
faces, which he regards as affording strong support to his
opinion.

It must be at once admitted that there are many of these
"axes" which could never have been used for cutting, but
these may be regarded as imperfect, and are certainly not to
be taken as normal specimens. It is true that the two sur-
faces, constituting the edge, form a very obtuse angle with
one another, but we must remember that if this detracts from
the sharpness, it adds greatly to the strength. Moreover, the

102

CHISELS.

angle is almost exactly the same as that which we find in the
adze of the New Zealanders and other South Sea Islanders.
Figs. Ill — 113 represent a recent adze, brought by the Eev.
E. Taylor from New Zealand, and now in the British Museum,
which very closely resembles the typical axes of the Kjokken-

FIG. 108.

FIG. loo.

FIG. no.

Danish Axe.

moddings. The edge, indeed, is polished, but is after all not
smoother than the natural fracture of the flint. The projection
on the under side of the Danish specimen (fig. 110) is acci-
dental, and due to some peculiarity in the flint. This face
is usually as flat in the Danish specimens as in those from
New Zealand. Very similar adzes also occur in the shell-
mounds of Japan.

The chisels (pi. 1, fig. 5) resemble the Danish axes in having
perpendicular sides, but they are narrower, and are almost
always ground to a smooth surface. Many of them are
slightly hollowed on one side, as in fig. 114.

SEMI-LUNAR IMPLEMENTS.

103

The flat, semi-circular flint instruments represented in pi. 1,
fig. 3, are common in Denmark, but very rarely, if ever, found
in Great Britain, France, or Italy. The convex edge was
evidently fastened into a handle of wood, the marks of which
are still, in many cases, plainly visible. The other edge,
which is either straight or concave, is generally provided with

FIG. ill.

FIG. 112.

FIG. 113.

New Zealand Adze.

a number of teeth, giving it more or less resemblance to a
saw. In some cases it is so much worn away by use, that the
implement takes the form of a new moon or of a boomerang.
The edge is in many cases quite polished, evidently by con-
tinuous friction against a soft substance. I say a soft sub-
stance, because the polished part overlaps on both sides, and
passes in between the teeth of the saw, which would not have
been otherwise the case. It is probable that the semi-lunar
instruments were fixed in wooden handles, and then used in
cleaning skins. Similarly- shaped instruments are even now

104

AWLS. SPEARS. DAGGERS.

used as knives by the Esquimaux women, under the name of
Ooloos. It might be convenient to apply this term to the
ancient Danish specimens.

The so-called "awls" are rude pieces of flint, or flakes
worked up at one place by a number of small chips to a
point (fig. 172). Though not very sharp, they are pretty

strong.

FIG. 114.

jftCfifl 'F^ ! if ' l^"1' 'T1-^.

The spear-heads (fig. 115) are very
variable in size and form ; some of
them are scarcely distinguishable from
large arrow-heads ; others are much
larger. Some are so rude that it
is questionable whether they were
finished, while others are marvellous
specimens of ancient art. One in my
possession is 12 in. in length, IJin. in
breadth, and of wonderfully beautiful
workmanship. It is one of six, found
together inside a large tumulus in the
island of Moen.

The daggers (pi. 1, fig. 4, and fig.
116) are often marvels of skill in flint-
chipping. The form so closely re-
sembles that of metallic daggers, that
some antiquaries are inclined to regard
them as copies of bronze daggers, and therefore as not
belonging to the Stone Age. The localities in which they
have been found do not, however, offer any support to this
hypothesis. Another form of flint weapon (fig. 117), which
is common in Denmark, has a handle like that of the last
form, but instead of a blade, it ends in a point, and suggests
the idea that if the tip of the dagger had been accidentally
broken off, or the blade rendered narrow by wear and tear,
the rest of the weapon might have been worked up into a

Hollow Chisel.

SLING-STONES.

105

poniard, and thus utilized. In both these classes the crimping
along the edges of the handle is very curious.

FIG. 116. FIG. 117.

FIG 115

Dagger.

Dairser (broken at

the point).

The sling-stones are of two kinds. The first are merely
rough pieces of flint (pi. 1, fig. 12), reduced by a few blows
of a hammer to a convenient size and form. But for the
situations in which they are found, these might almost be
regarded as natural fragments. Professor Steenstrup is now

106 SLING-STONES. ARROW-HEADS.

disposed to think that many of them were used as sink-
stones for nets, but that some have really served as sling-
stones seems to be indicated by their presence in the Peat-
mosses, which it is difficult to account for in any other way.
The other kind of sling-stones are round, nattish flint disks,
some of which are beautifully made.

The oval tool-stones (fig. 118), or "Tilhuggersteeus" of the
northern antiquaries, are oval or egg-shaped stones, more
or less indented on one or both surfaces. Their use is not at
present thoroughly understood. Some antiquaries suppose
that they were held between the finger and thumb, and used
as hammers or chippers. If, however, a large series is
obtained, it will be found that the depression varies greatly
FIG. us. in depth, and that sometimes the stone is
completely perforated, which favours the view
of those who regard these implements as ring-
stones for nets, or small hammer-heads. It

ovai Tooi-stone. is v&cy doubtful whether these implements
really belong to the Stone Age.

Other stones, in which the longer axis is encircled by a
groove, appear to have been evidently intended as sink-stones
for nets.

The arrow-heads are divided by Sir W. E. Wilde into five
varieties. Firstly, the triangular (fig. 119), which frequently
had a notch on each side to receive the string which attached
it to the shaft; secondly, that which is hollowed out or
indented at the base, as in fig. 120 ; thirdly, the stemmed
arrow, which has a tang or projection for sinking into the
shaft ; fourthly, when the wings are prolonged on each side,
this passes into the barbed arrow (fig. 121); finally, we have
the leaf-shaped form, a beautiful example of which is repre-
sented in fig. 122. The true arrow-heads are generally about
an inch in length, but they pass gradually into the javelin,
and from that into the spear-head. The great similarity of

ARROW-HEADS.

107

arrow-heads, even from the most distant localities, may be
seen in figs. 123, 124, and 125, which represent specimens from
France, North America, and Tierra del Fuego respectively.

The different forms were perhaps in use in different tribes,
but more probably they are due to the variety of purposes
for which they were intended ; thus in North FIG- 122-

America the war arrows taper to the end, so
that when the shaft is drawn out, the head
FIG. 119.

FIG. 120.

Arrow-heads. —Ireland.

remains in the wound ; while hunting arrows are expanded
at the end, so that the head is drawn out with the shaft.
The Bygas, an aboriginal tribe of Central India, according to
Forsyth, make the same distinction.* Among other tribes,
the lance-shaped arrows are used in hunting, barbed arrow-
heads in war.-f- The Negritos of the Philippine Islands have
three kinds of arrows. One, with a separate head-piece, for
wild boars, one for birds. The use of the third is not stated.
Every man carries one of each kind, j Another kind of arrow-
head resembled figs. 108 — 110, but in miniature. This form
is not confined to Northern Europe, but occurs elsewhere, as
for instance in Egypt, where one, still fixed to the shaft, has

* Highlands of Central India, p. 361.
t Murray. Travels in North America, vol. i. p. 385.

Z. f. Ethn. 1880.

I Schadenlterg.

108

SAWS. BONE IMPLEMENTS. AWLS.

been discovered in a tomb.* The manufacture of these arrows
required much time and skill : " Under the most favourable
circumstances," Messrs. Blackmore and Dodge tell us, "the
most skilful Indian workman cannot hope to complete more
than a single arrow in a hard day's work."-)-

FIG. 123.

FIG. 125.

France.

Tierra del Fuego.

North America.

FIG. 126.

There are various other kinds of flint implements, such as

hammers, saws (fig. 126), har-
poons, etc., but — omitting for
the present the earlier, or drift
types — the above are the prin-
cipal forms of stone weapons
and implements.

Stone Saw.

FIG. 127.

Bone Awl. — Scotland.

* Baye. Pointes de fleches en t Hunting Grounds of the Great
Silex, p. 139, 1874. West. Dodge & Blackmore, p. 349.

HARPOONS.

109

Besides being employed for handling the stone axes, the
bones and horns of animals were much used as the material
of various simple implements, and those of the stag appear to
have been preferred, as being the hardest. The commonest
bone implement is the pin or awl (fig. 127) ; FIG- 128-

not much less numerous are certain oblong
chisel-like implements (fig. 128), the use of
which it is not easy to determine. Eibs split
open, and pointed at one end, are sometimes
found, and have been supposed by some
archaeologists to have served in preparing
flax ; by others, to have been used in the
manufacture of pottery. Arrow-heads, spear-
heads, chisels, and bone harpoons (figs. 129,
130), also occur. Fig. 130 represents a bone
harpoon belonging to the Keindeer period,
which will be described in the chapter on
Caves. Fig. 131 represents a North American Bone impiement.
bone chisel used in dressing deer-skins for taking off the hair.
Pierced teeth also were not unfrequently worn as amulets.

Stone implements are frequently found on the surface
of the ground, or are dug up in agricultural and other opera-
tions. But those found singly in this manner have compara-
tively little scientific value : it is specially when they occur in
considerable numbers, and especially when associated with
other remains, that they serve to throw much light on the
manners and customs of ancient times. As already men-
tioned, the tumuli, the lake habitations, and the shell-
mounds are specially valuable in this respect, but I must
also say a few words about the " coast-finds " of the Danish
antiquaries. "Coast-finds" are discoveries of rude flint imple-
ments, which are found lying in large numbers on certain
spots along the whole line of coast. Owing probably to
the elevation of the land which has taken place in Jutland

110

FLINT-FINDS.

FIG. 129.

FIG. 130.

FIG. isi.

since the Stone Age, some of them are now a considerable
distance from the present water-line. Some, on the other

hanc^ are at low levels ; one, for
instance, close to the Railway-
station at Korsor, is exposed only
at low tide, and others are always
covered. The " coast-finds," how-
ever, belong probably to different
classes. Thus, one at Anholt was
evidently a workshop of flint im-
plements, as is shown by the
character of the chips, and by the
MBone" discovery of more than sixty flint
ImNorthnt' cores. Those, on the contrary,
which even at the present day are
under water, were probably so in old times,
and as there are no traces of lake habi-
tations in Denmark, it seems the most
natural supposition that they were the
places where the fishermen used to drag
their nets. It is still usual to choose
particular spots for this purpose, and it
is evident that many of the rude objects
used in fishing, especially of the stones
employed as net- weights, would there be
lost. The objects discovered are just what
might have been expected under these
circumstances. They consist of irregular
Ancient Bone flint chippings, net-weights or sling-stones,
^jjSSJ flakes, scrapers, awls, and axes.
These six different classes of objects have been
found in most, if not all, of the coast-finds, though
in different proportions. To give an idea of the
numbers in which they occur, I may mention that

Ancient
Bone

FLINT-FINDS. Ill

Professor Steenstrup and I gathered in about an hour at
Froelund, near Korsb'r, 141 flakes, 84 weights, 5 axes, 1 scraper,
and about 150 flint chips ; while at a similar spot, near Aarhuus
in Jutland, I myself picked up, in two hours and a half, 76
weights, 40 flakes, 39 scrapers, 17 awls, and a considerable
number of flint chips.

In the sheltered and shallow fjords of Denmark the sea
is generally calm, and, in many instances, a layer of sand
has accumulated over and thus protected the flint fragments.
This was the case with both the above-mentioned coast-finds,
one of which was exposed in draining the land, the other in
a railway cutting. Sometimes a change of currents will remove
the light sand, and leave the heavier stones, which again in
other cases have lain apparently undisturbed and exposed from
the first ; and in such instances the spots are sometimes so
thickly strewn with white flints that they may be distinguished
by their colour, even at a considerable distance.

Of course, in a sea like that which surrounds our coast,
such remains would soon be reduced to mere gravel ; besides
which, we must remember that on our Southern and Eastern
shores, even in historical times, the sea has encroached
greatly. " Flint-finds," however, resembling in many respects
these Danish " coast-finds," are not unknown in this country,
or on the Continent. They appear to indicate the position
of ancient villages ; and in some cases, as, for instance, those
of Grimes' Graves and Pressigny, are evidently places selected
for the manufacture of stone implements on account of the
good quality of the flint.

Nor are these discoveries confined to Europe. Mr. Busk
and Mr. Langham Dale have met with a very similar assem-
blage of fla,kes, etc., on the Cape Flats, at the Cape of Good
Hope.* Throughout the whole of America, Australia, and
Polynesia, indeed, stone implements were in use down to a

* Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1869, p. 51.

112 FLINT-FINDS.

comparatively modern period, and in many parts are so still.
In Asia and Africa, on the contrary, as in Europe, stone
implements have, for the most part, been long abandoned.
Still there also, as, for instance, in Algeria and at the Cape, in
Palestine and Assyria, in India and Japan, stone implements
have been discovered, showing that these countries also, like
Europe, have, in all probability, passed through an age of
Stone.

( 113 )

CHAPTER V.

MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS AND TUMULT.

ALL over Europe, we might indeed say all over the world,
wherever they have not been destroyed by the plough
or the hammer, we find relics of pre-historic times — camps,
fortifications, dykes, tumuli, menhirs or standing stones,

FIG. 132.

f . ,

Danish Tumulus.

cromlechs or stone circles, dolmens* or stone chambers, etc.,
many of which astonish us by their magnitude, while all of

* In this country it has become stone. They should therefore, I

the custom to reverse these two consider, be used as in the text. I

names. Cromlech, however, is de- may add that " menhir," a standing

rived from " crom," a circle, and stone, is derived from "maen,"

" lech," stone ; and dolmen from stone, and " Mr," long,
"daul," a table, and "maen," a

TUMULI.

them excite our interest by the antiquity of their origin, and
the mystery with which they are surrounded.*

FIG. 133.

V pv
- '

Plan of the preceding.

In our own island the smaller tumuli may be seen on
almost every down; in the Orkneys alone it is estimated that
more than two thousand still remain ; in France there are
4000 dolmens, 1600 menhirs, and 450 stone circles; in Den-
mark they are even more abundant ; they are found all over

* Since the last edition of this
work, several important contribu-
tions have been made to our
knowledge of ancient British burial
customs. I may refer especially to
Greenwell and Rolleston's " British
Barrows," Jewitt's " Grave Mounds
and their Contents," Boiiase's

" Nenia Cornuhia}," and AVarne's
" Celtic Tumuli of Dorset." Fer-
gusson's "Rude Stone Monuments,"
also, though written in support of a
theory which is I think erroneous,
contains a valuable summary of
our knowledge of megalithic monu-
ments.

TUMULI.

115

Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to the Oural mountains;
in Asia they are scattered over the great steppes, from the

FIG. 134.

Sepulchral Stone Circle.

borders of Eussia to the Pacific Ocean, and from the plains of
Siberia to those of Hindostan ; the entire plain of Jelalabad,

FIG. 135.

Danish Dolmen.

says Masson, "is literally covered with tumuli and mounds."*
In America we are told that they are to be numbered by
thousands and tens of thousands ; nor are they wanting in
Africa,-f- where the Pyramids themselves exhibit the most

* Journeys in Baloochistan, Af- t See, for instance, Livingstone's
ghanistan, etc., vol. ii. p. 164. See Miss. Travels, pp. 210, 304.
also p. 155, and vol. ii. pp. 1 1 1 — 113.

i 2

116

MENHIRS.

magnificent development of the same idea ; indeed the whole
world is studded with the burial-places of the dead. Many

FIG 136

Sepulchral Stone Circle.

of them, indeed, are small, but some are very large, such as,
for instance, those of Odin, Thor, and Freya, at Upsala (see
Frontispiece). Silbury Hill, the greatest in Europe, has a
height of one hundred and thirty feet, and covers five and a
half acres.

FIG 137

Kit's Coty House.

The standing stones, or " menhirs," also were no doubt
generally erected in memorial of some particular event, the
majority being in fact the tombstones of Archaic times.

STONE CIRCLES. 117

In addition to these memorials of the past, ancient camps
and fortifications crown many of our hills.

In some parts of Scotland the old hill fortresses present
the remarkable peculiarity, first noticed by Mr. John Williams
in 1777, of having been subjected to considerable heat.
Until 1837 these vitrified forts were supposed to be peculiar
to our island, but in that year Professor Zippe called atten-
tion to the existence of similar remains in Bohemia, and
since that time vitrified forts have been discovered in various
parts of France and Germany.*

Lastly, the country is intersected by great dykes, or lines
of embankment, — such, for instance, as the Wansdyke, the
Devil's Dyke at Newmarket, and Offa's Dyke, which runs
from the Bristol Channel to the Dee, thus roughly dividing
England from Wales, — which were no doubt partly boundary-
lines and partly fortifications, like the Eoman Wall or the
still more remarkable Wall of China.

Stone circles, or cromlechs, consist of rough upright
stones, arranged in a circle. The usual diameter is about
100 feet, but some are much larger, the principal circle at
Abury, for instance, being 1200 feet across. The stones
are placed at equal distances, and the number of them had
probably some significance. " The two inner circles at Abury,
the lesser circle at Stennis, and one at Stanton Drew, each
consisted of twelve ; the outer circles at Abury, the outer
circles of uprights and transoms at Stonehenge, the large
circle at Stanton Drew, and the circle at Arbor Low, each
of thirty ; those of Eollrich and Stennis, of sixty ; and the
large enclosing circle of Abury, of one hundred stones. Four
circles at Boscawen, and adjacent places in Cornwall, have

* References to the various me- papers by Mr. Stuart and Dr.

moirs in which these are described Fodisch in the Proc. Soc. Antiq.

are given by Virchow, Zeit. f. Eth- Scotland, vol. viii.
nologie, 1870, p. 258. See also

118 STONE CIRCLES.

each been formed of nineteen stones."* Stonehenge is the
most celebrated example of a stone circle, but it differs from
the usual type in several respects; for instance, in having
the principal stones roughly hewn, and in the presence of
capstones.

Stone circles are by no means confined to Europe. The
Todas of the Neilgherry Hills have stone circles within which
burial ceremonies are performed, the ashes being placed under
one of the stones.^ Throughout the Deccan are numerous
stone circles sacred to Vetal, whose worship still holds its
own against the Brahmanical innovations ;J while Sir Bartle
Frere, in his Introductions to Miss Frere's charming; "Old

o c?

Deccan Days," tells us that in that part of India outside
almost every village there is a circle of large stones sacred to
Vetal. Stanley saw, a few miles to the north of Tyre, a circle
of rough upright stones; Mr. Palmer, in his "Desert of the
Exodus," mentions the existence of " huge stone circles in the
neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, some of them measuring 100
feet in diameter, having a cist in the centre covered with a
heap of large boulders ;" and Kohen, a Jesuit missionary, has
recently discovered in Arabia, near Khabb, in the district of
Kasim, three large stone circles described as being extremely
like Stonehenge, and consisting of very lofty trilithons.|| Earth
also describes and figures similar trilithons as occurring!; in

o o

Tripoli. H In this case the pillars are 10 feet high, and stand
on a raised foundation.

Arctic travellers, also, mention stone circles and stone rows
among the Esquimaux. These are, however, of a different
character, being quite small, and merely the lower part of
the habitations.

* Thurnam. Crania Britannica, § 1. c. p. x.

Decade iv. || Bonstetten. Sur les Dolmens,

t Breeks. Primitive Tribes of p. 27.

the Neilglierries, pp. 24, 72. IT Travels in Central Africa,

I Old Deccan Days, p. x. vol. i. pp. 58, 74.

MENTION OF STONE CIRCLES IN ANCIENT HISTOEY. 119

Lafitau figures an Indian (Virginian) temple consisting of
a circle of upright stones, which, however, are carved at the
top into rude representations of human faces.* Mr. Squier
mentions stone circles as occurring in Peru.-)-

As regards the period at, or purposes for, which the European
stone circles were erected, history gives us no information.

Mr. George Petrie, indeed, has called Dr. Wilson's attention
to several cases in which the Orkney circles were mentioned
in old deeds, etc.J Thus, in 1349, William de Saint Michael
was summoned to attend a court held " apud stantes lapides
de Eane en le Garniach," to answer for his forcible detention
of certain ecclesiastical property; and in 1380, Alexander,
Lord of Eegality of Badenoch, and son of Eobert II., held a
court, "apud le standand stanys de la Eathe de Kyngucy
Estir," to inquire into the titles by which the Bishop of
Moray held certain of his lands. Even so late as the year
1438, we find a notice, that " John off Erwyne and WilL
Bernardson swor on the Hirdmane Stein before oure Lorde
ye Erie off Orknay and the gentiless off the cuntre." This
comparatively recent use of the stone circles does not, how-
ever, enable us to form any opinion as to the purpose for
which they were originally intended.

It is perhaps more to the purpose to observe that both in
the Iliad (B. xviii.) and Odyssey (B. viii.) assemblies of elders
are mentioned as sitting in solemn conclave on stone seats
arranged in circles, but in the former case the seats are said
to have been polished. Many, however, of the British stone
circles were certainly sepulchral ; and it seems probable that
this was their original purpose ; but that, like other shrines,
they were subsequently used as temples.

As regards stone pillars and tumuli, we are told, in Gen.
xxxi., that "Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar;"

* Mceurs des Sauv. Amer. vol. ii. f Amer. Nat. vol. iv. p. 12.
p. 135. I have given a copy in the J Pre-historic Annals of Scot-
Origin of Civilization, 2nd eel. p. 179. land, 2nd edit. vol. i. p. 164.

120 MENTION OF STONE CIRCLES IN ANCIENT HISTORY.

and in verse 51, "Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap,
and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and
thee. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness,
that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou
shalt not pass over this pillar to me, to do me harm/' etc.
At Mount Sinai, Moses erected twelve pillars.* And so, again,
when the children of Israel had crossed over Jordan, Joshua
took twelve stones and pitched them in Gilgal. "And he
spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children
shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean
these stones ? then ye shall let your children know, saying,
Israel came over this Jordan on dry land."-)*

Achan and his whole family were stoned with stones and
burned with fire, after which we are told that Israel " raised
over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord
turned from the fierceness of his anger." Again, the king
of Ai was buried under a great heap of stones ; and so also
was Absalom, of whom likewise we are told that he " reared
up for himself a pillar, which is in the King's Dale ; for he
said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance, and he
called the pillar after his own name, and it is called unto this
day Absalom's Place."

In one of the ancient Babylonian records, Izdubar is re-
corded to have erected a memorial mound, j

According to Diodorus, Semiramis, the widow of Ninus,
buried her husband within the precincts of the palace, and
raised over him a great mound of earth. Pausanias mentions
that stones were collected together, and heaped up over the
tomb of Laius, the father of CEdipus. In the time of the
Trojan war, Tydeus and Lycus are mentioned as having been
buried under two earthen barrows. " Hector's barrow was
of stone and earth. Achilles erected a tumulus, upwards of
an hundred feet in diameter, over the remains of his friend

* Ex. xxiv. 4. ^ Le Normant. Les Premieres

t Joshua iv. 21, 22. Civilisations, vol. ii. p. 47.

MENTION OF TUMULI IN ANCIENT HISTOKY. 121

Patroclus. The mound supposed by Xenophon to contain
the remains of Alyattes, father of Croesus, king of Lydia,
was of stone and earth, and more than a quarter of a league
in circumference. In later times, Alexander the Great
caused a tumulus to be heaped over his friend Hephaestion, at
the cost of 1200 talents, no mean sum even for a conqueror
like Alexander, it being £232,500 sterling."* Virgil tells us
that Dercennus, king of Latium, was buried under an earthen
mound ; and, according to the earliest historians, whose state-
ments are confirmed by the researches of archaeologists, mound-
burial was practised in ancient times by the Scythians, Greeks,
Etruscans, Germans, and many other nations.

By far the greater number of the tumuli in Western Europe
are entirely pre-historic, but there are some few of which the
date and origin are known to us, such as the tumuli of Queen
Thyra and King Gorm, who died about 950, at Jellinge, in
Denmark.

There are, moreover, other cases in which tumuli are men-
tioned, though not in a manner which enables us to identify
them with any of those now existing. Thus Gregory of
Tours -p has a quaint story to the effect that Macliav, flying
from his brother Chanaon, took refuge with Chonomor, Count
of the Bretons. Chanaon sent messengers to demand that
Macliav should be given up to him, but Chonomor concealed
him in a tomb, "rearing over him a tumulus in the usual man-
ner, but leaving a small opening for the entrance of air" (com-
ponens desuper ex more tumulum, parvumque ei spiraculum
reservans, unde halitum resumere posset). He then showed
this tumulus to the messengers, and assured them that Macliav
was buried in it.

The Codex Diplomaticus contains references to more than
sixty barrows or lows, bearing the names of particular persons ;

* Ten Years' Diggings in the f Historia Francomin, iv. 4.
Celtic and Saxon Grave-hills, p. v.

122 ANTIQUITY OF MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS.

some of them, as, for instance, Wodne's Beorgh, or Woden's
Barrow, are probably mythical, but there seems no reason to
doubt that some — for instance, Alfrede's Beorh, ^Ethelwolde's
Beorh, Cissan Beorh, Cwichelme's Hlcew, Oswolde's Hloew,
etc. — retain the name of the person really buried within.* It
appears that in England the habit of burying under tumuli
was finally abandoned during the 10th century.

The Danish Sagas also tell us that in the middle of the
8th century, Sigurd King, having conquered his uncle, King
Harald Hildetand, in the battle of Braavalla, " washed the
corpse, placed it on Harald's war chariot, and buried it in a
tumulus which he had formed for the purpose. Harald's
horse also was slain and buried with him, with the saddle, so
that Harald might either ride to Valhalla, or go in his chariot,
as he preferred. King then gave a great feast, after which
he recommended the chiefs present to throw their ornaments
and arms into the tumulus in honour of Harald. Finally the
tumulus was carefully closed."^

Most of these monuments, however, are doubtless far older.
Some, indeed, were ancient and mysterious even in the days of
Homer. Thus at the burial of Patroclus, when Nestor is
pointing out to his son Antilochus the course for the chariot

race, he says, —

" Plain is the goal

That now I tell thee of ; nor canst tliou miss it :
* * * * *

On either side

Where narrowest is the way, and all the course
Around is smooth, rise two white stones, set there
To mark the tomb of some one long since dead,
Or form a goal for men in ages past." J

* For an interesting memoir on Gramniaticus. His. Dan. 1. x. ch.

notices of heathen interment in the xii.

Codex Diplomatics, see Kemble, J Iliad, xxiii. 384. I have quoted

Arch. Jour. vol. xiv. p. 119. from Mr. Wright's translation,

t Engelhardt. Guide Illustre du which, in this passage at least, is

Musee des Antkj_uite.s du Nord a more i'aithful than any other with

Copenhague, 18G8. — See also Saxo which I am acquainted.

MEGAL1THIC MONUMENTS NOT DRUIDICAL. 123

It is very striking to find these menhirs mentioned in our
earliest writings, as monuments of events even then already
lost in the obscurity of the past.

Many of the very largest tumuli in Western Europe appear,
from the nature of their contents, to have been constructed
during the Stone Age. At first, indeed, it seems almost
incredible that the immense tumuli of Brittany should have
been erected by a people who possessed no metal. We must
remember, however, that some of the South Sea monuments
were quite as considerable. Moreover, though hundreds of
beautiful stone axes and ornaments have been found in the
tumuli of Brittany, no weapons of metal have yet occurred in
them. It has been supposed that the carvings on some of
the stones could not have been cut without metal. Actual
experiments, however, as Messrs. Bertrand and de Mortillet
have shown me, prove that the stone can be cut with flint,
while bronze produces no effect on it. Sir James Y. Simpson
also has shown that the engravings on the Scotch rocks, even
those on granite, may have been carved with a flint tool.*

In this country we still habitually call the megalithic
monuments "Druidical," but it is hardly necessary to men-
tion that there is really no sufficient reason for connecting
them with Druidical worship.

The greatest of all so-called Druidical monuments is the
temple of Abury, in Wiltshire. It is, indeed, much less known
than Stonehenge ; and yet, though a ruder, it must have been
originally even a grander temple. According to Aubrey, Abury
" did as much exceed Stonehenge as a cathedral does a parish
church." When perfect, it consisted of a circular ditch and
embankment, containing an area of 28J acres ; inside the ditch
was a circle of great stones, and within this, again, two smaller
circles, formed by a double row of smaller stones, standing
side by side. From the outer embankment started two long

* Proc. Soc, Antiq. Scotland, vol. vi. 1867, p. 122.

124 ABURY AND SILBURY HILL.

winding avenues of stones, one of which went in the direction
of Beckhamptou, and the other in that of Kennet, where it
ended in another double circle. Stukely supposed that the
idea of the whole was that of a snake transmitted through a
circle; the Kennet circle representing the head, the Beckhamp-
ton avenue the tail. Midway between the two avenues stood
Silbury Hill, the largest artificial mound in Europe, measuring
no less than 130 feet in height. At one time it was no doubt
even higher. From its position it appears to form part of
the general plan, and though it has been twice examined, no
primary interment has been found in it. On the whole, this
appears to have been the finest megalithic ruin in Europe ;
but, unfortunately for us, the pretty little village of Abury,
like some beautiful parasite, has grown up at the expense,
and in the midst, of the ancient temple, and out of 650 great
stones, not above 20 are still standing.

Mr. Fergusson* has attempted to prove that both Stone-
henge and Abury belong to post-Eoman times. " The Eoman.
road," he says, "from Bath to Marlborough, either passes
under Silbury Hill, or makes a sudden bend to get round it
in a manner that no Komaii road, in Britain at least, was

ever known to do From a careful examination of all the

circumstances of the case, the conclusion seems inevitable
that Silbury Hill stands on the Eoman road, and consequently
must have been erected subsequently to the time of the Eomans
leaving the country."

Startled by this argument, and yet satisfied that there
must be some error, I turned to the Ordnance map, and
found, to my surprise, that the Eoman road was distinctly
laid down as passing, not under, but at the side of, Silbury
Hill. Not content with this, I persuaded Professor Tyndall
to visit the locality with me, and we convinced ourselves
that upon this point the map was quite correct. The impres-

* Rude Stone Monuments.

•

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STONEHEXGE. 125

sion on our minds was that the Roman engineer, in con-
structing the road from Morgan's Hill, had taken Silbury
Hill as a point to steer for, swerving only just before reaching
it. Moreover, the map will show that not only this Roman
road, but some others, in the same part of England, are less
straight than is usually the case.

In order to set the point at rest, I caused excavations
to be made, under the auspices of the Wiltshire Archaeo-
logical Society, at the side of Silbury Hill, and the ditches
running along the Roman road were clearly traced. Mr.
Fergusson himself admits, in the passage just cited, that the
pieces of the road on the two sides of Silbury Hill are not
in the same straight line, so that there must have been a bend
somewhere. I quite agree, therefore, with old Stukely, that
the Roman road curved abruptly southward to avoid Silbury
Hill, and that "this shows Silbury Hill was ancienter than
the Roman road."* How much more ancient it is impos-
sible to say.-f-

As regards Stonehenge, we have, I think, satisfactory reasons
for attributing it to the Bronze Age.

The historical account, if I may use such an expression, of
Stonehenge is, that it was erected by Aurelius Ainbrosius in
memory of the British chieftains, treacherously murdered by
Hengist and the Saxons, about the year 460. Giraldus
Cambrensis, writing at the close of the 12th century, says,
" that there was in Ireland, in ancient times, a pile of stones
worthy of admiration, called the Giant's Dance, because
giants, from the remotest part of Africa, brought them into
Ireland ; and in the plains of Kildare, not far from the
Castle of Naas, as well by force of art as strength, miracu-

* Mr. Blandford, who superin- memoir in tlie same volume, by the

tended the opening of the Hill in Rev. A. C. Smith.
1849, came also to the same con- t Stukely thinks it was founded

elusion. Proc. Arehaeol. Inst. 1849, in 1859 B.C., the year of the death

p. 303. See also the interesting of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

126 MYTHICAL ACCOUNT OF STONEHENGE.

lously set them up ; and similar stones, erected in a like
manner, are to be seen there at this day. These stones
(according to the British history) Aurelius Arnbrosius, king
of the Britons, procured Merlin, by supernatural means, to
bring from Ireland into Britain. And that he might leave
some famous monument of so great a treason to future ages,
in the same order and art as they stood formerly, set them
up where the flower of the British nation fell by the cut-
throat practice of the Saxons, and where, under the pretence
of peace, the ill-secured youth of the kingdom, by murderous
designs, were slain."

This account is clearly mythical. The larger stones were
evidently obtained in the neighbourhood, and are in fact
" Sarcens," identical with those which occur in hundreds on
Salisbury Plain. Moreover, the very name of Stonehenge,
like those of Stanton Drew, Stennis, etc., seems to me a very
strong argument against those who attribute these monuments

o o o

to so recent an origin. Stanton Drew, for instance, is " The
Stone Town of the Druids." How could it have been called
so if it was erected in Saxon times ? Stonehenge is generally
considered to mean the Hanging-stones, as indeed was long
ago suggested by Wace, an Anglo-Norman poet, who says :

Stanhengues ont nom en Englois
Pieres pandues en Francois ; t

but it is surely more natural to derive the last syllable from
the Anglo-Saxon word " ing," a field ; as we have Keston,
originally Kyst-stan-ing, the field of stone coffins. \Yhat
more natural than that a new race, finding this maoriificent

' O O

ruin standing in solitary grandeur on Salisbury Plain, and
able to learn nothing of its origin, should call it simply the
place of stones ? What more unnatural than that they should
do so, if they knew the name of him in whose honour it was

* Giraldus. Topogr. of Ireland.

t Wright's Wanderings of an Antiquary,, ]>. 301.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 127

erected ? The plan also of Stonehenge seems to be a suffi-
cient reason for not referring it to post-Eoman times. It
has, indeed, been urged that if Stonehenge had existed in
the time of Caesar, we should find it mentioned by ancient
writers. Hecataeus, however, does allude to a magnificent
circular temple in the island of the Hyperboreans, over
against Celtica, and many archaeologists have confidently
assumed that this refers to Stonehenge. But why should we
expect to find it described, if it was, as we suppose, even at
that time a ruin, more perfect, no doubt, than at this day,
but still a ruin ? The Caledonian Wall was a most impor-
tant fortification constructed by the Eomans themselves, and
yet, as Dr. Wilson tells us,* only one of the Koman historians
makes the least allusion to its erection, nor is Abury itself
mentioned by any mediaeval author.

It is evident that Stonehenge was at one time a spot of
great sanctity. A glance at the Ordnance map will show
that tumuli cluster in great numbers round and within sight
of it; within a radius of three miles, there are about three
hundred burial mounds, while the rest of the country is com-
paratively free from them. If, then, we could determine the
date of these tumuli, we should be justified, I think, in refer-
ring the Great Temple itself to the same period. ISTow, of
these barrows, Sir Eichard Colt Hoare examined a great
number, 151 of which had not been previously opened. Of
these the great majority contained interments by cremation,
in the manner usual during the Bronze Age. Only two con-
tained any iron weapons, and these were both secondary
interments ; that is to say, the owners of the iron weapons
were not the original occupiers of the tumuli. Of the other
burial mounds, no less than 39 contained objects of bronze,
and one of them, in which were found a spear-head and pin
of bronze, was still more connected with the temple by the
* Pre-historic Ann. of Scot. vol. ii. p. 39.

128 STONEHENGE A MONUMENT OF THE BRONZE AGE.

presence of fragments, not only of Sarcen stones, but also of
the blue stones which form the inner circle at Stonehenge ;
and which do not naturally occur in Wiltshire. Stonehenge
then may, I think, be regarded as a monument of the Bronze
Age, though apparently it was not all erected at one time, the
inner circle of small, unwrought, blue stones being probably
older than the rest ;* as regards Abury, since the stones are
all in their natural condition, while those of Stonehenge are
roughly hewn, it seems reasonable to conclude that Abury is
the older of the two, and belongs either to the close of the
Stone Age, or to the commencement of that of Bronze.

Both Abury and Stonehenge were, I believe, used as tem-
ples. Some of the stone circles, however, have been proved
to be burial-places. In fact, a complete burial-place may be
described as a dolmen, covered by a tumulus, and surrounded
by a stone circle. Often, however, we have only the tumulus,
sometimes only the dolmen, and sometimes again only the
stone circle.

The celebrated monument of Carnac (fig. 138), in Brit-
tany, consists of eleven rows of unhewn stones, which differ
greatly both in size and height, the largest being 22 feet
above ground, while some are quite small. It appears that
the avenues originally extended for several miles, but at
present they are very imperfect, the stones having been

* There are, in fact, four kinds of
stones in Stonehenge. The great
outiT circle and the trilithons are
" Sarcen" stones, that is to say,
they are formed from the sandstone
blocks of the neighbourhood. The
majority of the small pillars forming
the inner circle cnnn^t of an igneous
rock known as Diabase, but four
stones of this series are schistoid,
and resemble some of the Silurian
and Cambrian rocks of North Wales

and Cumberland. Lastly, the so-
called altar stone is grey sandstone,
resembling some of the Devonian
and Cambrian rocks. Maskelvne.

Wilts. Arch. Magazine, Oct. 1877.
It has been said that some Roman
pottery was found under one of the
trilithons at Stonehenge. Mr. Cun-
nington, however, has pointed out
that there is no authority lor this
statement. Wilts. Arch. Mag. Dec.

MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN INDIA.

129

cleared away in places for agricultural improvements. At
present, therefore, there are several detached portions, which,
however, have the same general direction, and appear to have
been connected together. Fig. 138 is from a sketch made by
Sir Joseph Hooker, when we visited Brittany together, in the
spring of 1867.

Most of the great tumuli in Brittany probably belong to
the Stone Age, and I am therefore disposed to regard Carnac
as having been erected during the same period.

FIG. 138.

Carnac.

Megalithic erections, resembling those which are generally,
but without sufficient reason, ascribed to the Druids, are
found in very distant countries. In Moab, De Saulcy ob-
served rude stone avenues, and other monuments, which he
compares to Celtic dolmens. Lieut. Oliver, also, mentions
that the Hovas of Madagascar to this day erect monoliths
and stone tombs closely resembling those of Western
Europe.* Mr. Maurice •(• was, I believe, the first to point
out, that in some parts of India there are various monuments
of stone, which, in the words of Colonel Yule, " recall strongly
those mysterious, solitary, or clustered monuments of un-
known origin, so long the puzzle and delight of antiquaries,

* Trans. Ethn. Soc. 1870, p. 67. t India Antiqua.

130 MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN INDIA.

which abound in our native country, and are seen here and
there in all parts of Europe and Western Asia." * Mr. Fer-
gusson goes farther, and argues with great ingenuity that
the " Buddhist architecture in India, as practised from the
third century B.C. to seventh A.D., is essentially tumular,
circular, and external, thus possessing the three great cha-
racteristics of all the so-called Druidical remains."^ These
resemblances, indeed, are too great to be accidental, and the
differences represent, not so much a difference in style, as in
civilization. " In the most celebrated example in India, that
at Sanchee, the circle consists of roughly squared upright stone
posts, joined at the top by an architrave of the same thickness
as the posts, exactly as at Stonehenge ; the only difference
being the insertion of three stone rails between each of the
uprights, which is a masonic refinement hardly to be expected
among the Celts." In India, then, the circles of stones seem
generally to have surrounded tumuli ; but this is not always
the case, and there are some "which apparently enclose
nothing." Again, they are generally covered with sculpture ;
but to this also there are exceptions, as, for instance, at
Amravati, where there are numberless little circles of rude
unhewn stone, identical with those in this country, but
smaller.

In Europe we know that the stones of Megalithic monu-
ments are almost invariably uncarved.

There is indeed a dolmen, near Confolens in Charente, in
which the upper stone is supported, not on rude stone blocks,
but on four slender columns.! I agree, however, with M.

* Jour, of the Asiat. Soc. of Ben- Wise, ditto, p. 154. Hooker's Hima-

gal, vol. xiii. p. 617. See also Proc. layan Journals. Taylor, Trans. Roy.

Soc. Antiq. Scotland, vol. i. p. 93. Irish Acad. vol. xxiv. etc.

Babington, Trans. Lit. Soc. Bombay, f I.e. p. 212.

1823. Congreve, Madras Jour, of £ Statistique Monumentale de la

Lit. and Science, 1847. Yule, Proc. Charente.
Soc. Ant. Scotland, vol. i. p. 93.

MODERN INDIAN DOLMENS. 131

Eochebrune, that the supports were probably carved at a
period long subsequent to the erection of the monument.*
At Stonehenge the stones are roughly hewn, but at this stage
the Megalithic architecture in Western Europe seems to have
been replaced by a totally different style. In Algeria,-)- on
the contrary, it advanced further ; we there find tumuli of
regular masonry and stone circles, in which the floors are
paved. On the principal stones in one of the stone circles
are letters, the meaning of which, however, is unknown. In
India it reached a still higher stage of development, so that
it requires an observant eye to detect in the rude cromlechs,
stone circles, and tumuli, the prototypes of the highly deco-
rated architecture of the Buddhists.

It is a very remarkable fact, that even to the present day,
some of the hill tribes in India continue to erect menhirs,
cromlechs, and other combinations of gigantic stones, some-
times singly, sometimes in rows, sometimes in circles, in
either case very closely resembling those found in Western
Europe. Among the Khasias,| " the funeral ceremonies are
the only ones of any importance, and are often conducted
with barbaric pomp and expense ; and rude stones of gigantic
proportions are erected as monuments, singly or in rows,
circles, or supporting one another like those of Stonehenge,
which they rival in dimensions and appearance."

An interesting account is given by Dr. Inman, on the
authority of Mr. Greey, of the mode in which these large
blocks of stone are moved. Two long horizontal poles are
placed under the stone pillar, and firmly lashed to it, one at
each end. At intervals of about three feet other poles were
then fastened to the two first, parallel to the stone pillar, so

* Mem. sur les Restes d'mdustrie Province de Constantine, 1863, p.

appartenantaux temps primordiaux 214. See also Letourneux, Ar. f.

dans le Dep. de la Charente. 1866. Anthropolgie, 1868, p. 307.

t Reeueildes Notices etMcmoires J Dr. Hooker's Himalayan Jour.

de la Societe Arclieologi^ue de la vol. ii. p. 276. See also p. 320.

K 2

1 >>•>

J- <J -t

MODERN INDIAN DOLMENS.

that a large number of men could get a firm hand-hold. In
this manner Mr. Greey saw a stone about 30 feet long, 10
feet broad, and weighing about 24 tons, easily moved by
about 600 men.*

The single pillars are sometimes tombstones, sometimes
memorials of important events. Colonel Yule once asked a
native if there were any tradition about one of these pillars,
which is known as Mausmai, i.e. "the stone of the oath."
" There was war," said the man, " between two villages, and
when they made peace, and swore to it, they erected this stone

for a witness""^

FIG. 139.

,-s '•'.•^••fc**^£&-- *• .

\NW

Indian Dolmens.

Sir Joseph Hooker J has called attention to the fact that
the Khasian word for a stone, "Mau," as commonly occurs
in the names of their villages and places, as that of Man,
Maen and Men, does in those of Brittany, Wales, Cornwall,
etc. ; thus Mausmai signifies in Khasia the Stone of Oath, —
Mamloo, the Stone of Salt, — Mouflong, the Grassy Stone,-

* Proceedings Lit, and Soc. of Liverpool, vol. xxx. p. 108.
t Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, vol. i. p. 93.

I Address to the British Association, 1808, p. 7.

MODERN INDIAN DOLMENS.

133

just as in Wales, Penmaenmawr signifies the Hill of the Big
Stone ; while a Menhir is a standing stone, and a Dolmen a
table stone, etc. Those who believe that the use of metal
was introduced into Europe by a race of Indo-European
origin, will find in these facts an interesting confirmation of
their opinion.

How closely these Indian dolmens resemble those of Europe
may be seen by comparing figs. 139 and 140 with 135 and 137.

The Indian dolmens, as shown in the valuable memoirs by
Captain Meadows Taylor* (figs. 139, 140), may truly be said

FIG. 140.

Indian Dolmen.

to be identical with those of Western Europe. He examined
a very considerable number, having obtained particulars of
no less than 2129 dolmens in the district of Bellary, in the
Dekhan, and it is interesting that, as is sometimes the case
in Europe, more than 1100 had an opening in one of the side
stones, perhaps in order to introduce food, perhaps as an exit
for the spirit of the dead. Montperieux figures (pi. xxx.) a
dolmen with a similar hole, in his work on the Caucasus.

Very similar dolmens appear to exist in the United States.
They are described as " constructed of four flat stones — two

* Trans. K Irish Academy, vol. Leslie's valuable work, " The Early
xxiv. p. 329. See also Col. Forbes Races of Scotland."

134 MODES OF BURIAL IN TUMULI.

set on edge forming the sides, a third closing one end, and
a large flat stone placed horizontally on the top ; the other
end being left open."*

Schoolcraft also mentions that in the United States the
Eedskins very frequently left an opening in the grave cover
for the same purpose.-f-

Archseolosnsts are divided as to whether dolmens were in

all cases originally covered over with earth. Mr. Fergusson
denies this, while it has been ably maintained by Mr. Lukis.
It must, I think, be admitted that some of the cases relied
on by Mr. Fergusson must be abandoned ; nevertheless, I am
disposed to believe that in some instances the dolmen was left
uncovered.

The majority of these dolmen were no doubt sepulchral.
Some, however, were very probably shrines, erected in honour
of a god, not of a man. Mr. Walhouse, in an interesting
paper on non-sepulchral rude stone monuments,! describes a
dolmen consisting of back and side slabs set on edge, observed
by him on the table-land of Mysore, and which was a temple
to Hanuman, containing a rude image of the god, with a few
flowers strewn before it. Subsequently he found there temple
dolmens in common use by the Malayalies, a Tamil race
inhabiting the Shiarai Hills.

We must not, however, attribute too much importance to
the similarity existing between the megalithic erections in
various parts of the world. Give any child a box of bricks,
and it will immediately build dolmens, cromlechs, and " tri-
lithons," like those of Stonehenge, so that the construction
of these remarkable monuments may be regarded as another
illustration of the curious similarity existing between the
child and the savage.

* Jones, Antiquities of the South- t Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes,
ern Indians, p. 216. Bartram'? pt. i. p. 33.
Travels, p. 370. t Jour. Anthr. lust. Aug. 1877.

MODES OF BURIAL IN TUMULI. 135

Tumuli or barrows are much more numerous and more
widely distributed than stone circles. No doubt the great
majority of them are burial mounds, but some also were
erected as memorials, like the "heap of witness" erected
by Laban and Jacob, or the mound heaped up by the Ten
Thousand in their celebrated retreat, when they obtained
their first view of the sea.

The tumuli were generally constructed of materials found
on the spot, the cists, however, and chambers, when present,
being often built of slabs brought from a distance. Generally
the earth, etc., is heaped up without any order, having been,
at any rate in many cases, dug with deer's-horn picks, and
carried to the mound perhaps in baskets. In other cases the
materials are arranged in more or less regular layers.

The size of the tumulus may be taken as a rough indication
of the estimation in which the deceased was held, as James*
also tells us was the case among the North American Indians.
The Scotch Highlanders •(• have a complimentary proverb,
" Curri mi clach er du cuirn," i.e. " I will add a stone to your
cairn ;" and I am informed by Mr. E. Gray that the custom
still exists in the Hebrides, as it does among various savage
and semi-savage races.

The remark made by Schoolcraft as regards the American
Indians is applicable to many savage tribes. " Nothing that
the dead possessed was deemed too valuable to be interred
with the body. The most costly dress, arms, ornaments, and
implements, are deposited in the grave;" which is "placed
in the choicest scenic situations — on some crowning hill or
gentle eminence in a secluded valley." And the North
American Indians are said, even until within the last few
years, to have cherished a friendly feeling for the French,
because, in the time of their supremacy, they had at least

* Expedition to the Rocky Moun- t Wilson, Pre-historic Annals of
tains, vol. ii. p. 2. Scotland, vol. i. p. 86, 2nd ed.

136 CHAMBERED TUMULI.

this one great merit, that they never disturbed the resting-
places of the dead.

Coffins do not appear to have been used during the Stone
Age, though Mr. Greenwell has sometimes found traces of

O ' O

decayed wood, and in one case the side of a grave showed
the impression of a rough board. Such burials, I believe,
generally belong to the Bronze Age. A good example is that
of Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, described by Prof. Williamson,
which, among other relics, contained a small bronze dagger.
The majority of tumuli are mere heaps of earth, or of stones,
covering the bones or ashes of the dead ; in many cases, how-
ever, the mound contains a cist of stones, evidently intended
to protect the remains of the deceased, while in other cases
the dead man was buried in a dolmen, more or less resembling
those represented in figs. 135 — 137, and the whole was then
covered over. Such dolmens, either covered or uncovered,
occur, as already mentioned, in Northern Africa and in India.
Some archaeologists have considered that all dolmens were
originally covered with earth or stones, but I think the evidence
shows that some at least were intentionally left exposed.

Some of the oldest tumuli of Scandinavia are of a different
character. They contain a passage, formed by great blocks
of stone, almost always opening (as do those of Brittany)
towards the south or east — never to the north — and leading
into a large central chamber, round which the dead sit. At
Goldhavn, for instance, in the year 1830, a grave (if so it can
be called) of this kind was opened, and numerous skeletons
were found, sitting on a low seat round the walls, each with
his weapons and ornaments by his side. Now the dwellings
used by Arctic nations — the "winter-houses" of the Esquimaux
and Greenlanders, the "Yourts" of the Siberians — correspond
closely with these " G an ggraben" or "Passage graves." The
Siberian Yurt, for instance, as described by Erman, consists
of a central chamber, sunk a little in the ground, and, in the

THE USE OF TUMULI AS DWELLINGS.

137

absence of great stones, formed of timber, while earth is
heaped up on the roof and against the sides, reducing it to
the form of a mound. The opening is on the south, and a
small hole for a window is sometimes left on the east side.
Instead of glass, a plate of ice is used ; it is at first a foot
thick, and four or five generally last through the winter. The

FIG. 141.

Summer and Winter Dwellings. — Kamskatka.

fire-place is opposite the entrance ; and round the sides of the
room, against the walls, "the floor is raised for a width of
about six feet, and on this elevated part the inmates slept at
night, and sat at work by day."

Captain Cook gives a very similar description of the winter
habitations used by the Tschutski in the extreme north-east
of Asia. They are, he says,* " exactly like a vault, the floor
of which is sunk a little below the surface of the earth,
One of them, which I examined, was of an oval form, about
twenty feet long and twelve or more high. The framing
was composed of wood, and the ribs of whales, disposed in a
judicious manner, and bound together with smaller materials

* Voyages to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii. p. 450. See also vol. iii. p. 374.

138 YURTS AND GAMMES.

of the same sort. Over this framing is laid a covering of
strong coarse grass, and that, again, is covered with earth ;
so that, on the outside, the house looks like a little hillock
supported by a wall of stone three or four feet high, which
is built round the two sides and one end."

" The Aleutian Islanders," says Mr. Dall, " especially in
their winter villages, were used to construct large, half under-
ground habitations, often of extraordinary size. These were
so arranged by internal partitions as to afford shelter to even
as many as one hundred families. No fires were built in the
central undivided portion, which was entered through a hole
in the roof, provided with a notched log by way of ladder. In
the small compartments each family had its own oil lamp,
which, with the closely fitting door of skins, and the heat of
numerous bodies in a very small space, sufficed to keep them
warm. We learn that the bodies, while being prepared for
encasement, as above described, were sometimes kept in the
compartment which they had occupied during life until ready
for deposition elsewhere. We also know from early accounts,
proved true by our own excavations, that the bodies of the
dead, in the compressed position before mentioned, were some-
times placed in the compartment, laid on their sides, and
covered with earth, with which the whole compartment was
filled and then walled up. It is stated that others in the
same yourt continued to occupy their several compartments
after this as usual, a proceeding very different from that of the
majority of the Innuit, who usually abandon at once a house
in which a death has occurred."*

Fig. 141* represents the plan of a Laplander's gamme, or
hut, at Komagfiord, as given by Mr. Brooke.-f- It was built
of sods, supported by a rude framework, and the interstices

* Dall. The Aleutian Islands. t Brooke's Travels in Lapland,
Smithonian Contributions. 1878. p. 318.

HUT-BURIAL AMONG MODERN SAVAGES.

189

were stuffed with moss. The greatest height was 6ft., the
breadth 14ft., the whole length 30ft. A is the door; B, the
passage, 3ft. high, 6ft. broad, and 12ft. in length; C is the
inner door, opening into the gamme, D ; E, the fire-place,

FIG. 141*.

Laplander's Gamme, or Hut.

composed of a few large stones to confine the wood-fire ; F,
an opening in the roof to let out the smoke ; G G are sleep-
ing divisions, which serve also to support the roof; H is a
portion fenced off for the sheep and goats. A comparison
of this hut with the corresponding plan of a tumulus (fig.
143) will show how closely these dwellings appear to agree
with the " Ganggraben :" indeed, it is possible that in some
cases ruined dwellings of this kind have been mistaken for
sepulchral tumuli ;* for some mounds have been examined
which contained broken implements, pottery, ashes, etc., but
no human bones ; in short, numerous indications of life, but
no trace of death. We know, also, that several savage tribes
have a superstitious reluctance to use anything which has
belonged to a dead person, perhaps from fear of irritating his

* The so-called " Pond-barrows" perhaps belong to this class.

140 PICTS' HOUSES.

ghost ; in some cases this applies to bis house, which is either
deserted or used as a grave. Thus, some of the North American
tribes, for instance, the Cherokees and Cbichasaws, buried the
dead under the couch on which he died.* The Indians of
the Amazons also bury their dead under their houses, which,
however, are not therefore abandoned by the living.

Among the New Zealanders, on the contrary, according to
Mr. Taylor, "when the owner died, and was buried in his
house, it was left with all it contained ; the door was tied up
and painted with ochre, to show it was made tapu, and then
no one ever entered it again." •(• In many villages, he says,
nearly half the houses belonged to the dead.

The islanders of Torres Straits also used the ordinary huts
as dead houses. J

Denham§ also states that in the great central African king-
dom of Bornou " every one is buried under the floor of his
own house, without monument or memorial ; and among the
commonalty the house continues occupied as usual, but among
the great there is more refinement, and it is ever afterwards
abandoned." The same is the case with the Dahomans,
Yorubans, Fantees, and other African races. || Other races,
as, for instance, some of the Tibeto-Burman^l" tribes and the
natives of Madagascar ** erect miniature houses over craves.

O ' O

It is still more significant that the Esquimaux themselves
frequently leave the dead in the houses which they occupied
when alive.-f-f Nor can any one compare the plan of a

* Jones, Antiquities of the South- || Barton's Mission to Daliome,

ern Indians, p. 114. vol. ii. p. 2.

t New Zealand and its Inliabi- IT McMahon, Karens of the

tants, p. 101. Golden Chersonese, pp. 91, 318.

t M'Gillivray, Voyage of the ** Sibree, Madagascar and its

Rattlesnake, vol. ii. p. 48. People, pp. 166, 251.

§ Travels in Africa, vol. iv. pp. ft Ross' Arctic Expedition, 1829

55—130. —1833, p. 290.

PICTS' HOUSES. 141

Scandinavian " passage grave," as, for instance, the one repre-
sented in fig. 143, with any drawing (see fig. 141*) of an
Esquimaux snow house, without being struck with the great
similarity existing between them.

Hut burial also occurs among several South American
tribes.

Under these circumstances, without denying that in some
cases these chambered long barrows may have served as
ossuaries, there seems much probability in the view advocated
by Professor Nilsson, the venerable archaeologist of Sweden,
that these "Ganggraben" are a copy, a development, or an
adaptation, of the dwelling-house ; that the ancient inhabi-
tants of Scandinavia, unable to imagine a future altogether
different from the present, or a world quite unlike our own,
showed their respect and affection for the dead by burying
with them those things which in life they had valued most :
with women, their ornaments ; with warriors, their weapons.
They buried the house with its owner, and the grave was
literally the dwelling of the dead. When a great man died,
he was placed on his favourite seat, food and drink were
arranged before him, his weapons were placed by his side,
his house was closed, and the door covered up ; sometimes,
however, to be opened again when his wife or children joined
him in the land of spirits.

It is just possible that the comparative rarity of chambered
tumuli in England and France may be connected with the
greater mildness of the climate, which did not necessitate
the use of underground "winter-houses;" or it may be an
indication of a difference in race. Further investigations
will, doubtless, decide this point. In the mean time we must
remember that the so-called " Picts' Houses" are abundant in
the northern parts of Great Britain. These curious dwellings
are " scarcely distinguishable from the larger tumuli ; but on

142 THE MOUND BUILDERS.

digging into the green mound, it is found to cover a series of
large chambers, built generally with stones of considerable
size, and converging towards the centre, where an opening
appears to have been left for light and ventilation. These
differ little from many of the subterranean weems, excepting
that they are erected on the natural surface of the soil, and
have been buried by means of an artificial mound heaped over
them."*

According to Mr. Bateman, who has recorded the syste-
matic opening of more than four hundred tumuli (a very
large proportion of which were investigated in his presence),
and whose opinion is, therefore, of great value, " the funda-
mental design of them (i.e. the British tumuli), with the
exception of the very few chambered or galleried mounds in
Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Ireland, etc., as New
Grange, Wayland Smith's Cave, Uleybury, and others, and
those of the much later Saxon period, is pretty nearly the
same in most places ; the leading feature of these sepulchral
mounds is, that they enclose either an artless stone vault, or
chamber, or a stone chest, otherwise called a Kistvaen, built
with more or less care ; and, in other cases, a grave cut out
more or less below the natural surface, and lined, if need be,
with stone slabs, in which the body was placed in a perfect
state, or reduced to ashes by fire."-f-

The "long" tumuli of Great Britain resemble, in some
respects, the Scandinavian " Ganggraben," and, like them, in
districts where large blocks of stones occur, contain mega-
lithic chambers, in which the dead were buried and not
burnt. No trace of metal has yet been found in this class
of tumulus ; which therefore probably belongs to the Stone
Age. The skulls found in these tumuli are very long and

* Wilson, I.e. vol. i. p. 161.

t Bateinan, Ten Years' Diggings, p. xi.

LONG BARROWS.

143

FIG. 142.

Long Skull.— Derbyshire.

narrow skulls, which have received from
Dr. Wilson the name of " Kurnbecepha-
lic," or boat-shaped skulls, resembling
the one in fig. 142, which was obtained
by Mr. Bateman from the tumulus
known as " Longlow," near Watton, in
Derbyshire. This tumulus contained
the remains of thirteen individuals,
who had been buried in the usual
contracted position. They were con-
tained in a cist composed of large stones,
and were accompanied with several
worked flints, including three carefully made arrow-heads.
Long skulls are comparatively rare in the round tumuli of
England, while, on the contrary, no round skulls have yet
been met with in the long tumuli, at any rate in Wiltshire and
Gloucestershire : so that the evidence appears to support Dr.
Thurnam's aphorism, Long barrows, long skulls ; round bar-
rows, round skulls.* This conclusion rests on the measure-
ments of 137 skulls, 70 from round barrows and 67 from
long ones, and it must be observed that these are not selected
specimens, but, so far as the long-barrow skulls are concerned,
comprise the whole number which we possess in a sufficiently
perfect condition ; while, as regards the 70 from round tumuli,
Dr. Thurnam has taken the whole number (41) contained in
the Bateman collection, those described in the Crania Brit-
tannica, and all those in his own collection. It is important
to observe, therefore, that in neither case has any selection
been made which could influence the results. Now if we class
those skulls in which the relation of the breadth to the length
is less than 73 to 100 as long heads, or Dolichocephalic, those

* Mem. Anthropological Soc. the same Society), of which Dr.

vol. i. The following facts, how- Thurnam has been so kind as to

ever, are mainly taken from his forward me the proofs,
second paper (in the memoirs of

144 OBJECTS BURIED WITH THE DEAD.

in which it is from 74 — 79 to 100 as medium heads, and
those in which the proportion is 80 or more than 80 to 100
as short heads, or Brachycephalic, we shall have the following
result : —

Total number of Dolichocephalic Orthocephalic Brachycephalic
skulls. 63—73. 74—79. 80—89.

Long barrows . 67 .... 55 .... 12 . . . 0
Eound barrows . 70 .... 0 .... 26 ... 44

Thus there is not a single long head among the 70
specimens from round barrows, nor a single round head
among the 67 specimens from long barrows. So remarkable
a distinction certainly appears to imply a difference of race,
and Dr. Thurnam is disposed to refer the Dolichocephalic
people to the Neolithic Age, the Brachycephalic to that of
Bronze.

The more recent researches of Canon Green well and Dr.
Eolleston confirm these views. They have never found a
round skull in a long barrow. On the other hand, although
Dr. Thurnam found no long skulls in round barrows, yet,
unless the long-headed race were entirely destroyed by the
men with round heads, we should naturally expect that,
though the round heads would preponderate in the later
round barrows, still skulls of the earlier long-headed race
would sometimes occur ; and this we find is really the case.
The women at any rate of the earlier race were probably not
wholly exterminated.

As yet, no bone belonging to any of the extinct mammalia
has been found in a tumulus. Even the reindeer, so far as
our present evidence goes, is entirely wanting. Again, the
stone implements, as already mentioned, are of a character
very different from those used by Palaeolithic men. It is
therefore not surprising to find that the skulls which have
been obtained from tumuli attributed to the Stone Age indi-
cate that Europe was, even at that period, already inhabited

OBJECTS BURIED WITH THE DEAD. 145

by more than one race of men. On the Continent, as in
England, some are brachy cephalic, or short -headed, and
so far resemble those of the Lapps, while others are doli-
chocephalic, or long-headed* (fig. 142). Virchowf- has
published a memoir on the skulls obtained from Danish
tumuli, and contained in the Copenhagen Museum. Omitting
fragmentary specimens, and those belonging to young per-
sons, he has examined 41 skulls referred to the Stone Age,
3 to the Bronze Age, and 5 to the Iron Age, and compared
them with the specimens of Lapp (6), Greenland (5), and
Finn (3) skulls contained in the same collection. On the whole,
these Stone Age skulls are orthocephalic, inclining to bra-
chycephalism ; the Bronze Age and Iron Age specimens are
dolichocephalic, but it must be remarked that it would not
be safe to draw any definite conclusion from so small a number
of specimens ; and that even if the Bronze Age indicates the
immigration of a new race into Western Europe, they would
probably not exterminate the earlier inhabitants, but would
at any rate spare the young women, so that, until we have a
considerable body of evidence, it would be very unsafe to
speculate on the character of the population during the Bronze
Age.

The Gfreenlanders are dolichocephalic, the Lapps and Finns,
on the contrary, brachy cephalic ; but Virchow observes that
if, in this respect, the skulls of the latter resemble the type
of the Danish Stone Age, they differ greatly in height and
breadth, so that no ethnic affinity can be predicated between
them.

In some cases the skulls obtained from one and the same
tumulus differ from one another very considerably. Thus
among those found in the great tumulus at Borreby, in

* Nilsson's Stone Age, English t Ar. fur Anthropologie, 1870,
eel. p. 121. p. 55.

146 OBJECTS BURIED WITH THE DEAD.

Denmark, the breadth, taking the length at 100, varied from
71*8 to 857, or no less than 14 per cent*

The care with which the dead were interred, and the
custom of burying implements with them, have been regarded
by some archaeologists as proving the existence of a belief
in the immortality of the soul, and in a material existence
after death. "That the ancient Briton," says Dr. Wilson,^
" lived in the belief of a future state, and of some doctrine
of probation and of final retribution, is apparent from the
constant deposition beside the dead, not only of weapons,
implements, and personal ornaments, but also of vessels
which may be presumed to have contained food and drink.
That his ideas of a future state were rude and degraded, is
abundantly manifest from the same evidence."

The objects buried with the dead are sometimes numerous,
and always instructive. In a large tumulus, near Everley, a
deposit of burnt bones was " surrounded by a circular wreath
of horns of the red-deer ;" whilst at a higher level, though
three feet from the summit, was the skeleton of a small dog,
the " attendant in the chase, and perhaps the victim in death,"
of the hunter, whose exquisitely chipped arrow-heads, five in
number, were deposited with his ashes." J

But it is very far from being "constantly" the case
that the dead were so well supplied with what we call the
necessaries of life ; indeed, it is quite the exception and not
the rule ; so that if we are to apply the evidence of the
tumuli in this manner, we must, I think, come to a con-
clusion exactly the reverse of that stated by Dr. Wilson.
Thus, out of more than 250 interments described by Sir K.
Colt Hoare in the first volume of his great work on Ancient
Wiltshire, only 18 had any implements of stone, only 31 of
bone, 67 of bronze, and 11 of iron; and while pottery was

* Busk, Vogt's Lectures on Man, t 1. c. vol. i. p. 498.
p. 384. £ Archseologia, 43, p. 536.

THE DEAD FREQUENTLY BURIED WITHOUT ORNAMENTS. 147

present in 107, more than GO of these contained only sepul-
chral urns, intended to receive the ashes of the dead, and
certainly never meant to hold food. So far, however, as
stone implements are concerned, I must confess that Sir E. C.
Hoare appears to have overlooked the ruder instruments and
weapons. I will, therefore, rely principally on the evidence
afforded by the researches of Mr. Bateman and Mr. Greenwell.*

Although a large number of the interments described by
Mr. Bateman had been already examined, there were 297
which had not been previously disturbed, and though he
carefully mentions even the rudest bit of chipped flint, no
less than 100 of these were without any implement at all,
either of stone or metal, and the drinking-vessels and food-
vases were only about 40 in number. Moreover, lest it
should be supposed that these ill-provided interments were
those of poor persons or enemies, we will leave all these out
of consideration. This we can easily do. We may be sure
that these tumuli, which must have required much labour,
were only raised in honour of the rich or great; though
they may have served, and, no doubt, often did serve after-
wards, as burial-places for the poor. But it is almost always
easy to distinguish the primary interment ; for though there
are some few cases in which the original occupant has been
ignorniniously ejected from his grave to make room for a
successor, these instances are rare, and can generally be
detected, while the secondary interments are usually situated
either above the first, or on the sides of the tumulus. The
same feeling which made our ancestors prefer to bury their
dead in a pre-existing tumulus, generally prevented them
from desecrating the earlier interments.

In the following tables, then, I have recorded the primary

* Since the third edition of this prising a number of barrows in
work, Mr. Greenwell has published addition to those mentioned in the
the results of his explorations, com- following table.

148 MODELS OF IMPLEMENTS SOMETIMES BURIED.

interments only ; the first column contains the name of the
tumulus, the succeeding nine indicate the disposition of the
corpse, and the articles found therewith, while the last is
reserved for any special remarks. Out of 139 interments
examined by Mr. Bateman, only 105 had any implements or
weapons, and only 35 were accompanied by any pottery that
can have held either food or drink. Moreover, if we examine
the nature of the implements which were deposited with the
dead, we shall find that they are far from representing com-
plete sets of tools or ornaments. The rarity of bronze in
tombs is, perhaps, not surprising ; but to men so practised as
our predecessors, it must have been an easy matter to make
a rude arrow-head, or a flint flake. Yet some of the corpses
are accompanied by but one single arrow-head, others by a
small flint flake ; some, again, by a single scraper. It must
also be observed that many of the stone objects found by
Mr. Bateman are much ruder than might be supposed from
the names he has given them.

In the table with which Mr. Greenwell has been so good
as to furnish me, and which shows the primary deposits in 102
tumuli examined by him, it will be observed that only thirty
contained any implement, the other 72 being altogether
bare.* There is not a single case in which the corpse was de-
posited in that extended position which seems to us so natural.

Thus, then, there seems to have been no intention of de-
positing with each corpse a complete set of implements. The
barrow on Cronkstone Hill, for instance, contained the
skeleton of a man, with whom had been buried the burnt
bones of some one, probably a slave, or, perhaps, a wife, who
had been sacrificed at his grave, and yet the only implement
found with him was a "circular instrument," probably a

* Mr. Greenwcll's subsequent had implements of stone, 16 of
researches have tended to confirm bronze, and 4 of bone,
tliis. Out of 379 burials, 63 only

MODELS OF IMPLEMENTS SOMETIMES BURIED. 149

flint scraper or a sling-stone. Again, the mound known as
"Cow Low" contained only a bone pin. The affectionate
relatives who heaped up this tumulus would certainly not
have sent their dead sister into the new world with nothing
but a bone pin, if they had thought that the things they
buried with her could be of any use. Even the great tumulus
at Arbor Low contained only a bone pin, a piece of iron
pyrites, a kidney-shaped instrument of flint, and two vases.
It would be easy to multiply illustrations, and it is, I think,
sufficiently evident that the articles found in the graves can-
not seriously be considered as affording any evidence of a
definite belief in a future state of existence, or as having
been intended for the use of the dead in the new world
to which they were going. Moreover, there is a well-marked
speciality in each case, which seems to show that the presence
of these rude implements, far from being the result of a
national belief, are simply the touching evidence of individual
affection.

In some cases, however, the facts certainly seem to indicate
a belief that the dead could carry their wealth with them to
another world. For instance, Mr. Greenwell found in one
barrow* no less than 79 saws, 17 scrapers, 3 leaf -shaped
arrow-points, 2 pointed tools (probably for boring), several
flint articles of uncertain purpose, a hammer -stone, and a
piece of a greenstone axe. Many of the saws were very
delicately serrated, some along both edges, and showing by
the glaze upon the edge that they had been in use. The
number of saws in this case far exceeded the aggregate of
those obtained from all the barrows he had opened ; and
though, as he says, "it is by no means easy to give any
reasonable explanation of the phenomenon," I would venture
to suggest that they were regarded as wealth ; in fact as a
form of money, which would enable their owner to purchase
what he might require.

* British Barrows, p. 262.

150

TABULATED INTEEMEXTS.

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Small barrow.

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Horses' teeth.
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Head of a bull. Large barrow.

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earth above the interment.
Part of a vase.

Two skeletons of young men.

Surrounded by sandstones. Two small
pieces of pottery.

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Twenty -eight convex objects
like button moulds.

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brooch and necklace of amber,
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154

TABULATED INTERMENTS.

REMARKS.

The deposit of bones three feet above the
natural surface.
The deposit of bones four feet above the
natural surface.
Upon the natural surface.

Deposit of bones upon the natural surf ace.
Deposit of bones upon the natural surface.

Upon the natural surface.

Deposit of bones upon the natural surface.
Square trench around the base of the
barrow.
On the natural surface.
The urns on the natural surface, and
surrounded by a circle of stones, set on
edge, four feet in diameter.

On t.Tio nnfnrnl cmrf«i<>£»

On the natural surface.

Two shoulder blades of a boar in the
grave.

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TABULATED INTERMENTS.

155

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o o _J r „

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c ,a .2 3 £••
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o ,2 a +3

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156

TABULATED INTERMENTS.

M
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o 'S STnS^- A ^5-c;':S 'Scj-*^**' S^oS"55rt S £«
^ B^GSaJ™2' .2 § ® 2-043 S^S^^Jjg^^o

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a > >

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Cj O 'rt'wO''-i Ort fn v}\ ' S-i En —^n ^-"Tr'-rrCS ' '

£ o ' K S a> ' Jq O?H a>eo-o«« ® w o oo ® =t ^ ^

O ft OOft CO ftO K" K* »> r» r> O G

OBJECTS OF

POTTERY.

• • • • •

1 : ll : :| : : : g : : : : : : : g : : :

• 'rnji^^

't-l "^ ^ n

o a> ^ s ^

. . . .

= 5-5^43

BRONZE.

J5 • • .

• • • 73

• b_D

i : • o

!•= l| -s

£, ^ M

S'^1 r-r< G O C

. ™ (D ^ . ! ! ! ! ^ ;C •

fi 83-^ ^ -^

BONE.

•«,_, c •

"2 ^'o' o 03 a> 3

^ S 43 —I •*•" ^ ^_c
^ ~ — ' 3; . .QO4J . .. . . . . .

'cs

f- -G
0 ^

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C-J £^ CS CS O

STONE.

• •

Perforated axe, a round
Bcrapeiof flint, andaflake

Two Hint chippings

p o

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a> ^
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^H Cv O

**-* "" tf **"•*" " •""' . . •
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W h^W O

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TABULATED INTERMENTS.

157

c a

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Urns amongst

ral surface.

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158 BARROAVS BELONG TO VERY DIFFERENT PERIODS.

In some few cases, again, small models of weapons have
been found, in lieu of the weapons themselves. In modern
Esquimaux graves, small models of kajaks, spears, etc., are
sometimes buried, and a similar fact has been observed in
Egyptian tombs. Mr. Franks informs me that much of
the jewellery found in Etruscan tombs is so thin that it can
scarcely have been intended for wear during life. In Japan
those who are entitled to wear swords during life have
wooden ones placed in their graves, as insignia of rank ; and
it has long been the custom in China to burn paper cuttings,
or drawings, of horses, money, etc., under the belief that
the objects so represented will be actually possessed by the
deceased.*

We must always bear in mind that the ancient tumuli do
not all belong to one period, nor to one race of men. No
tumuli belonging to the Palaeolithic period have yet been
discovered, but this mode of burial appears to have existed in
Northern and Western Europe from the Neolithic, or second
Stone period, down to the introduction of Christianity.
Indeed it was the examination of the tumuli which first
induced Sir R Colt Hoare, and other archasologists, to adopt
for Northern Europe the division into three great periods.

So far, however, as the barrows themselves are concerned,
(though the passage-graves and long barrows seem always
to belong to the Stone Age), we are not acquainted with any
external differences by which the tumuli of the Stone, Bronze,
and Iron Ages can, with certainty, be distinguished from
one another. The contents of the graves are more instructive,
though it would of course be unsafe to conclude that a given
tumulus belongs to the Stone Age, because it contained
one or two implements made of that material. We know
that stone was extensively used throughout the Bronze Age ;
and, indeed, out of 37 tumuli in which Mr. Bateman found

* See, for instance, Marco Polo's Travels, Edin. 1846, pp. 248—260.

BARROWS BELONG TO VERY DIFFERENT PERIODS. 159

objects made of bronze, no less than 29 contained also stone
implements, many of which, moreover, were extremely rude.

There are also cases in which it is evident that flint imple-
ments were deposited in graves rather in deference to ancient
customs, than because they were still in every-day use. Thus
in the tumulus known as Kouloba, or " Hill of Cinders,"
near Kertch, a heap of sharp flints was found. This tumulus
was of considerable size, and contained the remains of a
chief, his wife, servant, and horse. He wore a cap orna-
mented with plates of gold, a gold enamelled necklace, and
gold bracelets. His sword was of iron, the handle covered
with leaves of gold embossed with figures of hares and foxes.
His shield was also of gold, covered with heads of Medusa,
etc. An electrum plate, which had formed part of a quiver,
was also ornamented with figures of animals, such as a tiger
seizing a goat, and a deer attacked by a griffin. Above the
tail of the tiger was written Tropvayo- Statuettes, bronze
cauldrons, and many other things were deposited around.

The queen was also richly ornamented. The tumulus con-
tained also a diadem of gold ; a necklace of gold filagree, to
which were suspended small bottles of fine gold ; medallions
of green and blue enamel ; a magnificent vase in electrum ;
two gold bracelets; and six knives with ivory handles, besides
many other gold ornaments. Many of these objects were
ornamented with beautiful figures of animals. A mitre, for
instance, had a plate of electrum, on which were represented
four women in Greek costume, sitting in the midst of gar-
lands of lotuses, the stalks of which served as seats and
backs. The plate was attached to the mitre by four masks
of lions, and the bottom of the mitre was bordered by a
diadem of gold, adorned by small enamelled rosettes. In the
same tumulus, under this tomb, was a second still richer one,
from which no less than 120 pounds- weight of gold jewellery
are said to have been taken.

160

DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING THE PERIOD

In such a tumulus as this, flint flakes could evidently have
but a symbolical meaning.*

Evidently, therefore, the mere presence of a few implements
of stone is in itself no sufficient reason for referring any
given interment to the Stone Age. The following tabular
statement of 297 interments, recorded by Mr. Bateman, will,
however, I think, be found interesting : —

Implements.

CORPSE.

Total.

Contracted.

Burnt.

Extended.

Position
Uncertain.

None

27
53
15

63
48
10
3

2
5

7
31
7

100
134
37
26

Stone

Bronze

Iron

Total

97 124

297

These interments are all from the counties of Derby, Stafford,
and York. In his work on ancient Wiltshire, Sir E. C. Hoare
records the examination of 267 interments, which may be
tabulated in a similar manner, as follows : —

Implements.

CORPSE.

Total.

Contracted.

Burnt.

Extended.

Position
Uncertain.

None

2
4

160
5
49

3
1

2
7

1
8
4

184
9
63
11

Stone

Bronze

Iron

Total

214

267

We see that in this latter table nearly all the cases of
bronze were in interments preceded by cremation, and the
same is the case in the Yorkshire tumuli examined by Mr.
Greenwell. As regards the Salisbury Plain tumuli, I am
disposed to regard the great majority as belonging to the

* Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. xiii.

TO WHICH A TUMULUS BELONGS.

161

Bronze Age. No less than 270 cluster round Stonehenge,
and it seems most probable that the dead were brought from
a distance to lie near the great temple. In this case the great
majority of the tumuli belong, therefore, to one period, that,
namely, at which the temple was held sacred. Some few,
indeed, may be referable to earlier or later times, but as out
of 152 of these interments which were examined by Sir E. C.
Hoare, no less than 39 contained objects of bronze, I am
disposed to regard the whole group as belonging to the Bronze
period. Now in these 152 cases the corpse was contracted
in four only, and extended in three. In 16 the disposition of
the corpse was not ascertained, and in no less than 129 it
had been burnt.

If we combine the observations of Sir E. C. Hoare and
Mr. Bateman, we shall obtain the following table : —

Implements.

CORPSE.

Total.

Contracted.

Burnt.

Extended.

Position
Uncertain.

None

36
55
19

223
53
59
3

6
3
7
21

19
32
15
11

284
143
100
37

Stone

Bronze

Iron

Total

112

338

564

Some few of these interments were no doubt Anglo-Saxon ;
if these had been eliminated the argument would have
appeared still stronger ; but taking them as they are, out of
37 graves containing iron weapons or implements, the corpse
was certainly extended in 21 cases, and probably so in several
others ; while, out of no less than 527 cases in which iron
was not present, the corpse was extended only in 16, the
proportion being at least ^ths in one case, and only ^rd in
the other. On the whole we may certainly conclude that this
mode of burial was introduced at about the same period as
the use of iron.

162 DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING THE PERIOD

As regards the habit of burning the dead, the evidence is
less conclusive. Out of 100 cases, indeed, of graves charac-
terized by the presence of bronze, the corpse appears to have
been buried in a contracted posture 19 times only ; in an
extended position, only seven times. It would seem, there-
fore, that during the Bronze Age the dead were generally
burnt. It is also true that there are many cases in which
interments by cremation, if I may use such an expression,
contain no weapons or objects of bronze. We know, however,
that this metal must always have been expensive, and it is
not unreasonable to suppose that many, at any rate, of these
interments may belong to the Bronze Age, although no objects
of metal occurred in them.

There can be no doubt that in the Neolithic Stone Age
it was usual to bury the corpse in a sitting or contracted
posture ; and, indeed, it appears probable, although far from
being satisfactorily established, that in Western Europe this
attitude generally indicates an interment of the Stone Age ;
while those cases in which the skeleton was extended may be
referred, with little hesitation, to the Age of Iron. At the
same time it must be admitted that the evidence is very far
from conclusive; and we must remember that in AuHo-Saxon

' o

times the dead were burned by some tribes, and buried by
others.

But although the presence of a few flint flakes, or other
stone implements, is certainly no sufficient reason for refer-
ring any given tumulus to the Stone Age, the case is different
where a large number of objects have been found together;
for instance, I have in my collection a group of stone imple-
ments consisting of 14 beautifully made axes, wedges, chisels,
spear-heads, etc., and more than 60 capital flakes, which were
all found together in one of the large Danish sepulchral
chambers, on the island of Moen, and have been described

TO WHICH A TUMULUS BELONGS.

163

by M. Boye.* The tumulus had a circumference of 140 ells,
and a height of about eight ells. It is probable that it had
been surrounded by a circle of stones, for M. Jensen, the
owner, remembered that, many years before, the northern
side had been surrounded by a row of stones standing close
together. None of them, however, at present remain. Un-
fortunately M. Boye was not present when they began to
remove the tumulus ; still he thinks that the account given
to him may be relied on with safety. M. Jensen began to
dig on the east side of the tumulus, and the first thing which
he came to was a jar, which he unfortunately broke. It con-
tained burnt bones and a bronze pin, the head of which was
ornamented with concentric lines. Towards the S.S.E. was
found a cist, about an ell long, and formed of flat stones. In
it were burnt bones, a bent knife, and a pair of pincers two
inches in length ; both these objects were of bronze. Not far
from this cist was another urn, containing burnt bones, with

FIG. 143.

Plan of the Chamber in a Danish Tumulus in Moen.
* Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1858, p. 202.

M 2

164 DANISH TUMULUS

several objects of bronze, namely, a knife four inches in length,
part of a small symbolical sword, and two fragments of an
awl. It is evident that these three interments belonged to
the Bronze Age, and also that they were secondary, that is
to say, that they belonged to a later date than the original
sepulchral chamber, over which the tumulus had been made.
The sepulchral chamber itself (fig. 143) lay north and south,
was of an oval form, about eight and a half ells in length,
and twenty and a half in circumference, and about two and a
half in height. The walls consisted of twelve very large,
unhewn stones, which, however, did not in most cases touch
one another, but left intervals which were filled up by smaller
stones. The roof was formed by five great blocks, the spaces
between them, being filled up by smaller ones. The passage,
which was on the east side, was five ells long and one ell
broad, and was formed by eleven side stones and three roof
stones. At the place (a) was, on each side, a smaller stone,
which, in conjunction with another on the floor between them,
formed a sort of threshold, probably indicating the place where
the door stood. Similar traces of a doorway have been found
in other Danish tumuli, and may, perhaps, be taken as evidence
that the mounds had been used previously as houses ; at the
time of the interment the construction of a door would have
been simply purposeless, the passage leading to it being filled
up with rubbish. The chamber was filled up with mould to
within half an ell of the roof. About the middle, not far from
the bottom, a skeleton, perhaps of a sacrificed slave, was
extended (at 5), with the head towards the north. On the
south side (at c and cl) occurred two crania, each of which lay
on a quantity of bones, indicating that the corpses had been
buried in a sitting posture. At (e) was a similar skeleton,
close to which were three amber beads, a beautiful flint axe,
which did not seem to have been ever used, a small unfinished
chisel, and some fragments of pottery, ornamented with points

IN THE ISLAND OF MOEN.

1G5

and lines. At (/) was another skeleton, in a similar position,

with a flint flake, an amber bead, and some fragments of

pottery. Figs. 144, 145, represent one of the skulls from this

FIG. 144. FIG. 145.

Skull from a Danish Tumulus at Moen.

stone chamber. Several other skeletons were found sitting
round the side walls, but they had unluckily been removed
and thrown away before the arrival of M. Boye. With them
were at least 20 different jars or urns, all of them inverted,
and prettily decorated with points and lines.

Besides these objects, the earth in the chamber contained
five flint spear-heads, a fragment of a flint spear which had
been broken and worked up again, two small flint chisels,
53 flint flakes, varying from three to five and a half inches in
length; 19 perfect, and 31 broken, amber beads, of which
the greater number were hammer-like, the rest tubular or
ring-shaped. The passage was filled up by earth, mixed with
fragments of pottery, and small stones. About the middle
was a skeleton, with the head towards the east, at the side
of which were five flakes and an amber bead. Close to the
feet was a jar, unornamented, and much ruder than those
found in the chamber itself. Not the smallest fragment of
metal was found either in the chamber or in the passage.

Again, as a second case of the same sort, I may mention

166

DANISH CHAMBERED TUMULUS.

the Long Barrow (fig. 146) near West Kennet, in Wiltshire,
described by Dr. Tlmrnam.* The tumulus in this case is

FIG. 146.

View in the Chamber looking through the entrance.

33 G feet in length, 40 feet wide at the west end, and 75 feet
at the east, with a height of eight feet. The walls of the
chamber are formed by six great blocks of stone, and it opens
into a passage, so that the ground plan very closely resembles
that of the tumulus just described, and, in fact, of the "Passage
graves" generally. The chamber and entrance were nearly
filled with chalk rubble, containing also bones of animals,
Hint implements (figs. 147- -150), and fragments of pottery.

* Archseologia, vol. xxxviii. p. 405.

DESCRIPTION OF A BARROW AT WEST KEXNET.

167

In the chamber were four skeletons, two of which appear to
have been buried in a sitting posture. In different parts of

FIG. 147. FIG. 148. FIG. 149.

FIG. 150.

Flint Implements from the Tumulus at West Kennet.

the chamber were found nearly 300 flakes, three or four flint
cores, a whetstone, a scraper, part of a bone pin, a bead of
Kimmeridge shale, and several heaps of fragments of pottery
(figs. 151 — 156) belonging apparently to no less than 50 dif-
ferent vessels, and all made by hand, with one doubtful excep-
tion. No trace of metal was discovered. The two pieces
(figs. 155, 156) were found apart from the rest, and may,
perhaps, be of later origin.

The large tumuli of Brittany, most of which have recently
been opened, have afforded several other instances of the
same kind. Thus the great Mont St. Michel, at Carnac,
which is no less than 380 feet in length, and 190 feet broad,

168

POTTERY FROM THE WEST KENNET TUMULUS.

with an average height of 33 feet, was found to contain a
square chamber, in which were eleven beautiful jade celts,
two large rough celts, and twenty -six small fibrolite celts,

FIG. 151.

FIG. 152.

FIG. 153.

FIG. 154.

Pottery from the Turrmlus at West Rennet.

besides 110 beads, mostly of callais, and some fragments of
flint.* Again, the chamber in the tumulus called Manne-er-

* Eapport «\ M. Le. Prefet du St. Michel. Par M. Rene Galles.
Morbilian sur les fouilles du Mont 1862.

BRETON TUMULI. 169

H'roek contained a hundred and three stone axes, three flint
flakes, and fifty beads of callais, jasper, quartz, and agate, but
neither of these great tumuli contained a trace of metal.*

FIG. 155. FIG. 156.

Pottery from the Tumulus at West Kennet,

Other similar cases might be mentioned, f in which tumuli
of large size, covering a sepulchral chamber, constructed with
great labour, and evidently intended for a person or persons
of high rank, have contained numerous objects of stone and
pottery, without a trace of metal.

It appears reasonable to conclude that these interments
belong to the ante-metallic period ; especially when, as in the
first -mentioned case, we find several secondaiy interments,
plainly belonging to a later age, and although presenting no
such indications of high rank, still accompanied by objects of
bronze.

It may seem at first sight very improbable that works so
considerable should have been undertaken and carried out
by nations entirely ignorant of metal. The burial mound of
Oberea, in Otaheiti, was nevertheless two hundred and sixty-
seven feet long, eighty-seven wide, and forty-four in height.

* Manne-er-H'roeck. Rapport a t See, for instance, Lukis, Archie -
la Societe Polymathique. Par M. ologia, vol. xxxv. p. 247.
Lefebvre et M. Rene Galles. 1863.

170 BRETON TUMULI.

And in treating of modern savages, I shall hereafter have
occasion to notice other instances quite as extraordinary.

The practice of burying in old tumuli, which continued
even clown to the times of Charlemagne,* has led to some
confusion, because objects of very different date are thus
liable to be described as coming from one grave ; yet, on the
other hand, it is very instructive, as there are several cases on
record, besides the one above mentioned, of interments cha-
racterized by bronze being found above, and being, therefore,
evidently subsequent to others, accompanied by stone only.-f-

On the whole, however, though it is evident that the objects
most frequently buried with the dead would be those most
generally used by the living, and though the prevalence of
stone implements proves the important part played by stone
in ancient times, and goes far to justify the belief in a Stone
Age ; still, the evidence to be brought forward on this point
in the following chapters will, probably, to many minds seem
more satisfactory ; and, at any rate, we must admit that in
the present state of our knowledge, there are comparatively
few interments which we could, with confidence, refer to the
Neolithic Stone Age, however firmly we may believe that a
great many of them must belong to it.

Mr. Bateman has proposed to range the pottery found in
ancient British tumuli under four different heads, namely,
1, Urns ; 2, Incense Cups ; 3, Food Vases ; 4, Drinking Cups.
The urns generally accompany interments by cremation, and
have either contained or been inverted over burnt human
bones. They are generally of large size, " from ten to sixteen
inches high, with a deep border, more or less decorated by

* One of his regulations ran as

follows: — "Jubenius ut corpora f See, for instance, Von Sacken,
ChristianorumSaxonorumadcerne- Leitfaden zur Kunde des heidnis-
teria ecclesiae deferantur, et non ad chen Alterthmnes, p. 15.
tumulos paganorum."

SEPULCHEAL POTTERY.

171

impressions of twisted thongs, and incised patterns 'in which
the chevron or herring-bone constantly recurs in various com-
binations, occasionally relieved FIG. 157.
by circular punctures, or assum-
ing a reticulated appearance.
They are all made by hand,
no trace of the potter's-wheel
being ever found on them.
They almost invariably have
an overhanging rim. The ma-
terial of which they are formed
is clay mixed with pebbles,
and some of them have been
described as " sun-dried." This,
however, appears to be alto-
gether a mistake, arising from
the imperfect manner in which sepulchral urn.
they were burnt. In colour they are generally brown or
burnt umber outside and black inside. Fig. 157 represents
a specimen from Flaxdale Barrow, in Derbyshire.

FIG. 158.

FIG. 159.

Vessels from a Tumulus at Arbor Low.

Secondly, the " incense cups," so called by Sir R Colt Hoare.
They differ very much in shape, and are seldom more than
three inches high. When decorated the patterns are the same
as those on the urns, and are usually on the under surface, but

172

URNS. FOOD VASES. "INCENSE CUPS.'

FIG. 160.

they are often left plain. They are often pierced. " Incense
cups" have been found throughout Great Britain, and also in

Ireland. Their use seems to me
still very doubtful. They have
in several cases been found with
bronze. " The third division
includes vessels of every style
of ornament, from the rudest to
the most elaborate, but nearly
alike in size, and more difficult
to assign to a determinate period
than any other, from the fact
of a coarse and a well-finished
one having several times been
found in company." The above
wood-cuts (figs. 158,159) repre-
sent two vessels found in a
barrow on the circle at Arbor
Low, in Derbyshire.
Fourthly, "The drinking cups (fig. 160) are generally from
six and a half to nine inches high, of a tall shape, contracted
in the middle, globular below, and expanding at the mouth :
they are carefully formed by hand, of fine clay, tempered
with sharp sand, and well -baked; the walls are thin, ave-
raging about three -eighth of an inch, light brown outside
and grey within." They have not yet been found in Ireland.
They are generally much ornamented, and usually accompany
well-made flint implements and unburnt bodies. Mr. Bate-
man considered that the greater number belong to the ante-
metallic period, but they have so often been found in associa-
tion with bronze, that I think we may safely refer them to
the Bronze Age.

The Domestic Pottery of the period is not so well known
to us, but some has been found in caves, and on the site of

Drinking Cup.

DRINKING CUPS. 173

ancient dwelling-places. It is formed of the same material
as that found in the tumuli, but is of different and plainer
forms, and generally entirely without ornament. The pottery
of the pre-Eoman tumuli is very distinctive, and differs in
material, form, colour, and mode of decoration, both from that
of the Eoman and of the Anglo-Saxon periods. It is, I believe
I may say invariably, hand-made; and is never artificially
coloured.

Numerous as are the varieties of pottery found in ante-
Eoman tumuli, they appear (so far, at any rate, as those
discovered by Mr. Bateman are concerned) to have been all
made by hand, without any assistance from the potter's wheel;
they are formed of clay tempered with sand, and often with
pebbles ; they very rarely have handles, and spouts seem to
have been unknown ; the ornaments consist of straight lines,
dots, or marks, as if a cord had been impressed on the soft
clay; circular or curved lines are rare, nor is there the slightest
attempt to copy any animal or plant. In some cases it is
obvious that woven fabrics have been impressed on the clay
while still soft, and we thus obtain proof of the existence of
pre-historic textile fabrics, the actual specimens of which have
long ceased to exist.*

As a general rule the megalithic monuments are constructed
of rough stones neither hewn nor ornamented. Lately, how-
ever, several instances of engravings have been observed. In
the north of England and in Scotland these generally take
the form of cups, spirals, circles with a dot in the middle, or
incomplete circles with a dot in the middle, or incomplete
circles with a line running from the centre through the
interval, as in fig. IGl.-f- We have as yet no satisfactory

* See, for instance, Holmes, Rep. Sculpturings of Cups and Concen-

of U. S. Bur. of Ethnology, 1881. trie Rings, etc. Proc. S. of Anti-

f See Tate on the Sculptured quaries of Scotland, vol. vi. 1867.

Rocks of Northumberland, 1865. The monuments described by Mr.

Sir J. Y. Simpson on Ancient Stuart, in his great work on the

174

ROCK SCULPTURES.

clue to the meaning of these engravings, many of which have
been figured by Mr. Tate and Sir J. Y. Simpson. They occur

FIG. 161.

Rock Sculptui-es. — Scotland.

in evident association with ancient oppida and fortifications,
as well as on menhirs, and on the stones composing dolmens
and cromlechs. Fig. 161 represents a characteristic group on
a rock at Auchnabreach in Argyllshire. The surface of the
rock is well adapted to receive such sculpturings, having
been smoothed and prepared by glacial action.

Similar sculpturings have been found in Ireland, where
also the great tumuli on the Boyne afford instances of more
elaborate ornamentation. The great stone at the entrance of

Sculptured Stones of Scotland, be- in Spain, see Don M. de Gongora

long to a much later period, and y Martinez, Antigiiedades Prehis-

scarcely fall within the scope of the toricas de Andalucia.
present work. For rock carvings

BONES OF ANIMALS IN TUMULI. 175

New Grange, for instance, is covered with double spirals, and
those forming the central chamber are also covered with circles,
spirals, and other patterns, one of the most remarkable being
that of a so-called fern leaf, which occurs also in Brittany
and in the so-called temple of Hagiar Kern, in Malta. Mr.
Conwell has recently discovered an extensive series of inte-
resting sepulchral sculptures in the county of Meath. With
the exception of the " fern leaf," all these archaic sculpturings
in Great Britain are mere geometrical figures. The same
figures also occur in Brittany, accompanied, however, by
frequent representations of stone axes, both with and without
handles.

The rock sculptures of Scandinavia present a still further
advance, many of them being rude representations of boats,
much like those on some of the bronze knives (figs. 42 — 45).

The most remarkable monument of this kind, however, is
that of Kivik in Scania, close to the shore of the Baltic.

Cup markings also occur among the Kumaon Hills in
Hindostan. Mr. Eivett Carnac has suggested that they are
connected with Lingam worship ; the central mark repre-
senting the Lingam, the circle the Yoni. The rich, he sup-
poses, put up a monument, the poor merely carved the symbol.

The remains of other mammals found with ancient human
relics have acquired increased interest, since the admirable
researches of the Danish and Swiss zoologico-archseologists,
and especially of Steenstrup and Elitimeyer, by whose skilful
cross-examination much valuable and unexpected evidence
has been elicited, from materials of most unpromising appear-
ance. Unfortunately the non-human remains found in tumuli
are usually in a very fragmentary condition. No remains of
any extinct animal have as yet been found in the tumuli of
Western Europe. Even the reindeer is altogether absent. The
deer and ox are most frequent. The latter was certainly
domesticated in Switzerland as early as the Neolithic period.

176 SEPULCHRAL FEASTS. SACRIFICES.

Whether this was the case in Northern Europe, though pro-
bable, is still uncertain. Some archaeologists believe the dog
to have been at that period the only animal domesticated ;
others, on the contrary, consider the cow, sheep, pig, and goat,
if not the horse, to have been at that early period domesticated
in the North. In the contents of British barrows, bones of
these animals have been frequently observed ; and it would
appear from the researches of Mr. Greenwell that most of
them belonged to domesticated animals.*

Eemains of the horse are very rare in English barrows,
and I know no well authenticated case of their occurrence in
a long barrow. I have thought, therefore, that it might be of
interest to point out the class of graves in which bones or
teeth of horses were found. In Mr. Bateman's valuable works
there are, altogether, twenty-eight cases ; but of these, nine
were in tumuli which had been previously opened, and in
one case no body was found. Of the remaining eighteen, five
were tumuli containing iron, and seven were accompanied
with bronze. In one more case, that of the "LirTs," it is
doubtful whether the barrow had not been disturbed. Of the
remaining six tumuli, two contained beautiful drinking vessels,
of a very well marked type, certainly in use during the Bronze
Age, if not peculiar to it; and in both these instances, as well
as in a third, the interment was accompanied by burnt human
bones, suggestive of dreadful rites. Even, however, if these
cases cannot be referred to the Bronze Age, we still see that
out of the two hundred and ninety-seven interments only
sixty-three contained metal, or about twenty-one per cent. ;
while out of the eighteen cases of horses' remains, twelve, or
about sixty-six per cent., certainly belong to the metallic
period. This seems to "be primd facie evidence that the horse
was very rare, if not altogether unknown, in England during
the Stone Age. Both the horse and bull appear to have been

* Greenwell. British Barrows.

FEE-HISTORIC RACES OF MEX. 177

sacrificed at graves during later times, and probably formed
part of the funeral feast. The teeth of oxen are so common
in tumuli, that they are even said by Mr. Bateman to be
" uniformly found with the more ancient interments."

The very frequent presence of the bones of quadrupeds in
tumuli appears to show that sepulchral feasts were generally
held in honour of the dead, and the numerous cases in which
interments were accompanied by burnt human bones tend to
prove the prevalence of still more dreadful customs, and that
not only horses* and dogs, but slaves also, were frequently
sacrificed at their masters' graves ; it is not improbable that
wives often were burnt with their husbands, as in India, and
among many savage tribes. For instance, among the Fijis
it is usual on the death of a chief to sacrifice a certain number
of slaves, whose bodies "are called 'grass' for bedding" the
grave.f " It is probable," says Mr. Bateman, " that the critical
examination of all deposits of burnt bones would lead to much
curious information respecting the statistics of suttee and
infanticide, both which abominations we are unwillingly com-
pelled, by accumulated evidence, to believe were practised in
pagan Britain." From the numerous cases in which the bones
of an infant and a woman have been found together in one
grave, it would seem that if any woman died in childbirth, or
while nursing, the baby was buried alive with her, as is still
the practice among some of the Esquimaux families. It is,
however, an interesting fact, and throws some light on the
social relations of the times, that there are several cases in
which a barrow even of considerable size has been erected
over the remains of an infant, the favourite child, we may
suppose, of some powerful chief.

* Even so lately as in 1871, t Manners and Customs of the

Frederick Casimir was laid in his Feegees, by T. "Williams, 1860,

grave with his slaughtered horse. vol. i. p. 189.
Hora3 feral es, p. 66.

178 PRE- HISTORIC RACES OF MEN.

No traces of Corn have yet been observed in any of our
Neolithic barrows.

These conclusions, however, cannot be extended to Europe.
In Switzerland, for instance, as far as our present evidence
goes, though it is far from being so full as that derived from
English sources, the introduction of bronze does not appear to
have been accompanied by any change of race. In Scandi-
navia, again, we have two classes of barrows corresponding to
those of this country. But though the Scandinavian long
barrows so remarkably resemble those of England, they were
erected by a very different race ; that of the English long
barrows being long-headed, while the constructors of the
Scandinavian chambered barrows were, on the contrary, almost
always round-headed. It is curious that in some barrows no
trace of a burial has been found. Some archaeologists suppose
that in these cases the body was buried without any vase,
ornament, or implement, and that it has wholly disappeared.
I should, however, rather be disposed to regard them as
memorial barrows. The common people were no doubt
interred without barrows.

On the whole, then, the tumuli of Northern Europe appear
to range in point of time from the Neolithic down to post-
Eoman times. Since, however, they never contain remains
of the extinct mammalia, nor even of the reindeer, and as no
implements of the Palaeolithic type have ever been discovered
in them, we cannot refer any of them to the earlier Stone
Age. So far as England is concerned, the ante-Eoman barrows
appear to fall into two great groups — the long barrows and
the round barrows. The long barrows are apparently the
earlier and belong exclusively to the Stone Age, as they also
do in Scandinavia. They contain no metal, but little pottery,
and were constructed by a long-headed race. Professor Eolles-
ton has called attention to the remarkable character afforded
by the lower jaw; the tumid horizontal segment corresponding

rilE-HISTOPJC RACES OF MEN. IT'1

to its molar teeth, the wide ramus, short coronoid process,
feeble chin, and rounded, often inwardly bent, angle. It is
true that similar lower jaws occur among the Bushmen, Tas-
manians, Melanesians and other low races, but Professor
Rolleston affirms* that amongst Eskimos only do we find such
jaws combined with the widely open orbit and vertically elon-
gated nasal cavity so characteristic of the long barrow race.

The round barrows belong in many cases to the Bronze
Age. The presence of metal, the forms of some of the stone
implements, as, for instance, the tanged arrow-heads and the
pierced stone axes, as well as the character of the pottery,
justify the conclusion that they belong to a later period than
the long barrows — one, moreover, at which Britain was occu-
pied by a round-headed race, among whom lived, however,
probably in a subordinate position, representatives of the
earlier long-headed people.

I would particularly urge on those who may in future open
any barrows —

1. To record the sex of the person buried; this is more
satisfactorily to be determined from the form of the pelvis
than from the skull. In this manner we may hope to deter-
mine the relative position, and the separate occupation (if
any) of the two sexes.

2. To observe the state of the teeth, from which we may
derive information as to the nature of the food.

3. To preserve carefully any bones of quadrupeds that may
be present, in order to ascertain the species, and, in the case
of the ox and hog, to determine, if possible, whether they
belong to wild or domesticated individuals.

We may fairly hope that when thoroughly questioned the
barrows will not only answer many of these interesting ques-
tions, but that they will also tell us many things which it would
never occur to us to ask. It is evident, at least, that when a

* British Barrows. Green well and Rolleston, p. 718.

N '2

180 DESIRABILITY OF PRESERVING MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS.

sufficient number shall have been examined, we shall know
much more than we do yet about the social and domestic life
of those early ages ; we shall know whether during the Stone
Age they had domestic animals in the North, as would appear
to have been the case in Switzerland ; we shall know in part
what kind of clothes they wore, and by the remains found
with female skeletons we shall even be able to ascertain, in
some measure, the position occupied by woman with reference
to man.

If, however, we are to acquire all the information that can
be derived from the burial mounds, it must be done quickly.
Every year many are destroyed, and Abury itself, the grandest
of megalithic monuments, was sacrificed for a paltry profit of
a few pounds.

Moreover, as population increases, and land grows more
valuable, these ancient monuments become more and more
liable to mutilation and destruction. Since the first edition
of this Work was published, an Act of Parliament has been
passed for their protection, and an Inspector has been appointed.
This is so far satisfactory. Unfortunately, however, the powers
given under the Act are far from sufficient. I have suggested
that we might justly insist on the preservation of these
National monuments, and that if their owners do not care to
preserve them, the Nation should have the option of purchase
at a fair price. It is surely not only our right, but our duty,
to protect them. These monuments are National heirlooms ;
they do not belong to any one generation. They were erected
by our forefathers, and we are bound to preserve them for those
who will come after us.

CHAPTEB VI.

THE ANCIENT LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND.

IN consequence of the extraordinary dryness and cold of
the weather during the winter months of 1853, the rivers
of Switzerland did not receive their usual supplies, and the
water in the lakes fell much below its ordinary level, so that,
in some places, a broad strand was left uncovered along the
margin, while in others shallow banks were converted into
islands. The water level of this season was, indeed, the lowest
upon record. The lowest level marked on the so-called stone
of Stafa was that of 1674; but in 1854 the water sank a foot
lower still.

In a small bay between Ober Meilen and Dollikon, on the
Lake of Zurich, the inhabitants had taken advantage of the
lowness of the water to increase their gardens, by building a
wall along the new water-line, and slightly raising the level
of the piece thus reclaimed by mud dredged from the lake.
In the course of this dredging they found great numbers of
piles, of deer-horns, and also some implements. M. Aeppli
was the first to observe these specimens of human workman-
ship, which he justly supposed might throw some light on
the history and condition of the early inhabitants of the Swiss
valleys. He at once, therefore, called the attention of Dr.
Keller to them, and that eminent antiquary soon satisfied
himself as to their true nature, and proved that the early
inhabitants of Switzerland constructed some, at least, of their
dwellings above the surface of the water, and that they must

182 LAKE-DWELLINGS MENTIONED BY HERODOTUS.

have lived in a mariner very similar to that of the Paeonians,
as described by Herodotus.*

"Their dwellings," he says, "are contrived after this manner:
planks fitted on lofty piles are placed in the middle of the
lake, with a narrow entrance from the main land by a single
bridge. These piles, that support the planks, all the citizens
anciently placed there at the public charge ; but afterwards
they established a law to the following effect : whenever a
man marries, for each wife he sinks three piles, bringing wood
from a mountain called Orbelus : but every man has several
wives. They live in the following manner : every man has a
hut on the planks, in which he dwells, with a trap-door closely
fitted in the planks, and leading down to the lake. They tie
the young children with a cord round the foot, fearing lest
they should fall into the lake beneath. To their horses and
beasts of burden they give fish for fodder ; of which there is
such an abundance, that when a man has opened his trap-
door, he lets down an empty basket by a cord into the lake,
and, after waiting a short time, draws it up full of fish."

At the Newcastle meeting of the British Association in
1863, Lord Lovaine described a Lake-dwelling observed by
him in the South of Scotland ; and in the " Natural History
Review," for July, 1863, I had already mentioned one in the
North, which, however, had not at that time been thoroughly
examined. Sir Charles Bunbury has recorded (Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xii. 1856) some similar
remains found near Thetford, which have been described at
greater length by Mr. Alfred Newton, in an interesting paper
" On the Zoology of Ancient Europe/' In his fifth memoir on
the Pfahlbauten,-f Dr. Keller has described a Lake-dwelling
at Peschiera, on the L. di Garda; and we are indebted to

* Terpsichore, v. 14.

t Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zurich, 1863.

PILE-DWELLINGS IN OTHER PARTS OF EUROPE. 183

MM. B. Gastaldi,* P. Strobel and L. Pigorini, for a description
of ruins of a similar nature which have been found in Northern
Italy. Dr. Lisch has described several Pile-dwellings in
Mecklenburg, and M. Boucher de Perthes, in his celebrated

o' '

work, "Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes," mentions
certain remains found in the peat near Abbeville, which
appear to have been the ruins of Lake-dwellings ; an observa-
tion which is of special interest, as an additional argument
for referring the Swiss Lake-dwellings to the period of the
peat in the Somme valley, and therefore to an epoch long
subsequent to that of the drift-hatchets. This inference is
entirely in accordance with the conclusions derived from the
study of the stone implements themselves.

But it is not necessary to go back to pre-historic times ;
nor need we appeal to doubtful history or ancient remains
for evidence of the curious habit of water-dwelling. Many
savage or semi-savage tribes live in the same manner, even at

O O *

the present day. I have been informed by a friend who lives
at Salonica that the fishermen of Lake Prasias still inhabit
wooden cottages built over the water, as in the time of Hero-
dotus. The city of Tcherkask also is partly built over the Don.
Some "of the Garos and Bogshas of Upper India, the Kanikars
of Southern India, the pastoral tribes in parts of Sinde, dwell
in habitations elevated eight or ten feet from the ground, to
avoid the damp and the insects occasioned by it.-(- Similar
dwellings are extensively used in the northern parts of South
America; Venezuela, indeed, having been so called because
the houses resemble those of Venice in being constructed
over water. But it is in the East Indies that this habit pre-

* Nuovi Cenni sugli oggetti cli Lombardia. Atti della Soc. Italian!

alt a Antichita trovati nelle Tor- cli Scienze Natural!, 1863, vol. v

biere e nelle Marniere dell' Italia. p. 154.

See also Stoppani, Prima ricerca t Burnes, Travels into Bokhara,

di Abita/ioni lacustri nei Laghi di vol. iii. p. 90.

181- MODERN LAKE-DWELLINGS.

vails most extensively. The city of Borneo is altogether
built upon piles, and similar constructions have been described
by various travellers in New Guinea, Celebes, Solo, Ceram,
Mindanao, the Caroline Islands, on the Gold Coast, and else-
where. Dampier long ago mentioned similar dwellings con-
structed over the water; and Dumont d'Urville,* quoted by
M. Troyon, tells us that " Jadis toute la ville de Tondano etait
construite sur le lac, et Ton ne communiquait d'une maison
a une autre qu'en bateau/' The Bishop of Labuan thus
describes the dwellings of the Dyaks : " They are built along
the river-side, on an elevated platform twenty or thirty feet
high, in a long row ; or rather it is a whole village in one row
of some hundreds of feet long. The platforms are first framed
with beams, and then crossed with laths about two inches
wide and two inches apart, and in this way are well venti-
lated ; and nothing remains on the floors, but all the refuse
falls through and goes below."-f

In Ireland a number of more or less artificial islands called
" Crannoges"J (fig. 162) are known historically to have been
used as strongholds by the petty chiefs. They are composed
of earth and stones, strengthened by piles, and have supplied
the Irish archaeologists with numerous weapons, implements,
and bones. From the Crannoge at Dunshauglin, indeed, more
than one hundred and fifty cart-loads of bones were obtained
and used as manure ! These Lake-dwellings of Ireland, how-
ever, are referable to a much later period than those of Swit-
zerland, and are frequently mentioned in early history. Thus,
according to Shirley, " One Thomas Phettiplace, in his answer
to an inquiry from the Government, as to what castles or forts
O'Neil hath, and of what strength they be, states (May 15,
1567): 'For castles, I think it be not unknown to your

* Voyage de I'Astrolabe, vol. v. p. 635.

t Trans, of the Etlniol. Soc., New Series, vol. ii. p. 28.

+ See Wilde's Catalogue, vol. i. p. 220.

IRISH CRANNOGES.

185

honours, he trusteth no point thereunto for his safety, as
appeareth by the raising of the strongest castles of all his
countreys, and that fortification which he only dependeth
upon is in sartin freshwater loyhes in his country, which from
the sea there come neither ship nor boat to approach them :
it is thought that there in the said fortified islands lyeth all
his plate, which is much, and money, prisoners, and gages :
which islands hath in wars to fore been attempted, and now
of late again by the Lord Deputy there, Sir Harry Sydney,
which for want of means for safe conducts upon the water it
hath not prevailed."

FIG. 162.

Section of a Crannoge in Ardakillin Lough, Roscommon.

•

Again, the map of the escheated territories, made for the
Government, A.D. 1591, by Francis Jobson, or the "Platt of
the County of Monaghan," contains rough sketches of the
dwellings of the petty chiefs of Monaghan, which " are in all
cases surrounded by water." In the "Annals of the Four
Masters," and other records of early Irish history, we meet
with numerous instances in which the Oannoges are men-
tioned, in some of which their position has not preserved
them from robbery and destruction ; and we need not, there-
fore, be surprised to find that many of the Swiss Pfahlbauten
appear to have been destroyed by fire.

Not only in the Lake of Zurich, but also in Lakes Constance,
Geneva, Neufchatel, Bienne, Morat, Sempach, in fact in most
of the large Swiss lakes, as well as in several of the smaller

186 NUMBERS OF LAKE VILLAGES.

cues (Iiikwyl, Pfeffikon, Moosseedorf, Luissel, etc.), similar
Lake-habitations have been discovered. In the larger lakes,
indeed, not one, but many of these settlements existed ; thus,
there are already on record, in Lake Bienne, twenty ; in the
Lake of Geneva, twenty-four; in Lake Constance, thirty-two ;
in Lake Neufchatel, as many as forty-nine ; on the whole
more than two hundred ; and many others, doubtless, remain
to be discovered. Of those already known, some belong to
the Iron Age, some few even to Eoman times; but the greater
number appear to be divided in almost equal proportions
between the age of Stone and that of Bronze.

Though the architecture of this period was probably simple,
still the weight to be sustained on the wooden platforms must
have been considerable ; many of the piles are either bent or
broken ; and to prevent their sinking too deeply into the soft
mud, they were sometimes driven through boards which rested
on the bottom.

The dwellings of the Gauls are described as having been
circular huts, built of wood and lined with mud. The inter-
stices appear to have been filled with moss. Some of the huts
on the Pile-works were probably of a similar nature. This
supposition is not a mere hypothesis, but many fragments of
the clay used for the lining have been discovered. Their
preservation is evidently due to the building having been
destroyed by fire, which has hardened the clay, and enabled
it to resist the action of the water. These fragments bear, on
one side, the marks of interlaced branches, while on the other,
which apparently formed the inner wall of the cabin, they are
quite smooth. Some of those which have been found at
Wangen are so large and so regular, that M. Troy on felt justi-
fied in concluding that the cabins were circular, and from ten
to fifteen feet in diameter. It would be most interesting if

we could construct a retrospective census for these early
periods, and M. Troy on has made an attempt to do so. The

ATTEMPT TO MAKE A CENSUS. 187

settlement at Merges, which is one of the largest in the Lake
of Geneva, is 1200 feet long and 150 broad, giving a surface
of 180,000 square feet. Allowing the huts to have been fifteen
feet in diameter, and supposing that they occupied half the
surface, leaving the rest for gangways, he estimates the number
of cabins at 311 ; and supposing again that, on an average,
each was inhabited by four persons, he obtains for the whole
a population of 1244. Starting from the same data, he assumes
for the Lake of Neufchatel a population of about 5000. Sixty-
eight villages belonging to the Bronze Age are supposed to
have contained 42,500 persons; while for the preceding epoch,
by the same process of reasoning, he estimates the population
at 31,875.

So far as these calculations rest on the fragments of the
clay walls, they must be regarded as altogether unsatisfactory,
since Dr. Keller informs me that the largest pieces yet dis-
covered are only a foot in their greatest diameter. There is
also good reason to believe that the huts were generally not
circular, but rectangular. Nor am I inclined to attribute
much value to the estimates of population based on the extent
of the platforms. M. Troy on himself admits that his " chiffres
sont peut-etre un peu eleves, eu egard aux habitations sur
terre ferme, dont il ne peut etre question dans ce calcul, et
vu qu'on est encore bien loin de connaitre tous les points des
lacs qui ont ete occupes," and, indeed, in Switzerland, since
his book was written, the number of Lake villages discovered
has already been more than doubled. Moreover, M. Troyoii
assumes that the Lake villages of the Bronze Age were con-
temporaneous, and that the same was the case with those
belonging to the Stone Age. This also I should be disposed
to question; both these periods, but especially the Stone Age,
in all probability extended over a long series of years ; and
though in these matters it is of course necessary to speak with
much caution, still if we are to make any assumption in the

188 CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLATFORMS.

case, it would seem safer to suppose that in each period some
of the villages had perished or been forsaken before others
were built.

We might feel surprised that a people so uncivilized should
have constructed their houses with immense labour on the
water, when it would have been so much more easy to have
built them on dry land. But we have already seen how, even
in historical times, such dwellings have served as simple and
yet valuable fortifications. Still, though it is evident that the
security thus given would amply compensate for much extra
labour, it remains difficult to understand in what manner the
piles were driven into the ground.

In many cases, indeed, settlements of the Stone Age are
characterized by what are called " Steinbergs," that is to say,
artificial heaps of stones, etc., evidently brought by the natives
to serve as a support to the piles. A boat laden with stones,
apparently for this purpose, was some years ago discovered in
in the Lake of jSTeufchatel. In fact, they found it easier to
raise the bottom round the piles than to drive the piles into
the bottom. On the other hand, some of these constructions,
as, for instance, those at Inkwyl and Wauwyl, described
respectively by M. Morlot and Col. Suter, more closely re-
semble the Irish Crannoge. We see, therefore, that, as Dr.
Keller says, the Lake-dwellers followed two different systems
in the construction of their dwellings, which he distinguishes
as " Pfahlbauten," or Pile -buildings, and " Packwerkbauten,"
or Crannoges : in the first of which the platforms were simply
supported on piles ; in the second of which the support con-
sisted not of piles only, but of a solid mass of mud, stones,
etc., with layers of horizontal and perpendicular stakes, the
latter serving less as a support than to bind the mass firmly
together. It is evident that the " Packwerkbau" is a much
simpler and ruder affair than the " Pfuhlbau," in which no
small skill must have been required to connect the perpendi-

CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLATFORMS. 189

cular and horizontal piles firmly together. Still the " Fack-
werkbauten" were not suitable for the larger lakes, as during
storms they would have been injured by the waves, which
must have passed harmlessly through the open work of the
" Pfahlbauten." We find, therefore, that while the former
method of construction prevailed only in small lakes or
morasses, the latter was adopted in the larger lakes, and even
sometimes, possibly, on dryland; a custom which, however
singular, exists at the present day, as, for instance, in the island
of Borneo, and even in Switzerland itself.

The antiquities found in the small Swiss lakes and peat-
bogs are more or less covered by a thick layer of peat, which
perhaps at some future date will give us a clue to their age.
On the contrary, in the large lakes no peat grows. At the
entrance of the rivers, indeed, much mud and gravel is of
course accumulated ; the Lake of Geneva, for instance, once
no doubt extended for a considerable distance up the Valley
of the Ehone. But the gravel and mud brought down by that
river are deposited, as every one knows, near its entrance into
the lake, and the water of the lake is elsewhere beautifully
clear and pure.

The lake itself is very deep, in parts as much as nine
hundred and eighty feet ; and the banks are generally steep,
but round the margin there is, in most places, a fringe of
shallow water, due, probably, to the erosive action of the
waves, and known to the fishermen as the "blancfond," because
the lake is there of a pale greyish hue, when contrasted with
the bright blue of the central deeper water. It is on this
" blancfond," and at a depth of sometimes as much as fifteen
feet, that the Ffahlbauten were generally constructed. On
calm days, when the surface of the water is unruffled, the piles
are plainly visible. Few of them now project more than two
feet from the bottom ; eaten away by the incessant action of
the water, some of them " n'apparaissent plus que comme

190 LAKE-DWELLINGS OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.

aiguilles," which finally also disappear, and leave only a black
disk at the surface of the mud. This, however, is the case
principally in the Lake villages of the Stone Age.

The more complete destruction of the piles belonging to the
earlier period depends not only on their greater age, but on
their occurrence in shallower water. The action of the waves
being greatest near the surface, and diminishing gradually
downwards, not only are those piles which occupy the deeper
parts least liable to destruction, but in each the erosion takes
place gradually from above, so that the upper end of the piles
is often more regularly pointed even than the lower. Lying
among them are fragments of bone, horn, pottery, and some-
times objects of bronze. Most of these are embedded in the
mud or hidden under the stones, but others lie on the bottom
yet uninjured ; so that when, for the first time, I saw them
through the transparent water, a momentary feeling of doubt
as to their age rose in my mind. So fresh are they and so
unaltered, they look as if they were only things of yesterday,
and it seems hard to believe that they can have remained
there for centuries. The explanation of the difficulty is, how-
ever, to be found in the fact that the action of the most violent
storms is perceptible only to a small depth. Except, therefore,
near the mouths of rivers, or where there is much vegetation,
which in the large lakes is rarely the case, the deposition of
mud at depths greater than four feet is an extremely slow
process, and objects which fall to the bottom in such situations
will neither be covered over nor carried away. " J'ai peche,"
says M. Troy on, " sur 1' emplacement en face du Moulin de
Bevaix, les fragments d'un grand vase qui gisaient a pen de
distance les uns des autres, et que j'ai pu reunir de maniere a
les remontre completement. A la Tongue, pres d'Hermance,
j'ai trouve les deux fragments d'un anneau support, distants
de quelques pieds, qui, en les rapprochant ne laissent aucun
interstice." The upper parts of the objects also, which are

CONDITION OF THE OBJECTS FOUND. 191

bathed by the water, are generally covered by a layer of
carbonate of lime, while the lower part which has sunk into
the mud is quite unaltered. M. Troyon once obtained at
Cortaillod a pair of bracelets in one haul of the dredge — the
first, which had been visible from the boat, was greenish and
covered with incrustation ; the second, which had been in the
mud immediately below, was as fresh as if it had only just
been made.

As piles of the Bronze Age are sometimes found at a depth
of as much as fifteen feet, and as it is manifest that buildings
cannot have been constructed over water much deeper than
this, it is evident that the Swiss lakes cannot then have stood
at a much higher level than at present. This conclusion is
confirmed by the position of Eoman remains at Thonon, on
the Lake of Geneva, and we thus obtain satisfactory evidence
that the height of the Swiss lakes must have remained almost
unaltered for a very long period.

In the large lakes the passing traveller may readily mark
the number and general distribution of the piles, he may
determine the area which they occupy, and pick up fragments
of bone and pottery; but, on the whole, the peat- mosses are
more instructive. In them we not only obtain evidence as to
the size, form, and construction of the huts, but implements
of wood, specimens of fruit, nuts, grain, and even fragments
of clothing, none of which can be preserved in the open water
of the large lakes.

After having chosen a favourable situation, the first step
in the construction of the Lake- habitations was to obtain the
necessary timber. To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet
must have been no slight undertaking. It is, indeed, most
probable that use was made of fire, in the same manner as
is done by existing savages in felling trees and making canoes.
Burning the wood and then scraping away the charred portion
renders the task far more easy, and the men of the Stone period

192

NUMBER OF PILES USED.

appear to have avoided the use of large trees, except in
making their canoes. Their piles were embedded in the mud
from one to five feet, and must also have projected from four to
six feet above the water level, which cannot have been very
different from what it is at present. They must, therefore,
have had a length of from fifteen to thirty feet, and they were
from three to nine inches in diameter. The pointed extremity
which entered into the mud still bears the marks of the fire
and the rude cuts made by the stone hatchets. The piles
belonging to the Bronze period, being prepared with metal
axes, were much more regularly pointed, and the differences
between the two have been ingeniously compared to those
shown by lead pencils well and badly cut. Moreover, a cut
by a stone axe is necessarily more or less concave, whereas
those made with metal are flat. To drag the piles to the lake,
and fix them firmly, must also have required much labour,
especially when their number is considered. At Wangen
alone M. Lohle has calculated that 50,000 piles were used ;
but we must remember that these were probably not all
planted at one time nor by one generation. "Wangen, indeed,

was certainly not built in a day, but
was, no doubt, gradually enlarged as
the population increased. Herodotus
informs us that the Preonians made
the first platform at the public ex-
pense, but that, subsequently, at every
marriage (and polygamy was per-
mitted), the bridegroom was expected
to add a certain number of piles to
the common support. Fig. 163 repre-
sents a section taken at Eobenhausen,
section at Niederwyi. and shows two series of piles, one
over the other. The layer of ashes appears to indicate that
the settlement was burnt down, and subsequently rebuilt.

FIG. 163.

(\1 T

B*?A-

—

-C\-

1
e ! ?/

DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS AT WAUWYL. 193

The pile-works of subsequent periods differ little from those
of the Stone Age, so far at least as can be judged by the parts
remaining, but the piles are less decayed, and project above
the mud farther than is the case with those of the preceding
epoch.

Through the kindness of Col. Suter, I had an opportunity
of examining the construction of the Lake-dwelling at Wauwyl,
near Zofingen, in the canton of Lucerne. This apparently
belonged to the Stone Age, no trace of metal having yet been
discovered in it. It is situated in a peat moss, which was
evidently at one time the bed of a shallow lake. By the
gradual growth of peat, however, the level has been raised
several feet, and the plain has recently been drained. We
were assisted by six labourers, who dug out the peat, which
we then carefully examined. I mention this, because the
difference in the objects collected from different Pfahlbauten
may probably be, in part at least, accounted for by the dif-
ferent ways in which the search has been made. The peat at
Wauwyl varies in thickness from three to ten feet, and rests
on a white bed consisting of broken fresh-water shells. This
stratum, though only a few inches thick, is found in the old beds
of many small lakes, and is frequently mentioned by the Swiss
archaeologists under the name of " weissgrund." It must not,
however, be confounded with the "blancfond" of the larger
lakes. The piles go through the peat and the " weissgrund "
into the solid ground below. It is not easy to obtain them
whole, because the lower portions are much altered by time,
and so thoroughly saturated by water that they are quite soft.
Col. Suter, however, extracted two of them; one was 14ft. 6 in.
in length, of which 4ft. was in the peat, and the remaining
10ft. Gin. in the sand beneath; the other was only 8ft. Gin.
long, 4ft. of which was in the peat, the other 4ft. Gin. in the
solid ground. The piles vary from three to five inches in dia-

194

WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE LAKEMEN.

meter, and are always round, never having been squared.
The lower part is very badly cut, so that it is difficult to
understand how they can have been forced to so great a depth
into the ground.

In most of the Pfahlbauten the piles are scattered, more or
less irregularly, over the whole extent of the settlement : at
Wauwyl this is not the case, but they enclose, as it were, four
quadrangular areas, the interiors of which are occupied by
several platforms one over the other, the interstices being
filled up by branches, leaves, and peat. The objects of anti-
quity are not scattered throughout the peat, but lie either on
the layer of broken shells, which formed the then bottom of
the lake, or in the lower part of the peat. It is, therefore,
evident that almost the whole, if not the whole, of the peat
has grown since the time at which this interesting ruin was
inhabited. The upper part had, however, been removed before

our arrival, so that the "culturges-
chicht," the layer containing the
objects of antiquity, was exposed
ready for examination in the manner
already described.

Some of the piles still stand two
or three feet above the level of the
peat, but the greater number are
broken off lower down. We stood
on one of the upper platforms, which
seems to have been the floor on
which the huts were erected, and
the beams of which are still perfectly
preserved. It was at first a question
in what manner the platforms at this
place were supported ; whether they
lay like a raft on the surface of the

FIG. 164.

Swiss Stone Axe.

AXES. KNIVES. 19.")

water, rising and sinking with it ; * or whether they were
fixed, and rested on a sort of artificial island, formed by the
clay, branches, etc., which now occupy the interspaces between
the different platforms. Subsequent observations, however,
confirmed as they have been by discoveries elsewhere, as, for
instance, at Inkwyl and Niederwyl, have decided the question
in favour of the latter hypothesis.

During my visit at Wauwyl we obtained four small stone
axes, one arrow-head, four flint flakes, fifteen rude stone ham-
mers, eight whetstones, thirty-three slingstones, eight instru-
ments of bone, and two of wood, besides numerous bones, and
a great quantity of broken pottery. Col. Suter regarded this
as a fair average day's work. Altogether about 500 instru-
ments of stone and bone had been discovered at Wauwyl;
at Moosseedorf more than 3300 ; at Wangen no less than
5800, while M. Troyon estimated that those at Concise must
have amounted to 25,000, and these numbers have since been
largely increased.

The axe was pre-eminently the implement of antiquity. It
was used in war and in the chase, as well as for domestic
purposes, and great numbers have been found, especially at
Wangen (Lake of Constance) and Concise (Lake of Neuf-
chatel). With a few exceptions, they are small, especially
when compared with the magnificent specimens from Den-
mark ; in length they varied from one to six inches, while the
cutting edge had generally a width of from fifteen to twenty
lines. Flint was sometimes used, and nephrite or jade in a
few cases, but serpentine and diorite were the principal mate-
rials. Most of the larger settlements were evidently manu-
facturing places, and many spoilt pieces and half -finished
specimens have been found. After having chosen a stone,

* Dwellings of this character sion to Sumatra, p. 395. Squier,
occur in the East and in S. America. American Naturalist, vol. iv. p. 18.
See, for instance, Anderson's Mis-

0 2

196 SAWS. SPINDLE-WHORLS. FLAKES.

the first step was to reduce it by blows with a hammer to a
suitable size. Then grooves were made artificially, which
must have been a very tedious and difficult operation, when
flint knives, sand, and water were the only available instru-
ments. Having carried the grooves to the required depth,
the projecting portions were removed by a skilful blow with
a hammer, and the implement was then sharpened and polished
on blocks of sandstone.

The axes appear to have been fastened into the handles by
means of bitumen, obtained probably either from the Val de
Travers near Neufchatel or from the Perte du Ehone.

The stone knives may be considered as of two sorts. Some
differ from the axes principally in having their width greater
than their length. In other cases flint flakes were set in
wooden handles, and fastened, like the axes, by means of
bitumen. Saws also (fig. 126) were made in a similar manner,
but with their edges somewhat rudely dentated ; we do not
find in Switzerland any of the semi-lunar stone implements
which are frequent in Denmark. The arrow-heads were made
of flint, or in some cases of rock crystal, and were of the usual
forms. Spindle -whorls of rude earthenware (fig. 165) were
abundant in some of the Lake villages even of the Stone Age.
The presence of these whorls indicates a knowledge of weaving,
which indeed is proved by even more conclusive evidence.
At Locray, a spindle- whorl was found actually attached to the
spindle, which had thread still wound round it. There are also

found rounded stones, pierced with
one or sometimes two holes. The
use of these is uncertain, but they
may perhaps have been used to sink
fishing-lines.

The flint flakes offer no peculiari-
ties ; the Swiss specimens are, how-
ever, of small size. Corn-crushers,
spindle whori (stone Age). which are round balls of hard stone,

ARROW-HEADS. IMPLEMENTS OF BONE AND WOOD. 197

two or three inches in diameter, occur even in the villages of
the Stone Age.

The list of objects hitherto found at Wauwyl is as follows :

Stone axes, principally of serpen-
tine 43

Small flint arrow-heads .... 36

Flint flakes 200

Corn-crushers

Kude stones used as hammers,
common (say)

Whetstones

Slings tones, etc. ... .

20
26

85 ;

Not all
collected.

In all about . . . . . 426 articles of stone.

The flint, of which the flakes and arrow-heads were formed,
must have come from a distance, and the best pieces in all
probability were obtained from France. Visits may have
been made to the French quarries, just as Catlin tells us that
the American tribes, from far and near, visited the red pipe-
stone quarry of Coteau des Prairies. A few fragments of
Mediterranean coral have been found at Concise, and of Baltic
amber at Meilen. Some archseologists have argued from these
facts, that there must have been a certain amount of commerce
even in the Stone Age. As, however, both these settlements
appear to have belonged to the transitional period between
the age of Stone and that of Bronze, it would be safer to refer
both the amber and the coral to the later period.

Like other savages, the Lake-dwellers made the most of
any animal they could catch. They ate the flesh, used the
skin for clothing, picked every fragment of marrow out of the
bones, and then, in many cases, fashioned the bones themselves
into weapons. The larger and more compact ones, as well as
horns of the deer, served as hammers, and were used as

198

POTTERY.

handles for hatchets. In some cases, pieces of bone were
worked to an edge, but they are neither hard nor sharp enough
to cut well. Bone awls are numerous, and may have been
used in preparing skins for clothes. Fig. 128 (p. 109) repre-
sents a chisel or scraper of bone, from Wangen. One purpose
for which these were used was no doubt to scrape off the hair,
in dressing skins.

A few objects made of wood have also been found at Wauwyl
and elsewhere ; but these, even if originally numerous, would
be difficult to distinguish from the surrounding peat, especially
as this contains so many branches of trees and other fragments
of wood ; and it would also be very difficult to extract them

FIG. 1C6.

Piece of Pottery. — Lake of Zurich.

entire. Perhaps, therefore, implements of wood may have
been much more varied and common .than the collections
would appear to indicate. Tinder has been found in several
of the Lake villages, and was no doubt used in obtaining fire.
The pottery of the Stone Age presents nearly the same
characters in all the settlements. Very rude and coarse, it is
generally found in broken pieces, and comparatively few entire
vessels have been obtained. There is no evidence that the
potter's wheel was known, and the baking is very imperfect,

DRESS. 199

having apparently taken place in an open fire. The material
is also very rude, and generally contains numerous grains of
quartz. The form is frequently cylindrical, but several of the
jars are rounded at the base, and without feet. A curious
character is the frequent presence of a row of depressions
which do not completely penetrate the thickness of the vessel ;
but the commonest decorations are simple lines or furrows,
made sometimes by a sharp instrument, sometimes by the
finger-nail (see fig. 166), and occasionally produced by pressing
a cord on the soft clay. Curved lines are rare ; no represen-
tation of any animal has yet been met with ; and the vase
found at Wangen, a restored figure of which has been given
both by Dr. Keller and by M. Troyon, is almost the only
instance in which any attempt has been made to represent a
plant. In this case the design is even ruder than might be
inferred from the above-mentioned figures.* In some of the
Bronze Age villages rings of pottery are found, which were
evidently intended to serve as supports for these earthenware
tumblers, but none of them have yet been met with in any of
the Stone Age villages. Possibly the earthenware during the
Stone Age rested on the soft earth, and tables were only intro-
duced in the Bronze Age, when by means of metallic imple-
ments it became so much easier to cut wood, and particularly
to make boards. Many of the vessels had small projections,
which were pierced in such a manner that strings might be
passed through them, and which may, therefore, have served
for suspension. Some of the vessels, also, are pierced by small
holes at different levels; it has been suggested that these may
have been used in the preparation of curds, the small holes
being intended to permit the escape of the milk. The orna-
ments on the pottery belonging to this age are of a very rude
and simple character. Sometimes a row of knobs runs round

* In Lee's second edition of Keller's Lake Dwellings, pi. xv., a figure
is given of the actual fragments.

200 THE FAUNA OF THE LAKE-DWELLINGS.

the vase, just below the lip ; this style of ornamentation is
common on the pottery found by M. Gillieron at the Pont de
Thiele.

Although there can be no doubt that the skins of animals
supplied the ancient Lakemen with their principal articles of
clothing, still in several of the settlements, and especially at
Wangen and Kobenhausen, both of which belong to the Stone
Age, pieces of rude fabric (fig. 168) have been found in some

FIG. 168.

Piece of Tissue from Robenhausen.

abundance. They consist either of flax fibres or straw. The
presence of spindle- whorls has been already mentioned.

For our knowledge of the animal remains from the Pile-
works we are principally indebted to Prof. Eiitimeyer. The
bones are in a very fragmentary condition, and have been
broken open for the sake of the marrow. There is also the
same absence of certain bones and parts of bones, so that it
is impossible to re-construct a perfect skeleton even of the
commonest animal.

The total number of species amounts to about seventy, of
which ten are fishes, four reptiles, twenty-six birds, and the
remainder quadrupeds. Of the latter, six species may be
considered as having been domesticated; namely, the dog,

MOOSSEEDORF. 201

pig, horse, goat, sheep, and at least two varieties of oxen.
The bones very seldom occur in a natural condition ; but
those of domestic and wild animals are mixed together, and
the state in which they are found, the marks of knives upon
them, and their having been almost always broken open
for the sake of their marrow, are all evidences of human
interference.

Two species, the one wild, the other domestic, are especially
numerous — the stag and the ox. Indeed, the remains of these
two equal those of all the others together. It is, however, an
interesting fact, that in the older settlements, as at Moossee-
dorf, Wauwyl, and Eobenhausen, the stag exceeds the ox in
the number of specimens indicated, while the reverse is the
case in the more modern settlements of the western lakes, as,
for instance, those at Wangen and Meilen.

Next to these in order of abundance is the hog. Less
numerous again, and generally represented by single speci-
mens where the preceding occur in numbers, are the roe, the
goat, and the sheep, which latter is most abundant in the
later settlements. With these rank the fox and the marten.
Foxes are occasionally eaten by the Esquimaux.* Captain
Lyon seems to have taken rather a fancy to them,-f- and
Franklin assures us that fat fox is better than lean venison^
They also appear, whether from choice or necessity, to have
been eaten during the Stone period. This conclusion is de-
rived from the fact that the bones often present the marks
of knives, and have been opened for the sake of the marrow.
While, however, the fox is very frequent in the Pile-works of
the Stone epoch, it has not yet been found in any settlement
belonging to the Bronze period. Oddly enough, the dog is
rarer than the fox, at least as far as the observations yet go,
in the Lake-dwellings of the Stone period, though more com-

l * Crantz, History of Greenland, t Lyon's Journal, p. 77.

vol. i. p. 73. J Franklin, vol. iii. pp. 2 19— 239.

202 THE FAUNA.

mon than the horse ; and of other species but few specimens
have been met with, though in some localities the beaver, the
badger, and the hedgehog appear in some numbers. The bear
and the wolf, as well as the urns, the bison, and the elk, seem
to have occasionally been captured ; it is probable that the
latter species were taken in concealed pits.

From the small lake at Moosseedorf, M. Kiitirneyer has
identified the following list : — Of the dog, three specimens ;
fox, four specimens ; beaver, five specimens ; roe, six speci-
mens; goat and sheep, ten specimens; cow, sixteen speci-
mens; hog, twenty specimens; stag, twenty specimens. It
is certainly very striking to find two wild species represented
by the greatest number of specimens, and particularly so,
since this is no exceptional case ; but the whole sum of the
wild exceeds that of the domesticated individuals, a result,
moreover, which holds good in other settlements of this epoch.
Not only does this indicate a great antiquity, but also that
the population must have been sometimes subjected to great
privations, partly from the unavoidable uncertainty of supplies
so obtained, partly because it is improbable that foxes would
have been eaten except under the pressure of hunger.

The bones of the stag and the wild boar often indicate
animals of an unusual magnitude, while, on the other hand,
the fox appears to have been somewhat smaller than at present.
The dogs varied less than they do now; in fact they all belong-
to one variety, which was of middle size, and appears to have
resembled our present beagles. (M. Elitimeyer describes it
as "resembling the Jagdhund" and the " Wachtelhund.") The
sheep of the Stone period differed from the ordinary form in
its small size, fine legs, and short goat-like horns ; particulars
in which it is nearly resembled by some northern and moun-
tain varieties at the present day, as, for instance, by the small
sheep of the Shetlands, Orkneys, Welsh hills, and parts of
the Alps. At Wauwyl, however, M. Elitimeyer found traces

THE FAUNA.

203

of an individual with large horns. Our knowledge of the
wild species of sheep is so deficient, that M. Kiitiineyer does

LIST OF SPECIES,

Moosseeclorf.

Wauwyl.

Robenhausen.

Wangen.

Mellen.

Concise.

Bienne.

1 Ursus Arctos

2 Meles vulgaris

3 Mustela Foina

4 „ Martes

5 ,, Putorius

6 „ Erminea

7 ,, Lutra vulgaris

8 Canis Lupus

9 „ familiaris (palustris) ...
1 10 „ Vulpes

2
3

11 Felis Catus (ferus)

12 Erinaceus europfeus

13 Castor Fiber

14 Sciurus europseus

1 5 Mus sylvaticus

1 6 Lepus timidus

17 Sus Scrofa ferus

18 ,, Palustris

19 „ Scrofa domesticus

20 Equus Caballus

21 E. Asinus „

22 Cervus Alces

23 „ Elaphus

24 ,, Capreolua

25 Capra Ibex

26 „ Hircus

27 Ovis Aries

28 Antilope rupicapi'a

29 Bos prirriigenius

30 ,, Bison

31 „ Taurus primigenius

32 ,, Taurus bracbyceros

33 ,, Taurus frontosus

not venture to express any opinion concerning the origin of
the domestic varieties, but his present impression is that they
will eventually be traced up to several wild races.

In his first memoir, Prof. Elitimeyer gives an interesting-
table, which, with some additions which I owe to his kind

204 BIRDS.

courtesy, is here subjoined, the relative frequency being indi-
cated by numerals :

1 denotes a single individual ;

2 indicates that the remains of several individuals have

been met with ;

3 the species which are common ;

4 those which are very common ; and lastly,

5 those which are present in great number.

The almost entire absence of the hare is doubtless owing
to the curious prejudice which was and is entertained by
many races against the flesh of this animal. It was never
eaten by the ancient Britons, and is avoided by the Lapps at
the present day. According to Burton,* the Somal Arabs
will not touch it, and M. Schlegel also states that the pre-
judice against it existed among the ancient Chinese.*}" The
Namaquas (S. Africa) do not eat it for fear of becoming timid.
Perhaps for this reason it was, among the Hottentots, forbidden
to men, but permitted to women. J It was regarded as unclean
by the Jews, being erroneously supposed to chew the cud.
According to Crantz, the Greenlanders,§ if in want, will eat
foxes rather than hares, nor do its remains occur in the Danish
shell-mounds. It appears, however, to have been eaten in
Palaeolithic times.||

The birds which have been discovered are : —

Aquila fulva. The golden eagle. At Eobenhausen.

Aquila halisetus. A single bone found at Moosseedorf
is rather doubtfully referred to this species by
M. Eiitimeyer.

Falco milvus. Eobenhausen.

* First Footsteps, p. 155.

t Notes and Queries on China, § History of Greenland, p. 73.
Japan, Hongkong, May, 1868. || Boyd Dawkins. Geol. Jour.

I Le Vaillant, Voyages dans 1'Af- 1876, p. 247.
rique, vol. iv. p. 187.

MOUSE. GAT. ASS. 205

Falco palumbarius. Wauwyl, Moosseedorf.

Falco nisus. Moosseedorf.

Falco buteo. Moosseedorf, Eobenhausen.

Strix aluco. Concise.

Strix otus. Moosseedorf.

Strix bubo. Wangen.

Sturnus vulgaris. Eobenhausen.

Corvus corone. „

Corvus corax. „

Cinclus aquaticus. „

Columba palumbus. „ Moosseedorf.

Tetrao bonasia. „

Tetrao lagopus. Moosseedorf.

Ciconia alba. Not unfrequent at Moosseedorf and
Eobenhausen.

Ardea cinerea. Eobenhausen.

Grus cinerea. „

Fulica atra. „

Larus. Two sp. „

Mergus.

Mergus merganser. Bienne.

Cygnus olor. Eobenhausen.

Anser segetum. „

Anas boschas. Eobenhausen, Moosseedorf, Wauwyl.

Anas querquedula. „ „

Podiceps minor. Eobenhausen.

The reptiles and fishes are represented by about ten of our
commonest species.

The common mouse and our two house-rats, as well as the
domestic cat, are absent from the Lake-habitations of Switzer-
land, as also from the Kjokkenmoddings of Denmark ; the
same is the case with the common fowl, which seems, more-
over, to have been unknown to Homer and Hesiod ; Prof.
Eiitimeyer attributes to a later period a single bone of the

206 HORSE. BOAR.

latter bird which was found at Merges, a settlement belonging
to the Bronze period.

The earliest remains of the ass mentioned by Prof. Eiiti-
meyer are those found at Chavannes and Noville, which,
however, were not connected with Pfahlbauten, and belonged
to post-Eoman times. In the Bible, the ass is first mentioned
in the time of Abraham, who had " sheep, and oxen, and he-
asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses,
and camels."* It will be observed that in this enumeration
no mention is made of horses. Laban, again, had sheep, and
goats, and cattle, and camels, and asses, but apparently no
horses. Again, the present which Jacob sent to Esau con-
sisted of two hundred she- goats and twenty he -goats, two
hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels with their
colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals.-f-
Indeed, no mention whatever is made of horses until the
children of Israel went into Egypt; and from the copious
and interesting details of their pastoral life, we may feel sure
that horses would have been alluded to if the Hebrews had
possessed them. As regards Egypt, the horse is not repre-
sented on any of the monuments anterior to the 18th dynasty,
after which, however, it appears to have become abundant in
that country.

As regards the Swiss Lake villages, it is singular that
though remains of the horse have been found in all the Pile-
works, they are so rare that their presence may almost be
considered accidental : thus, Wangen has only produced a
single tooth ; Moosseedorf, a metatarsal bone, which has been
polished on one side ; Robenhausen, a single os naviculare
tarsi; and Wauwyl, only a few bones, which may all have
belonged to a single individual. On the other hand, when
we come to the Bronze period, we find at Nidau numerous
bones of this species ; so that, as far as these slight indications
* Gen. xii. 16. t Gen. xxxiii. 14.

SUS PALUSTRIS.

207

go, the horse, even if present in the Stone Age, seems to have
been rarer than at subsequent periods. All the remains of
this animal belonged apparently to the domestic horse (Equus
caballus), while those which occur in the Drift gravel beds
and in caves fall into two well-marked races, named by Prof.
Owen, E. fossilis and E. spekeus.

" The genealogy of the domestic hog," says Mr. Boyd Daw-
kins,* " has been ascertained by MM. Elitimeyer, Nathusius,
and Schiitz, with great accuracy, and Dr. Darwin has summed
up the evidence with judicial impartiality.^ It is traced, by
these observers, to two distinct strains, the one being the
wild boar, which is found throughout the temperate and hot
regions of Europe, Asia, and in North Africa ; and (the other)
that which is termed by Nathusius the Sus Indica, of Pallas,
and which is known commonly as the small, short-legged,
and short-headed pig of Siam and China."

FIG. 169.

\N-IV
Part of the Vertebra of a Cow.

M. Elitimeyer, in a letter with which he has favoured me,

* Palreontograpliical Soc. 1878, t Variations under Domestica-

vol. xxxii. p. 13. tion, vol. i. ch. i.

208

SUS PALUSTRIS.

says lie is now convinced that the Sus palustris "was imported
from the East, and stands in nearest relation to Sus vittatus

FIG. 170.

Part of the corresponding Vertebra of the Bison.

of East Asia, the stock from which all Asiatic, most African
and Southern European (Eoman and Greek) races are derived,"
the Northern European race being, on the contrary, derived
from the wild boar.

Our domestic hog first makes its appearance in the later
Pile- works. Prof. Elitimeyer does not, however, believe that
it was tamed by the inhabitants of Switzerland, but is rather
disposed to look upon it as having been introduced during
the Bronze Age, and the more so as he also finds at Concise
traces of a variety of the ox (B. trochoceros) which does not
occur in the earlier Pile- works.

The discovery of dung among the remains of the Pfahl-
bauten sufficiently proves that the Lake-dwellers had domes-
tic animals, but there are also other indications from which
we may draw the same conclusion.

In endeavouring to ascertain whether any given bones

COMPARISON OF THE BONES BELONGING TO OXEN. 209

belonged to a wild or domesticated animal, we must be guided
by the following considerations : the number of individuals

\t <^j

represented ; the relative proportions of young and old ; the
absence or presence of very old individuals, at least in the
case of species that serve for food ; the traces of long, though
indirect, selection, in diminishing the size of any natural
weapons which might be injurious to man; the direct action
of man during the life of the animal ; and, finally, the texture
and condition of the bones.

Applying these considerations to the Sus palustris from
Moosseedorf, Prof. Kiitirneyer concludes that there is no
evidence that any of them belonged to domesticated speci-
mens.

Prof. Eiitimeyer has also paid great attention to the texture
and condition of the bones themselves, and believes that he
can, in many cases, from these alone distinguish the species,
and even determine whether the bone belonged to a wild or
a domesticated animal.

In wild animals the bones are of a firmer and closer tex-
ture ; there is an indescribable, but to the accustomed eye
very characteristic, sculpturing of the external surface, pro-
duced by the sharper and more numerous impressions of
vessels, and the greater roughness of the surfaces for the
attachment of muscles. There is also an exaggeration of all
projections and ridges, and a diminution of all indifferent
surfaces. The contrast thus produced will be seen from
figs. 169 and 170, the first of which represents a portion of a
vertebra belonging to a domestic cow, the second the corre-
sponding surface of the same bone from the bison. In con-
sidering the remains of oxen, these distinctions have proved
of the greatest importance. By their assistance Prof. Rliti-
meyer has convinced himself that, besides the two wild species
of bos, namely, the urus (B. primigenius) and the aurochs

210 ABSENCE OF EXTINCT SPECIES.

(R bison or Bison Europeans), four principal races of domestic
oxen occur in the Lake villages.*

The first of these, the Primigenius race, closely resembles
the Urns or Bos primigenius, and was no doubt descended
from it. It occurs, in all the earlier Pile- works, and in the
present day is best represented by the wild cattle of Chilling-
ham, and the great oxen of Friesland, Jutland, and Holstein.

The second, or Trochoceros race, has not hitherto been found
in any of the Stone Age villages. Elitimeyer regards it as
scarcely distinguishable from the urus, and observes that its
peculiarities are principally, though not exclusively, developed
in the female sex.

The third, or Frontosus race, occurs but sparingly in the
older Pfahlbauten ; becomes more frequent in the Bronze Age
villages, and prevails at the present clay in northern Switzer-
land. Prof. Elitimeyer considers this variety also to be derived
from the urus, and remarks that while the wild cattle of Chil-
lingham are true to the primigenius form, some of the Lyme
Park cattle approach to the frontosus type. He has, however,
never seen a skull of this type belonging to an undoubtedly
wild animal.

The fourth is the Lonyifrons or Bracliyceros race. The name
Brachyceros, by which it was at first known, must be aban-
doned, having been previously applied by Dr. Gray to an
African ox. This variety is extremely abundant in all the
Pfahlbauten. Prof. Eiitimeyer regards it as descended, not
from the urus, bat from a second and smaller species, perhaps
from Bos indicus. He remarks, however, that if it be derived
from the urus, it is at least a more distinct, and must be an
older variety than any of the preceding. Prof. Elitimeyer
admits that we have no evidence that B. longifrons ever existed
in a wild state in Central Europe.

* Ar. fur Anthropologie, 1866, p. 219.

ABSENCE OF EXTINCT SPECIES. 211

M. de Quatrefages* considers all our domestic oxen to be
descendants of the urus ; while Mr. Darwin-f regards B. longi-
frons and B. frontosus as the modern representatives of wild
ancestors, specifically distinct from B. primigenius ; and con-
cludes therefore that our "domestic cattle are almost certainly
the descendants of more than one wild form/'

Mr. Boyd DawkinsJ has shown that, as far as this country
is concerned, we have no conclusive evidence of more than
two species of wild oxen, namely, the urus and the bison.
The smaller varieties appear to have been introduced as
domesticated animals, and probably do not go back beyond
the Neolithic period. According to Nilsson, on the contrary,
both the Bos frontosus and B. longifrons inhabited Sweden
as wild races.§ My own impression is that the urus was
domesticated in Europe; but also that some at least of the
early settlers brought domestic cattle with them, which may
very probably have belonged to a distinct wild race. Further
evidence, however, is much needed on this interesting subject.

Making allowance then for the marine animals, such as
seals, fish, oysters, cockles, whelks, etc., which we could not
expect to find so far away from the sea, the fauna indicated
by the remains found in the Swiss lakes agrees remarkably
with that which characterizes the Danish Kjb'kkenmoddings,
so far as wild animals are concerned, and belongs evidently

o </

to a far later age than that of the celebrated stone hatchets,
which were first made known to us by the genius and perse-
verance of M. Boucher de Perthes.

Instead of the elephant and rhinoceros, we find in the Neo-
lithic or second Stone period — in that, namely, of the Kjok-
kenmoddings and " Pfahlbauten "— the urus and bison, the

* Eev. des Cours Scientitiques, J Boyd Dawkins, Geol. Jour.

1868, p. 563. 1867, p. 182.

t Animals and Plants under § Ann. and Mag. of Nat. His.

Domestication, vol. i. p. 81. 1849, pp. 349—351.

P 2

212 AUROCHS. ELK. IBEX.

elk and the red deer, already installed as monarchs of the
forest. Even the reindeer is altogether absent. The red deer,
on the contrary, and the boar, appear to have been very
frequent, and to have formed a most important article of food
for the Lake-dwellers. The urus, or great fossil ox, is now
altogether extinct, at least as a wild species.* It is mentioned
by Caesar, who describes it as being little smaller than an
elephant. (Hi sunt magnitudine paulo infra elephantos specie
et colore et figura tauri.) According to Herberstein, it still
existed in Germany during the sixteenth century, soon after
which, however, it must have become extinct.

The aurochs, or European bison, seems to have disappeared
from Western Europe at about the same period as the urus.
There is no historical record of its existence in England or
Scandinavia. In Switzerland we cannot trace it later than
the tenth century ; but it is mentioned in the " Mebelungen
Lied," of the twelfth century, as occurring in the Forest of
Worms ; and in Prussia the last was killed in the year 1775.
At one period, indeed, it appears to have inhabited almost
the whole of Europe, much of Asia, and part even of America ;
but at present it is confined in Europe to the imperial forests
in Lithuania, where it is preserved by the Emperor of Kussia ;
while, according to Nordmann and Von Baer, it still exists in
some parts of Western Asia.

We have no notice of the existence of the elk in Switzer-
land during the historical period, but it is mentioned by Csesar
as existing in the great Hercynian forest ; and even in the
twelfth century it was to be met with in Sclavonia and Hun-
gary, according to Albertus Magnus and Gesner. In Saxony,
the death of the last elk is recorded as having occurred in
1746. At present it inhabits Prussia and Lithuania, Finland

* Prof. Riitimeyer, as I have al- Park are unmistakeable, though
ready mentioned, considers that the dwarfish, descendants of the B.
celebrated wild cattle of Tankerville primigenius.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FAUNA. 213

and Eussia, Scandinavia and Siberia, as far as the shores of
the Amoor.

The ibex survived in the Swiss Alps somewhat longer than
the elk. It has lingered longest in the West. In Glarus the
last one perished in 1550, though near Chiavenna it existed
until the 'commencement of the seventeenth century, and in
the Tyrol until the second half of the eighteenth ; while a few
still exist in the neighbourhood of Mont Ise*ran, where they
are protected by the King of Italy.

The extermination of the bear, like that of the ibex, seems
to have begun in the East, and is not yet complete, since this
animal still occurs in the Jura and the Orisons, whence it
occasionally visits the Yalais and the south-eastern parts of
Switzerland. The fox, the otter, and the different species of
weasel, are still the common carnivora of Switzerland, and
the wild cat, badger and wolf still occur in the Jura and the
Alps, the latter in cold winters venturing even into the plains.
The beaver, on the contrary, has at last disappeared from Swit-
zerland. It had long been very rare, but some survived until
the beginning of the present century in Lucerne and Valais.
A few still exist in France near the mouth of the Ehone.
Eed deer were abundant in the Jura and the Black Forest in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, though they do not appear
to have been so large as those which lived in earlier times.
The last was shot in the canton of Basle, at the close of the
eighteenth century, while in western Switzerland and Valais
they lingered somewhat longer. The roe-deer still occurs in
some places.

It appears, therefore, that the animals of the Swiss Pile-
works belong to the fauna which has occupied Europe from
the commencement of the Palaeolithic period down to the
present time.

While, however, we must regard the fauna of the Stone
Age as belonging to the same great zoological epoch as that

214 GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FAUNA.

of the river drift gravels on the one hand, and the present
time on the other, we cannot forget that the immense period
which has elapsed since the end of the tertiary period has
produced great changes in the fauna of Europe. In this post-
tertiary era the Pile-works occupy, so to say, the middle posi-
tion. Distinguished from the present fauna of Switzerland
by the possession of the urus, the bison, the elk, the stag, and
the wild boar, as well as by the more general distribution of
the beaver, the bear, the ibex, etc., their fauna differs from
that of the drift gravels in the absence of the mammoth, the
rhinoceros, the musk ox, the cave hyaena, and the reindeer.

Prof. Riitirneyer thinks that from similar considerations
alone, even if we had no other evidence, we might carry this
division farther ; and if we take the settlements at Moossee-
dorf, Wauwyl, Robenhausen, and Mdau, which have been the
most carefully studied in this respect, it certainly appears
that the three former, which belong to the Stone Age, offer a
marked contrast to the latter, which is the locality whence
the largest number of bronze objects has as yet been obtained.
It is of course unnecessary to point out the interest and
importance of such a distinction, which accords so well with
that indicated by the study of the weapons and the state of
preservation of the piles. Thus, the urus has only occurred at
Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, Eobenhausen, Wangen, and Concise ;
the aurochs only at Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, and Robenhausen ;
the bear only at Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, Robenhauseu, Wangen,
and Concise. A glance at the table given at page 203 will
show that several other species have as yet only occurred
at Moosseedorf and Robenhausen; a fact, however, which
indicates, perhaps, rather the richness than the antiquity of
these localities. Possibly we may consider the presence of
these larger species as an indication of their greater abundance
in the oldest period ; but we must not forget that not only
the bear and the elk, but also the aurochs and the urus appear

COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT LAKE VILLAGES.

215

at a comparatively late period. On the other hand, the abun-
dance of wild animals, and the fact that at Moosseedorf and
Wauwyl the fox was more abundant than the dog, while else-
where the reverse is the case, certainly speak in favour of the
greater antiquity of these two settlements.

The evidence derived from the distribution of the domestic
animals is more satisfactory. The sheep occurs even at
Moosseedorf, though not so numerous as at Nidau. On the
other hand, the horse is frequent at Nidau, while at Moossee-
dorf only a single bone of this animal was discovered, in a
different condition from that of the other bones, and probably
more recent. Finally, the domestic hog of the present race is
absent from all the Pile-works of the Stone period, excepting
the one at Wauwyl; and becomes frequent only at Nidau.
The following table shows the proportions of wild and tame

WILD ANIMALS.

Wauwyl.

Moosseedorf.

Nidau.

Brown Bear

Badger

Marten

Pine Marten

Polecat

Wolf

Fox

WildCat

Beaver ,

Elk

Urus

Bison

Stag

Roe Deer

Wild Boar

Marsh Boar*

DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Domestic Boar

? 1

Horse

Goat

Sheep

Dog

* Considered by Prof. Ku'timeyer mesticated at Nidau and in the
to have been at first wild, but do- later Pfahlbauten.

216 THE FLORA OF THE PFAHLBAUTEN.

animals at Wauwyl and Moosseedorf, as representing the Age
of Stone ; and at Mdau, as perhaps the best illustration of
that of Bronze. 1 represents a single individual; 2, several;
3, the species which are common; 4, those which are very
common ; and 5, those which are present in large numbers.

If succeeding investigations confirm the conclusions thus
indicated, we may infer that the domestic animals, which
were comparatively rare in the Stone period, became more
frequent after the introduction of bronze; a change which
indicates and perhaps produced an alteration of habits on the
part of the inhabitants.

Bare, indeed, as they may have been, oxen, horses, sheep,
and goats could not be successfully kept through the winter
in the climate of Switzerland without store of provisions and
some sort of shelter. A pastoral people, therefore, must have
reached a higher grade than a mere nation of hunters. We
-know, moreover, in another way, that at this period agriculture
was not entirely unknown. This is proved in the most unex-
pected manner, by the discovery of carbonized cereals at
various points. Wheat is most common, having been dis-
covered at Meilen, Moosseedorf, and Wangen. At the latter
place, indeed, many bushels of it were found, the grains being
united in large thick lumps. In other cases the grains are
free, and without chaff, resembling our present wheat in size
and form, while more rarely they are still in the ear. Ears
of the Hordeum hexastichon L. (the six -rowed barley) are
somewhat numerous. This species differs from the H. vulgare
L. in the number of rows, and in the smaller size of the grains.
According to De Candolle, it was the species generally culti-
vated by the ancient Greeks, Bomans, and Egyptians. In the
ears from Wangen, each row has generally ten or eleven grains,
which, however, are smaller and shorter than those now grown.

Three varieties of wheat were cultivated by the Lake-
dwellers, who also possessed two kinds of barley, and two of

GKAIN. FRUITS. 217

millet. Of these the most ancient and most important were
the small six-rowed barley and small "Lake-dwellers" wheat.
The discovery of Egyptian wheat (Triticum turgidum) at
Wangen and Eobenhausen is particularly interesting. Oats
were cultivated during the Bronze Age, but are absent from
all the Stone Age villages. Eye also was unknown.

Wheat and millet only seem to have been used for making
bread. Prof. Heer thinks the barley was probably roasted. In
six-rowed barley the husks adhere very closely to the grain, and
it would have been difficult to separate them ; when roasted,
however, they could be easily detached from one another.

Still more unexpected was the discovery of bread, or rather
cakes, for their texture is so solid that leaven appears not to
have been used. They were flat and round, from an inch to
fifteen lines in thickness, and, to judge from one specimen,
had a diameter of four or five inches. In other cases the
grains seem to have been roasted, coarsely ground between
stones, and then either stored up in large earthenware pots,
or eaten after being slightly moistened. Grain treated in a
similar manner is even now eaten in Germany and Switzerland.
In what way the ground was prepared for the cultivation of
corn we know not, as no implements have as yet been dis-
covered which can with certainty be regarded as agricultural.

Carbonized apples have been found at Wangen, sometimes
whole, sometimes cut into two, or more rarely into four pieces,
and evidently dried and put aside for winter use. They have
occurred not only at Wangen, but also at Eobenhausen in
Lake Pfeffikon, and at Concise in Lake Neufchatel. They
are small, and resemble generally those which still grow wild
in the Swiss forests ; at Eobenhausen, however, specimens
have occurred which are of larger size and were probably
cultivated. No trace of the vine, the walnut, the cherry, or
the damson has yet been met with, but stones of the wild
plum and the Prunus padus have been found. Seeds of the

218 TRAPA NATANS. FLAX.

raspberry and blackberry, and shells of the hazel-nut and
beech-nut occur plentifully in the mud, but those of the
strawberry are rare. Peas have been found at Moosseedorf,
but beans do not appear until the Bronze Age.

From all this, therefore, it is evident that the nourishment
of the dwellers in the Pile-works consisted of corn and wild
fruits, of fish, and the flesh of wild and domestic animals.
Milk also was doubtless an important article of their diet.

Altogether 115 species of plants have been determined.
The wild species are almost entirely the same as those now
living ; the Silene cretica, however, a South European weed,
which was doubtless introduced originally and accidentally
with the cereals, and which has been found at Robenhausen,
does not now inhabit Switzerland ; and the Trapa natans,
which was used as food by the inhabitants of Moosseedorf
and Robenhausen, was supposed to be extinct in Switzerland,
but is now known to occur in one locality.

I subjoin a table which I have compiled from Dr. Heer's
memoir, and which shows the more interesting species and
varieties.

Neither hemp, oats, nor rye have yet been found. Small
pieces of twine and bits of matting made of flax may have
been part of some article of clothing. For this purpose also
there can be little doubt that the skins of animals were used.
Fragments of leather have been met with, and some of the
stone implements seem well adapted to assist in their prepa-
ration, while the bone pins, and needles made from the teeth
of boars, may have served to fasten them together.

Dr. Heer, from whose very interesting memoir* the above
facts are borrowed, calls particular attention to the fact that,
while the remains of wild species found in the Pfahlbauten
agree in the most minute particulars with those still living
in Switzerland, the cultivated plants, on the contrary, differ

* Die Pilauzen der Pfahlbauten.

ANCIENT AGRICULTURE.

219

STONE

§>

AGE. TI

«H

<u
<D

Robenhausen. £

1-3

M
0

a
Montelier.

ONZE AC

;E.

t— i

's-,

1 Hordeum hexastichon sanctum
2 „ „ densum.
3 ,, distichum

*
*

*
*
*

*
*

•X

*
*

•*

*
*

•X-

*
*

4 Triticum vulgare antiquorum
5 „ ,, compactum
muticum

6 Triticum turgiduin (Egyptian
wheat^

7 Triticum spelta

8 „ dicoccum

*•

* .1

9 ,, monococcurn

10 Secale cereale

11 Avena sativa (oats)

12 Panicum miliaceum

13 Setaria italica

14 Silene cretica

15 Centaurea cyanus

16 Pastinaca sativa

1 7 Faba vulgaris

1 8 Pisum sativum

19 Ervum leus

20 Pyrus malus (small crab-apple)
21 Trapa natans

22 Linum angustifolium

from all existing varieties, and invariably have smaller seeds
or fruits. Man has evidently in the course of time effected
considerable improvements. It is also very interesting to
observe how the evidence derived from the Swiss Lake-dwel-
lings agrees with that contained in. the most ancient writings
which we possess. Thus flax is mentioned in the Pentateuch
and in Homer ; it was also largely used by the ancient Egyp-
tians, while hemp seems to have been unknown until a later
period. So also wheat and barley, but neither oats nor rye,*
are mentioned in Exodus or by Homer. Even in the time of
David, when Barzillai the Gileaditef "brought beds, and

1 Only one ear, subsequently lost.

* According to the best Hebrew scholars, the word translated " rye"
in Exodus ix. 32, really means spelt,
f 2 Sam. xviii. 28.

220 SCARCITY OF HUMAN REMAINS.

basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour,
and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine," it will
be observed that neither oats nor rye are mentioned. Flax
also is alluded to nine times in the Old Testament, and linen
thirteen times, but hemp not once.

To what, race of men the Swiss Lake-dwellings are ascrib-
able we have as yet no direct evidence. Human bones are
very rare in the Pile-works, and may probably be referred to
accidents, especially as we find that those of children are
most numerous. M. Desor, indeed, states that not a single
human skeleton has yet been found in any of the stations
belonging to the Stone Age; and Dr. Keller, in his fifth
report, informs us that all the Lake villages taken together
have not yet produced more than half-a-dozen. One mature
skull from Meilen has been described by Professor His, who
considers that it does not differ much from the present
Swiss type. While his work was in the press, Prof. Kliti-
meyer received from Col. Schwab four more skulls, two of
which were obtained at Nidau, one at Sutz, and one at Biel.
Another skull shown to me by Professor Desor, and found at
Auvernier, completes the number mentioned by Dr. Keller.
All these settlements, however, appear to have belonged to
the Bronze Age, nor has it yet been possible certainly to
refer any of the ancient tumuli found in Switzerland to the
earlier period.

Passing now to the Lake -habitations belonging to the
Bronze Age, we find that they are less generally distributed
than those of the earlier period. They have as yet been found
principally on the Lakes of Geneva, Luissel, Neufchatel, Morat,
Bienne, and Sempach ; scarcely any in eastern Switzerland.
It has been supposed from this that the Age of Stone lasted
longer in the east than in the west, and that flint and serpen-
tine were in use on Lake Constance long after bronze had

BRONZE AGE LAKE VILLAGES. 221

replaced them on the western lakes. We can, however, hardly
suppose that the inhabitants of Inkwyl and Moosseedorf in
Berne, who imported flint from France, can have been ignorant
of the neighbouring civilization on the Lake of Bienne. More-
over, one settlement of the Bronze Age has been found on the
Lake of Constance; but as the question now stands, Pile- works
of the Metallic period are almost peculiar to western and
central Switzerland. The constructions of the Bronze Age
are more solidly built, but do not otherwise appear to have
differed materially from those of the Stone Age. They are
often, however, situated farther from the land and in deeper
water, partly no doubt on account of the greater facility of
working timber, but partly also, perhaps, because more pro-
tection was needed as the means of attack were improved.
The principal objects of bronze are swords, daggers, axes, spear-
heads, knives, fish-hooks, sickles, pins, rings, and bracelets.
The number of these articles which have been discovered is
already very great, the collection of Col. Schwab alone con-
taining no less than 4346 objects of metal. They are classified
in the table in p. 46, which gives an idea of the relative pro-
portions in which they occur.

Many of them are really beautiful, and as bronze must have
been at that early period of considerable value, it is difficult
to understand how so many can have been left uncared for
and forgotten, along the shallow margins of the Swiss lakes.
"II est evident," says Prof. Desor, "que ce ne sont pas de
rebuts qui se seraient perdus, sans qu'on s'en inquietat. Us
ne sont pas tombes a 1'eau par hasard, non plus que cette
quantite de vases qui sont accumules sur certain points, ni
les jattes a provisions qu'on retire intactes." On the whole
he is inclined to think that in some of these cases at least,
we have " de simples magasins destines aux ustensiles et aux
provisions, et qui auraient ete detruits par 1'incendie, comme
semble 1'indiquer la trace du feu que montrent frequemment

222 THE WORSHIP OF LAKES.

les poutres aussi bien que les vases en terre. On expliquerait
ainsi comment il se fait que les objets en bronze sont presque
tous neufs, que les vases sont entiers et reunis sur un seul
point." Col. Schwab, however, than whom no man has had
more experience in such matters, while agreeing that compa-
ratively little is ever found except in such Lake villages as
show traces of fire, expresses himself decidedly, and I think
with reason, against the " bazaar" theory.

It has been suggested that the early inhabitants of Switzer-
land may have worshipped the lakes, and that the beautiful
bracelets, etc., may have been offerings to the gods. In fact,
it appears from ancient writers that among the Gauls, Germans,
and other nations, many lakes were regarded as sacred. Accord-
ing to Cicero,* Justin,-)- and StraboJ there was a lake near Tou-
louse in which the neighbouring tribes used to deposit offerings
of gold and silver. Tacitus, Pliny, and Virgil also mention the
existence of sacred lakes. Again, so late as the sixth century,
Gregory of Tours tells us (De Glor. Confes. chap, ii.) that on
Mount Helanus there was a lake which was the object of
popular worship. Every year the inhabitants of the neighbour-
hood brought to it offerings of clothes, skins, cheese, cakes, etc.
Traces of a similar superstition may still be found lingering in
the remote parts of Scotland and Ireland; in the former country
I have myself seen a sacred spring surrounded by the offerings
of the neighbouring peasantry, who seemed to consider pence
and halfpence as the most appropriate and agreeable sacrifice
to the Spirit of the Waters. Neither the coarse, broken
pottery, the castaway fragments of bones, nor the traces of
habitations, can, however, be accounted for in this manner.§

The pottery of the Bronze period is more varied and more
skilfully made than that of the Stone Age, but the potter's

* De Nat. Deor. lib. iii. xxx. § See also Wylie, " On Lake-

f Just, xxxii. iii. dwellings of the Early Periods,"

| Geog. vol. iv. Arclucul. vol. xxxviii. p. 181.

THE POTTERY OF THE BRONZE AGE. 223

wheel does not seem to have been in use. Rings of earthen-
ware are common, and appear to have been used as supports
for the round-bottomed vases. The ornaments are of the same
general character as those on the objects of bronze. Many
of the large urns appear to have been used as store-places for
the grain, etc., which was collected during the summer for
winter's use. In the absence, perhaps, of boxes and cupboards,
even ornaments and instruments seem to have been kept in
large jars, Some beautiful bracelets were found with several
sickles in a jar at Cortaillod. Pieces of pottery, distorted by
fire, during the process of baking, have, according to M. Troyon,
been found in many of the Lake villages ; whence he concludes
that the pottery was manufactured on the spot.

Colonel Schwab has found at Nidau more than twenty
crescents made of earthenware, with the convex side flattened,
to serve as a foot. They are compressed at the sides, some-
times plain, sometimes ornamented, from ten to twelve inches
wide, and six to eight in height. Dr. Keller was at first
inclined to regard them as emblems of moon worship, but it
is more probable that they were pillows.* Though this seems
at first very unlikely, and they must, one would think, have
been very uncomfortable, still we know that several barbarous
races at the present day use wooden pillows or neck-rests of
the same kind, as, for instance, the Fijians, who, having enor-
mous heads of hair, sacrifice comfort to vanity, and use a mere
wooden bar as a pillow. The very long bronze pins found
with these "crescents" indicate that during the Bronze Age
the hair was worn very long and was carefully arranged.

M. Troyon is of opinion that the inhabitants of Switzerland
during the Bronze Age were of a different race from those
who had lived there during the earlier period, and he agrees
with some of the Scandinavian archaeologists in regarding them
as the true " Celts/' and in attributing to them the habit of

* Vogt's Lectures on Man, p. 368.

224 INHABITANTS OF THE LAKE VILLAGES.

burning their dead. It would be very desirable to have some
statistics, in order that we might appreciate the value of the
evidence to be derived from the Swiss tumuli. M. Troyon
relies on the fact that many of the Lake villages were de-
stroyed by fire, and that when, as appears to have been the
case at several places, they were rebuilt during the Bronze
Age, this was done, not exactly on the same spot, but farther
away from the bank. Dr. Keller, on the other hand, considers
that the primitive population did not differ, either in disposi-
tion (anlage), mode of life, or industry, from that which was
acquainted with the use of bronze ; and that the whole pheno-
mena of the Lake villages, from their commencement to their
conclusion, indicate clearly a gradual and peaceable develop-
ment. The number of instances in which Lake villages had
been destroyed by fire has been, he considers, exaggerated.
Of the settlements on the Lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel,
amounting in all to more than seventy, only a quarter have,
according to Col. Schwab, shown any traces of combustion ; a
proportion which is, perhaps, not greater than might have been
expected, remembering that the huts were built of wood, and
in all probability covered by thatch. Moreover, if these con-
flagrations had resulted from the attacks of enemies, we ought
surely to have found numerous remains of the slain, whereas
all the Lake villages together have not as yet supplied us with
the remains of more than half-a-dozen human skeletons.

It must, I think, be confessed that the arguments used by
M. Troyon fail to prove that the introduction of bronze was
accompanied by an entire change of population. The con-
struction of Lake-dwellings is a habit so unusual, that the
continuance of similar habitations during the Bronze A<?e

o o

seems to me a strong argument against any such hypothesis.

Towards the close of the Bronze Age the Lake villages
appear to have gradually become less numerous. During the
Stone Age they were spread over the whole country. Bronze

CHARACTER OF THE OBJECTS FOUND IN LAKE VILLAGES. 225

Age settlements are very rare in the east of Switzerland, and
the Iron Age is represented only on the Lakes of Bienne and
Neufchatel. In these settlements not only has a new sub-
stance made its appearance, but the forms of the implements
are different. We have, indeed, copies of the bronze axes
made in iron, just as we found before that some of the earlier
bronze celts resembled the stone axes in form ; but these are
exceptional cases. The swords have larger handles, and are
more richly ornamented ; the knives have straight edges ; the
sickles are larger ; the pottery is more skilfully made, and is
of the kind generally known as Eornan ; coins occur, the per-
sonal ornaments are more varied, and glass for the first time
makes its appearance. Bronze also is present; but in the
first place it is no longer used for weapons, and in the second
it is worked in a different manner, being hammered,* while,
as already mentioned, all the objects of the Bronze Age are
cast.

A field of battle at Tiefenau, near Berne (see p. 8), is re-
markable for the great number of iron weapons and imple-
ments which have been found on it. Pieces of chariots, about
a hundred swords, fragments of coat of mail, lance-heads, rings,
fibulae, ornaments, utensils, pieces of pottery and of glass,
accompanied by more than thirty Gaulish and Massaliote
coins of a date anterior to our era, enable us to refer this
battle-field to the Eoman period. About forty Roman coins
have also been found at the small island on the Lake of Bienne.

After this period we find no more evidences of Lake-habita-
tions on a large scale. Here and there, indeed, a few fisher-
men may have lingered on the half-destroyed platforms, but
the wants and habits of the people had changed, and the age
of the Swiss Pile-works was at an end.

We have, however, traced them through the ages of Stone
and Bronze down to the beginning of the Iron period. We

* See Desor, Les Constructions lacustres du Lac de Neuchatel, p. 27.

226 ANTIQUITY" OF LAKE VILLAGES.

have seen evidences of a gradual progress in civilization,
and improvement in the arts, an increase in the number of
domestic animals, and proofs at last of the existence of an
extended commerce. We found the country inhabited only
by rude savages, and we leave it the seat of a powerful nation.
Changes so important as these are not effected in a day ; the
progress of the human mind is but slow; and the gradual
additions to human knowledge and power, like the rings in
trees, enable us to form some idea how distant must be the
date of their commencement. So varied, however, are the
conditions of the human mind, so much are all nations
affected by the influence of others, that when we attempt to
express our impressions, so to say, in terms of years, we are
baffled by the complexity of the problem.

Some attempts have, indeed, been made to obtain a more
definite chronology, and they will be alluded to in a later
chapter. Though we must not conceal from ourselves the
imperfection of the archaeological record, still we need not
despair of eventually obtaining some approximate chronology.
Our knowlege of primitive antiquity has made an enormous
stride in the last ten years, and we may fairly look forward
with hope to the future.

The Swiss archaeologists are continuing their labours, and
they may rest assured that we in England watch with interest
the result of their investigations. Few things, indeed, can be
more interesting than the spectacle of an ancient and long-
forgotten people thus rising, as it were, from the waters of
oblivion, to take that place which properly belongs to it in
the history of the human race.

( 227 )

CHAPTEE VII.

THE DANISH KJOKKENMODDINGS, OR SHELL-MOUNDS.

DENMAEK occupies a larger space in the history than
on the map of Europe ; the nation is greater than the
country. Though with the growth of physical power in sur-
rounding populations, she has lost much of her influence in
political councils, and has been recently deprived of a great
part of her ancient possessions, still the Danes of to-day are
no unworthy representatives of their ancestors. Many a larger
nation might envy them the position they hold in science and
art, and few have contributed more to the progress of human
knowledge. Copenhagen may well be proud both of her
museums and of her professors, and I would especially point
to the celebrated Museum of Northern Antiquities, as being
most characteristic and unique.

For the formation of such a collection Denmark offers great
opportunities. The whole country appears to have been, at
one time, thickly studded with tumuli ; where the land has
not been brought into cultivation, many of them are often in
sight at once, and even in the more fertile and thickly popu-
lated parts, the plough is often diverted from its course by
one of these ancient burial-places. Fortunately, the stones
of which they are constructed are so large and so hard, that
their destruction and removal is a laborious and expensive
undertaking. While, however, on the one hand, land grows
gradually more valuable, and the stones themselves are more
and more coveted for building or other purposes; on the other,
the conservative traditions, the feeling of superstitious reve-

Q 2

228 DANISH TUMULI.

rence for the dead, which have so long protected them from
desecration, is gradually becoming weaker; and it is esti-
mated that not a day passes without witnessing the destruc-
tion of one or more of these tumuli, and the loss of some,
perhaps almost irrecoverable, link in the history of the human
race.

Many of these barrows, indeed, contain in themselves a
small collection of antiquities, and the whole country may
even be considered as a museum on a great scale. The peat
bogs, which occupy so large an area, may almost be said to
swarm with antiquities, and Professor Steenstrup estimates
that, on an average, every column of peat three feet square
contains some specimen of ancient workmanship. All these
advantages and opportunities, however, might have been
thrown away, but for the genius and perseverance of Pro-
fessor Thomsen, who may fairly be said to have created the
Museum over which he so long and so worthily presided.

In addition to the objects collected from the tumuli and
the peats bogs, and to those which have been found from time
to time scattered at random in the soil, the Museum of
Northern Antiquities contains an immense collection of spe-
cimens from some very interesting shell-mounds, which are
known at Denmark under the name of " Kjbkkenmb'ddings,"
and were long supposed to be raised beaches, like those which
are found at so many points along our own shores. True
raised beaches, however, necessarily contain a variety of
species ; the individuals are of different ages, and the shells
are, of course, mixed with a considerable quantity of sand and
gravel. But it was observed, in the first instance, I believe,
by Professor Steenstrup, that in these supposed beaches, the
shells belonged entirely to full-grown, or to nearly full-grown,
individuals ; that they consisted of four species which do not
live together, nor require the same conditions, and would not,
therefore, be found together alone in a natural deposit ; and,

KJOKKENMODDINGS, OR SHELL-MOUNDS. 229

thirdly, that the stratum contained scarcely any gravel, but
consisted almost entirely of shells.

The discovery of rude flint implements, and of bones still
bearing the marks of knives, confirmed the supposition that
these beds were not natural formations, and it subsequently
became evident that they were, in fact, the sites of ancient
villages ; the primitive population having lived on the shore
and fed principally on shell-fish, but partly also on the pro-
ceeds of the chase. In many places hearths were discovered
consisting of flat stones, arranged in such a manner as to form
small platforms, and bearing all the marks of fire. The shells
and bones not available for food gradually accumulated round
the tents and huts, until they formed deposits generally from
three to five feet, but sometimes as much as ten feet in thick-
ness, and in some cases more than three hundred yards in
length, with a breadth of from one hundred to two hundred
feet. The name Kjokkemnodding, applied to these mounds,
is derived from Kjokken, "kitchen," and modding (correspond-
ing to our local word midding), " a refuse heap," and it was,
of course, evident that a careful examination of these accumu-
lations would throw much light on the manners and civiliza-
tion of the then population.

Under these circumstances a Committee was formed, con-
sisting of Professor Steenstrup, the celebrated author of the
treatise "On the Alternation of Generations," Professor Forch-
hammer, the father of Danish Geology, and Professor Worsaae,
the well-known archaeologist: a happy combination, promising
the best results to biology, geology, and archaeology. Much
was naturally expected from the labours of such a triumvirate,
and the most sanguine hopes have been fulfilled. More than
fifty of the deposits have been carefully examined, many
thousand specimens have been collected, ticketed, and depo-
sited in the Museum at Copenhagen, and the general results,

230 DESCRIPTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

have been embodied in six Keports, presented to the Academy
of Sciences at Copenhagen.*

It is from these Eeports, and from the excellent Memoir by
M. Moiiot, that the following information has principally been
derived. Being, however, anxious to present to my readers a
complete and accurate account of these interesting shell-
mounds, I have more than once visited Denmark; first in 1861,
with Professor Busk, and again in the summer of 1863. On
both these occasions, through the kindness of Professor Thorn-
sen and Herr K. Herbs t, every facility has been afforded me of
examining the large collections made in different Kjokken-
mb'ddings, in addition to which I had the great advantage of
visiting several of the shell -mounds under the guidance of
Professor Steenstrup himself — especially one at Havelse in
1861, and those at Meilgaard and Fannerup in 1863.

Mr. Busk and I also visited by ourselves one at Bilidt, on
the Isefjord, close to Fredericksund ; but this is one of the
places at which it would seem that the inhabitants cooked
their dinners actually on the shore itself, so that the shells
and bones are much mixed up with sand and gravel ; and we
were not very successful in our search for flint implements.
At Havelse, on the contrary, the settlement was on rather
higher ground, and, though close to the shore, quite beyond
the reach of the waves ; the shells and bones are, therefore,
almost unmixed with extraneous substances. At this place
the Kjokkenmodding is of small extent, and is in the form
of an irregular ring, enclosing a space on which the ancient
dwelling or dwellings probably stood. In other cases, where
the deposit is of greater extent, as, for instance, in the cele-

* Untersogelser i geologisk-anti- excellent abstract of the Reports in

quarisk Retning af G. Forcliham- the Mem. de Ja Societe Vaudoise,

iner, J. Steenstrup, og J. Worsaae. t. vi. 1860.
M. Morlot also has published an

DESCRIPTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 231

brated shell-mound at Meilgaard, the surface is undulating,
the greater thickness of the shelly stratum in some places
apparently indicating the arrangement of the dwellings.
When the shell-mound at Havelse was previously visited by
Professor Steenstrup, the shells were being removed to serve
as manure, and the mound, presenting a perpendicular section,
was in a very favourable condition for examination. The
small pit thus formed had, however, been filled in, so that we
were obliged to make a fresh excavation. In two or three

hours we obtained about a hundred fragments of bone, many
rude flakes, slingstones, and flint fragments, together with nine
rude axes of the ordinary "shell-mound" type (figs. 108 — 110),
several of which, however, were picked up on the surface.

Our visit to Meilgaard in 1863 was even more successful.
This, which is one of the largest and most interesting shell-
mounds hitherto discovered, is situated not far from the sea-
coast, near Grenaa in north-east Jutland, in a beautiful beech-
forest called "Aigt," or "Aglskov," on the property of M. Olsen,
who, with a praiseworthy devotion to science, has given orders
that the Kjokkenmodding should not be destroyed, although
the materials of which it consists are well adapted for the
improvement of the soil, and for other purposes, to which,
indeed, they had already been in part applied before the true
nature of the deposit was discovered. Arriving at his house,
without invitation or notice, we were received by M. Olsen
and his family with kindness and hospitality. M. Olsen
immediately sent two workmen to clear away the rubbish
which had fallen in since the last archaeological visit, so that
when we reached the spot we found a fresh wall of the shell-
mound ready for examination. In the middle, this Kjokken-
modding has a thickness of about ten feet, from which, how-
ever, it slopes away in all directions; round the principal
mound are several smaller ones, of the same nature. Over
the shells a thin layer of mould has formed itself, on which

232 DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

trees grow. A good section of such a Kjokkenmodding can
hardly fail to strike with astonishment any one who sees it
for the first time, and it is difficult to convey in words an exact
idea of the appearance which it presents. The whole thick-
ness consists of shells, oysters being at Meilgaard by far the
most numerous, with here and there a few bones, and still
more rarely stone implements or fragments of pottery. Except-
ing just at the top and bottom, the mass is quite unmixed
with sand and gravel ; and, in fact, contains nothing but what
has been in some way or other subservient to the use of man.
The only exceptions which I could see were a few, very few,
rough flint pebbles, which were probably dredged up with
the oysters. While we were in this neighbourhood, we visited
another Kjokkenmodding at Fannerup on the Kolindsund,
which was even in historical times an arm of the sea, but is
now a fresh-water lake. Other similar deposits have been
discovered at various points along the Danish coast. Generally
it is evident that deposits of this nature were scattered here
and there over the whole shore, but that they were never
formed inland. The whole country was more intersected by
fjords during the Stone period even than it is now. Under
these circumstances it is evident that a nation which subsisted
principally on marine naollusca would never form any large
inland settlements. In some instances, indeed, Kjokkenmod-
dings have been found as far as eight miles from the present
coast, but in these cases there is good reason for supposing that
the land has encroached on the sea. On the other hand, in
those parts were Kjokkenmoddings do not occur, their absence
is no doubt occasioned by the waves having to a certain extent
eaten away the shore : an explanation which accounts for their
being so much more frequent on the borders of the inland
fjords than on the coast itself; and which seems to deprive
us of all hope of finding any similar remains on our eastern
and south-eastern shores. Shell-mounds, although probably

SHELL-MOUNDS IN SCOTLAND. 233

belonging to a later date, have, however, actually been found
on our coasts. They were observed by Dr. Gordon, of Birnie,
on the shores of the Moray Firth. I have had the advantage
FIG. 171. of visiting these shell-mounds with him. The largest
of the Scotch Kjokkenmoddings is on Loch Spynie.
We did not find any implements or pottery in it,
although we searched for several hours; but a labourer,
who had been employed in carting it away for manure,
had previously found some fragments of rude pottery
and a bronze pin (fig. 171). Loch Spynie has been
partially drained, and is shut out from the sea by a
great accumulation of shingle, so that the water is
now perfectly fresh. From ancient records it appears
that the shingle barrier was probably completed, and
the lake shut out from the sea, in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. On the other hand, I have
submitted the bronze pin figured here to Mr. Franks,
who gives it as his opinion that it is probably not
older than 800 or 900 A.D. If, therefore, it really
belongs to the shell-mound, and there seems no reason
to doubt the statement of the men who found it, we
thus get an approximate date for the accumulation of
the mound itself. At St. Valery, close to the mouth
of the Sonime, Mr. Evans, Mr. Prestwich, and I found
a large accumulation of shells, from which I obtained
several flint flakes and some pieces of rude pottery.
Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Spence Bate have recently
described some shell-mounds in Cornwall and Devon-
Bronze shire. Similar remains have been observed in various
a'scotS! parts of the world, as, for instance, in Australia, by
mound. Dampier,* in Tierra del Fuego by Mr. Darwin,-)- in
the Malay Peninsula by Mr. Earle,J in the Andaman Islands

* Pinkerton's Travels, vol. ii. p. 473. t Journal, p. 234.

1 Ethnological Soc. Trans., New Ser. vol. ii. p. 119.

234 SHELL-MOUNDS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

by Dr. Stoliczka,* in Japan,f and in both North J and South §
America.

The fact that the majority of the Danish shell-mounds are
found at a height of only a few feet above the sea appears to
prove that there has been no considerable subsidence of the
land since their formation, while, on the other hand, it clearly
shows that there can have been no elevation. In certain
cases, however, where the shore is steep, they have been found
at a considerable height. It might indeed be supposed that
where, as at Bilidt, the materials of the Kjbkkenmodding were
rudely interstratified with sand and gravel, the land must have
sunk ; but if for any length of time such a deposit was sub-
jected to the action of the waves, all traces of it would be
obliterated, and it is, therefore, probable that an explanation
is rather to be found in the fact that the action of waves and
storms may have been greater at that time than it is now.
At present the tides only affect the Kattegat to the extent of
about a foot and a half, and the configuration of the land
protects it very much from the action of the winds. On the
other hand, the tides on the west coast of Jutland rise about
nine feet, and the winds have been known to produce differ-
ences of level amounting to twenty- nine feet ; and as we
know that Jutland was anciently an archipelago, and the
Baltic was more open to the German Ocean than it is now,
we can easily understand that the fluctuations of level may
have been greater, and we can thus explain how the waves
may have risen over the Kjokkemnodding at Bilidt (which is
after all not much more than ten feet above the water), with-
out resorting to the hypothesis of a subsidence and subsequent
elevation of the coast.

* Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, Jan. Naturalist, vol. ii. Nos. 8, 9, and

1870. 11. Foster, Pre-historic Kaces of

t Morse, Mem. of Univ. of To- the United States, p. 156.

kio, vol. i. § Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana.

J H. "Wyman, The American Agassiz, Journej^ in Brazil.

FAUNA OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 235

In the Lake-habitations of the Stone Age in Switzerland,
grains of wheat and barley, and even pieces of bread, or rather
biscuit, have been found. It does not, however, appear that
the men of the Kjokkenmoddings had any knowledge of agri-
culture, no traces of grain of any sort having been hitherto
discovered. The only vegetable remains found in them have
been burnt pieces of wood, and some charred substance,
referred by M. Forchhammer to the Zostera marina, a sea-
plant which was, perhaps, used in the production of salt.

The four species which are the most abundant in the shell-
mounds are : —

The oyster, Ostrea edulis, L.
The cockle, Cardium edule, L.
The mussel, Mytilus edulis, L., and
The periwinkle, Littorina littorea, L.

all four of which are still used as food for man. Other species
occur more rarely, namely, —

Nassa reticulata, L.

Buccinum undatum, L.
Venus pullastra, Mont.
Helix nemoralis, Mull.
Venus aurea, Gm.
Trigonella plana, Da. C.
Littorina obtusata, L.
Helix strigella, Mii.ll., and
Carocolla lapicida, L.

It is remarkable that the specimens of the first seven species
are well developed, and decidedly larger than any now found
in the neighbourhood. This is especially the case with the
Cardium edule and Littorina littorea, while the oyster ha&
entirely disappeared, and even in the Kattegat itself occurs
only in a few places ; a result which may, perhaps, be partly
owing to the quantities caught by fishermen. Some oysters

236 FISH. BIRDS. MAMMALS.

were, however, still living in the Isefjord at the beginning of
this century, and their destruction cannot be altogether ascribed
to the fishermen, as great numbers of dead shells are still
present ; but in this case it is attributed to the abundance of
starfishes, which are very destructive to oysters. On the
whole, their disappearance, especially when taken in connection
witli the dwarf size of the other species, is evidently attribut-
able in a great measure to the smaller proportion of salt in
the water.

Of Crustacea, only a few fragments of crabs have hitherto
been found. The remains of vertebrata are very numerous
and extremely interesting. In order to form an idea of the
number of bones, and of the relative, proportions belonging
to different animals, Professor Steenstrup dug out from three
different parts of the shell-mound at Havelse, square pillars
with sides three feet in length, and carefully collected the
bones therein contained. In the first pillar he found 175
bones of mammals and 35 of birds ; in the second pillar he
found 121 of mammals and 9 of birds; in the third, 309 of
mammals and 10 of birds. The pillars, however, were not
exactly comparable, because their cubic contents depended on
the thickness of the shell-mound at the place where they were
taken, and varied between seventeen and twenty cubic feet.
On the whole, Professor Steenstrup estimates that there were
from ten to twelve bones in each cubic foot. It will be seen,
therefore, that the number of bones is very great. Indeed,
from the mound at Havelse alone the Committee obtained in
one summer 3500 bones of mammals, and more than 200 of
birds, besides many hundred of fishes, which latter, indeed,
are almost innumerable. The most common species are —

Clupea harenyus, L. (the herring),

Gadus callarias, L. (the dorse),

Pl&wronectes limanda, L. (the dab), and

Murcena anyuilla, L. (the eel).

BIRDS. MAMMALS. 237

•

The remains of birds are highly interesting and instructive.
The domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus) is entirely absent. The
two domestic swallows of Denmark (Hirundo rustica and H.
ur'bica), the sparrow and the stork, are also missing. On the
other hand, fine specimens of the capercailzie (Tetrao urogal-
lus), which feeds principally on the buds of the pine, show
that, as we know already from the remains found in the
peat, the country was at one time covered with pine forests.
Aquatic birds, however, are the most frequent, especially
several species of ducks and geese. The wild swan (Cygnus
musicus), which only visits Denmark in winter, is also fre-
quently found; but perhaps the most interesting of the birds
whose remains have been identified, is the Great Auk (Alca
impennis, L), a species which is now almost, if not altogether,
extinct.

Of Mammalia, by far the most common are —

The stag (Cervus elephas, L.)

The roedeer (Cervus capreolus, L.), and

The wild boar (Sus scrofa, L.).

Indeed, Professor Steenstrup estimates that these three species
form ninety-seven per cent of the whole ; the others are —

The urus (Bos urus, L.)

The dog (Canis familiaris, L.)

The fox (Canis vulpes, L.)

The wolf (Canis lupus, L.)

The marten (Maries sp.}

The otter (Lutra vulyaris, Exl.)

The porpoise (Delpliinus plioccena, L.)

The seal (Phoca sp.)

The water-rat (Hypudceus ampliibius, L. and

Hypudceus agrestis, L.)
The beaver (Castor fiber, L.)
The lynx (Felis lynx, L.)

238 CONDITION OF THE BONES.

The wild cat (Felis catus, L.)

The hedgehog (Erinaceus europceus, L.)

The bear ( Ursus arctos, L.)

The mouse ( MILS flavicollis, Mel.).

There are also traces of a smaller species of ox. The Lithu-
anian aurochs (Bison europwus) has been found, though rarely,
in the peat bogs, but not yet in the Kjb'kkenmb'ddings. The
musk ox (Ovibus moscliatus) and the domestic ox (Bos taurus),
as well as the reindeer, the elk, the hare, the sheep, and the
domestic hog, are all absent.*

Professor Steenstrup does not agree with Prof. Eiitimeyer
that the domestic hog of ancient Europe was directly derived
from the wild boar, but rather that it was introduced from the
east ; and the skulls which he showed me in support of this
belief certainly exhibited very great differences between the
two races. The sheep, the horse, and the reindeer are entirely
absent, the domestic cat was not known in Europe until about
the ninth century, and the bones of the urus are probably those
of wild specimens, so that the dog^f appears to have been the
only domestic animal of the period ; and though it may fairly
be asked whether the bones may not have belonged to a race
of wild dogs, the question admits of a satisfactory answer.

Among the remains of birds, the long bones which form
about one-fifth of the skeleton, are, in the Kjokkenmoddings,
about twenty times as numerous as the others, and are almost
always imperfect, the shaft only remaining. In the same
manner it would be impossible to re-construct a perfect skele-
ton of the quadrupeds, certain bones and parts of bones being
always absent. In the case of the ox, for instance, the missing

* It is a curious fact that, as t From the marks of knives on

Prof. Steenstrup informs n*e, the the bones, it seems evident that the

bones from the Kjokkenmoddings dog was then, as it is still among

of Jutland indicate, as a general several savage tribes, an article of

rule, larger and more powerful ani- food,
mals than those of the Islands.

PREVALENCE OF CERTAIN BONES. 239

parts are the heads of the long bones (though while the shaft
only of the femur is found, in the humerus one end is gene-
rally perfect), the back bone except the first two vertebrae, the
spinous processes, and often the ribs, and the bones of the
skull except the lower jaw and the portion round the eyes.
It occurred to Professor Steenstrup that these curious results
might, perhaps, be referred to dogs; and, on trying the experi-
ment, he ascertained that the bones which are absent from
the Kjokkenmoddings are precisely those which dogs eat, and
those which are present are the parts which are hard and
solid and do not contain much nourishment. Prof. Steenstrup
has since published a diagram of a skeleton, tinted in such a
manner as to show at a glance which of the bones occur in
the Kjokkenmoddings, and points out that it coincides exactly
with one given by M. Flourens to illustrate those portions of
the skeleton which are first formed. Although a glance at
the longitudinal section of a long bone, as, for instance, of a
femur, and a comparison of the open cancellated tissue of the
two ends with the solid, close texture of the shaft, at once
justifies and accounts for the selection made by the dogs, it is
interesting thus to ascertain that their predilections were the
same in primaeval times as at present. Moreover, we may in
this manner explain the prevalence of some bones in fossil
strata. I have already mentioned that of the skull, the hard
parts round the eye and the lower jaw are the only parts left;
now the preponderance of lower jaws in a fossil state is well
known.

Dr. Falconer indeed has pointed out " that in the smaller
mammalia, unless the bone be complete, and, supposing it to
be a long bone, with both its articular surfaces perfect, it is
almost hopeless, or at any rate very discouraging, to attempt
to make out the creature that yielded it; whereas the smallest
fragment of a jaw, with a minute tooth in it, speaks volumes
of evidence at the first glance." " This," he suggests, " is one

240 HABITS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.

great reason why we hear so much of jaw remains, and so little
of other bones/' No doubt it is so ; but these observations,
made by Prof. Steenstrup, afford a farther explanation of the
fact, and it is to be regretted that the parts of the long bones
which are most important to the palaeontologist are also those
which are preferred by beasts of prey.

In every case the bones which contained marrow are split
open in the manner best adapted for its extraction ; this
peculiarity, which is in itself satisfactory proof of the presence
of man, has not yet been observed in bones from the true
tertiary strata.

The Kjokkenmoddings were not mere summer quarters ;
the ancient fishermen resided on these spots for at least two-
thirds, if not the whole of the year. This we learn from an
examination of the bones of the wild animals, as it is often
possible to determine, within very narrow limits, the time of
year at which they are killed. For instance, the remains of
the wild swan (Gygnus musicus) are very common, and this
bird is only a winter visitor, leaving the Danish coast in
March, and returning in November. It might naturally have
beeu hoped that the remains of young birds would have sup-
plied evidence as to the spring and early summer, but unfor-
tunately, as has been already explained, no such bones are to
be found. It is therefore fortunate that among the mammalia
two periodical phenomena occur ; namely, the shedding and
reproduction of stags' antlers, which, with slight variations
according to age, have a fixed season; and, secondly, the birth
and growth of the young. These and similar phenomena
render it highly probable that the "mould-builders" resided
on the Danish coast all the year round, though I am disposed
to think that, like the Fuegiaiis, who lead, even now, a very
similar life, they frequently moved from spot to spot. This
appears to me to be indicated not only by the condition of
the deserted hearths, but by the colour of the flint flakes, etc. ;

FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

241

for while, many of these retain the usual dull bluish black

FIG. 172.

FIG. 173.

Awl.
FIG. 174.

FIG. 175.

Lance-heads.

colour which is characteristic of newly -broken flints, and

242

FLINT IMPLEMENTS FROM THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

which remains unaltered as long as they are surrounded by
carbonate of lime, others are whitened, as is usual with those
which have been exposed for any length of time. Perhaps,
therefore, these were lying on the surface during some period
of desertion, and covered over only when the place was again
inhabited.

The flint implements found in the Kjokkenmoddings re-
semble those which are characteristic of the "coast-finds."
They may be classed as flakes (figs. 82 — 96); "shell-mound"
axes, which, as we have already observed, present a peculiar
form (figs. 108—110, and pi. 1, figs. 8, 9); awls (fig. 172), sling-
stones or net-weights (pi. 1, fig. 12), and rude lance-heads
(figs. 173 — 175). With these occur other forms, which, though
very rude, are evidently artificial, such as fig. 176, which

FIG. 176.

Rude Flint Implement.

appears to have been a kind of axe, and others of which the
sharp edges were evidently used for cutting purposes.

In the two days which we spent at Meilgaard, we found
the following objects : —

"Shell-mound" axes 19

Flint flakes 139

Bone pins, etc 6

Horns 6

Pottery, only 4 pieces

ABSENCE OF POLISHED FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 243

Stone hammer 1

Slingstones, about 20

195

Of the three "pillars" of material just alluded to (p. 236),
the first contained seven flint flakes, two axes, one worked
piece of horn, three worked pieces of bone, and some pottery ;
in the second were sixteen flint flakes, one axe, and seven
slingstones ; in the third, four flint flakes, two flint axes, and
a pointed bone. In short, without appearing to be richer
than other Kjokkenmoddings, Meilgaard and Havelse have
each produced already more than a thousand of these rude
relics, though biC a small portion of the mound has in either
case been hitherto removed. We need not, therefore, wonder
at the number of axes found in the valley of the Somme,
where so much larger a mass of material has been examined.

None of the large polished axes have yet been found in
the Kjokkenmoddings ; but a fragment of one which was
discovered at Havelse, and which had been worked up into a
scraper, shows that they were not altogether unknown. A
very few carefully formed weapons have been found, but the
implements generally are very rude, and of the same types
as those which have been already described as characteristic
of the " Coast-finds." Small pieces of very coarse pottery
have also been discovered, and many of the bones from the
Kjokkenmoddings bear evident marks of a sharp instrument ;
several of the pieces found by us were in this condition, and
had been fashioned into rude pins.

The observations of Arctic travellers prove that even if
human bones had been found in the shell-mounds, this would
not of itself be any evidence of cannibalism ; but the absence
of such remains satisfactorily shows that the primitive popu-
lation of the North were free from this practice. On the other
hand, the tumuli have supplied us with numerous skeletons

244 FOOD OF THE SHELL-MOUND BUILDERS.

which probably belong to the Stone Age. The skulls are very
round, and in many respects resemble those of the Lapps, but
have a more projecting ridge over the eye. One curious
peculiarity is, that their front teeth do not overlap as ours do,
but meet one another, as do those of the Greenlanders of the
present day. This evidently indicates a peculiar manner of
eating.

Much as still remains to be made out respecting the men
of the Stone period, the facts already ascertained, like a few
strokes by a clever draughtsman, supply us with the elements
of an outline sketch. Carrying our imagination back into
the past, we see before us on the low shores of the Danish
Archipelago a race of small men, with heavy overhanging
brows, round heads, and faces probably much like those of
the present Laplanders. As they must evidently have had
some protection from the weather, it is most probable that
they lived in tents made of skins. The total absence of metal
in the Kjokkenmoddings indicates that they had not yet any
weapons except those made of wood, stone, horn, and bone.
Their principal food must have consisted of shell-fish, but
they were able to catch fish, and often varied their diet by
game caught in hunting. It is, perhaps, not uncharitable to
conclude that, when their hunters were unusually successful,
the whole community gorged itself with food, as is the case
with many savage races at the present time. It is evident
that marrow was considered a great delicacy, for every single
bone which contained any was split open in the manner best
adapted to extract the precious morsel.

We have already seen that the mound -builders were regular
settlers, and not mere summer visitors; and on the whole
they seem to have lived in very much the same manner as
the Tierra del Fuegians, who dwell on the coast, feed princi-
pally on shell-fish, and have the dog as their only domestic
animal. A very good account of them is given in Darwin's

THE FUEGIANS. 245

Journal (p. 234), from which I extract the following passages,
which give us a vivid and probably correct idea of what might
have been seen on the Danish shores, long, long ago. " The
inhabitants, living chiefly upon shell-fish, are obliged con-
stantly to change their place of residence ; but they return at
intervals to the same spots, as is evident from the pile of old
shells, which must often amount to some tons in weight.
These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by the
bright green colour of certain plants which invariably grow

on them The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and

dimensions, a haycock. It merely consists of a few broken
branches stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched
on one side with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole
cannot be so much as the work of an hour, and it is only used

for a few days At a subsequent period, the Beagle

anchored for a couple of days under Wollaston Island, which
is a short way to the northward. While going on shore, we
pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the
most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On
the east coast, the natives, as we have seen, have guaoioco
cloaks, and on the west, they possess sealskins. Amongst the
central tribes the men generally possess an otter-skin, or some
small scrap about as large as a pocket-kandkerchief, which is
barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their
loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and according
as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But these
Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full-
grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and
the fresh water, together with the spray, trickled down her

body These poor wretches were stunted in their growth,

their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint, their skins
filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices discordant,
their gestures violent and without dignity. Viewing such men,
one can hardly make oneself believe they are fellow-creatures

246 THE RELATION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS

and inhabitants of the same world At night, five or six

human beings, naked, and scarcely protected from the wind
and rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet ground
coiled up like animals. Whenever it is low water, they must
rise to pick shell-fish from the rocks ; and the women, winter
and summer, either dive to collect sea eggs, or sit patiently
in their canoes, and, with a baited hair line, jerk out small
fish. If a seal is killed, or the floating carcase of a putrid
whale discovered, it is a feast ; such miserable food is assisted
by a few tasteless berries and fungi. Nor are they exempt
from famine, and, as a consequence, cannibalism accompanied
by parricide." In this latter respect, however, the advantage
appears to be all on the side of the ancients, whom we have
no right to accuse of cannibalism.

If the absence of cereal remains justifies us, as it appears
to do, in concluding that they had no knowledge of agricul-
ture, they must certainly have sometimes suffered from periods
of great scarcity, indications of which may, perhaps, be seen
in the bones of the fox, wolf, and other carnivora, which would
hardly have been eaten from choice ; on the other hand, they
were blessed in the ignorance of spirituous liquors, and saved
thereby from what is at present the greatest scourge of
Northern Europe.

Prof. Worsaae has proposed to divide the Stone Age into
two divisions, the first of which he again subdivides. His
classification stands as follows :-

The Older Stone Age.

1. The stone implements found in the drift, and in caves
with remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, hysena, and other
extinct animals.

2. The Rjokkenmb'Jdings and coast-finds.

The Later Stone Aye.

Characterized by the beautifully worked stone implements
and large tumuli.

TO THE TUMULI. 247

The shell -mounds and coast-finds, according to Professor
Worsaae, are characterized by very rough flint implements
(figs. 108 — 110, 172 — 176), and are the remains of a much
ruder and more barbarous people than that which constructed
the large Stone Age tumuli, and made the beautiful weapons,
etc., found in them. He does not altogether deny that a few
well-worked implements, and fragments of such, have been
found in the Kjokkenmoddings, but he considers that some
of these at least may be altogether more recent than the shell-
mounds in which they are reported to have been found, and,
at any rate, that their presence is altogether exceptional. At
Meilgaard, for instance, the researches undertaken under the
superintendence of the late king in June, 1861, produced
more than five hundred flint flakes and other rude implements,
but not a single specimen with a trace of polishing, or in any
way resembling the flint implements found in the tumuli.
On the other hand, these rude implements are said to be
wanting in the tumuli, where they are replaced by instru-
ments of a different character and more skilful workmanship.
Moreover, while it is admitted on all hands that the shell-
mound makers had no domestic animal but the dog, and no
knowledge of agriculture, Prof. Worsaae considers that during
the later Stone Age the inhabitants of Denmark certainly
possessed tame cattle and horses, and had in all probability
some knowledge of agriculture.

Prof. Steenstrup is of an entirely different opinion, and
considers that the Kjokkenmoddings and Stone Age tumuli
were contemporaneous. He denies altogether that remains of
tame oxen or horses have been found in tumuli of the Stone
Age, except in a very few instances, and in these he main-
tains that the fragments which have occurred are evidently not
coeval with the mounds themselves, and that in all probability
they have been introduced by foxes. He admits that the
stone implements from the shell-mounds and coast-finds are

248 THE RELATION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS TO THE TUMULI.

altogether different from, and much ruder than, those from
the tumuli ; he considers the two classes as representing, not
two different degrees, but two different phases of one single
condition of civilization. The tumuli are the burial-places of
chiefs, the Kjb'kkenmb'ddings are the refuse heaps of fishermen.
The first contained all that skill could contrive, affection offer,
or wealth command ; the second, those things only which art
could not make available, which were thrown away as useless,
or accidentally lost. In order, therefore, to compare these
two classes of objects, we must take, not the ordinary rude
specimens which are so numerous in the shell-mounds, but
the few better-made implements which, fortunately for science
and for us, were lost among the oyster-shells, or which had
been broken, and therefore thrown away. These, though few
in number, are, in Professor Steenstrup's opinion, quite as
numerous as could have been expected under the circum-
stances. Moreover, the long flint flakes, which are so common
in the Kjokkenmoddings, are sufficient evidence that great
skill in the treatment of flint had already been attained.
Some of the flakes found in the Kjokkenmoddings are equal
to any from the tumuli ; several of those which we found at
Meilgaard were more than five, and one was more than six
inches in length ; while I have in my possession a giant flake
from Fannerup (figs. 82 — 84), given to me by Professor Steen-
strup, which has a length of eight inches and three quarters.
As regards the rude, more or less triangular "axes" (figs.
108 — 110) which are so characteristic of the Kjokkenmoddings
and coast-finds, Professor Steenstrup, as we have already seen
declines to compare them with the polished axes of the
tumuli, because in his opinion they were not intended for the
same purposes. In addition to the direct evidence derived
from the discovery of some few well-made flint axes of the
tumulus type, Professor Steenstrup relies much on the indirect
evidence derivable from the other contents of the shell-mounds.

THE OPINIONS OF MESSRS. STEENSTRUP AND WORSAAE. 249

Tims the frequent remains of large and full-grown animals —
for instance, of the seal and the wild ox — are in his opinion
sufficient evidence that the shell-mound builders must have
had weapons more useful and destructive than any which
Prof. Worsaae will concede to them ; moreover, he considers
that many of the cuts which are so common on the bones
found in the shell-heaps must have been made by polished
implements, and are too smooth to be the marks of flint flakes,
according to the suggestion of Professor Worsaae. Finally,
Professor Steenstrup, though not attributing so much weight
as Professor Worsaae to the absence of the ruder implements
from the tumuli, even if this had been the case, disputes the
fact on the ground that these implements would not until
recently have been recognized and collected, and that they
have, in fact, been found whenever they were looked for.

After having carefully considered the evidence on both
sides, I find myself, as might naturally be expected, unable
altogether to agree with either.

The small rude axes seem to me even less well adapted to
the purpose suggested by Prof. Steenstrup, than for those
which have generally been attributed to them. There are,
no doubt, some which could never have been used for cutting,
but these may have been failures, owing to some want of skill
on the part of the manufacturer, or some flaw in the flint
itself. Others appear to me, as to Prof. Worsaae, serviceable,
though rude ; and well adapted for some purpose (possibly for
oyster dredging or chopping wood) which required a strong,
rather than a sharp edge. They also very closely resemble in
form some of the adzes used by the South Sea Islanders, one
of which I have figured for comparison (see p. 103). They
seem to me, however, as to Prof. Steenstrup, to differ in
character from the well-made and generally polished axes,
and not to be ruder implements of the same type. Although
the carefully formed knives, axes, lance-heads, etc., would not

250 ANTIQUITY OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

be likely to abound in the Kjokkenmoddings, any more than
works of art or objects of value in modern dust-heaps ; still
I confess I should have expected that fragments of these
instruments, recognizable to us, though useless to their original
owners, would have been more numerous than, in reality, they
appear to be.

In addition to the five hundred rude implements described
by Prof. Worsaae as having been found at Meilgaard during
the king's visit, I myself obtained a hundred and forty flint
flakes, with about fifty other implements, in the visit to this
celebrated locality which I made last year under the guidance
of Prof. Steenstrup. To these, again, must be added many
which had previously been collected by M. Olsen, and the
members of the Kjokkenmodding Committee ; and yet among
so large a number of instruments of various kinds there is
only one which in any respect resembles the well -worked
implements of the tumuli. So, again, at Havelse only a single
fragment of a polished axe has been found among more than
a thousand objects of the ruder kind. It might, however,
fairly be urged that in such a comparison neither the flakes
nor " slingstones " ought to be brought into consideration in
this case; and if we were to count the axes only, the numbers
would be greatly diminished.

Moreover, the alleged absence of rude implements in the
Stone Age barrows has been satisfactorily explained by Pro-
fessor Steenstrup. In this country it might be argued, from
the statements of so intelligent an antiquary as Sir R. Colt
Hoare, that rude implements were never, or very rarely, found
in tumuli ; but the more recent researches of Mr. Bateman,
Mr. Greenwell, and other archaeologists, have shown that this
is very far from being the case, and have made it evident that
the ruder implements of stone were overlooked by the earlier
archaeologists. In the tumuli examined by Mr. Bateman, he
obtained many flint flakes, etc., quite as rude as those which

ANTIQUITY OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 251

are found in the shell-mounds. So far as I am aware, however,
none of the small triangular axes, which are so characteristic
of the shell-mounds, have yet been met with in the tumuli.
Nor, on the other hand, has a single specimen resembling
those which are characteristic of the Palaeolithic Age yet been
found in the shell-mounds.

Finally, as regards the supposed remains of domestic animals
(other than the dog) in Stone Age tumuli, the evidence brought
forward by Professor Worsaae seems to me inconclusive, which,
however, is of the less consequence, as the point will certainly
be determined ere long, now that attention has specially been
directed to it.

On the whole, the evidence appears to show that the Danish
shell-mounds represent a definite period in the history of that
country, and are probably referable to the early part of the
Neolithic Age, when the art of polishing flint implements was
known, but before it had reached its greatest development.

It is, however, as yet, impossible to affix even an approxi-
mate date in years to the formation of the Kjokkenmoddings.
Their accumulation, indeed, must evidently have occupied a
considerable period, and it is of course highly probable that
some are much older than others. They must all, however,
be of very considerable antiquity. We know that the country
has long been covered by beech forests, and yet it appears
that during the Bronze Age beeches were absent, or only
represented by stragglers, while the whole country was covered
with oaks. This change implies a great lapse of time, even if
we suppose that but a few generations of oaks succeeded one
another. We know also that the oaks had been preceded by
pines, and that the country was inhabited even then.

Again, the immense number of objects belonging to the
Bronze Age, which have been already found in Denmark, and
the great number of tumuli, appear to justify the Danish
archa3ologists in assigning to this period a great lapse of time.

252 ANTIQUITY OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS.

This argument applies with peculiar force to the remains of
the Stone period : for a country, the inhabitants of which live
by hunting and fishing, can never be thickly populated ; and,
on the whole, the conclusion is forced upon us, that the
country must have been inhabited for a lengthened period,
although none of the Danish remains yet discovered belong
to a time as ancient as some of those which have been found
in other parts of Europe, and which will be described in sub-
sequent chapters.

( 253 )

CHAPTEE VIII.

NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY.

OUE knowledge of North American Archaeology is derived
mainly from the valuable researches of Mr. Caleb At-
water, contained in the first volume of the Archreologia Ame-
ricana, and from four excellent memoirs published under the
auspices of the Smithsonian Institution : — 1. Ancient Monu-
ments of the Mississippi Valley, comprising the Eesults of
extensive Original Surveys and Explorations, by E. G. Squier,
A.M., and E. H. Davis, M.D. 2. Aboriginal Monuments of the
State of New York, comprising the Eesults of Original Surveys
and Explorations, with an illustrative Appendix, by E. Gr.
Squier, A.M. 3. The Antiquities of Wisconsin, as surveyed
and described by J. A. Lapham. 4. The Archaeology of the
United States, or Sketches, Historical and Biographical, of the
Progress of Information and Opinion respecting Vestiges of
Antiquity in the United States ; by Samuel F. Haven. Nor
must I omit to mention Schoolcraft's History, Condition, and
Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States.*

The memoir by Messrs. Squier and Davis, occupying more
than three hundred pages, is chiefly descriptive of ancient
fortifications, enclosures, temples, and mounds, and of the
different implements, ornaments, etc., which have been ob-

•

* Among more recent works on of the Southern Indians ; Foster's

the subject, I may specially refer Pre- historic Races of the United

to Bancroft's Native Races of the States ; Abbott's Stone Age in New

Pacific States ; Jones's Antiquities Jersey.

2;")4 BIBLIOGRAPHY.

tained from them. It is embellished with forty-eight plates,
and two hundred and seven woodcuts.

In his second work, Mr. Squier confines himself to the anti-
quities of the State of New York. Within these limits, how-
ever, he describes many ancient monuments of various kinds,
and he feels "warranted in estimating the number which
originally existed in the State at from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty." He comes to the conclusion, "little anti-
cipated," he says, " when I started on my trip of exploration,"
that the earthworks of Western New York were erected by
the Iroquois, or their western neighbours, and do not possess
any very great antiquity.

The systematic exploration of the ancient remains in the
State of Wisconsin, described in the memoir by Mr. Lapham,
was undertaken on behalf of the American Antiquarian Society,
by which the necessary funds were provided. The cost of the
publication, however, which from the great number of engrav-
ings (fifty-five plates, besides sixty-one wood engravings) was
considerable, was defrayed by the Smithsonian Institution,
and the work is included in the seventh volume of " Contri-
butions."

Mr. Haven's work is well described in the title, and forms
an interesting introduction to the study of North American
Archaeology. He gives us comparatively few observations or
opinions of his own ; but after a careful examination of what
others have written, he comes to the conclusion that the
ancient earthworks of the United States "differ less in kind
than in decree from' other remains concerning which history

t? O «'

has not been entirely silent. They are more numerous, more
concentrated, and in some particulars on a larger scale of
labour, than the works which approach them on their several
borders, and with whose various characters they are blended
Their numbers may be the result of frequent changes of resi-
dence by a comparatively limited population, in accordance

CLASSIFICATION OF ANTIQUITIKS. 2f>5

with a superstitious trait of the Indian nature, leading to the
abandonment of places where any great calamity has been
suffered ; but they appear rather to indicate a country thickly
inhabited for a period long enough to admit of the progressive
enlargement and extension of its movements."

Although Mr. Schoolcraft's book is more especially devoted
to the present, or recent, condition and habits of the Indian
tribes, still he gives us much archaeological information, and
I shall have occasion frequently to quote from his elaborate
work.

The antiquities themselves fall into two great divisions :
Implements (including ornaments) and Earthworks. The
earthworks have been again divided by the American archae-
ologists into seven classes: — 1, Defensive enclosures; 2,
Sacred and miscellaneous enclosures ; 3, Sepulchral mounds ;
4, Sacrificial mounds; 5, Temple mounds; 6, "Animal"
mounds; and 7, Miscellaneous mounds. These classes I
shall treat separately, and we can then better consider the
"mound-builders" themselves.

The simple weapons of bone and stone, found in America,
closely resemble those which occur in other countries. The
flakes, hatchets, axes, arrow-heads, and bone implements are,
for instance, very similar to those which occur in the Swiss
Lakes, if only we make allowance for the differences of mate-
rial. In addition to the simple forms, which may almost be
said to be ubiquitous, there are some, however, which are
more complicated. In many cases they are perforated, as for
instance those figured by Messrs. Squier and Davis.* The
perforated axes found in Europe are generally considered to
belong to the Metallic Age ; but as far as America is concerned,
we have not yet any evidence as to the relative antiquity of
the perforated and imperforated types.

* Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. By E. S. Squier and
E. H. Davis.

256

IMPLEMENTS.

FIG. 177.

At the time of the discovery of America, iron was absolutely
unknown to the natives, with the exception, perhaps, of a
tribe near the mouth of the La Plata, who had arrows tipped
with this metal, which they are supposed to have obtained
from masses of native iron. The powerful nations of Central
America were, however, in an age of Bronze, while the North
Americans were in a condition of which we find in Europe
but scanty traces — namely, in an age of Copper. Silver is
the only other metal which has been found in the ancient
tumuli, and that but in very small quantities. It occurs
sparingly in a native form with the copper of Lake Superior,
whence, in all probability, it was derived. It does not appear
to have been ever smelted. From the large quantity of galena
which is found in the mounds, Messrs. Squier
and Davis are disposed to think that lead must
have been used to a certain extent bv the North

American tribes ; the metal itself, however, has
not, I believe, yet been found.

Copper, on the other hand, both wrought and
unwrought, occurs frequently in the tumuli.
It is interesting to observe that the copper
arrow- or spear-heads (fig. 177) resemble the
American type of stone arrow-heads. The axes
have a striking resemblance to those simple
European forms which contain the minimum
quantity of tin, and as in them the socket, when
there is one, is made by flattening the copper
and turning over the edge (fig. 178) ; and some
copper Arrow-head, of the Mexican paintings give us interesting
evidence as to the manner in which they were handled and
used. These, however, were of bronze, and had, therefore,
been fused ; but the Indian axes, which are of pure metallic
copper, appear in all cases to have been worked in a cold
state, which is remarkable, because, as Messrs. Squier and

THE USE OF COPPER.

257

•

Davis have pointed out, " the fires upon the altar were suf-

ficiently intense to melt down the copper implements and

ornaments deposited upon them. The hint thus afforded

does not seem to have been seized upon." Mr. FIG. ITS.

Perkins, indeed, who has devoted much attention

to these implements, is of opinion that some of

them were cast ; and this view has also been

adopted by Mr. Foster and Professor Butler. Mr.

Evans has also called attention to a passage in

which De Champlain, the founder of Quebec, tells

us that in 1610 he met a party of Algonquins, one

of whom met him on his barque, and after conver-

sation, "tira d'une sac une piece de cuivre de la

longueur d'un pied qu'il me donna, lequel estoit

fort beau et bien franc, me donnant a entendre

qu'il en avoit en quantite la ou il 1'avoit pris, qui

c'etoit sur le bort d'une riviere proche d'une grand

lac et qu'ils le prenoient par morceaux, et le faisant

fondre le mettoient en lames, et avec des pierres le

rendoient uny."* Mr. Foster gives a plate t show- § V '(

ing what he considers to be the mark left by the

line of junction between the two halves of the

mould. Dr. Schmidt J has, however, given strong-

reasons for doubting this conclusion, and certainly

the marks shown on the above-mentioned figures

have rather the appearance of weathering. On the

whole, though it would seem that they sometimes Co

at any rate softened the metal by heat, we have spear-head.

not, I think, at present any sufficient evidence that the Pted-

skins were acquainted with the art of casting. This is the

more surprising, because, as Schoolcraft§ tells us, "in almost

* Les Voyages du Sieur de Cham-

plain. Paris, 1613.

f Pre-historic Races of the United
States, p. 259.

t Ar. fur. Anthropologie, 1878,
p. 65.

§ Indian Tribes, p. 97.

258 ANCIENT COPPER MIXES.

all the works lately opened there are heaps of coals and ashes,
showing that fire had much to do with their operations."
Thus, though they were acquainted with metal, they did not
know how to use it ; and, as Professor Dana has well observed
in a letter with which he has favoured me, they may in one
sense be said to have been in an age of Stone, since they used
the copper, not as metal, but as stone. This intermediate
condition between an age of Stone and one of Metal is most
interesting.

In the neighbourhood of Lake Superior, and in some other
still more northern localities, copper is found native in large
quantities, and the Indians had therefore nothing to do but
to break off pieces and hammer them into the required shape.
Hearne's celebrated journey to the mouth of the Coppermine
Eiver, under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, was
undertaken in order to examine the locality whence the natives
of that district obtained the metal. In this case it occurred
in lumps actually on the surface, and the Indians seem to
have picked up what they could, without attempting anything
that could be called mining. Eouud Lake Superior, however,
the case is very different. A short account of the ancient
copper mines is given by Messrs. Squier and Davis in the
work already so often cited, by Mr. Squier in " The Aboriginal
Monuments of the State of New York," by Mr. Lapham,* and
by Mr. Schoolcraft ; -f- while the same subject is treated at
considerable length by Professor Wilson.

The works appear to have been first discovered in 1847 by
the agent of the Minnesota Mining Company. His observa-
tions have "brought to light ancient excavations of great
extent, frequently from twenty-five to thirty feet deep, and
scattered over an area of several miles. Mr. Knapp, the agent
of the Minnesota Mining Company, counted three hundred
and ninety-five annular rings on a hemlock- tree, which grew
* I.e. p. 74. t I.e. p. 95.

ANCIENT COPPER MINES. 259

on one of the mounds of earth thrown out of an ancient mine.
Mr. Foster also notes the great size and age of a pine stump,
which must have grown, nourished and died since the works
were deserted ; and Mr. C. Whittesley not only refers to living
trees upwards of three hundred years old, now nourishing in
the gathered soil of the abandoned trenches, but adds, ' On
the same spot there are the decayed trunks of a preceding
generation or generations of trees that have arrived at matur-
ity, and fallen down from old age.' According to the same
writer, in a communication made to the American Association,
at the Montreal meeting in 1857, these ancient works extend
over a tract from 100 to 150 miles in length, along the
southern shore of the lake."

In another excavation was found a detached mass of native
copper, weighing upwards of six tons. It rested on an arti-
ficial cradle of black oak, partly preserved by immersion in
water. Various implements and tools of the same metal were
found with it. The commonest of these are the stone mauls
or hammers, of which from one place ten cart-loads were
obtained. With these were " stone axes of large size, made
of greenstone, and shaped to receive withe -handles. Some
large round greenstone masses, that had apparently been used
for sledges, were also found/'

Wooden implements are so perishable that we could not
expect many of them to have been found. Two or three
wooden bowls, a trough, and some shovels with long handles,
are all that appear to be recorded.

It has often been stated that the Indians possessed some
method, at present unknown, by which they were enabled to
harden the copper. This, however, from examinations insti-
tuted by Professor AVilson, seems to be an error. Some copper
implements, which he submitted to Professor Crofts, were
found to be no harder than the native copper from Lake
* Prof. W. W. Mather in a letter to Mr. Squier, 1. c. p. 184.

L'60 POTTEKY.

Superior. " The structure of the metal was also highly lami-
nated, as if the instrument had been brought to its present
shape by hammering out a solid mass of copper."

Before the introduction of metallic vessels, the art of the
potter was more important even than it is at present. Ac-
cordingly, the sites of all ancient habitations are generally
marked by numerous fragments of pottery ; this is as true
of the ancient Indian settlements, as of the Celtic towns of
England, or the lake villages of Switzerland. These frag-

O ' O O

ments, however, would generally be those of rude household
vessels, and it is principally from the tumuli that we obtain
those better-made urns and cups from which the state of the
art may fairly be inferred.

In North America the art of the potter certainly attained
to a considerable degree of perfection ; some of the vases found
in the tumuli are said to rival, "in elegance of model, delicacy,
and finish," the best Peruvian specimens. The material used
is a fine clay : in the more delicate specimens, pure ; in the
coarser ones, mixed with pounded quartz. The art of glazing
and the use of the potter's wheel appear not to have been
known, though that "simple approximation to a potter's wheel
may have existed," which consists of "a stick of wood grasped
in the hand by the middle, and turned round inside a wall of
clay formed by the other hand, or by another workman."*

Among the most characteristic specimens of ancient Ameri-
can pottery are the pipes. Some of these are simple bowls,
smaller indeed, but otherwise not unlike a common every-day
pipe, from which they differ in having generally no stem, the
mouth having apparently been applied direct to the bowl.
Many are highly ornamented, others are spirited representa-
tions of monsters or of animals, such as the beaver, otter, wild
cat, elk, bear, wolf, panther, raccoon, opossum, squirrel, manatee,
eagle, hawk, heron, owl, buzzard, raven, swallow, parroquet,

* Squier and Davis, 1 c. p. 195.

ORNAMENTS. 261

cluck, grouse, and many others. The most interesting of these,
perhaps, is the manatee or lamantin, of which seven represen-
tations have been found in the mounds of Ohio. These are
no mere rude sculptures, about which there might easily be a
mistake, but we are assured that " the truncated head, thick
semicircular snout, peculiar nostrils, tumid, furrowed upper
lip, singular feet or fins and remarkable moustaches, are all
distinctly marked, and render the recognition of the animal
complete."* This curious animal is not at present found
nearer than the shores of Florida, a thousand miles away.

The ornaments which have been found in the mounds
consist of beads, shells, necklaces, pendants, plates of mica,
bracelets, gorgets, etc. The number of beads is sometimes
quite surprising. Thus the celebrated Grave Creek mound
contained between three and four thousand shell-beads, besides
about two hundred and fifty ornaments of mica, several brace-
lets of copper, and various articles carved in stone. The beads
are generally made of shell, but are sometimes cut out of bone
or teeth ; in form they are generally round or oblong ; some-
times the shell of the Unio is cut and strung so as to "exhibit
the convex surface and pearly nacre of the shell." The neck-
laces are often made of beads or shells, but sometimes of teeth.
The ornaments of mica are thin plates of various forms, each
of which has a small hole. The bracelets are of copper, and
generally encircle the arms of the skeletons, besides being
frequent on the " altars." They are simple rings " hammered
out with more or less skill, and so bent that the ends approach,
or lap over, each other." The so-called "gorgets" are thin
plates of copper, always with two holes, and probably there-
fore worn as badges of authority.

The earthworks are most abundant in the central parts of
the United States. They decrease in number as we approach

* Squier and Davis, 1. c. p. 252.

262 FORTIFICATIONS. EARTHWORKS.

the Atlantic, and are very scarce in British America and on
the west of the Eocky Mountains.

The works belonging to this class " usually occupy strong
natural positions," and as a fair specimen of them we may
take the Bourneville Enclosure in Eoss County, Ohio, which
consists of a wall of stone, which is carried round the hill a
little below the brow ; but at some places it rises, so as to cut
off the narrow spurs, and extends across the neck that connects
the hill with the range beyond. It must not, however, be
understood that anything like a true wall now exists ; the
present appearance is rather what might have been " expected
from the falling outwards of a wall of stones, placed, as this
was, upon the declivity of a hill/' Where it is most distinct
it is from fifteen to twenty feet wide, by three or four in
height. The area thus enclosed is about one hundred and
forty acres, and the wall is two miles and a quarter in length.
The stones themselves vary much in size, and Messrs. Squier
and Davis suggest that the wall may originally have been
about eight feet high, with an equal base. At present, trees
of the largest size are growing upon it. On a similar work
known as " Fort Hill/5 Highland County, Ohio, Messrs. Squier
and Davis found a splendid chestnut tree, which they suppose
to be six hundred years old. " If," they say, " to this we add
the probable period intervening from the time of the building
of this work to its abandonment, and the subsequent period
up to its invasion by the forest, we are led irresistibly to the
conclusion that it has an antiquity of at least one thousand
years. But when we notice, all around us, the crumbling
trunks of trees, half hidden in the accumulating soil, we are
induced to fix on an antiquity still more remote/'

The enclosure known as " Clark's Work," in Eoss County,
Ohio, is one of the largest and most interesting. It consists
of a parallelogram, two thousand eight hundred feet by

ENCLOSURES. 263

eighteen hundred, and enclosing about one hundred and

O ' *—*

eleven acres. To the right of this, the principal work is a
perfect square, containing an area of about sixteen acres.
Each side is eight hundred and fifty feet in length, and in
the middle of each is a gateway thirty feet wide, covered by a
small mound. Within the area of the great work are several
smaller, mounds and enclosures, and it is estimated that not
less than three millions of cubic feet of earth were used in
this great undertaking. Yet from the peculiarly mottled
character of the earth forming these mounds, it would appear
to have been brought in bags or small parcels.* It has also
been observed that water is almost invariably found within
or close to these enclosures.

It is remarkable that there is not a single case in which
counter-works occur near any of the ancient North American
fortifications. Col. Whitfcleseyf* draws from this fact the con-
clusion that the period during which the mound -builders
turned " their attention to military affairs was probably short,
and, when their preparations were made, they may have with-
drawn farther south without a vigorous defence." I should
rather infer that the warfare of the mound -builders, like that
of the more modern Eed Indians, consisted, not of persevering
sieges, but of sudden attacks and surprises.

If the purpose for which the works belonging to the first
class were erected is very evident, the same cannot be said
for those which we have now to mention. That they were
not intended for defence is inferred by Messrs. Squier and
Davis from their small size, from the ditch being inside the
embankment, and from their position, which is often com-
pletely commanded by neighbouring heights.

Dr. Wilson also (vol. i. p. 824) follows Sir E. C. Hoare in
considering the position of the ditch as being a distinguish-

* Whittlesey, On the Weapons and Character of the Mound-builders.
Mem. Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist. vol. i. pt. iv. p. 473. t 1. e. p. 479.

264 SACRED ENCLOSURES.

ing mark between military and religious works. But Catlin
expressly tells us that in a Mandan village, which he describes,
the ditch was on the inner side of the embankment, and the
warriors were thus sheltered while they shot their arrows
through the stockade. We see, therefore, that in America,
at least, this is no reliable guide.

While, however, the defensive earthworks occupy hill tops
and other situations most easy to defend, the so-called sacred
enclosures are generally found on " the broad and level river
bottoms, seldom occurring upon the table-lands or where the
surface of the ground is undulating or broken." They are
usually square or circular in form ; a circular enclosure being
often combined with one or two squares. Occasionally they
are isolated, but more frequently in groups. The greater
number of the circles are of small size, with a nearly uniform
diameter of two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet,
and the ditch is invariably inside the wall. Some of the
circles, however, are much larger, enclosing fifty acres or more.
The squares or other rectangular works never have a ditch,
and the earth of which they are composed appears to have
been taken up evenly from the surface, or from large pits in
the neighbourhood. They vary much in size ; five or six of
them, however, are " exact squares, each side measuring one
thousand and eighty feet — a coincidence which could not pos-
sibly be accidental, and which must possess some significance."
The circles also, in spite of their great size, are so nearly
round, that the American archseologists consider themselves
justified in concluding that the mound-builders must have
had some standard of measurement, and some means of de-
termining angles.

The most remarkable group is that near Newark, in the
Scioto Valley, which covers an area of four square miles ! A
plan of these gigantic works is given by Messrs. Squier and
Davis, and another, from a later survey, by Mr. Wilson.

EARTHWORKS OF THE SCIOTO VALLEY. 265

They consist of an octagon, with an area of fifty, a square
occupying twenty acres, and two large circles occupying re-
spectively thirty and twenty acres. From the octagon an
avenue formed by parallel walls extends southwards for two
miles and a half; there are two other avenues which are
rather more than a mile in length, one of them connecting
the octagon with the square.

Besides these, there are various other embankments and
small circles, the greater number about eighty feet in diameter,
but some few much larger. The walls of these small circles,
as well as those of the avenues and of the irregular portions
of the works generally, are very slight, and for the most part
about four feet in height. The other embankments are much
more considerable ; the walls of the large circle are even now
twelve feet high, with a base of fifty feet, and an interior
ditch seven feet deep and thirty-five in width. At the gate-
way, however, they are still more imposing ; the walls being
sixteen feet high, and the ditch thirteen feet deep. The whole
area is covered with "gigantic trees of a primitive forest;"
and, say Messrs. Squier and Davis, " in entering the ancient
avenue for the first time, the visitor does not fail to experience
a sensation of awe, such as he might feel in passing the portals
of an Egyptian temple, or gazing upon the silent ruins of Petra
of the Desert."

The city of Circleville takes its name from one of these
embankments, which, however, is no more remarkable than
many others. It consists of a square and a circle, touching
one another ; the sides of the square being about nine hundred
feet in length, and the circle a little more than a thousand feet
in diameter. The square had eight doorways, one at each
angle, and one in the middle of each side, every doorway
being protected by a mound. The circle was peculiar in having
a double embankment. This work, alas ! has been entirely
destroyed; and many others have also disappeared, or are

266 AZTALAN.

being gradually obliterated by the plough. Under these cir-
cumstances, we read with pleasure that " the Directors of the
Ohio Land Company, when they took possession of the country
at the mouth of the Muskingum Eiver, in 1788, adopted
immediate measures for the preservation of these monuments.
To their credit be it said, one of their earliest official acts was
the passage of a resolution, which is entered upon the Journal
of their proceedings, reserving the two truncated pyramids
and the great mound, with a few acres attached to each, as
public squares." Such enlightened conduct deserves the
thanks of archaeologists, and I sincerely hope that the Com-
pany has prospered.

Both as being the only example of an enclosure yet observed
in Wisconsin, and also as having in many respects a great
resemblance to a fortified town, the ruins of Aztalan are well
worthy of attention. They are situated on the west branch
of Eock Eiver, and were discovered in 1836 by 1ST. F. Hyer,
Esq., who surveyed them roughly, and published a brief
description, with a figure, in the "Milwaukie Advertiser."
In " Silliman's American Journal," No. XLIV., is a paper on
the subject by Mr. Taylor, from which was derived the plan
and the short account given by Messrs. Squier and Davis.*
The most complete description is contained in Mr. Lapham's
"Antiquities of Wisconsin." •)• The name "Aztalan" was given
to this place by Mr. Hyer, because the Aztecs had a tradition
that they originally came from a country to the north, which
they called Aztalan. It is said to be derived from two Mexi-
can words, Atl, ' water,' and An, ' near.' " The main feature
of these works is an enclosure of earth (not brick, as has been
erroneously stated), extending around three sides of an irregu-
lar parallelogram ;" the river " forming the fourth side on the
east. The space thus enclosed contains seventeen acres and

two-thirds. The corners are not rectangular, and the embank-

<-/ '

* 1. c. p. 131. t P. 41.

VITRIFIED WALLS. 267

ment or ridge is not straight/' "The ridge forming the
enclosure is 631 feet long at the north end, 1419 feet long on
the west side, and 700 feet on the south side ; making a total
length of wall of 2750 feet. The ridge or wall is about 22
feet wide, and from one foot to five in height. The wall of
earth is enlarged on the outside, at nearly regular distances,
by mounds of the same material. They are called buttresses,
or bastions ; but it is quite clear they were never intended
for either" the one or the other. They vary from sixty-one
to ninety-five feet apart, the mean distance being eighty-two
feet. Near the south-west angle are two outworks, constructed
in the same manner as the main embankment.

In many places the earth forming the walls appears to
have been burnt. " Irregular masses of hard reddish clay,
full of cavities, bear distinct impressions of straw, or rather
wild hay, with which they had been mixed before burning."
" This is the only foundation for calling these ' brick walls/
The 'bricks' were never made into any regular form, and it
is even doubtful whether the burning did not take place in
the wall after it was built." These walls must therefore pre-
sent some faint resemblance to the celebrated vitrified forts
of Scotland, and to fortifications of a similar character which
have recently been observed in France and Germany. Some
of the mounds or buttresses, though forming part of an enclo-
sure, were also used for sepulchral purposes, as was proved by
their containing skeletons in a sitting posture, with fragments
of pottery. The highest point inside the enclosure is at the
south-west corner, and is "occupied by a square truncated
mound, which .... presents the appearance of a pyramid,
rising by successive steps like the gigantic structures of
Mexico." "At the north-west angle of the enclosure is another
rectangular, truncated, pyramidal elevation, of sixty-five feet
level area at the top, with remains of its graded way, or

268 MODERN EARTHWORKS.

sloping ascent, at the south-west corner, leading also towards
a ridge that extends in the direction of the river."

Within the enclosure are some ridges about two feet high,
and connected with them are several rings, or circles, which
are supposed to be the remains of mud houses. " Nearly the
whole interior of the enclosure appears to have been either
excavated or thrown up into mounds and ridges ; the pits
and irregular excavations being quite numerous over much
of the space not occupied by mounds." These excavations
and ridges are, in all probability, the ruins of houses. Some
years ago a skeleton was found in one of the mounds, wrapped
apparently in cloth of open texture, " like the coarsest linen
fabric;" but the threads were so rotten as to make it quite
uncertain of what material they were made.

The last Indian occupants of this interesting locality had
no tradition as to the history or the purpose of these earth-
works.

Among the Northern tribes of existing Indians, there do
not appear to be any earthworks corresponding to these so-
called sacred enclosures. "No sooner, however, do we pass
to the southward, and arrive among the Creeks, Natchez,
and affiliated Floridian tribes, than we discover traces of
structures which, if they do not entirely correspond with the
regular earthworks of the West, nevertheless seem to be
somewhat analogous to them."* These tribes, indeed, appear
to have been more civilized than those of the North, since
they were agricultural in their habits, lived in considerable
towns, and had a systematized religion, so that, in fact, they
must have occupied a position intermediate, as well econo-
mically as geographically, between the powerful monarchies
of Central America and the hunting tribes of the North.
The "structures" to which Mr. Squier alludes are described

* Squier, 1. c. p. 136.

CHUNK YARDS. 269

by him, both in his "Second Memoir," and also in the
"Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" (p. 120).
The " Chunk Yards," now or lately in use among the Creeks,
and which have only recently been abandoned among the
Cherokees, are rectangular areas, generally occupying the
centre of the town, closed at the sides, but with an opening
at each end. They are sometimes from six to nine hundred
feet in length, being largest in the older towns. The area is
levelled and slightly sunk, being surrounded by a low bank
formed of the earth thus obtained. In the centre is a low
mound, on which stands the Chunk Pole, to the top of which
is some object which serves as a mark to shoot at. Near each
corner, at one end, is a small pole, about twelve feet high ;
these are called the " slave posts/' because in the " good old
times" captives condemned to the torture were fastened to
them. The name " Chunk Yard" seems to be derived from
an Indian game called " Chunke," which was played in them.
At one end of, and just outside, this area stands generally
a circular eminence, with a flat top, upon which is elevated
the Great Council House. At the other end is a flat-topped,
square eminence, about as high as the circular one just men-
tioned ; " upon this stands the public square."

These and other accounts given by early travellers among
the Indians certainly throw much light on the circular and
square enclosures ; some of which, though classed by Messrs.
Squier and Davis under this head, seem to me to be the
slight fortifications which surrounded villages, and were un-
doubtedly crowned by stockades. We have already seen that
the position of the ditch is in reality no argument against
this view ; nor does the position of the works seem conclu-
sive, if we suppose that they were intended less to stand a
regular siege than to guard against a sudden attack.

The Sepulchral mounds are very numerous in the central
parts of the United States. " To say that they are innurner-

270 SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS.

able, in the ordinary sense of the term, would be no exag-
geration. They may literally be numbered by thousands and
tens of thousands." They are usually from six to eight feet
in height ; generally stand outside the enclosures ; are often
isolated, but often also in groups ; they are usually round,
but sometimes elliptical or pear-shaped. They cover gene-
rally a single interment, often of burnt bones. Occasionally
there is a stone cist, but urn burial also prevailed to a con-
siderable extent, especially in the South. The corpse, if
not burnt, was generally buried in a contracted position.
Implements both of stone and metal occur frequently; but
while personal ornaments, such as bracelets, perforated plates
of copper, beads of bone, shell or metal, and similar objects,
are very common, weapons are but rarely found ; a fact which,
in the opinion of Dr. Wilson, " indicates a totally different
condition of society and mode of thought" from those of the
present Indian.

Certain small tumuli found in America have been regarded
as the remains of mud huts. Mr. Dille* has examined and
described some small tumuli observed by him in Missouri.
He dug into several, but never succeeded in finding anything
except coal, charcoal, and a few pieces of pottery, whence he
concluded that they were the remains of mud houses.-)- The
Mandans, Minatarees, and some other tribes, even until lately,
built their huts of earth, resting on a framework of wood.

On the other hand, there are some tumuli to which it
would seem that this explanation is quite inexplicable, and
which are full of human remains. This was long supposed
to be the case with the great Grave Creek Mound, which
indeed was positively stated by At water J to be full of human
remains. This has turned out to be an error, but the state-

* Smithsonian Contributions, vol. i. p. 136.
t Archpeologia Americana, vol. i. p. 223.
t See also Lapham, 1. c. p. 80.

SO-CALLED SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS. 271

ment is not the less true as regards other mounds. In con-
junction with them may be mentioned the " bone pits," many
of which are described by Mr. Squier.* " One of these pits,
discovered some years ago in the town of Cambria, Niagara
County, was estimated to contain the bones of several thousand
individuals. Another which I visited in the town of Clarence,
Erie County, contained not less than four hundred skeletons."
A tumulus described by Mr. Jefferson in his "Notes on Virginia,"
was estimated to contain the skeletons of a thousand indivi-
duals, but in this case the number was perhaps exaggerated.

The description given by various old writers of the solemn
"Festival of the Dead" satisfactorily explains these large
collections of bones. It seems that every eight or ten years
the Indians used to meet at some place previously chosen,
that they dug up their dead, collected the bones together,
and laid them in one common burial-place, depositing with
them fine skins and other valuable articles. Several of these
ossuaries are described by Schoolcraft.-f-

The so-called "Sacrificial Mounds" are, says Dr. Wilson,
" a class of ancient monuments altogether peculiar to the
New World, and highly illustrative of the rites and customs
of the ancient races of the mounds. This remarkable class
of mound has been very carefully explored, and their most
noticeable characteristics are, their almost invariable occur-
rence within enclosures ; their regular construction in uniform
layers of gravel, earth, and sand, disposed alternately in strata
conformable to the shape of the mound ; and their covering,
a symmetrical altar of burnt clay or stone, on which are
deposited numerous relics, in all instances exhibiting traces,
more or less abundant, of their having been exposed to the
action of fire." The so-called "altar" is a basin, or table of
burnt clay, carefully moulded into a symmetrical form, but

* 1. c. pp. 25, 56, 57, 68, 71, 73, 106, 107. Squier and Davis, 1. c.
p. 118, etc. t I.e. p.

272 TEMPLE MOUNDS.

varying much both in shape and size. In previous editions
of this work, I ventured to suggest that these mounds were
sepulchral, rather than sacrificial, and subsequent investiga-
tions have confirmed this. For instance, Mr. Putnam, from
a more recent exploration in one of the very mounds explored
by Messrs. Squier and Davis, has satisfied himself that these
so-called altars are really "burnt burial-chambers."*

Another class of mounds, called by Messrs. Squier and
Davis " Temple Mounds," are pyramidal structures, truncated,
and generally having graded avenues to their tops. In some
instances they are terraced, or have successive stages. But
whatever their form, whether round, oval, octangular, square,
or oblong, they have invariably flat or level tops, of greater
or lesser area." These mounds much resemble the Teocallis
of Mexico, and had probably a similar origin. They are rare
in the North, though examples occur even as far as Lake
Superior, but become more and more numerous as we pass
down the Mississippi, and especially on approaching the Gulf,
where they constitute the most numerous and important por-
tion of the ancient remains. Some of the largest, however,
are situated in the North. One of the most remarkable is at
Cahokia, in Illinois. This gigantic mound is stated to be
seven hundred feet long, five hundred feet wide at the base,
and ninety feet in height. Its solid contents have been roughly
estimated at twenty millions of cubic feet.

Probably, however, these mounds were not used as temples
only, but also as sites for dwellings, especially for those of the
chiefs. We are told that among the Natchez Indians " the
temples and the dwellings of the chiefs were raised upon
mounds, and for every new chief a new mound and dwelling-
were constructed." Again, Garcilasso de la Vega, in his History
of Florida, quoted by Mr. Haven.f says, " The town and house

* Rep. of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum, p. 407.
t 1. c. p. 57.

ANIMAL MOUNDS. 273

of the Cacique of Osachile are similar to those of all other
caciques in Florida, and, therefore, it seems best to give one
description that will apply generally to all the capitals, and
all the houses of the chiefs in Florida. I say, then, that the
Indians endeavour to place their towns upon elevated places ;
but because such situations are rare in Florida, or that they
find a difficulty in procuring suitable materials for building,
they raise eminences in this manner. They choose a place,
to which they bring a quantity of earth, which they elevate
into a kind of platform two or three pikes in height (from
eighteen to twenty-five feet), of which the flat top is capable
of holding ten or twelve, fifteen or twenty houses, to lodge
the cacique, his family, and suite."*

Not the least remarkable of the American antiquities are
the Animal Mounds, which are principally, though not ex-
clusively, found in Wisconsin. In this district "thousands
of examples occur of gigantic basso-relievos of men, beasts,
birds, and reptiles, all wrought with persevering labour on
the surface of the soil," while enclosures and works of defence
are almost entirely wanting, the " ancient city of Aztalan"
being, as is supposed, the only example of the former class.

The "Animal Mounds" were discovered by Mr. Lapham
in 1836, and described in the newspapers of the day, but the
first account of them in any scientific journal was that by
Mr. K. C. Taylor, in the American Journal of Science and
Art, for April, 1838. In 1843, a longer memoir, by Mr. S.
Taylor, appeared in the same journal. Professor J. Locke
gave some account of them in a "Eeport on the Mineral
Lands of the United States," presented to Congress in 1840.
Messrs. Squier and Davis devoted to the same subject a part
of their work on the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi
Valley ;" and the seventh volume of the Smithsonian Con-

* See also Schoolcraft. 1. c. vol. iii. p. 47.

274 ANIMAL MOUNDS.

tributions contains the work, by Mr. Lapham, which gives the
most complete account of these interesting remains.

Mr. Lapham adds a map, showing the distribution of these
curious earthworks. They appear to be most numerous in the
southern counties of Wisconsin ; and extend from the Missis-
sippi to Lake Michigan, following generally the course of the
river, and being especially numerous along the great Indian
trail, or war-path, from Lake Michigan, near Milwaukie, to
the Mississippi, above the Prairie du Chien. This, however,
does not prove any connection between the present Indians
and the mounds ; the same line has been adopted as the route
of the United States' military road, and may have been in use
for an indefinite period.

The mounds themselves not only represent animals, such
as men, buffaloes, elks, bears, otters, wolves, raccoons, birds,
serpents, lizards, turtles, and frogs, but also some inanimate
objects, if at least the American archaeologists are right in
regarding some of them as crosses, tobacco-pipes, etc.

Many of the representations are spirited and correct, but
others, probably through the action of time, are less definite;
one, for instance, near the village of Muscoda, may be either
" a bird, a bow and arrow, or the human figure." Their height
varies from one to four feet, sometimes, however, rising to six
feet ; and as a " regular elevation of six inches can be readily
traced upon the level prairies" of the West, their outlines
are generally distinctly defined where they occupy favourable
positions. It seems probable that many of the details have
disappeared under the action of rain and vegetation. At
present a "man" consists generally of a head and body, two
long arms and two short legs, no other details being visible.
The "birds" differ from the "men" principally in the absence
of legs. The so-called u lizards," which are among the most
common forms, have a head, two legs, and a long tail ; the

ANIMAL MOUNDS. 275

side view being represented, as is, indeed, the case with most
of the quadrupeds. One mound has been supposed to repre-
sent a mastodon, but the similarity is, I think, far from con-
clusive.* No remains of the mastodon or of any extinct
animals have been found in any of the mounds.

One remarkable group in Dale County, close to the great
Indian war-path, consists of a man with extended arms,
seven more or less elongated mounds, one tumulus and six
quadrupeds. The length of the human figure is one hundred
and twenty-five feet, and it is one hundred and forty feet
from the extremity of one arm to that of the other. The
quadrupeds vary from ninety to one hundred and twenty-six
feet in length.

At Waukesha are a number of mounds, tumuli, and animals,
including several "lizards," a very fine "bird," and a mag-
nificent "turtle/' "This, when first observed, was a very
fine specimen of the art of mound-building, with its graceful
curves, the feet projecting back and forward, and the tail,
with its gradual slope, so acutely pointed, that it was im-
possible to ascertain precisely where it terminated. The
body was fifty-six feet in length, and the tail two hundred
and fifty; the height six feet/' This group of mounds is
now, alas, covered with buildings: "A dwelling-house stands
on the body of the turtle, and a Catholic church is built upon
the tail."

" But," says Mr. Lapham, " the most remarkable collection
of lizards and turtles yet discovered is on the school section
about a mile and a half south-east from the village of Pew-
aukee. This consists of seven turtles, two lizards, four ob-
long mounds, and one of the remarkable excavations before
alluded to. One of the turtle mounds, partially obliterated
by the road, has a length of four hundred and fifty feet,
being nearly double the usual dimensions. Three of them

* M'Lean. The Mound-builders.
T 2

276 ANIMAL MOUNDS.

are remarkable for their curved tails, a feature here first
observed/'

In several places a very curious variation occurs. The
animals, with the usual form and size, are represented, not in
relief, but intaglio ; not by a mound, but by an excavation.

The few "Animal Mounds" which have been observed out
of Wisconsin differ in many respects from the ordinary type.
Near Granville, in Ohio, on a higher spur of land, is an earth-
work, known in the neighbourhood as the "Alligator." It
has a head and body, four sprawling legs, and a curled tail.
The total length is two hundred and fifty feet ; the breadth
of the body forty feet, and the length of the legs thirty-six
feet. " The head, shoulders and rump are more elevated than
the other parts of the body, an attempt having evidently
been made to preserve the proportions of the object copied."
The average height is four feet, at the shoulders six. Even
more remarkable is the great serpent in Adams County, Ohio.
It is situated on a high spur of land, which rises a hundred
and fifty feet above Brush Creek. " Conforming to the curve
of the hill, and occupying its very summit, is the serpent, its
head resting near the point, and its body winding back for
seven hundred feet, in graceful undulations, terminating in a
triple coil at the tail. The entire length, if extended, would
be not less than one thousand feet. The work is clearly and
boldly defined, the embankment being upwards of five feet
in height, by thirty feet base at the centre of the body, but
diminishing somewhat toward the head and tail. The neck
of the serpent is stretched out, and slightly curved, and its
mouth is opened wide, as if in the act of swallowing or
ejecting an oval figure, which rests partially within the dis-
tended jaws. This oval is formed by an embankment of earth,
without any perceptible opening, four feet in height, and is per-
fectly regular in outline, its transverse and conjugate diameters
being one hundred and sixty, and eighty feet respectively."

ROCK CARVINGS. 277

When, why, or by whom these remarkable works were
erected, as yet we know not. The present Indians, though
they look upon them with reverence, can throw no light upon
their origin. Nor do the contents of the mounds themselves
assist us in this inquiry. Several of them have been opened,
and, in making the streets of Milwaukie, many of the mounds
have been entirely removed ; but the only result has been to
show that they are not sepulchral, and that, excepting by
accident, they contain no implements or ornaments.

Under these circumstances speculation would be useless ;
we can but wait, and hope that time and perseverance may
solve the problem, and explain the nature of these remarkable
and mysterious monuments.

There is one class of objects which I have not yet mentioned,
and which yet ought not to be left entirely unnoticed.

The most remarkable of these is the celebrated Dighton
Bock, on the east bank of the Taunton Eiver. Its history,
and the various conclusions which have been derived from it,
are very amusingly given by Dr. Wilson.* In 1783, the Eev.
Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, appealed to this
rock, inscribed, as he believed, with Phoenician characters, for
a proof that the Indians were descended from Canaan, and
were therefore accursed. Count de Gebelin regarded the
inscription as Carthaginian. In the eighth volume of the
" Archseologia," Colonel Vallency endeavours to prove that it
is Siberian ; while certain Danish antiquaries regard it as
Eunic, and thought that they could read the name "Thorfinn,"
"with an exact, though by no means so manifest, enumeration
of the associates who, according to the Saga, accompanied
Karlsefne's expedition to Vinland, in A.D. 1007." Finally,
Mr. Schoolcraft submitted a copy of it to Chingwauk, an
intelligent Indian chief, who " interpreted it as the record of

* Pre-historic Man, vol. ii. p. 172.

278 WAMPUM.

an Indian triumph over some rival native tribe," but without
offering any opinion as to its antiquity.

In the " Grave Creek Mound" is said to have been found a
small oval disk of white sandstone, on which were engraved
twenty-two letters. Mr. Schoolcraft, who has especially studied
this relic, finally concludes, after corresponding with many
American and European archaeologists, according to Dr. Wil-
son,* that of these twenty -two letters, four corresponded
" with ancient Greek, four with the Etruscan, five with the
old Northern Eunes, six with the ancient Gaelic, seven with
the old Erse, ten with the Phoenician, fourteen with the Anglo-
Saxon, and sixteen with the Celtiberic ; besides which possibly
equivalents may be found in the old Hebrew. It thus appears
that this ingenious little stone is even more accommodating
than the Dighton Eock, in adapting itself to all conceivable
theories of ante - Columbian colonization." A stone of such
doubtful character could prove little under any circumstances ;
and the authenticity is, I think, more than doubtful.

One or two other equally unsatisfactory cases are upon
record, but upon the whole we may safely assert that there is
no reason to suppose that the nations of America had deve-
loped for themselves any thing corresponding to an alphabet.
The art of picture-writing, which they shared with the Aztecs
and the Quipa of the Peruvians, was supplemented among the
North American Indians by the "wampum." This curious
substitute for writing consisted of variously-coloured beads,
generally worked upon leather. One very interesting example
is the belt of wampum "delivered by the Lenni Lenape
Sachems to the founder of Pennsylvania, at the Great Treaty,
under the elm-tree at Shachamox in 1682." It is still pre-
served in the collection of the Historical Society at Phila-
delphia, and consists of " eighteen strings of wampum formed

* Pre-historic Man, vol. ii. p. 180.

THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 279

of white and violet beads worked upon leather thongs/' the
whole forming a belt twenty-eight inches long, and two-and-
a-half broad. " On this, five patterns are worked in violet
beads on a white ground, and in the centre Penn is repre-
sented taking the hand of the Indian Sachem." The numerous
beads found in some of the tumuli were perhaps in a similar
manner intended to commemorate the actions and virtues of
the dead.

Just as the wigwam of the recent Mandan consisted of an
outer layer of earth supported on a wooden framework, so
also, in the ancient sepulchral tumuli, the body was protected
only by beams and planks; when therefore these latter decayed,
the earth sank in and crushed the skeleton within. Partly
from this cause, and partly from the habit of burying in ancient
tumuli, which makes it sometimes difficult to distinguish the
primary from secondary interments, it happens that from so
many thousand tumuli we have very few well-preserved skulls
which indisputably belong to the ancient race. These are
decidedly brachycephalic ; but it is evident that we must not
attempt to build much upon so slight a basis.

No proof of a knowledge of letters, no trace of a burnt brick,
have yet been discovered ; and so far as we may judge from
their arms, ornaments, and pottery, the mound-builders closely
resembled some at least of the recent Indian tribes, and the
earthworks agree in form with, if they differ in magnitude
from, those still, or until lately in use. Yet this very magni-
tude is sufficient to show that, at some early period, the great
river valleys of the United States must have been more densely
populated than they were when first discovered by Europeans.
The immense number of small earthworks, and the mounds,
" which may be counted by thousands and tens of thousands,"
might indeed be supposed to indicate either a long time or a
great population ; but in other cases we have no such alter-
native. The Newark constructions ; the mound near Florence

280 EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT POPULATION.

in Alabama, which is forty-five feet in height by four hundred
and forty feet in circumference at the base, with a level area
at the summit of one hundred and fifty feet in circumference;
the still greater mound on the Etowah river, also in Alabama,
which has a height of more than seventy- five feet, with a
circumference of twelve hundred feet at the base, and one
hundred and forty at the summit ; the embankments at the
mouth of the Scioto river, which are estimated to be twenty
miles in length ; the great mound at Selserstown, Mississippi,
which covers six acres of ground ; and the truncated pyramid
at Cahokia, to which we have already alluded ; these works,
and many others which might have been quoted, indicate a
population both large and stationary ; for which hunting
cannot have supplied enough food, as it has been estimated
that in a forest country each hunter requires an area of not
less than 50,000 acres for his support; and which must, there-
fore, have derived its support, in a great measure, from agri-
culture. " There is not," say Messrs. Squier and Davis, " and
there was not in the sixteenth century, a single tribe of Indians
(north of the semi-civilized nations) between the Atlantic and
the Pacific, which had means of subsistence sufficient to enable
them to apply, for such purposes, the unproductive labour
necessary for the work ; nor was there any in such a social
state as to compel the labour of the people to be thus applied."
We know also that many, if not most of the Indian tribes, at
that time still cultivated the ground to a certain extent, and
there is some evidence that, even within historic times, this
was more the case than at present. Thus De Nonville esti-
mates the amount of Indian corn destroyed by him in four
Seneca villages at 1,200,000 quarters.

Mr. Lapham* has brought forward some ingenious reasons
for thinking that the forests of Wisconsin were at no very
distant period much less general than at present. In the first

* 1. c. p. 90.

TRACES OF ANCIENT AGRICULTURE. 281

place, the largest trees are probably not more than five hundred
years old; and large tracts are now covered with "young trees,
where there are no traces of antecedent growth." Every year
many trees are blown down, and frequent storms pass through
the forest, throwing down nearly everything before them.
Mr. Lapham gives a map of these windfalls in one district ;
they are very conspicuous, firstly, because the trees, having a
certain quantity of earth entangled among their roots, continue
to vegetate for several years ; and secondly, because even when
the trees themselves have died and rotted away, the earth so
torn up forms little mounds, which are often mistaken by the
inexperienced for Indian graves. " From the paucity of these
little 'tree-mounds,' we infer that no very great antiquity can
be assigned to the dense forests of Wisconsin, for during a
long period of time, with no material change of climate, we
would expect to find great numbers of these little monuments
of ancient storms scattered everywhere over the ground."

But there is other more direct evidence of ancient agricul-
ture. In many places the ground is covered with small
mammillary elevations, which are known as Indian corn-hills.
" They are without order of arrangement, being scattered over
the ground with the greatest irregularity. That these hillocks
were formed in the manner indicated by their name, is inferred
from the present custom of the Indians. The corn is planted
in the same spot each successive year, and the soil is gradually
brought up to the size of a little hill by the annual additions."*
But Mr. Lapham has also found traces of an earlier and more
systematic cultivation. These consist " of low parallel ridges,
as if corn had been planted in drills. They average four feet
in width, twenty -five of them having been counted in the
space of a hundred feet ; and the depth of the walk between

* Lapham, 1. c. p. 19. See also Eeport of the Regents of the Uni-
Cheney, " On Ancient Monuments versity of the State of New York,
in Western New York," in the 1 3th 1860, p. 40.

282 ANTIQUITY OF THE KEMAINS.

them is about six inches. These appearances, which are here
denominated 'ancient garden-beds/ indicate an earlier and
more perfect system of cultivation than that which now pre-
vails ; for the present Indians do not appear to possess the
ideas of taste and order necessary to enable them to arrange
objects in consecutive rows. Traces of this kind of cultivation,
though not very abundant, are found in several other parts of
the State (Wisconsin). The garden-beds are of various sizes,
covering, generally, from twenty to one hundred acres. Some
of them, are reported to embrace even three hundred acres.
As a general fact, they exist in the richest soil, as it is found
in the prairies and bun oak plains. In the latter case, trees
of the largest kind are scattered over them."

In the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," it
is stated that no earthwork has ever been found on the first
or lowest terrace of any of the great rivers, and that " this
observation is confirmed by all who have given attention to
tin? subject." If true, this would indeed have indicated a
great antiquity, but in his subsequent work Mr. Squier informs
us that " they occur indiscriminately upon the first and upon
the superior terraces, as also upon the islands of the lakes and
rivers." Messrs. Squier and Davis* are of opinion that the
decayed state of the skeletons found in the mounds may enable
us to form " some approximate estimate of their remote anti-
quity," especially when we consider that the earth round them
" is wonderfully compact and dry, and that the conditions for
their preservation are exceedingly favourable." "In the bar-
rows of the ancient Britons," they add, " entire well-preserved
skeletons are found, although possessing an undoubted anti-
quity of at least eighteen hundred years." Dr. Wilson •(• also
relies much on this fact, which, in his opinion, " furnishes a
stronger evidence of their great antiquity than any of the
proofs that have been derived either from the age of a subse-

* 1. c. p. 168. t 1. c. vol. i. p. 359.

CONDITION OF THE BONES. 283

quent forest growth, or the changes wrought on the river
terraces where they most abound." It is true that the bones
in Stone Age graves are often extremely well preserved ; but
it is equally true that those in Saxon barrows have in many
cases entirely perished. In fact, the condition of ancient bones
depends so much on the circumstances in which they have
been placed, that we must not attribute much importance to
this argument.

The evidence derived from the forests is more to be relied on.
Thus Captain Peck* observed near the Ontonagon river, and
at a depth of twenty-five feet, some stone mauls and other
implements in contact with a vein of copper. Above these
was the fallen trunk of a large cedar, and " over all grew a
hemlock-tree, the roots of which spread entirely above the

fallen tree," and indicated, in his estimation, a

growth of not less than three centuries, to which must then
be added the age of the cedar, which indicates a still " longer
succession of centuries, subsequent to that protracted period
during which the deserted trench was slowly filled up with
accumulations of many winters."

The late President Harrison, in an address to the Historical
Society of Ohio, made some very interesting remarks on this
subject, which are quoted by Messrs. Squier and Davis.-)-
" The process," he says, " by which nature restores the forest
to its original state, after being once cleared, is extremely
slow. The rich lands of the west are, indeed, soon covered
again, but the character of the growth is entirely different,
and continues so for a long period. In several places upon
the Ohio, and upon the farm which I occupy, clearings were
made in the first settlement of the country, and subsequently
abandoned and suffered to grow up. Some of these new
forests are now of fifty years' growth, but they have made
so little progress towards attaining the appearance of the
* Wilson, 1. c. vol. i. p. 256. t 1. c. p. 306.

284 AMERICAN FORESTS.

immediately contiguous forest, as to induce any man of
reflection to determine that at least ten times fifty years
must elapse before their complete assimilation be effected.
We find in the ancient works all that variety of trees which
give such unrivalled beauty to our forests, in natural pro-
portions. The first growth of the same kind of land, once
cleared and then abandoned to nature, on the contrary, is
nearly homogeneous, often stinted to one or two, at most
three kinds of timber. If the ground has been cultivated,
the yellow locust will quickly spring up ; if not cultivated,
the black and white walnut will be the prevailing growth.

Of what immense age, then, must be the works so

often referred to, covered as they are by at least the second
growth, after the primitive forest state was regained !"*

We obtain another indication of antiquity in the " garden-
beds/' which we have already described. This system of
cultivation has long been replaced by the irregular " corn-
hills;" and yet, according to Mr. Lapham,-)- the garden-beds
are much more recent than some of the mounds, across which
they sometimes extend in the same manner as over the
adjoining grounds. If, therefore, these mounds belong to the
same area as those which are covered with wood, we get thus
indications of three periods : the first, that of the mounds
themselves ; the second, that of the garden-beds ; and the
third, that of the forests.

But American agriculture was not imported from abroad ;
it resulted from, and in return rendered possible, the gradual
development of American semi-civilization. This is proved
by the fact that the grains of the Old World were entirely
absent, and that American agriculture was founded on the
maize, an American plant. Thus, therefore, we appear to
have indications of four long periods :

1. That in which, from an original barbarism, the Ameri-

* See also Arch. Amer., vol. i. p. 306. t 1. c. p. 19.

INDICATIONS OF FOUR PERIODS. 285

can tribes developed a knowledge of agriculture and a power
of combination.

2. That in which for the first time mounds were erected,
and other great works undertaken.

3. The age of the "garden-beds," which occupy some at
least of the mounds. Hence it is probable that these par-
ticular "garden-beds" were not in use until after the mounds
had lost their sacred character in the eyes of the occupants of
the soil ; for it can hardly be supposed that works executed
with so much care would be thus desecrated by their builders.

4. The period in which man relapsed into partial barbarism,
and the spots which had been first forest, then, perhaps, sacred
monuments, and thirdly, cultivated ground, relapsed into forest
once more.

But even if we attribute to these changes all the importance
which has ever been claimed for them, they will not require
an antiquity of more than three thousand years. I do not,
of course, deny that the period may have been, and in all
probability was, very much greater. There are, moreover,
other observations, which appear to indicate a very much
higher antiquity.

Dr. A. C. Koch* records the case of a mastodon found in
Gasconade County, Missouri, which had apparently been
stoned to death by the Indians, and then partially consumed
by fire.

The same writer mentions a second case in which several
stone arrow-heads were found mingled with the bones of a
mastodon. These statements, however, are not generally ac-
cepted by geologists, and the evidence in support of them is,
to say the least, very doubtful.

In the valley of the Mississippi, Dr. Dickeson, of Natchez,
found the os innominatum of a man with some bones of the
Mastodon ohioticus, which had fallen from the side of a cliff
* Trans, of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, 1857, p. 61.

286 MAN AND THE MASTODON.

undermined by a rivulet. This case, however, is also open
to doubt, and Sir C. Lyell was of opinion that this bone might
have been derived from one of the Indian graves, which are
very numerous in this locality. Dr. Usher, on the contrary,*
regards it as "an undoubted fossil," belonging to the same
period as the remains of the mastodon with which it was
discovered. Count Pourtalis records the discovery of some
human bones in a calcareous conglomerate, estimated by
Agassiz to be ten thousand years old, though it must be
added that this calculation has been disputed by the Count
himself.

The so-called "Calaveras" skull was found in the county
so named by Mr, Mattison, who assures us that he took it
with his own hands from a bed of gravel 130 feet from the
surface and under four layers of lava. The antiquity of this
skull has been much questioned, but Mr. Whitney seems to
feel no doubt on the subject. He maintains^ that the chemi-
cal condition proves that it is of considerable antiquity, and
not a mere modern skull, as some have supposed. Of course
if it really belonged to the bed in which Mr. Mattison sup-
poses that it was found, it must be of great antiquity, but we
do not know enough of the locality to be able to form even
the vaguest idea of its age.

Dr. Douler obtained from an excavation near New Orleans
some charcoal and a human skeleton, to which he was inclined
to attribute an antiquity of no less than fifty thousand years.
The plain on which the city of New Orleans is built, and
which rises only about ten feet above the sea level, consists
of alluvial soil, which has been proved by borings to have a
depth of more than five hundred feet, and which contains
several successive layers of cypresses. The river banks show
similar remains of ancient forests, and Messrs. Dickeson and

* Dr. Usher, in Nott and Glid- t Whitney, Auriferous Gravel?
don's Types of Mankind, p. 344. of the Sierra Nevada, p. 271.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AMERICA. 287

Brown have found remains of no less than ten cypress forests
at different levels below the present surface. These trees are
not unfrequently as much as ten feet in diameter, and there
are from 95 to 120 rings in an inch. The human skeleton
above referred to was found at a depth of sixteen feet, and
beneath the roots of a cypress-tree belonging to the fourth
forest level below the surface.* Dr. Andrews, indeed, in
a letter cited by Mr. Southall,-f- questions this calculation.
He maintains that the accretion of river mud in the region
of the lower Mississippi is very rapid, and points out as a
proof of this that trunks of trees may be seen standing in
the banks of the river, showing that the accretion must have
been rapid enough to cover them before they had had time to
decay. Whether, however, we accept Dr. Douler's calculation
or not, it is obvious that, if the statements are trustworthy,
this skeleton certainly must carry back the existence of man
in America to a very early period.

In another case a piece of a wicker basket is said to have
been found in Louisiana,! in association with elephants' re-
mains. Lastly, implements curiously resembling the Palaeo-
lithic implements of Western Europe, have been found by
Mr. Jones at a depth of nine feet in the gravel of the Chatta-
hoochee valley,§ and by Mr. Abbott in the drift gravels of
New Jersey.||

On the whole, then, the evidence certainly seems to indi-
cate that Man has inhabited America for a considerable period,
and it is even probable, though there may not as yet be any
absolute proof, that he co-existed there with the mammoth
and mastodon.

* Dr. Usher, in Nott and Glid- § Jones, Ant. of the Southern

don's Types of Mankind, p. 338. Indians, p. 294.

t Recent Origin of Man, p. 472. || Rep. of the Peabody Museum,

J Desnoyers, Cong. Int. d'An- 1878.
thropologie, p. 98.

( 288 )

CHAPTER IX.

QUATERNARY MAMMALIA.

IN addition to those still existing, the fauna of Northern
Europe during the Palaeolithic period comprised several
species of mammalia which have either become entirely ex-
tinct, or very much restricted in their geographical distribu-
tion, since the appearance of man in Europe. The principal
of these are —

Ursus spelceus (the cave-bear).

U. prisons.

Hycena spelcea (the cave-hysena).

Felis spelcea (the cave-lion).

Elephas primigenius (the mammoth).

E. antiquus.

Rhinoceros ticlwrliinus (the hairy rhinoceros).

R. leptorliinus, Cuv.

R. hemitceclms.

Hippopotamus major (the hippopotamus).

Ovibos moschatus (the musk ox).

Megaceros hibernicus (the Irisk elk).

E. fossilis (the wild horse).

Gulo luscus (the glutton).

Cervus tarandus (the reindeer).

Bison Europeans (the aurochs).

Bos primigenius (the urus).

Besides many smaller, but very interesting, species.

The first ten of these have been regarded, until lately, as
altogether extinct, but recent researches have induced many

SUCCESSION OF SPECIES. 289

naturalists to regard some of them as the direct ancestors of
species still existing in other parts of the world, so that the
Irish elk, the elephants, and the three species of rhinoceros
are perhaps the only ones which have left no descendants.
Most of the smaller species now inhabiting Europe already
existed in quaternary times, from which we may conclude
that the changes which have taken place were due to a
gradual change of circumstances, rather than to any sudden
cataclysm, or general destruction of life : it is also very im-
probable that the extinction of the different species was
simultaneous ; and, acting on this idea, M. Lartet has at-
tempted* to construct a palaeontological chronology.

He considers that we may establish four divisions, namely,
the a^e of the cave-bear, of the mammoth and rhinoceros, of

O '

the reindeer, and of the aurochs. It is evident, I think, that
the appearance of these mammalia in Europe was not simul-
taneous, and that their disappearance has been successive.
The evidence is very strong that in Central and Western
Europe the aurochs survived the reindeer, and that the rein-
deer, on the other hand, lived on to a later period than the
mammoth or the woolly-haired rhinoceros. But the chrono-
logical distinction between these two species and the cave-
bear does not appear to be so well established. Admitting
that the cave-bear has not yet been found in the river gravels
of the Somrne valley, we must remember that the animal was
essentially a cave-dweller, and that its absence is, perhaps,
to be attributed rather to the absence of caves than to the
extinction of the species. Moreover, the bones found in the
gravel are very much broken, and are seldom in such a condi-
tion as to enable the palaeontologist to distinguish the remains
of U. spelceus from those of other large bears.

There is as yet no evidence that the cave-bear existed in
Europe before the commencement of the quaternary period,

* Ann. des Sci. Nat, 1861, p. 217.
U

290 THE CAVE-BEAR.

when it appears to have been abundant in Central Europe
and in the southern parts of Russia. It has not yet been
found in Siberia,* it is doubtful whether it has been dis-
covered north of the Baltic, nor has it vet been found in

Spain or in Ireland. In Italy, on the contrary, it has been
met with, and in one instance apparently in association with
a polished stone implement, and even pottery.^ M. Regnoli
has been so good as to forward me a cast of the specimen
on which this statement rests; it belongs to the cave-bear,
but I can hardly regard it as being undoubtedly contempo-
raneous with the pottery and stone axe which were found
near it. In Northern Europe no such case has yet been met
with, but it is of course possible that in Italy the cave-bear
may have survived to a more recent period than in the region
north of the Alps. No trace of it has yet been found by
Mr. Busk and Dr. Falconer among the numerous remains
from Gibraltar, nor has it yet been met with in Siberia.

The late Dr. Falconer referred to this species the leg bones
of a bear found in Brixham Cave, above a flint implement.
Mr. Busk, however, who has carefully examined these bones,
and detached them more completely from the matrix in which
they were imbedded than was the case when they were
examined by Dr. Falconer, is of opinion that there is no suffi-
cient reason for referring them to Ursus spclceus rather than
to one of the other large species of fossil bear.

It has been stated that remains of the cave -bear have
occurred in the river gravels at Ilford and Gray's Thurrocks.
In the opinion, however, both of Mr. Busk and Mr. Boyd
Dawkins, we have no clear case of the remains of this species
being found in river-drift gravels. In fact, as materials for
comparison have increased, it has proved more and more

* Brandt, Bull, de 1'Acad. Imp. f Richerche Paleoetnologiche
de St. Petersburg!!, 1870, vol. vii. nelle Alpi Apuane. Nota del Dott.
pt. 3. C. Regnoli.

THE CAVE-BEAR. 291

difficult to separate Ursus spdceus from other large species
of bear. The jaws and teeth are characteristic, but the other
portions of the skeleton are scarcely distinguishable, especially
when they are so much fractured, as is generally the case with
those found in gravel deposits.

Vogt, indeed, has expressed the opinion that every gradation
may be traced between this species and our common brown
bear ( Ursus Arctos], and Brandt leans to the same opinion.*
Mr. Boyd Dawkins also says that " those who have compared
the French, German, and British specimens gradually realize
the fact that the fossil remains of the bears form a graduated
series, in which all the variations that at first sight appear
specific vanish away."*)" Whether, however, the cave -bear
will eventually be regarded as belonging to the same species
as the brown bear or not, it will still remain a well-charac-
terized variety, and one which has never yet been certainly
met with in the peat mosses, in the tumuli of Western Europe,
in the Danish shell-mounds, the Swiss lake -villages, or, in
short, associated with Neolithic remains.

Mr. Busk, whose views have more recently been supported
by Dr. Leith Adams and Mr. Boyd Dawkins, has made the
very interesting observation that some remains of bear found
in our British caves and gravels are identical with the corre-
sponding bones of U. Ferox, or grizzly bear of the Eocky
Mountains.

The cave-liycena, like the preceding species, is in Europe
characteristic of the Palaeolithic age ; by some authorities it
is now regarded as scarcely distinguishable from the Hyccna
crocuta, or spotted hy?ena of Southern Africa.

Felis spelcea, the cave -lion, attained a somewhat larger
size than the lion of the present day, and possessed in an
exaggerated degree the characters by which that species is

* Zoogeographisclie imd Palseon- t Pleistocene Mammalia, Paloe-
tologische Beitrage, 1867, p. 220. ontographical Soc. vol. xviii. p. xxii.

292 THE CAVE-HYAENA. THE CAVE-LION.

distinguishable from the tiger. It has hitherto been regarded
as a distinct species, but Messrs. Dawkins and Sanford now
consider* it as only a large variety of the lion. It has not
yet been found in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, Denmark,
or Prussia. It occurs, however, in France, Germany, Italy,
and Sicily. As long ago as 1672, Dr. John Hains figured a
bone of this species from the Carpathians, an observation of
considerable interest, as it carries the area of the F. spelcea so
near to the mountains of Thessaly, where, as Herodotus tells
us, the camels attached to the army of Xerxes were attacked
by lions.-)- Messrs. Boyd Dawkins and Sanford refer also to
the same species the remains found at Natchez, in Mississippi,
which were described by Dr. Leidy as a new species under
the name of Felis atrox. The characters, however, which
induced Dr. Leidy to regard his specimens as distinct, are
met with in some of the bones of F. spelcea from the Mendip
Hills. If this opinion be correct, F. spelcea must have stretched
eastwards across Eussia and Siberia, where no remains of it
have yet been observed. Inasmuch, however, as the mam-
moth, the musk ox, the reindeer, the bison, the elk, the horse,
the wolf, — in short, many of our most characteristic quaternary
mammalia — occur also in America, it seems a priori rather
probable than otherwise that Messrs. Dawkins and Sanford are
correct in regarding F. atrox of that continent as specifically
identical with the F. spelcea of Europe.

Remains of a second large species of Felis, considered to be
identical with the leopard, have been discovered in the bone-
caves of England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain ;
and the lynx has been found by Dr. Ransom in a Derbyshire cave.

The Mammoth, or Elephas primigenius, had very extensive
geographical range. Its remains are found in North America,

* Palaeontologies! Soc., vol. for resting memoir on the Zoology of
1868, p. 149. Ancient Europe, Cam. Phil. Soc.,

t See also Mr. Newton's inte- March, 1862.

THE MAMMOTH. 293

but not east of the Eocky Mountains nor south of Columbia
Eiver; in the old continent, from the farthest extremity of Siberia
to the extreme west of Europe, occurring, though rarely, even in
Ireland ; it crossed the Alps, and established itself in Italy as
far southward as Eome, but it has not yet been discovered in
Naples, in any of the Mediterranean islands, or in Scandinavia.
In Spain and Denmark it occurs, though so very rarely that
it may be doubted whether the finds really imply residence.

In the extreme north, on the contrary, remains of this
species are remarkably abundant. Kotzebue was struck by
this in Escholtz Bay (N.W. America), and his remarks have
been fully confirmed by Beechey.* The islands of Lachowski
and New Siberia are said to contain innumerable bones of
extinct animals, and particularly of the mammoth ; from them
and from other parts of Siberia so much fossil ivory is obtained
that it forms a regular article of commerce. Nor have skeletons
alone been discovered. In 1799 a Tungusian hunter discovered
the body of a mammoth embedded in a cliff of frozen soil,
where it remained for several years. In 1806 it was visited
by Mr. Adams, who found it partly devoured by wolves and
other wild animals, and partly removed by the Yakuts, who
used it as food for their dogs. Fortunately, however, a con-
siderable portion of the animal still remained. The skin was
dark grey, covered with reddish wool, mixed witli long black
bristles, somewhat thicker than horsehair. Another frozen
mammoth was discovered in 1846, besides several other well-
preserved portions, and it was probably from earlier finds of
a similar nature that the Siberian tribes came to resjard the

mammoth as a gigantic burrowing animal. It is hardly neces-
sary to observe that the state of preservation in which mam-
moths have been found is no evidence of recent existence, for
when once enveloped in frozen soil they might remain un-
changed for an indefinite period.

* Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, vol. i. p. 257.

294 EXISTENCE OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT IN EUROPE.

The best authorities consider that the mammoth and the
woolly-haired rhinoceros lived in Siberia before, as well as
during the glacial period, and though as regards Europe the
evidence is not so conclusive, it appears probable that they
also existed in Europe in pre -glacial times. It is pro-
bable that during the severer portions of the period they
retreated south, and advanced northward again during the
milder inter-glacial period. Whatever doubt, however, there
may be as to the date at which this species made its appear-
ance in Europe, we can no longer hesitate to believe that our
ancestors, or at least our predecessors, co-existed in England
with the mammoth, which they no doubt hunted, as the wildest
tribes of Africa and India do now.

In Southern Europe unmistakable remains of the existing
African elephant have been met with, but the only other species
of elephant which inhabited Northern Europe during the quater-
nary period was the nearly allied Eleplias antiqims, remains of
which have been found in English caves and river gravels

O j

though, on the whole, it had a more southerly range than the
mammoth. It is generally associated with Rhinoceros lep-
torhinus, Guv., while, on the contrary, the mammoth and R.
tichorhinus usually occur together.

Eig. 179 represents a molar tooth of E. antiqims, and fig.
180 one belonging to E. primigenius ; it will at once be seen
that the plates are much narrower in the latter than in the
former.

FIG. 179.

Molar Tooth of E, Antiquus.

THE QUATERNARY SPECIES OF RHINOCEROS.

295

At least three species of rhinoceros inhabited Europe during
the quaternary period ; on this all are agreed, but, unfortu-
nately the nomenclature is involved in very considerable con-
fusion. E. leptorliinus was originally so named by Cuvier in
1812, from a drawing of a specimen found in the Val d'Arno,
and in which the bony septum between the nostrils was

FIG. ISO.

Molar Tooth of Mammoth.

represented as deficient. In 1835, M. de Christol stated that
he had examined the specimen in question, that the drawing
was incorrect, and the name consequently inapplicable. Sub-
sequently, however, Dr. Falconer visited Italy and satisfied
himself that, after all, the original drawing was correct, and
that therefore Cuvier's name must be restored. In the mean
time Prof. Owen had unfortunately described another species
of rhinoceros found at Clacton as E. leptorliinus, which name
must of course be abandoned if Cuvier's name is permitted to
stand. Hence Dr. Falconer proposed to call this latter species
E. liemitceclius. It is necessary therefore to bear in mind that
the E. leptorliinus of Owen is not the E. leptorliinus of Cuvier,
but that it is the E. liemitceclius of Falconer, while M. Lartet
maintains that it is identical with the E. Merkii of Kaup.
On the other hand, M. de Christol, in 1835, described a rhino-
ceros, which undoubtedly wanted the nasal septum, and be-
lieving himself to have proved that the figure on which Cuvier
based his description of E. leptorliinus was incorrect, he named
this species E. megarliinus. Hence Cuvier's E. leptorliinus is

296 THE QUATERNARY SPECIES OF RHINOCEROS.

identical with De Christol's E. megarhinus. The third species
is the E. tichorhinus of Cuv., a name which has been generally
adopted, although Blumenbach had previously proposed that
of E. antiquitatis.

Mr. Boyd Dawkins considers that there is still some doubt
about the real character of the specimen on which Cuvier
founded his E. leptorhinus, and consequently adopts the
following nomenclature : E. megarhinus, De Christol ; E. Icp-
torhinus, Owen ; and E. tichorhinus, Cuvier. M. Lartet uses
the names E. leptorhinus, Cuv. ; E. Merkii, Kaup ; and E.
tichorhinus, Cuvier. These differences of opinion, however,
relate merely to the nomenclature, and do not touch the
existence of the species themselves. The first two belonged
to the pre-glacial as well as to the post-glacial period. The
woolly-haired, two-horned, smooth-skinned E. tichorhinus, on
the contrary, which appears to have been the commonest in
post-glacial times, has not yet been proved to have existed in
Europe in the period before the glacial epoch. The two other
species also have a more southerly range, having been found
in Italy and Spain, while E. tichorhinus, though it has been
met with from the extreme north of Siberia,* throughout
Central Europe and England, does not appear to have crossed
either the Alps or the Pyrenees. It is somewhat remarkable
that no remains of rhinoceros have yet been discovered in
Sicily, Malta, Scotland, Ireland,^ or America, J in all of which
countries the elephant has been met with. On the other
hand, a single tooth has, according to Brandt, been found in
Scandinavia, where no remains of elephant have yet been
discovered.

The Musk-ox, or rather musk-sheep, is at present confined

* In more than one instance the t Lartet, Note sur deux tetes de
actual carcase of this animal has been Carnassiers Fossiles. Ann. d. Sci.
found preserved like the mammoth, Nat, 5 Ser. vol. viii.
by being imbedded in frozen suil. J D'Archiac, Lemons sur le Faune

Quaternaire. p. 196.

RHINOCEROS TICHORHINUS. 297

to the northern part of Arctic America. Its remains, how-
ever, occur in Siberia ; and in 1856 Mr. Kingsley and I
were so fortunate as to obtain a portion of a skull from the
large gravel-pit near Maidenhead Station. Since then I have
met with it again at Greenstreet Green, near Bromley, in
Kent ; it has also been found in the gravel of the Avon,
near Bath, in that of the Severn, near Gloucester, and at
Crayford. It has since been found, though rarely, in France
and Germany.

The Hippopotamus, though hitherto regarded as a distinct
species from the H. ampliibius of Africa, was, if not identical
with, at any rate very closely allied to it. Some palaeontolo-
gists believe that, like the mammoth and the E. tichorhinus,
it was covered with hair ; we have, however, no distinct,
evidence in support of this view. It may, moreover, be
remarked, though too much importance must not be attached
to the observation, that our ancient hippopotamus has been
less frequently found in association with these two species,
than with E. antiquus and E. hemitcechus, Falc. (Uptorliinus,
Owen), which, as just mentioned, have a more southerly
range. Thus, in this country, it has only been found in four
bone-caves, those of Durdham Down, Kirkdale, Kent's Hole
Cavern, and Eavenscliff in Gower, and in the two former it
was associated with E. antiquus and E. liemitccchus. In the
river gravels its remains are found at Grays and Ilford,
associated with the E. ticlwrliinus, E. leptorhinus, and E.
hemitceclius ; at Walton and Folkestone, with Ehplias an-
tiquus; at Peckham, with E. antiqims and E. primigenius ;
at Bedford, with E. antiquus, the tichorhine rhinoceros, and
the reindeer ; and at Barton, with the mammoth and E.
hemitcechus*

The magnificent Irish Elk, or Megaceros hibernicus, which

* The British Pleistocene Mammalia, Palseontological Soc. 1866,
p. xxviii.

298 THE IRISH ELK.

attained a eight of more than ten feet, with antlers measur-
ing eleven feet from tip to tip, may perhaps have lived to a
somewhat more recent period, but appears to have had a
much more restricted range. Its remains have been found in
Sweden, in Germany, in France as far as the Pyrenees, and
in Central Italy. It seems, however, to have been most
abundant in the British Isles, and especially in Ireland. It
is reported to have been frequently found in peat-bogs, but
Professor Owen believes that, in reality, the bones generally
occur in the lacustrine shell marl, which underlies the peat
or bog earth.*

In the Niebelungen Lied of the twelfth century, a myste-
rious animal is mentioned under the name of schelch :

"After this he straightway slew a bison and an elk,
Of the strong uri four, and one fierce schelch."

It has been supposed by some writers that the schelch was,
in fact, the Megaceros hibernicus. There is, however, no
sufficient reason for this hypothesis, and we must remember
that the same poem, as Dr. Buckland has pointed out, con-
tains allusions to giants, dwarfs, pigmies, and fire-dragons.
Neither Caesar nor Tacitus mentions the Irish elk, and they
would surely not have omitted such a remarkable animal, if
it had been known to them.

No remains of the Irish elk have yet been found in asso-
ciation with bronze, nor indeed am I aware of any which can
be referred to the later Stone or Neolithic Age.

These twelve species, then, are especially characteristic of the
river-drift deposits. Most of them occur also in the loiJss of
the Pthine and its principal tributaries, but, except perhaps the
last, they have not yet been met with in the peat-bogs. They
never occur in the Kjokkenmoddings, the Lake-habitations,
or tumuli ; nor are there any traditions in Western Europe

* Owen, 1. c. p. 465.

WILD HORSES. 299

which can be regarded as indicating, even in the most obscure
manner, any recollection of these gigantic mammalia.

The Wild Horses, which in ancient times inhabited Europe,
differed somewhat from our present breed, and have been
described as separate races by Professor Owen, under the
names of Equus fossilis and Equus spelceus. The latter is the
race which was largely used for food by the ancient inha-
bitants of the Bruniquel Cave in Dordogne.* It was rather
small in size, but appears to have resembled the true horse
more than the ass. Some naturalists have, indeed, been
disposed to believe that Europe contained two wild species
of the genus Equus during quaternary times. This opinion,
however, seems to depend on difference of size rather than
of form, and we know that the varieties of the horse differ
considerably in magnitude.

Ekkehard, in the " Benedictiones ad mensas Ekkehardi
monachi Sangallensis," mentions "ferales equi" as existing
in the eleventh century in Switzerland. Lucas David also
(Eeuss. Chronik. Bd. ii. s. 121) alludes to the wild horse as
existing in 1240 in Eussia. Even at the beginning of the
seventeenth centry, Herberstein expressly says, " Eeras habet
Lithuania, prseter eas, quae in Germania referuntur, bisontes,
uros, alces, equos sylvestres" etc.

Perhaps, however, these mediaeval wild horses were merely
tame ones which had escaped and bred in the extensive forests
of Central Europe. Indeed, the history of the horse in Europe
seems to have been much the same as in America. In the
one country as in the other, wild horses were at one time
frequent, and their remains are abundant. The Spanish con-
querors, however, found no trace or tradition of the horse at
the time of the discovery of America; and so also in the
Danish shell-mounds, and at the earlier Swiss lake villages,

* Owen, Philosophical Transac- meyer, Beitriige zur Kenntniss der
tions, 1869, p. 535. See also Riiti- fossilen Pferclen.

300 THE REINDEER.

the horse was either unknown, or at least extremely rare.
Gradually it seems to have become again abundant, both in
a domesticated and a wild condition ; until at length, as
population increased, the wild horse finally disappeared in
Europe, as he seems destined ere long to do in America.*

The Reindeer still exists in Northern Europe, in Siberia
and in North America, where it has been found as far north
as man has yet penetrated. Even so recently as the time of
Pallas it might still be met with on the wooded summits of
the Oural Mountains, as far south as the Caucasus. In
Western Europe it is now an extinct species, though it was
at one time abundant in England and France, whence, how-
ever, it is unnecessary to say, it has long disappeared. M.
Lartet found no traces of it in any of the Spanish caves
examined by him ; Ponzi mentions it, though apparently with
some little doubt, as occurring among the animal remains
collected by M. Ptegnoli, at Cantalupo, near Ptome ; but its
existence south of the Alps seems still doubtful.^

At the present day the reindeer, like the Laplander, is
gradually retiring northwards, unable to resist the pressure
of advancing civilization. Even within the last ten years
a few families of Lapps might still be found in the neigh-
bourhood of Nystuen, on the summit of the Fillefjeld, and
some other places in the south of Norway, but none are now
to be found on this side of the Namsen river. The reindeer,
in a wild state, indeed, even at the present day, is generally
distributed, though in small numbers, over the highest and
wildest of the Norwegian fjelds, protected, however, by
stringent game laws, but for which it would probably have
ere now ceased to exist.

* See, for further particulars, t Kapporto sugli Stucli e sulle
Brandt, Zoographische und False- Scoperte Paleoetnologiche nel Baci-
ontologische Beitriige, p. 176. nodeUaCampagnaBomana. Roma,

1867.

THE REINDEER. 301

On the other hand, this species must have been at one time
very abundant in Great Britain, no fewer than 1000 horns

having been discovered by Col. Wood in some of the Welsh
caves.

As far as we can judge from the present evidence, the first
appearance of the reindeer in Europe coincided with that of
the mammoth, and took place at a later period than that of
the cave-bear or Irish elk. It is generally found wherever
the mammoth and woolly- haired rhinoceros occur; but, on
the other hand, as its remains are abundant in some of the
bone-caves in which the gigantic Pachyderms are wanting, it
is probable that it survived to a still later period. The rein-
deer, has not, however, been found in the Kjokkenmoddings
of Denmark, nor in any of the tumuli of England, France, or
Germany. It is also wanting in the Swiss lake villages,
although we know that it was at one time an inhabitant of
Switzerland, bones of it having been found in a cave at
L'Echelle, between the great and little Saleve, near Geneva,
where they were mixed with worked flints, ashes, and remains
of the ox and horse.

As might naturally have been expected, remains of the
reindeer occur in the peat mosses of Sweden, as well as
in those of Scotland and England. It is not, however,
represented on any of the ancient British or Gallic coins.
Csesar, indeed, mentions it as existing in the great Her-
cynian forest ; but his description is both imperfect and in-
correct. He seems to have heard of it only at second-hand,
and never to have met with anybody who had actually seen
one. It does not appear to have ever been exhibited in the
Kornaii circus.

Buffon stated on the authority of Gaston, Comte de Foix,
that in his time (1331 to 1390) the reindeer still lived in
the south of France. Cuvier, however, by examining an
ancient manuscript, sent by Gaston himself to Philippe le

302 THE REINDEER.

Hardi, showed that, though his expression is a little ambi-
guous, he probably intended to say exactty the reverse, his
words being —

" J'en ay veu en ISTourvegne et Xuedene et en ha oultre
mer, mes en Eomain pays en ay je peu veu."*

Eemains of the reindeer have been found in Scotland in
beds of marl and till, and also, though very rarely, in peat.-)-
Hibbert,^ Brandt,§ Boyd Dawkins, J. A. Smith, and other
good authorities, consider that it survived in the extreme
north clown to the twelfth century ; relying on the statement
of Torfceus, that the Norwegians used to make incursions from
the Orkneys into Caithness for the purpose of hunting rein-
deer (hreina) and other game.||

While, however, fully admitting the high authority of
Torfseus, I cannot regard a casual statement of this charac-
ter as conclusively deciding the question, and I may add that
Sir G. Dasent, who is so great an authority on all questions
connected with Scandinavian literature, is convinced that the
reindeer was extinct in Scotland at the period in question.
It may also be remarked that several attempts which have been
made to introduce the reindeer into Scotland have completely
failed, the animals dying without any very apparent reason,
while, on the contrary, in Iceland they have become numerous.
I admit that these experiments are far from conclusive ; but,
on the other hand, in Scandinavia the deer are said to be
larger in the northern districts than in the southern, while the
Spitzbergen specimens are the finest of all.

If, indeed, Torfseus had distinctly stated that the reindeer
existed in northern Scotland during the twelfth century, the
state of the case would have been very different ; the passage

* Recherches sur les Ossements £ Edinburgh Journal of Sci.,

Fossiles, vol. vi. p. 125. 1831.

f See Dawkins, Popular Science § Zoogeogr. und Palaeont. Bei-

Review, Jan. 1868. Smith, Proc. trage, 1867, pp. 62, 256.

Soc. Ant. Scot., 1869, p. 186. || Keram Orcadensium His. i. 36.

THE REINDEER. 303

referred to, however, could hardly be accepted as conclusive
by itself, especially as long as no traces of reindeer had been
found among the ancient ruins which abound in that district.
On the other hand, since the last edition of this work was
published, Mr. J. A. Smith has carefully examined the horns
r. i d bones found in the ruins of the curious towers known as
"Brochs," or "Burghs," and has shown that some of them
certainly belonged to the reindeer.* Thus fragments of rein-
deer's horns have been collected by Mr. Joass among the
ruins of the Cill-Trolla Broch, on the farm of Kintradwell,
near Brora, on the sea-coast of Sutherlandshire. Mr. Smith,
on carefully examining the remains of deer obtained by Mr.
Laing at Keiss, in Caithness, finds that they do not all belong,
as at first supposed, to the red deer, but that some of them
were those of the reindeer. Lastly, remains of this species have
been collected by Mr. Anderson in the ruins of the Yarhouse
Broch, in the same county. It is indeed more than probable
that in other cases remains of the reindeer have been incor-
rectly ascribed to the red deer.

We do not, unfortunately, know the date at which these
Burghs or Brochs were first constructed, but it is on record

o *

that some of them were in use down to the twelfth century
(see ante, pp. 58, 59).

No doubt these observations strongly support the infer-
ence derived from the statement of Torfceus, and though I
am not entirely convinced, it must be admitted that there
are strong grounds for believing that the reindeer survived in

o o o

northern Scotland down to a comparatively recent period.

The true Arctic Fox has also been found in English bone-
caves. Indeed, in the Kesserloch cave in Switzerland, out
of 150 lower jaws of foxes, only two belonged to our Common
Fox, 66 to the Arctic Fox (Canis lagopus), and the remainder

* Proc. Soc. Anticj. Scot, 1869, vol. viii. p. 186.

304 THE AUROCHS.

to the Red Fox of North America.* In the same cave the
Common Hare was represented "by two individuals only, while
of the Alpine Hare not less than 250 individuals were indi-
cated by the remains.

The Glutton of North Europe, which is the wolverine of the
North American fur-hunters, has been found in several of the
English bone-caves, as well as in the Norfolk " Forest-beds," •}•
and is very abundant in those of Belgium.

The Aurochs, or European Bison, appears to have been
abundant in Western Europe. It has been found in Scot-
land, England, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland,
and Italy, as well as in Russia. Its remains occur in the
river-drift gravels, the bone-caves, the Lake villages of Swit-
zerland, and in the peat-bogs, though none have yet been
found in the shell-mounds of Denmark, nor, so far as I am
aware, in any of our British peat-bogs or tumuli. M. Lartet
thinks that it is represented on a coin of the Santones, which
was shown to him by M. de Saulcy. It is stated by Pliny
and Seneca to have existed in their time, with the urus, in
the great forests of Germany. Though not mentioned by
Cassar, it is alluded to in the Niebelungen Lied, and is said
to have existed in Prussia down to the year 1775. According
to Nordmann and Von Baer, it still survives in some parts of
Western Asia.

The bison is also preserved by the Emperor of Russia in the
imperial forests of Lithuania, where, however, its existence
seems to be very precarious. In ISoO the herd numbered
711 head, of which, during the Polish revolution in 1831,
115 were killed. From that time they gradually increased
until 1857, when the numbers were 1898, but during the late

* Merk. Mitt, cler Ant. Ges. in Zurich, 1875. Eiitimeyer, Die Yerand.
der Thierwelt in der Sclrvveiz seit Anscwenlieit der Mcnschen.

t Newton, Proc. Geol. Soc., 1880.

THE URUS. 305

Polish rebellion they fell to 874. Since 1863 no numbers
have been given.

According to Kiitimeyer, than whom it is impossible to
cite a greater authority on such a question, our ancient bison
(B. priscus) was specifically identical with the existing Ameri-
can bison. Every stage, however, between the fossil form and
the existing European aurochs can be traced, so that it is
impossible to separate the two, an opinion in which Brandt
also coincides. It would appear, moreover, that the American
form of bison is more archaic than that of Europe.

Allen regards the gigantic Bos latifrons, which had immense
horns spreading from 10 to 12 feet, as the parent form, passing-
through B. priscus into the present European, and through
B. bonasus into the American bison.* We have here, there-
fore, a clear case, in which two now distinct species are
connected by the evidence of fossil remains.

The Urus, or Bos primigenius, did not extend its range to
America, nor, so far as I am aware, have its remains yet
been met with in North-eastern Asia. They occur, however,
throughout Europe — in England, Scotland, Denmark, and the
south of Sweden, in France and Germany. Across the Alps
and Pyrenees, it occurs in Italy and Spain, and even, accord-
ing to M. Gervais, in Northern Africa. In the museum at
Lund is a skeleton belonging to this species, in which one
of the vertebrae still shows traces of a wound, made, in the
opinion of Professor Nilsson, by a flint arrow. Bones of this
species have also been met with in ancient tumuli, as well as
in the lake-habitations, and in the Kjokkenmoddings.

Caesar particularly mentions the urus as occurring in the
Hercynian forest ; it is alluded to in the Niebelungen Lied,
and, according to Herberstein, it existed in Germany down
to the sixteenth century. In England, wild bulls are men-
tioned by Fitz-Stephen, in his Life of Becket, as occurring

* The American Bisons, p. 35.
X

306 ELK. LEMMING. SNOWY OWL.

near London as late as the twelfth century. It does not seem
certain, however, that these were uri. The celebrated wild
cattle of Chillingham, and some of our domestic breeds, are
generally regarded by palaeontologists as being descended
from the ancient urus.

Mr. Dawkins is of opinion that Machairodus latidens, one
of the most remarkable of the Pliocene carnivora, survived
to post-glacial times. It was found by MacEnery in Kent's
Hole, but has not been met with in the present examina-
tion of that interesting cavern. Nor has it occurred in any
other of our bone-caves or river gravels with remains of post-
glacial mammalia. The Norway Elk, which is identical with
the American moose, was also an inhabitant of this country,
but has long become extinct here, as, indeed, throughout
Western Europe. Even in Prussia it is said that there are only
about 226 remaining.* The lemming has been discovered by
Dr. Blackmore, in the river gravels at Fisherton, near Salis-
bury ; and the lagomys, or tailless hare, a genus now confined
to the Himalayas, Siberia, and the colder regions of North
America, has been identified by Prof. Owen among the bones
from Kent's Cavern, and by Dr. Falconer among those from,
the Brixham Cave. Among other northern and eastern forms
may be also mentioned a species allied to Dipus, Alacdaga
geranus, and a small mouse, Arvicola gregalis.^ Another
glacial genus, that of the marmots, is represented by two
species, one of them very closely resembling that now living
in Siberia. Lastly, it may be observed that remains of the
great snowy owl (Strix nivea), and of the willow grouse
(Tdrao albus) are met with in abundance in most of the caves
of the south-west of France.

The river gravels contain also thirty- six species of shell-fish,

* See Report from Her Majesty's representatives abroad, on the laws
and regulations relating to game, presented to Parliament, 1871.
t Arch. f. Antliropologie, 1876, p. 162.

LINKS BETWEEN EXISTING SPECIES. 307

of which thirty-four at present live in Sweden,* and twenty-
nine in Lombardy. These latter, however, are principally
species having a very wide range, and we shall see still more
clearly that the leaning of the molluscan fauna is towards the
north, if we remember that out of seventy -seven Finland
species, thirty-one have been found in the upper level gravels,
while of 193 Lombard species, only twenty-nine have as yet
occurred.

A very interesting point connected with this quaternary
fauna is the manner in which it connects together species
now quite distinct. Opponents of Mr. Darwin's theory often
ask with misplaced triumph for the links connecting any two
species. In fact, however, every species is a link between
other allied forms. Of course, indeed, as long as any varie-
ties remain undescribed there will be intervals — indicating
however, gaps not in nature, but in our knowledge. More-
over^ it is admitted by every one that there are variable
species, that is to say, species which present two or more
extreme forms, with intermediate gradations. Now we may
fairly ask those who assert that no two species are connected
by links, how they would separate the instances of variable
animals (which they admit to occur) from the case which
they say does not exist. If we were to obtain to-morrow all
the links between any two species which are now considered
distinct, no one can deny that the two would at once be
united, and would hereafter appear in our classifications as
one variable species. In fact, therefore, they first unite into
one species all these forms, however different, between which
a complete series is known, and then argue in favour of the
permanence of species because no two of them are united by
intermediate links.

Moreover, if species were in reality perfectly distinct from
one another, then it would necessarily follow that, as our

* Proc. Roy. Soc, 1862, p. 44.
x2

308 LINKS BETWEEN EXISTING SPECIES.

knowledge of any group increased, the separations between
the different species would become more and more unmistak-
able. On the contrary, however, it is a well-known fact that
the difficult genera become still more difficult as they are
more profoundly studied. If, indeed, we consider existing
forms only, no doubt the distinctions between the greater
number of species are well marked, nor does any one expect
to find a living series of links between them. The interme-
diate forms lived in tertiary and quaternary times. Thus
directly we commence to study the extinct forms, all the con-
venient lines of separation gradually thin out. For instance,
the larger species of mammalia are at present in most cases
well marked, but it becomes much more difficult satisfactorily
to distinguish them, from one another, when we consider fossil
specimens as well as recent ones. To take only two cases
from the group of quaternary mammalia, we have seen that,
according to Elitirneyer, the European and American bisons,
which are now quite distinct, are connected by the Bison
priscuSy while between our brown bear and the grizzly bear of
the Eocky Mountains a series of links has been discovered
among the abundant remains in our bone-caves.

Great as is the interest attaching to the existence of man
at a period so much more ancient than that hitherto assigned
to him, there is something which, to many minds, will appear
even more fascinating, in the presence of such a fauna as that
which I have thus briefly indicated. For it must be regarded
as a well-ascertained fact, that, even during the human period,
the pleasant and sunny valleys of England and of France have
been inhabited by the gigantic Irish elk, two species of ele-
phant, and three of rhinoceros, together with the reindeer, a
large bear closely resembling the grizzly bear of the Rocky
Mountains, a bison scarcely distinguishable from that of the
American Prairies, the musk ox of Arctic America, the lem-
ming of the Siberian Steppes, the lion of the Tropics, the

CLIMATE OF THE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 309

hy?Bna of the Cape, and a hippopotamus closely resembling
that of the great African rivers.

Influenced mainly by the presence of the great pachyderms,
and particularly by that of the hippopotamus, M. d' Archaic
is disposed to consider that the climate of the quaternary
period was warmer than ours,* while M. Lartet-f suggests that
we may have had a climate like that of Chili, where, as Mr.
Darwin has pointed out, glaciers actually come down to the
sea-level in latitudes corresponding with that of our south
coast and the northern provinces of France.

In other respects, however, the fauna of the quaternary
deposits indicates a more severe climate. The presence of the
reindeer and musk ox, the lemming and the marmot, corrobo-
rated, as we shall see in the next chapter, by physical evidence,
leaves little doubt on this subject. Moreover, we must remem-
ber that the trichorhine rhinoceros and the mammoth were
not only well provided against cold, but in some cases were
enveloped in the ice and frozen mud of the Siberian rivers so
soon after death that the flesh had not had time to decay.
Much weight is also to be attributed, I think, to the presence
of smaller quadrupeds, as, for instance, of the lemming and
lagomys.

Yet I feel strongly that some of the species, and particu-
larly the hippopotamus, indicate a warmer climate. Even if
protected by fur, as Mr. Prestwich supposes, this animal could
never live in a country where the rivers were frozen every
winter. To meet this difficulty, a suggestion has been thrown
out that it may have made annual migrations. In the Gulf
of Penas, on the west coast of South America, lat. 47° S., Mr.
Darwin has pointed out that glaciers now "descend to the
sea within less than nine degrees of latitude from where palms
grow, less than two and a half from arborescent grasses, less

* Legons sur la Faune Quaternaire, pp. 15, 16.
f Lartet, Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1867, p. 37.

310 PROBABLE FLUCTUATIONS OF CLIMATE.

than two from orchideous parasites, and within a single degree
of tree-ferns."* The reindeer in America makes, we know,
very extensive annual migrations, but a heavy animal like the
hippopotamus could hardly do so. I am, therefore, rather
disposed to believe that the presence of the hippopotamus,
the E. antiquus, and R. leptorhimis, indicates that the climate
of the quaternary period was not uniformly severe, but con-
tained at least one interval of exceptional mildness.

The late M. Morlot, well known as an excellent and careful
observer, was, I believe, the first to point out that, in Switzer-
land, there were two periods of great extension of the glaciers,
separated by an epoch of comparative warmth. And in Great
Britain also there is strong geological evidence of the existence
of several such warm interglacial periods.")"

We shall also see presently that if the cold of the glacial
epoch was due to the astronomical causes pointed out by M.
Adhemar and Mr. Croll, the period of extreme cold must have
been followed by one of unusual warmth, or rather there must
have been several oscillations of climate from unusual heat to
extreme cold.

I am disposed then, on the whole, to consider that the
quaternary fauna consists of two distinct groups, belonging
to different periods and to two different conditions of climate,
one warmer than the present, the other colder. The whole
subject, however, while of great interest, is also one of ex-
treme difficulty, and I shall return to it more at length in a
subsequent chapter. On many points we must be contented
to suspend our judgment, but we may at least regard it as
proved that, since the appearance of man, there have been
great changes in the fauna of Western Europe, which then
contained several important species, either now altogether
extinct or existing only in distant parts of the world.

* Researches in Geology and Natural History, p. 285.
f Geikie, The Great Ice Age. Croll, Climate and Time.

( 311 )

CHAPTEE X.

CAVE MEN.

IT would be quite impossible, within the limits of a single
chapter to describe all the caves in which human remains
have been found, in association with, and apparently belong-
ing to, the same period as those of the extinct mammalia. I
will only call attention to a few of those which have been
most thoroughly examined, and by the researches in which
the conclusions appear to be satisfactorily established.

It is unnecessary to observe that a great number of caves
present evidence of having been inhabited during times long
subsequent to those which we are now considering; but for
the Neolithic Age, as well as for all later periods, we have, as
has been alreadv mentioned, other sources of information, and

more satisfactory evidence than any which can be derived
from the examination of caves.

Some writers, indeed, have gone so far as to question alto-
gether the value of what may be called cave evidence. They
have suggested that the bones of extinct animals may have
lain in the caves for ages before the appearance of man ; that
relics of the human period may have been introduced subse-
quently ; and that remains belonging to very different periods
may have been mixed together. This was, for instance, the
conclusion arrived at by M. Desnoyers, even so recently as
the year 1845, in his article on Bone-caves.* Unless this

* liecherches Geologiques et His- ments. Dictionnaire Univcrsel
toriques sur les Cavernes, particu- d'Histoire Naturelle.
lierement sur les cavernes a osse-

312 CAVES IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE.

argument admitted of a satisfactory answer, it must be con-

ceded that the evidence derivable from cave contents would
always be liable to grave suspicion. I trust, however, to be
able to show that this is not the case.

As long ago as the year 1828, MM. Tournal and Christol
in the south of France had found fragments of pottery and
human bones and teeth intermingled with remains of extinct
animals; and M. Tournal distinctly expressed the opinion
that these had certainly not been washed in by any diluvial
catastrophe, but must have been introduced gradually. The
presence of pottery, however, throws much doubt on the sup-
posed antiquity of these remains.

A few years later, in 1833 and 1834, Dr. Schmerling*
published an account of his researches in some caves near
Liege in Belgium. In four or five of these he found human
bones, and in all of them rude implements, principally flint
flakes, were discovered, scattered in such a manner among
the remains of the mammoth, Rhinoceros ticJwrhinus, cave-
hyeeua, and cave-bear, that Dr. Schmerling referred them to
the same period. One feels a natural surprise that such
animals as these should ever have been natives of England
and France, ever have wandered about among our woods or
along our streams ; but when it was also suggested that they
were contemporary with man, surprise was succeeded by
incredulity. Yet these cave researches appear to have been
conducted with care, and the principal results have been con-
firmed by more recent discoveries.

The hesitation, however, with which the statements of Dr.
Schmerling were received by scientific men arose, no doubt,
partly from the fact that some of the fossil remains discovered
by him were certainly referred to wrong species, and partly
because, with reference to several of the extinct species, and

* Kecherches sur les Os§ements ernes de la Province de Liege. Par
Fossiles decouverts dans les Cav- le Dr. P. C. Schmerling.

BELGIAN CAVES. 313

especially to the mammoth, he expressed the opinion that the
remains had been brought from a distance, and had very likely
been washed out of some earlier bed. " Nous n'hesitons point,"
he says, " a exprimer ici notre pensee, c'est que nous doutons
fort que 1' elephant, lors de 1'epoque du remplissage de nos
cavernes, habitat nos contrees. Au contraire, nous croyons
plutot que ces restes ont etc" amenes de loin, ou bien que ces
debris ont ete deplaces d'un terrain plus ancien et ont ete
entraines dans les cavernes."

Even, therefore, though Dr. Schmerling might be quite
right in his conclusion that the human remains had been
" enfouis dans ces cavernes a la meme epoque, et par conse-
quent par les memes causes qui y ont entraine une masse
d'ossements de differentes especes eteintes," still it would not
necessarily follow that man had lived at the same period as
these extinct species.

Careful explorations of the Belgian caves have recently
been carried on under the auspices of the Government by
M. E. Dupont.* These caverns belong principally to the
so-called Eeindeer period, and the flint implements are never
ground. Thus out of 30,000 worked flints found in the cavern
of Chaleux, and 1200 in those of Furfooz, not one presents
a trace of polish. Some of these flint flakes, etc., appear to
consist of Pressigny flint, and in the opinion of Dr. Dupont,
as well as of M. de Mortillet, must have come from that
distant locality. In this cavern the humerus of an elephant
was discovered, but in M. Dupont's opinion, founded on the
state of the bone, it belonged to an earlier period than the
other remains. Human bones have been found in several of
these caverns. The Trou du Frontal contained bones belong-
ing to no less that thirteen individuals. They had probably
been buried in the cave, the door of which seemed to have been

* Notices Preliminaires sur les du Gouvernement Beige dans les
Fouilles executees sous les auspices Cavernes de la Belgique, 1867.

314 KENT'S HOLE.

purposely closed by a large block of stone. When discovered
they were in great confusion, having, in the opinion of MM.
Dupont and Van Beneclen, been disturbed and re-arranged by
water. The form of the cavern, and the fact that the opening
was in great measure closed by the above-mentioned stone,
seem to me to speak strongly against this suggestion, and I
should rather regard the disturbance of the bones as due to
foxes and badgers. The Trou de la Naulette contained a
very remarkable lower jaw, of which M. Dupont says that
" regardee clans la face interne, elle offre une telle proclivite
d'arriere en avant de la partie symphysaire qu'on est porte a
y voir un prognatisme tout animal. Les apophyses geni ne
sont pas indiquees ; les fossettes laterales sont tres-prononcees
et le rebord mentonnier est reduit a son minimum. Les
alveoles des canines, bien que tres-rapprochees des alveoles
des incisives, et les molaires, nous rappellent la disposition
qu'on observe sur la machoire du singe. En effet, 1'alveole
qui logeait la canine est fort vaste et bombee a la face
externe. Ce qui semble plus etrange encore, c'est que les
trois alveoles des grosses molaires presentent absolument
1'ordre typique du maxillaire simien par Tang-mentation pro-
gressive des alveoles de la premiere a la deuxierne et a la
troisieme molaire."

The celebrated cavern of Kent's Hole, near Torquay, was
examined by Mr. MacEnery as long ago as 1825. He did
not, however, publish his notes on the subject, and they
remained in manuscript until 1859, when Mr. Vivian suc-
ceeded in obtaining them. Mr. MacEnery found human bones,
flint flakes, etc., but all either on the surface or in disturbed
soil, so that on the whole he regarded them, though apparently
with much doubt, as posterior to the remains of the cave-bear,
hysena, etc.

In the year 1840, Mr. God win- Austen communicated to the
Geological Society a memoir on the Geology of the South-

KENT'S HOLE. 315

east of Devonshire,* and in his description of Kent's Hole, he
says that " human remains and works of art, such as arrow-
heads and knives of flint, occur in all parts of the cave, and
throughout the entire thickness of the clay : and no distinction
founded on condition, distribution or relative position, can be
observed, whereby the human can be separated from the other
reliquiae," which included bones of the " elephant, rhinoceros,
ox, deer, horse, bear, hyaena, and a feline animal of large size."
The value, he truly adds, " of such a statement must rest on
the care with which a collector may have explored. I must
therefore state that my own researches were constantly con-
ducted in parts of the cave which had never been disturbed,
and in every instance the bones were procured from beneath
a thick covering of stalagmite ; so far, then, the bones and
works of man must have been introduced into the cave before
the flooring of stalagmite had been formed." Notwithstanding
the high authority of Mr. Godwin- Austen, these statements
attracted little attention; and the very similar assertions
made by Mr. Vivian, in a paper read before the Geological
Society, were considered so improbable that the memoir con-
taining them was not published.

They have, however, been completely confirmed by the
systematic examination which was instituted by the British
Association. Worked flints were found less abundantly in
the lower layers than near the surface, but several were dis-
covered under circumstances which left no doubt that they
were deposited at the same time as the bones of the large
mammalia. The researches were carried on by a Committee,
consisting of Sir C. Lyell, Mr. Busk, Mr. Evans, Prof. Phillips,
Mr. Vivian, Mr. Pengelly, and myself, and the work was
under the more immediate superintendence of Mr. Pengelly
and Mr. Vivian.

In May, 1858, Dr. Falconer called the attention of the

* Transactions of the Geol. Soc., Ser. 2, vol. vi. p. 433.

316 BllIXHAM CAVE.

Geological Society to a newly-discovered cave at Brixham,
near Torquay, and a Committee was appointed to assist him
in examining it. Grants of money were obtained for the same
object from the Eoyal Society and Miss Burdett Coutts. In
addition to Dr. Falconer, Mr. Busk, Mr. Evans, Mr. Pengelly
Mr. Prestwich, and Professor Ptamsay, were entrusted with the
investigations. In September, 1858, a preliminary notice was
published by the Geographical Society, but the General Eeport
is contained in the Philosophical Transactions for 1874.
The deposits in the cave were, in descending order —

1. Stalagmite of irregular thickness.

2. Ochreous cave-earth with limestone breccia.]

3. Ochreous cave-earth with comminuted shale.

4. Ptounded gravel.

The organic remains belonged chiefly to the following
species : —

1. Eleplias primigenius.

2. Rhinoceros tichorhinus. Teeth in considerable numbers

and an astragalus.

3. Bos primigenius.

4. Bos.

5. Equips caballus.

6. Cervus tarandus. The reindeer — skull and horns.

7. Cervus daplms. Horns.

8. C. capreolus.

9. Ursus spelceus — the cave-bear. Lower jaws, teeth, etc.

10. U.ferox.

11. U. arctos.

12. Hyccna spelcea. Lower jaws, teeth, fragments of skulls,

and other bones.

13. Felis spelcea.

14. Lagomys.

Several flint flakes were also found indiscriminately mixed

SICILIAN CAVES. 317

with these bones, and, according to all appearance, of the
same antiquity. They occurred at various depths, from ten
inches to eleven feet, and some of them were in the gravel,
below the wiiole of the ochreous cave-earth.

Again, in the grotto of Maccagnone, in Sicily, Dr. Falconer
found human traces, consisting of ashes and rude flint imple-
ments, in a breccia containing bones of the Elephas antiquus,
of the hysena, of a large Ursus, of a Felis (probably F. spelcea),
and especially with large numbers of bones belonging to the
hippopotamus. The " ceneri impastati," or concrete of ashes,
had at one time filled the cavern, and a large piece of bone
breccia was still cemented to the roof, but owing to some
change in the drainage, the greater part had been washed out
again. The presence of the hippopotamus sufficiently proves
that the geographical conditions of the country must have
been very different from what they are now ; but I cannot do
better than quote Dr. Falconer's own summary of his obser-
vations in this case :

" The vast number of Hippopotami implied that the physical
condition of the country must have been greatly different, at
no very distant geological period, from what obtains now.
He considered that all deposits above the bone breccia had
been accumulated up to the roof by materials washed in from
above, through sinuous crevices or flues in the limestone, and
that the uppermost layer, consisting of the breccia of shells,
bone-splinters, siliceous objects, burnt clay, bits of charcoal,
and hysena coprolites, had been cemented to the roof by
stalagmitic infiltration. The entire condition of the large
fragile Helices proved that the effect had been produced by
the tranquil agency of water, as distinct from any tumultuous
action. There was nothing to indicate that the different
objects in the roof breccia were other than of contemporaneous
origin : subsequently a great physical alteration in the con-
tour, altering the flow of superficial water and of the subter-

318 GIBRALTAR CAVES.

ranean springs, changed all the conditions previously existing,
and emptied out the whole of the loose incoherent contents,
leaving only the portions agglutinated to the roof. The wreck
of these ejecta was visible in the patches of 'ceneri impas-
tati/ containing fossil bones, below the mouth of the cavern.
That a long period must have operated in the extinction of
the hysena, cave-lion, and other fossil species is certain, but
no index remains for its measurement. The author would
call the careful attention of cautious geologists to the infer-
ences— that the Maccagnone Cave was filled up to the roof
within the human period, so that a thick layer of bone splinters,
teeth, landshells, hyaenas' coprolites, and human objects, was
agglutinated to the roof by the infiltration of water holding
lime in solution ; that subsequently, and within the human
period, such a great amount of change took place in the
physical configuration of the district as to have caused the
cave to be washed out and emptied of its contents, excepting
the patches of material cemented to the roof and since coated
with additional stalagmite/'

Similar proofs of great and recent geographical changes
have been afforded by the examination of certain Spanish
caves. The Kock of Gibraltar abounds in caverns containing
human remains, with stone, bone, and bronze implements,
mixed with those of domesticated animals, such as the goat
and ox. In the bone breccia from the Genista Cave and
fissure, Mr. Busk and Dr. Falconer have discovered Hyccna,
crocuta, an existing African species, the leopard, lynx, serval
and Barbary stag, together with Eli. Jiemitceckus and a species
of ibex. But, although it is more than probable, it does not
appear to be proved, that man co-existed with these animals
on the Eock of Gibraltar. Among some bones found in another
cave near Madrid, M. Lartet has discovered molars of the
existing African elephant.

M. Lartet* has also described with his usual ability an
* Ann. des Sc. Nat. 1861, p. 177.

AURIGNAC. 319

interesting grotto, or small cave, which was discovered some
years ago at Aurignac, in the south of France. A peasant
named Bonnemaison, seeing a rabbit run into a hole on a
steep slope, put his hand in, and to his surprise pulled out a
human bone. Curiosity urged him to explore farther, and on
removing a quantity of rubbish, he found a large block of
stone, which almost closed up the entrance to a small chamber,
in which were no less than seventeen human skeletons.
Unfortunately for science, the Mayor of Aurignac, hearing of
these discoveries, collected the human bones, had them re-
buried, and when M. Lartet some years afterwards explored
the cavern, they could not be found again.

After carefully examining the locality, M. Lartet came to
the conclnsion that this small cavern had been used as a
burial-place, and from the remains of bones broken for marrow,
and marks of fire immediately outside the cave, he inferred
that funeral feasts had been held there.

The following is the list of species determined by M. Lartet,
together with the approximate number of individuals belong-
ing to each : —

Number of individuals.

1. Cave Bear (Ursus speloeus) 5 — 6

2. Brown Bear ( U. arctos ?) 1

3. Badger (Meles taxus) 1 — 2

4. Polecat (Putorius vulgaris) 1

5. Cave Lion (Felis spelcea) 1

6. Wild Cat (F. catus) 1

7. Hysena (Hyaena spelcea) 5 — 6

8. Wolf (Canis lupus) 3

9. Fox (C. wipes) 18—20

10. Mammoth (Eleplias primigenius).

Two molars and an astragalus.

11. Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros ticlwrhinus) . . 1

12. Horse (Eqiius caballus) 12 — 15

20 AURIGNAC.

13. Ass?* (E. asinus) 1

14. Boar (Sus scrofa). Two incisors.

15. Stag (Cervus daplius] 1

16. Irish Elk (Megaceros liibernicus) ... 1

17. Roe (C. capreolus) 3 — 4

18. Reindeer (C. tarandus) 10 — 12

19. Aurochs (Bison Europceus) 12 — 15

Some of these were found in the grotto, others outside ; the
latter had been gnawed by some large carnivorous animal, no
doubt the hyaena, coprolites of which were found among the
ashes. On the other hand, the bones inside the cave were
untouched, from which M. Lartet concludes that after the
funeral feasts, hyaenas came and devoured all that had been
left by the men, but that they could not effect an entrance
into the cave on account of the large block of stone by which
the entrance was closed, and which was actually found in its
place by Bonnemaison.

In addition to the hyaena, the animals occurring in this list,
and yet no longer existing, or known historically to have
existed in France, are the reindeer, cave-bear, rhinoceros, cave-
lion, Irish elk, and mammoth. The contemporaneity of the
reindeer with man is very evident ; all the bones are broken
for marrow, and many bear the marks of knives, besides
which, the greater number of the bone implements are made
out of the bones or horns of this species. That the rhinoceros
also was contemporaneous with man is inferred by M. Lartet,
firstly, on chemical grounds, the bones of this species, as well
as those of the reindeer, aurochs, etc., having retained the
same amount of nitrogen as the human bones from the same
locality ; and secondly, because the bones appear to have
been broken by man, and in some cases are marked by knives.
Moreover, he has ingeniously pointed out that these bones

* This is, I presume, a small variety of horse, and not the true ass.
The query is in the original.

AUR1GNAC. 321

must have belonged to an individual recently killed, because,
after having been broken by man, they were gnawed by the
hyaenas, which would not have been the case if they had not
been fresh and still full of their natural juices.

The elephant was represented only by some detached plates
of molars and a calcaneum. This latter was the only gnawed
bone found in the interior of the grotto. He is of opinion
that these plates were purposely separated, and the calcaneum
appears to have been placed in the vault at the time of the
last interments ; but there is no evidence that it was then in
a fresh condition. Indeed, the fact of its being gnawed seems
rather to point the other way.

Eemains of the Ursus spelceus (cave-bear) were much more
abundant, and some of them were found in the grotto. In
one case a whole limb appears to have been buried with the
flesh on, as the different bones were all found together. It
is well known that food and drink were in ancient times fre-
quently buried with the dead, and M. Lartet thinks that we
may account in this manner for the bones of quadrupeds
found in the grotto at Aurignac.

I have given the particulars of this case at length, because,
if the evidence was well established, we should here have an
instance of a sepulture belonging to the period at which the
cave-bear, the reindeer, the Irish elk, the woolly-haired rhino-
ceros, and probably the mammoth, still lived in the south of
France. It is, however, much to be regretted that M. Lartet
was not present when the place was first examined ; and,
under all the circumstances, we cannot, I think, feel satisfied
that the human remains found in this cave were coeval with
those of the extinct mammalia.

Another remarkable case is that of the Hyaena-den at
Wokey Hole, near Wells, which has been ably explored and
described by Mr. Boyd Dawkins.* In this instance the cave

* Geol. Journal, May, 1862, p. 115.
Y

322 WOKEY HOLE.

was filled with cUlris up to the very roof, and it appears that
the accumulation of material was partly due to the disintegra-
tion of the dolomitic conglomerate forming the roof and walls
of the cavern, and partly to the sediment washed in gradually
by rain and small streams. It is evident that the bones
and stones were not brought into the cave by the action of
water; firstly, because none of the bones are at all rolled;
secondly, because, though several rude flint implements were
found in the cave, only one single umuorked flint was met with ;
and thirdly, because, in some cases, fragments of the same
bone have been found close together, while, if they had been
brought from a distance, it is almost incredible that they
should have been again deposited close to one another. Again,
there are several layers — one over the other — of album grsecum,
that is to say, the excrement of hysenas, each of which indi-
cates, of course, an old floor, and a separate period of occu-
pation ; so that the presence of, at least, one such floor above
some of the flint implements, proves two things ; firstly, that
the hysenas which produced the album grrecurn occupied the
cave after the savages who used the flint instruments; and,
secondly, that these implements have not been disturbed by
water since the period of the hysena.

During the last years of his life, Mr. Christy examined
and described, in conjunction with M. Lartet, with great care
a number of small caves and rock-shelters in the Dordogne,
some of which had already attracted the attention of archaeo-
logists.* These caves are particularly interesting, because, so
far at least as we can judge from the present state of the
evidence, the remains found in them belong to M. Lartet's
reindeer period, and tend, therefore, to connect the later Stone
or Neolithic Age with the period of the river-drifts and the
great extinct mammalia ; representing a period about which

* De 1'Origine et de 1'Enfance des Arts en Perigord. Par M. lAbbe
Audieme.

CAVES IN THE DORDOGNE. 323

we had previously very little information. Those which have
been most carefully examined are ten in number, viz. Laugerie,
La Madelaine, Les Eyzies, La Gorge d'Enfer, Le Moustier,
Liveyre, Pey de 1'Aze, Combe-Granal, and Badegoule, most
of which I have myself had the advantage of visiting. Some
of these, as, for instance, Les Eyzies and Le Moustier, are at
a considerable height above the stream, but others — as those
at La Madelaine and Laugerie — are little above the present
flood-line, showing, therefore, that the level of the river is
now nearly the same as it was at the period during which
these caves were inhabited.

The rivers of the Dordogne run in deep valleys cut through
calcareous strata ; and while the sides of the valleys in chalk
districts are generally sloping, in this case, owing probably
to the hardness of the rock, they are frequently vertical.
Small caves and grottos frequently occur ; besides which,
as the different strata possess unequal power of resistance
against atmospheric influences, the face of the rock is, as it
were, scooped out in many places, and thus " rock-shelters "
are produced. In very ancient times these caves and rock-
shelters were inhabited by men, who have left behind them
abundant evidences of their presence. But as civilization
advanced, Man, no longer content with the natural but in-
convenient abode thus offered to him, excavated chambers for
himself, and in places the whole face of the rock is honey-
combed with doors and windows leading into suites of rooms,
often in tiers one over another, so as to suggest the idea of a
Erench Petra. Down to a comparatively recent period, as, for
instance, in the troublous times of the Middle Ages, many o
these, no doubt, served as very efficient fortifications, and
even now some of them are still in use as storehouses,
and for other purposes, as at Brantome, where there is an
old chapel cut in the solid rock. Apart from the scientific
interest, it was impossible not to enjoy the beauty "of the scene

Y 2

324 FAUNA OF THE DORDOGNE CAVES.

which passed before our eyes as we dropped down theVezere.
As the river visited sometimes one side of its valley, some-
times the other, so we had at one moment rich meadow-lands
on each side, or found ourselves close to the perpendicular
and almost overhanging cliff. Here and there we came upon
some picturesque old castle, and though the trees were not in
full leaf, the rocks were in many places green with box and
ivy and evergreen oak, which harmonized well with the rich
yellow brown of the stone itself.

But to return to the bone-caves. Eemains of the cave-bear
have been found at the Pey de l'Az(3 of the cave-hyaena at
Le Moustier, and separated plates of elephant molars have
occurred at Le Moustier and at Laugerie, accompanied at the
latter place by a piece of a pelvis. As regards the two first
species, MM. Christy and Lartet regard them as probably
belonging to an earlier period than the human remains found
in the same caves. The presence of the pelvis has been
regarded as an evidence of the contemporaneity of the mam-
moth with the reindeer hunters of Laugerie, and it is certainly
difficult to see why they should have brought a fossil-bone
into their cave, more especially as the bones of elephants,
from the looseness of their texture, are not well adapted for
implements.

As regards the Fells spclcea, a metacarpal bone belonging
probably to this species, and bearing marks of knives, was
found in the cave of Les Eyzies.

Still, so far as the positive zoological evidence is concerned,
the antiquity of the human remains found in these grottos
rests mainly on the pesence of the reindeer, as regards which
the evidence is conclusive. The bones of this species are all
broken open for the marrow ; many of them bear the marks
of knives, and at Les Eyzies a vertebra was found which had
been pierced by a flint flake. MM. Christy and Lartet are
quite satisfied that this bone must have been fresh when ic

ABSENCE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 325

was thus transfixed. Moreover, as we shall presently
there is still more conclusive evidence that man and the rein-
deer were contemporaneous in this locality.

But in its negative aspect the zoological evidence is also
very instructive. No remains have been found which, in the
opinion of MM. Christy and Lartet, can be referred to domestic
animals. It is true that bones of the ox and horse occur,
but there is no evidence that they belonged to domesticated
individuals. Eemains of the boar are very rare, and if these
animals had been domesticated we might have expected to
find them in greater abundance. The sheep and goat are
entirely wanting, and, what is still more remarkable, even the
dog appears to be absent. At the same time the bones of the
horse and reindeer, especially of the latter, are very numerous ;
but MM. Christy and Lartet do not think that they were
domesticated. On the other hand, M. Elitimeyer seems to be
of a different opinion.* Of the bones from the cave of Veyrier
he has drawn out the following list : Ptarmigan 31 individuals,
reindeer 18, ibex 6, horse 5, stag 4, mountain hare 4, marmot 4,
chamois, 1, wolf 1, bear 1, ox 1, fox 1, stork 1. He points out
that this is decidedly an Alpine fauna, and he asks why, if
the reindeer were wild, they did not retire into the high Alps
with the bear, the ibex and the chamois ? The condition of
the bones, and especially of the horns, will enable us some day
to answer this question, but we have at present no case in
which the reindeer and the horse are held in domestication
together by the same race, and we must be satisfied to wait for
further evidence before the question can be decided.

In the collections made by MM. Christy and Lartet, as well
as that of M. le Vicomte de Lastic from Bruniquel, a very large
proportion of the animal remains consists of teeth, lower jaws,
and horns. Other bones do indeed occur, but they form a
small fraction of the whole. Yet we cannot attribute this to
* Revue Savoisienne, 25th April,. 1868.

326 FLINT IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN CAVES.

the presence of dogs, partly because no remains of this species
have yet been discovered, partly because the bones which
remain have not been gnawed, but principally because dogs
eat only certain bones and parts of bones, as a general rule
selecting the spongy portions, and rejecting the solid shafts.

Mr. Galton has pointed out that some of the savage tribes
of Africa, not content with the flesh of the animals which
they kill, pound up also the bones in mortars, and then suck
out the animal juices contained in them. So also, according
to Leems, the Danish Laplanders used to break up with a
mallet all the bones which contained any fat or marrow, and
then boil them until all the fat was extracted.* The Esqui-
maux also mash up the bones for the sake of the marrow con-
tained in them.-)- Some of the ancient stone hammers and
mortars were no doubt used for this purpose, and the propor-
tions of the different bones afford us, I think, indirect evidence
that a similar custom prevailed among the ancient inhabitants
of Southern France.

Passing on now to the flint implements found in these
caves, we must first call attention to their marvellous abun-
dance. Without any exaggeration they may be said to be
innumerable. Of course this adds greatly to the value of
the conclusions ; nor need it surprise us, because flint is so
brittle, that implements made of it must have been easily
broken, and, in that case, the fragments would be thrown
away as useless ; especially in a chalk district where the
supply of flint would, of course, be practically inexhaustible.
Many implements, no doubt, would be left unfinished, having
been rendered useless, either by some misdirected blow, or
some flaw in the flint. Moreover, we should naturally expect
that, in a bone-breccia of this nature, the flint implements

* Account of Danish Lapland, by Leems, Copenhagen, 1767. Trans-
lated in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. i. p. 396.

t Hall, Life with the Esquimaux, vol. ii. pp. 147, 176.

FLAKES. SCRAPERS. AWLS, ETC. 327

would be relatively more abundant than in a Kjokkemnod-
ding. Each oyster furnishes but a single mouthful, so that
the edible portions evidently form a greater proportion of the
whole in the mammalia than in the mollusca. The Kjokken-
moddings, therefore, would grow, cceteris paribus, more rapidly
than the bone-breccia ; and supposing the flint implements to
be equally numerous in both cases, they would, of course, be
more sparingly distributed in the former than in the latter.

The principal objects of stone found in the bone-caves which
we are now considering, are flakes, both simple and worked,
scrapers, cores, awls, lance-heads, cutters, hammers, and mortar-
stones.

The simple and worked flakes are, of course, very numerous,
but they do not call for any special observations. They pre-
sent the usual varieties of size and form.

Though less numerous than the flakes, the scrapers* are
still very abundant. On the whole they seem to me longer
and narrower than the usual Danish type. Some of them
were probably intended to be used in the hand, as both ends
are fashioned for scraping. These may be called double-
scrapers. Others were apparently fixed in handles, as the
end opposite to the scraper is broken, sometimes on one side,
sometimes on both, so as to form a tapering extremity, which
may have been fixed in a handle either of wood, bone, or
horn. Many of the flakes are also nipped off at one end, in
the same manner. Perhaps, as no trace of such a handle has
yet been discovered by MM. Christy and Lartet, wood was
the material used for this purpose.

Of course, where there was a manufactory of flint flakes,
the cores or nuclei, from which they were struck, must also
be present. I was, however, astonished at the number of
them in these caves ; during my short visit, I myself picked
out more than ninety.

* See ante, pp. 96, 97.

328 HAMMERS. LANCE-HEADS.

Awls and saws are very much less frequent, but some few
good specimens have been found. At some of the stations,
curious flat implements (fig. 181) are met with. From the

FIG. 181.

Flint Implement.

constancy of their form, which, moreover, is somewhat pecu-
liar, we may safely infer that they were applied to some
definite purpose. For hammers, the reindeer hunters seem
to have used round stones, a good many of which occur in the
caves, and which bear unmistakable marks of the purpose to
which they were applied. Some of them, however, may have
served also as heaters. The North American Indians, the
Esquimaux, and some other savages, having no pottery, but
only wooden vessels, which could not be put on the fire, used
to heat stones, and then place them in the water which they
wished to boil. Many of the stones found in these caverns
appear to have been used in this manner.

These, the commonest sorts of flint implements, are found
indiscriminately in all the grottos, but there are some other
types which appear to be less generally distributed. Thus,
at Laugerie and Badegoule, fragments of leaf-shaped lance-
heads, almost as well worked as some of those from Denmark,
are far from uncommon. If, therefore, we were to attempt
any classification of the grottos, according to the periods of
their occupation, we might be disposed to refer these to a
somewhat later period than most of the others. On the con-
trary, to judge from the flint implements, the station at Le

RELATIVE ANTIQUITY OF THE REMAINS.

329

Moustier would be the most ancient. Though it would per-
haps be premature to attempt any such classification, there
can be no doubt that Le Moustier presents some types not

FIG. 182.

FIG. 184.

FIG. 183.

Flint Implement from Le Moustier.

yet found in the other caves, and resembling in certain
respects those of the drift.

One of these peculiar forms has one side left unchipped,

330 ABSENCE OF POLISHED IMPLEMENTS.

and apparently intended to be held in the hand, while the
other has a cutting edge, produced by a number of small blows.
Some of these instruments are of large size, and they are
supposed by MM. Christy and Lartet to have been used for
cutting wood, and perhaps also the large bones of mammalia.
Another very interesting type is figured on p. 329 (figs. 182-4).
This specimen is worked on both sides, but more frequently
one of them is left flat. MM. Christy and Lartet regard this
type as identical with the "lance-head" implements found iii
the drift. I cannot altogether agree with them in this com-
parison. Not only are the Le Moustier specimens smaller, but
the workmanship is different, being much less bold. Moreover,
the flat surface (fig. 182 A) is no individual peculiarity. It is
very frequently, not to say generally, present, and occurs also
on the similar implement found by Mr. Boyd Dawkins in the
hyaena-den at Wokey Hole, and figured by him in the Geo-
logical Journal, May, 1862, No. 70, p. 119. This very inte-
resting type seems rather to be derived from the " cutters "
above described, in which case its resemblance to the drift
forms would be accidental and insignificant. MM. Christy
and Lartet, indeed, call the implements of this type " lance-
heads ;" but it may well be doubted whether they were in-
tended for use in this manner, though there are specimens at
Le Moustier which have all the appearance of having been
intended for this purpose. On the whole, then, although these
Le Moustier types are of great interest, we must pause before
we regard them as belonging to the drift forms. No polished
implements have yet been found in any of these caverns.

The station at Moustier has not as yet produced any im-
plements made of bone, but a good many have been obtained
from the other caves. " They consist of square chisel-shaped
implements ; round, sharply-pointed, awl-like tools, some of
which also may have served as the spike of a fish hook ; har-
poon-shaped lance-heads; plain or barbed arrow-heads with

BONE IMPLEMENTS. 331

many and double barbs, cut with wonderful vigour ; and
lastly, eyed needles of compact bone finely pointed, polished
and drilled with round eyes, so small and regular that some
of the most assured and acute believers in all the other find-
ings might well doubt whether they could indeed have been
drilled with stone, until their repetition by the hand of that
practical and conscientious observer, Monsieur Lartet, by the
very stone implements found with them, has dispelled their
honest doubts."* Moreover, we must remember that the
New Zealanders were able with their stone tools to drill holes
even through glass.-)- No pottery has yet been found in these
caves.

So far, then (with the exception, perhaps, of the well- worked
lance-heads of Laugerie and Badegoule), all the evidence we
have yet obtained from these caves points to a very primitive
period, earlier even than that of the first Swiss lake villages,
or Danish shell-mounds.

But there is one class of objects in these caves which, taken
alone, would have led us to a very different conclusion. No
representation, however rude, of any animal has yet been found

FIG. 185.

Drawing of a Fish.

in any of the Danish shell-mounds, or the Stone Age lake
villages. Even on objects of the Bronze Age they are so rare
that it is doubtful whether a single well-authenticated instance
could be produced. Yet in these archaic bone-caves, many
very fair sketches have been found, scratched on bone or
stone with a sharp point, probably of a flint implement. In
some cases there is even an attempt at shading. In the
Annales des Sciences Naturelles,j M. Lartet had already

* Christy, Trans. Ethn. Soc., N. S. vol. iii.

t Cook's First Voy. p. 464.

+ Arm. des Sc. Nat. 1861, vol. xv.

332

REPRESENTATIONS OF ANIMALS.

made known to us some
rude drawings found in
the cave of Savigne,and
in his last memoir he
has described and fig-
ured some more objects
of a similar character.
In the Dordogne
caves also, several of
these remarkable draw-
ings have been disco-
vered, under circumstances which seem to guarantee their
authenticity. Fig. 185 represents a cylindrical piece of rein-
deer's horn, found at La Madelaine, and on which are carved
two outlines of fishes, one on each side. Fig. 186 is the piece
of the palm of a reindeer's horn, on which is represented the
head and chest of an ibex. Fig. 187 represents a very curious
group, consisting of a snake, or rather eel, a human figure,

FIG. 187.

Drawing of an Ibex.

Group of Figures.

and two horses' heads. Fig. 188 is a spirited group of rein-
deer, and pi. 2 is considered to represent a mammoth ; it was
found at La Madelaine, and the engraving was for some time
unnoticed, as it is rather faint and obscured by numerous
scratches. It is on a piece of a mammoth's tusk, and indica-
tions of long hair will readily be perceived.

In one case there is an unmistakable representation of a
glove, or rather gauntlet.

SCULPTURE.

333

Another interesting specimen is a poniard, cut out of a
reindeer's horn (fig. 189). The artist has ingeniously adapted

FIG. 188.

Group of Keiudeer.

the position of the animal to the necessities of the case. The
horns are thrown back on the neck, the fore-legs are doubled
up under the belly, and the hind-legs are stretched out along
the blade. Unfortunately, the poniard seems to have been
thrown away before it was quite finished, but several of the
details indicate that the animal was intended for a reindeer.
Although it is natural to feel some surprise at finding these
works of art, still there are instances among recent savages
of a certain skill in drawing and sculpture being accompanied

FIG. 189.

Handle of a Poniard.

334 HABITS OF THE CAVE-DWELLERS.

by an entire ignorance of metallurgy. This is particularly
the case with the Esquimaux, some of whose drawings will
be given in a future chapter.

In considering the probable condition of these ancient Cave-
men, we must give them full credit for their love of art, such
as it was ; while, on the other hand, the want of metal, of
polished flint implements, and even of pottery,* the igno-
rance of agriculture, and the apparent absence of all domestic
animals, including even the dog, certainly imply a very low
state of civilization and a very considerable antiquity.

There is also evidence that a considerable change of climate
must have taken place. The reindeer is the most abundant
animal, and evidently formed the principal article of food ;
while we know that this species is now confined to Arctic
climates, and could not exist in the south of France. Again,
the ibex and the chamois, both of which are now restricted to
the snowy summits of the Alps and Pyrenees, and a species
of spermophilus, also point to the same conclusion. The pre-
sence of the two former species in some of the Swiss lake-
dwellings is not equally significant, because they are in the
neighbourhood of high mountains, while the highest hills of

O O O

the Dordogne do not reach to an altitude of much more than
800 feet.

Another very interesting species determined by M. Lartet
is the Antilope Saigo of Pallas, which now abounds on the
Steppes of North-eastern Europe and Western Asia, in the
plains of the Dnieper and the Volga, round the shores of the
Caspian, and as far as the Altai Mountains. Mr. Christy
tells us that the northern plains of Poland, and the Valley
of the Dnieper, are the southern limits of this species at the
present day.

* Pottery is, however, very rare abundant in the Danish shell -
in the remains of the Irish Cran- mounds,
noges, and is not by any means

HUMAN REMAINS. 335

Ao;ain, the accumulation of animal remains in these caves

O '

is itself, as Mr. Christy has ingeniously suggested, a good
evidence of change in the climate. We know that the Esqui-
maux at present allow a similar deposit to take place in their
dwellings, but this can only be done in Arctic regions; in
such a climate as that now existing in the south of France,
such an accumulation would, except of course in the depth of
winter, soon become intolerably offensive.

So far then as the present evidence is concerned, it appears
to indicate a race of men living almost as some of the Esqui-
maux do now, and as the Laplanders did a few hundred years
ago ; and a period intermediate between that of the Polished
Stone implements and of the great extinct mammalia ; appa-
rently also somewhat more ancient than that of the shell-
mound builders of Denmark. But if these Cave-men shall
eventually be shown to have been contemporaneous with the
cave-tiger, the cave-bear, the cave-hysena, and the mammoth,
remains of which have been found in doubtful association
with them, then, indeed, they must be referred to an even
more remote period.

As regards the Cave-men themselves, we have, unfortu-
nately, but very little information. For, although fragmentary
human bones have been frequently found, there are, as yet,
very few cases on record in which skulls have been obtained
in such a condition as to allow of restoration, or of which the
age is incontestable. For instance, remains of man, though
rare in the loess, have been described by Ami Boue, Faudel,
Crahay, Wurmbrand, Ecker and others ; but, as the latter has
himself suggested,* from the composition of loess, and from
the habit of making underground chambers in it, which make

o o *

excellent cellars, and even dwellings — so to say, cave-dwell-
ings— it is difficult to satisfy oneself that the remains are
clearly contemporaneous with the deposit of the loess.

* Ar. fur Anthropologie, 1875, p. 99.

336

THE ENGIS SKULL.

No perfect skull referable to the Palaeolithic period has

. loo. indeed yet

been found in
Britain. The
earliest re-
mains of man
found on the
Continent be-
long to three
well-marked
types, which
MM. cle Qua-
trefages and
Hamy have
proposed to
call the Cann-
statt type, the
Crornagnon
type, and the
Furfooz type.
The first was
in their opi-
nion the oldest. It
is named from a
skull dug up, as long
ago as 1700, by Duke
Eberhard of Wiir-
temberg, at Cann-
statt, near Stuttgart,
but not described
until the year 1835.
The skulls of this
type are narrow and
low, with very large

FIG. 191.

THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL.

337

FIG. 102.

The Neanderthal Skull.

338 CAVE MEN.

frontal ridges. To it belongs the celebrated skull found in
a limestone cave in the Neanderthal, near Hochdal, between
Diisseldorf and Elberfeld. This remarkable specimen was first
described by Schaafhausen,* and "under whatever aspect,"
says Prof. Huxley, -f we view this cranium, whether we regard
its vertical depression, the enormous thickness of its supra-
ciliary ridges, its sloping occiput, or its long and straight
squamosal stature, we meet with ape-like characters, stamping
it as the most pithecoid of human crania yet discovered/'
The shape of this skull is so remarkable, that as long as it
stood alone considerable doubt was naturally felt whether, in
the words of Busk, it represented " an individual peculiarity
or a typical character." Subsequently, however, two other
skulls, almost identical in form, have been discovered in the
talus at the outside of a cave at Spy, in Belgium. These
skulls, though not entirely, were more complete, and were
associated with other bones, indicating a short, robust, pro-
gnathous race.J

The second, the "Cromagnon" or "Engis" type, has also
narrow skulls, which, however, unlike those of the preced-
ing type, are high. To it belongs the celebrated skull, dis-
covered by Dr. Schmerling in the cave of Engis, near Liege
(figs. 190, 191), which — though I agree with Mr. Boyd Daw-
kins that the conditions under which it was discovered are
too doubtful to justify us in referring it to the Palaeolithic
period — is no doubt very ancient. As regards form, however,
it might have been that of a modern European. " There is
110 mark of degradation about any part of its structure. It
is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which might have be-
longed to a philosopher, or might have contained the thought-
less brains of a savage." § To the same type belong the skulls

* Muller's Archiv. 1858. Nat. £ Poydt and Loliert, Ann. Soc..
Hist. Kev. 1861. Biol. Belgique, 1886.

t 1. c. p. 156. § Huxley, Man's Place in Nature,

p. 156.

CAVE MEN. 339

found at Cromagnon, in the Dordogne.* These skulls have
been referred, though scarcely perhaps on sufficient grounds,
to the Eeindeer period.

The third, or "Furfooz" type, is named after several skulls
discovered by M. Dupont in caves near the village of Furfooz,
in Belgium. The skull is more round than in the preceding
types, though not so much so as in the brachycephalic races
of more modern times. The bones of the extremities more
nearly resemble those of existing Europeans, but the stature
was small, descending even to that of the Lapps.

Thus then, even at a very early period, Europe was already
occupied by more than one race of man. Under these cir-
cumstances, as Professor Huxley has well pointed out, " the
first traces of the primordial stock whence man has proceeded
need no longer be sought, by those who entertain any form
of the doctrine of progressive development, in the newest ter-
tiaries ; but that they may be looked for in an epoch more
distant from the age of the Elephas primigenius than that is
from us."

If space permitted, I would gladly have referred to other
cave explorations ; to those, for instance, of Dr. Kegnoli and
others in Italy, of the Marquis de Vibraye, M. Garrigou, M.
Bourguignet, M. Filhol, and many other archaeologists in the
south of France, where these researches have been prosecuted
with great energy and success. In our own country, Mr.
Boyd Dawkins has published an excellent work on the sub-
ject,^ and it is impossible in the limits of a single chapter to
do justice to these and other observers.

I trust, however, that the evidence brought forward in this
chapter has been sufficient to prove that the presence in bone-
caves of ancient implements and human remains, associated
with those of extinct mammalia, is no rare or exceptional

* Reliquia? Aquitanicse, part vL
t Cave Hunting.-
Z 2

AC V- ^.^

US *A8 Y

340 CAVE MEN.

phenomenon. Nor, if we look at the question from a sci-
entific point of view, is there anything in this that ought to
excite our astonishment. Since the period at which these
caves were filled up, the changes which have taken place
have resulted rather in the extinction than in the creation of
species. The stag, the horse, the boar, the dog, in short, all
our existing forms of mammalia, were already in existence ;
and there would have been in reality more just cause for
surprise if man alone had been unrepresented.

( 341 )

CHAPTEE XL

RIVER-DRIFT GRAVEL-BEDS.

"TTTHILE we have been straining our eyes to the East, and
T T eagerly watching excavations in Egypt and Assyria,
suddenly a new light has arisen in the midst of us ; and the
oldest relics of man yet discovered have occurred, not among
the ruins of Nineveh or Heliopolis, not on the sandy plains
of the Nile or the Euphrates, but in the pleasant valleys of
England and France, along the banks of the Seine and the
Somme, the Thames and the Waveney.

So unexpected were these discoveries, so irreconcilable with
even the greatest antiquity until lately assigned to the human
race, that they were long regarded with neglect and suspicion.
M. Boucher de Perthes, to whom we are principally indebted
for this great step in the history of mankind, observed, as
long ago as the year 1841, in some sand containing mamma-
lian remains, at Menchecourt, near Abbeville, a flint, rudely
fashioned into a cutting instrument. In the following years
other weapons were found under similar circumstances, and
especially during the formation of the Champ de Mars at
Abbeville, where a large quantity of gravel was moved and
many of the so-called " hatchets" were discovered. In the
year 1846, M. Boucher de Perthes published his first work on
the subject, entitled " De 1'Industrie Primitive, ou les Arts et
leur Origine." In this he announced that he had found human
implements in beds unmistakably belonging to the age of
the drift. In his "Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes"
(1847), he also gave numerous illustrations of these stone

342 M. BOUCHER DE PERTHES.

weapons, but unfortunately the figures were rude, and did but
scanty justice to the originals. For seven years M. Boucher
de Perthes made few converts ; he was looked upon as an
enthusiast, almost as a madman. At length, in 1853, Dr.
Eigollot, till then sceptical, examined for himself the drift-
beds at the now celebrated St. Acheul near Amiens, found
several weapons, and believed. Still the new creed met with
but little favour; prophets are proverbially without honour
in their own country, and M. Boucher de Perthes was no
exception to the rule. At last, however, the tide turned in
his favour. In 1859, Dr Falconer examined his collection,
and on his return to England called the attention of Mr.
Prestwich, Mr. Evans, and other English geologists, to the
importance of his discoveries. In consequence, the Valley of
the Somme was visited in 1859 and I860, firstly, by Messrs.
Prestwich and Evans, and shortly afterwards by Sir C. Lyell,
Sir R Murchison, Messrs. Busk, Flower, Mylne, Godwin-
Austen, and Galton ; Professors Henslow, Eamsay, Eogers ;
Messrs. H. Christy, Eupert Jones, James Wyatt, myself, and
other geologists. M. L'Abb4 Cochet, therefore, in his "Eapport
address^ a Monsieur le Senateur Prefet de la Seine- Inferieure,"
does no more than justice to our countrymen, when after a
well-merited tribute of praise to M. Boucher de Perthes and
Dr. Eigollot, he adds, " Mais ce sont les Geologues Anglais,
en tete desquels il faut placer d'abord MM. Prestwich et
Evans .... qui .... ont fini par clever a la dignit4 de fait
scientifique la de"couverte de M. Boucher de Perthes."

My first visit to the Somme Valley was made in company
with Mr. Busk, Captain Galton, and Mr. Prestwich, and I com-
municated the results to the Natural History Eeview, in an
article " On the Evidence of the Antiquity of Man afforded by
the Physical Structure of the Somme Valley."* I have seen
no reason to modify the general conclusions contained in that
* Natural History Review, 1862, pp. 244—269.

MR. PRESTWICH AND MR. EVANS. 343

article, of which, indeed, this chapter is in the main a
reprint.

We examined carefully not only the flint weapons, but also
the beds in which they were found. For such an investi-
gation, indeed, our two countrymen were especially qualified :
Mr. Prestwich, from his long study and profound knowledge
of the tertiary and quaternary strata ; and Mr. Evans, from
his intimate acquaintance with the stone implements belong-
ing to what we must now consider as the second, or at least
the more recent, Stone period. On their return to England,
Mr. Prestwich communicated the results of his visit to the
Royal Society,* while Mr. Evans described the implements
themselves in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries.^

In the " Antiquites Celtiques," M. Boucher de Perthes sug-
gested some gravel-pits near Grenelle at Paris, as being, from
their position and appearance, likely places to contain flint
implements. M. Gosse shortly afterwards found flint imple-
ments in these pits, being the first discovery of this nature
in the valley of the Seine, while in that of the Oise a small
hatchet has been found by M. Peigne' Delacourt, at Precy,
near Creil.

Nor have these discoveries been confined to France. There
has long been in the British Museum a rude stone weapon,
described as follows : — " No. 246. A British weapon, found
with elephant's tooth, opposite to Black Mary's, near Grayes
inn lane. Conyers. It is a large black flint, shaped into the
figure of a spear's point." Mr. Evans tells us, moreover,
(1. c. p. 22), " that a rude engraving of it illustrates a letter
on the Antiquities of London, by Mr. Bagford, dated 1715,
printed in Hearne's edition of Leland's Collectanea, vol. i. 6,

* On the Occurrence of Flint of a late Geological Period, May 19,
Implements associated with the 1859. Phil. Trans. 1860.
Remains of Extinct Species, in Beds f Flint Implements in the Drift.

Archseologia, 1860-62.

344

MR. FRERE'S DISCOVERY IN 1800.

p. Ixiii. From his account it seems to have been found with
a skeleton of an elephant in the presence of Mr. Conyers."
This most interesting weapon agrees exactly with some of
those found in the valley of the Somme.

Mr. Evans, on his return from Abbeville, observed in the
museum belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, some spe-
cimens exactly like those in the collection of M. Boucher
de Perthes. On examination, it proved that they had been
presented by Mr. Frere, who found them with bones of extinct
animals in a gravel-pit at Hoxne in Suffolk, and had well
described and figured them in the Archseologia for the year
1800. This communication is of so much interest that I have

FIG. i9o.

FIG. 196.

Hint Implement from Hoxne.

SIMILAR DISCOVERIES ELSEWHERE.

345

thought it desirable to reproduce his figures, reduced one-half
(tigs. 195—198).

FIG. 197. FIG. 198.

Flint Implement from Hoxne.

Again, twenty -five years ago, Mr. Whitburn, of Godal-
ming,* while examining the gravel-pits between Guildford and
* Prestwidi, Ueol, Jour,, August, 1861.

346 SIMILAR DISCOVERIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

Godalming, remarked a peculiar flint, which he carried away,
and has since preserved in his collection. It belongs to the
"drift" type, but is very rude. Thus, this peculiar type of
flint implement has been actually found in association with
the bones of the mammoth on various occasions during nearly
a hundred and fifty years ! While, however, these instances
remarkably corroborate the statements made by M. Boucher
de Perthes, they in no way detract from the credit due to that
gentleman.

In addition to the above-mentioned, similar hatchets have
been found in various other localities, as for instance by
Mr. Warren, at Icklingham ; by Mr. Leech, near Herne Bay ;
by Mr. Evans himself at Abbot's Langley ; by Mr. Norman
at Greenstreet Green in Kent ; by Messrs. Whitaker and
Hughes, near Dartford ; in fact, similar discoveries have been
made in most of our south-eastern counties.

In the gravel near Bedford, again, associated with the
remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, ox, horse,
and deer, Mr. Wyatt* has found flint implements resembling
both of the two principal types found at Abbeville and
Amiens. This case is very interesting, because it shows that
the drift flint hatchets are subsequent to the boulder clay ;
the Bedford valley being cut through hills capped by a deposit
of that period. At Hoxne, also, the bed containing flint imple-
ments appears actually to rest on the boulder clay.

The number of localities on the Continent in which stone
implements have been obtained from beds of the Quaternary
period has also largely increased.

Stone implements, more or less resembling those charac-
teristic of the Palaeolithic Age, have also been found in other
parts of the world, as, for instance, in Assyria, North America,
Algeria, and Hindostan ; though except in the latter case we

* Flint Implements in the Drift. tectural and Archaeological Society,
By J. Wyatt. Bedfordshire Archi- 1862.

ANTIQUITY AS SHOWN BY PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 347

have no reason for attributing to them any very great anti-
quity. The Indian specimens have been described by Mr.
Bruce Footer* they were found in the Madras and North
Arcot districts, and are of quartzite, and in several cases were

. 199.

Storie Implement from Madras.

found by Messrs. Foote and King in situ at depths of from
3 to 10 feet. The specimens figured (figs. 199, 200) will
show how closely they resemble our European specimens, and
it is interesting that, in the words of Mr. Foote, " the area,

* On the Occurrence of Stone North Arcot Districts. By R. Bruce
Implements in lateritic formations Foote.
in various parts of the Madras and

348

ANTIQUITY AS SHOWN

over which the lateritic formations were spread, has under-
gone, as already stated, great changes since their deposition.
A great part of the formation has been removed by denudation,
and deep valleys cut into them, now occupied by the alluvium
of various rivers."* Unfortunately, no bones have yet been

FIG. 200.

Stone Implement from Madras.

found in these beds. Worked agates have also been found in
the deposits of the Nerbudda, and in the bone-beds of the
upper Godavery, " which are, there is little doubt, the same
age as those of the Nerbudda, which contain Elcplias insiynis,

* 1. c, p. 28.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 340

E. Namadacus, Hippopotamus palccindicus, Bos paloeindicus,
and B. Namadicus."*

The specimens found in the Somme Valley, are, as I shall
endeavour to show, connected with the present river system,
and the same was the case with those first discovered in
England. Further researches, however, have brought to light
cases in which flint implements have been found in beds of
gravel having no relation to the existing river systems. Mr.
Flower has called attention to several of these in our eastern
counties, and I have had the advantage of visiting them with
him. The Shrub Hill gravel-bed, for instance, is a low
mound of gravel of about fifteen feet thick, rising in the
middle of the fen near Ely, and surrounded on all sides by a
low flat district. Mr. Skertchley also has found flint imple-
ments in beds which he considers to be earlier than the last
period of great cold.

Some of the Hampshire specimens also have been found in
situ, in a mass of drift gravel which covers the tertiary beds,
and is intersected by all the streams which now run into the
Southampton Water. This mass of gravel, moreover, is not
confined to the mainland, but caps also the Foreland Cliffs
on the east of the Isle of Wight, where an oval flint imple-
ment has recently been discovered by Mr. T. Codrington.
As Mr. Evans has pointed out, we seem, in this discovery, to
have clear evidence that man existed in this country before
the Southampton Water was formed, or the Isle of Wight was
separated from the mainland, and we may therefore regard
these implements as among the most striking proofs of Man's
Antiquity, which they carry back to a period far more ancient
than that which had previously been assigned to him.

We cannot therefore wonder that the statement by Mr.
Frere has been distrusted for more than half-a-century ; that

* Blandford, Geol. Magazine. February, 1866.

350 THE QUESTIONS AT ISSUE.

the weapon found by Mr. Conyers has lain unnoticed for
more than double that time; that the discoveries by M.
Boucher de Perthes have been ignored for fifteen years ; that
the numerous cases in which caves have contained the remains
of men together with those of extinct animals have been

suppressed or explained away : these facts show how deeply
rooted was the conviction that man belonged altogether to a
more recent order of things; and whatever other accusation
may be brought against them, geologists can at least not be
said to have hastily accepted the theory of the co-existence of
the human race with the now extinct Pachydermata of Western
Europe.

Though, however, geologists are now almost unanimous as
to the great antiquity of these curious weapons, still it is not
necessary that they should be received as judges ; I only pro-
pose to summon them as witnesses.

The questions to be decided may be stated as follows : —

1st. Are the so-called flint implements of human work-
manship ?

2ndly. Are the flint implements of the same age as the
beds in which they are found, and the bones of the extinct
animals with which they occur ?

ordly. What are the conditions under which these beds
were deposited ? And how far are we justified in imputing
to them a great antiquity ?

To the first two of these questions an affirmative answer
would be given by every geologist. " For more than twenty
years," says another competent witness — Prof. Eamsay — "I
have daily handled stones, whether fashioned by nature or
art, and the flint hatchets of Amiens and Abbeville seem to
me as clearly works of art as any Sheffield whittle/'* But
best of all, an hour or two spent in examining the forms of

* Athenaeum, July 16, 1859.

EVIDENCE DERIVABLE FROM THE FLINTS THEMSELVES. 351

ordinary flint gravel, would, I am sure, convince any man
that these stones, rude though they be, were undeniably
fashioned by the hand of man.

Still it might be supposed that they were forgeries made
by ingenious workmen to entrap unwary geologists. They
have, however, been actually found by Messrs. Boucher de
Perthes, Henslow, Christy, Flower, Wyatt, Evans, myself, and
others, under circumstances which preclude all idea of decep-
tion. One seen, though not found by himself in situ, is thus
described by Mr. Prestwich : " It was lying flat in the gravel
at a depth of seventeen feet from the original surface, and six
and a half feet from the chalk. One side slightly projected.
The gravel around was undisturbed, and presented its usual
perpendicular face. I carefully examined the specimen, and
saw no reason to doubt that it was in its natural position, for
the gravel is generally so loose, that a blow with a pick dis-
turbs and brings it down for some way round ; and the matrix
is too little adhesive to admit of its being built up again as

before with the same materials I found also afterwards,

on taking out the flint, that it was the thinnest side which
projected, the other side being less finished and much thicker."*
But evidence of this nature, though interesting, is unnecessary;
the flints speak for themselves. Many of them are more or
less rolled or worn at the edges. Those which have lain in
siliceous or chalky sands are more or less polished, and have
a beautiful glossiness of surface, very unlike that of a newly-
broken flint. In ochreous sand, "especially if argillaceous,
they are stained yellow, whilst in ferruginous sands and clays
they assume a brown colour," and in some beds they become
white and porcellaneous. In many cases, moreover, they have
incrustations of carbonate of lime and small dentritic mark-
ings. The freshly-broken chalk flints, on the contrtry, are of
a dull black or leaden colour ; they vary a little in darkness

* Phil. Trans. 1860, p. 292.

2 THE FORGERIES.

but not in colour, and do not present white or yellow facings ;
moreover, the new surfaces are dead, and want the glossiness
of those which have been long exposed. It is almost unne-
cessary to say that they have no dendritic markings, nor are
they encrusted by carbonate of lime.

Now the forgeries — for there are forgeries — differ from the
genuine implements by just those characteristics which dis-
tinguish newly-broken flints from those which have lain long
in sand or gravel, or exposed to atmospheric agencies. They
are black, never white or yellow ; their surfaces are not glossy,
but dull and lustreless, and they have no dendritic markings
or incrustations. Nor would it be possible for an ingenious
rogue to deceive us by taking a stained flint and fashioning it
into a hatchet, because the discoloration of the flint is quite
superficial, seldom more than a quarter of an inch in thickness,
and follows the outline of the present surface, showing that
the change of colour was subsequent to the manufacture ;
while if such a flint were tampered with, the fraud would be
easily detected, as each blow would remove part of the outer
coating, and expose the black flint inside, as may be seen in

pi. 1, fig. 11.

Moreover, it must be remembered, that when M. Boucher
de Perthes' work was published, the weapons therein described
were totally unlike any of those familiar to archaeologists.
Since that time, however, not only have similar implements
been found both in England, France, and other countries, but,
as already mentioned, it has since come to light that similar
weapons were in two cases actually described and figured in
England many years ago, and that in both these instances
they were found in association with the bones of extinct ani-
mals. On this point, therefore, no evidence could be more
conclusive.

We may, then, pass on to the second subject, and consider
whether the Flint implements are as old as the beds in

CHARACTER OF THE TRUE DRIFT IMPLEMENTS. 353

which they occur, and as the remains of extinct mammalia
with which they are associated.

It has been suggested by some writers, that though they
are really found in the mammaliferous gravel, they may be
comparatively recent, and belong really to the Neolithic or
later Stone Age, but have gradually sunk down from above
by their own weight, or perhaps have been buried in artificial
excavations. There are, however, no cracks or fissures by
which the hatchets could have reached their present posi-
tions, and the strata are too compact and immovable to
admit of any such insinuation from the surface. Nor
could any ancient excavations have been made and filled
in again without leaving evident traces of the change.
Moreover, we may in this case also appeal to the flint im-
plements themselves, which, as we have already seen, agree
in colour and appearance with the gravel in which they
occur ; and it seems, therefore, only reasonable to infer that
they have been subjected to the same influences. Moreover,
if they belonged to the later Stone period, and had found
their way by any accident into these gravels, then they ought
to correspond with the other flint implements of the Stone
period. But this is not the case. The flakes indeed, offer no
peculiarities of form. Similar splinters of flint, or obsidian,
have been used in the absence of metal by savage tribes in
almost all ages and all countries. The other implements,
on the contrary, are very characteristic. They are almost
always made of flint, whereas many other minerals, such, for
instance, as serpentine, jade, clayslate, etc., were used in the
later Stone Age. Their forms are also peculiar ; some are
oval (pi. 1, fig. 11), chipped up to an edge all round, and from
two to eight or nine inches in length. A second type is also
oval, but somewhat pointed at one end (pi. 1, fig. 10, and figs.
195, 196). Others again (figs. 197, 198) have a more or less
heavy butt at one end and are pointed at the other. Mr,

354 DRIFT IMPLEMENTS NEVER GROUND.

Evans regards these* as having served as spear or lance heads.
He treats as a mere variety of this type those implements in
which the cutting end is rounded off but not pointed. Some
of these, however, were evidently intended to be held in the
hand, and probably served a different purpose ; they may, I
think, fairly be considered as a fourth type, though it must
be confessed that all these types run very much into one
another, and in any large collection many intermediate forms
may be found. The smaller end is, in all cases, the one
adapted for cutting, while the reverse is almost invariably the
case in the oval celts of the Neolithic Stone Age (figs. 97
and 98).

Again, the flint implements of the drift are never polished
or ground, but are always left rough. Many thousands have
now been found in the drift gravels of England and France,
and of this large number there is not one which shows a
trace of polishing or grinding ; while we know that the reverse
was almost always the case with the celts of the later Stone
period. It is true that »the latter is not an invariable rule ;
thus, in Denmark there are two forms of so-called "axes"
which are left rough — namely, the small triangular axes or
the Kjokkenmoddings (figs. 108 — 110) which are invariably
so, and the large square-sided axes with which this is often
the case. But, though rough, these two forms of implements
resemble in no other way those which are found in the drift,
and could not for a moment be mistaken for them. It is not
going too far to say, that there is not a single well-authen-
ticated instance of a "celt" being found in the drift, or of
an implement of the drift type being discovered either in
a tumulus, or associated with remains of the later Stone
Age.

It is useless to speculate upon the use made of these rude
yet venerable weapons. Almost as well might we ask, to

* l.c. 1860, p. 11.

SCARCITY OF HUMAN BONES. 355

what use could they not be applied ? Numerous and special-
ized as are our modern instruments, who could describe the
exact use of a knife ? But the primitive savage had no such
choice of weapons ; we see before us perhaps the whole con-
tents of his workshop ; and with these implements, rude as
they seem to us, he may have cut down trees, scooped them
out into canoes, grubbed up roots, attacked his enemies,*
killed and cut up his food, made holes through the ice in
winter, prepared fire-wood, etc.

The almost entire absence of human bones, which has
appeared to some so inexplicable as to throw a doubt on the
whole question, is, on consideration, less extraordinary than it
might at first sight appear to be. If, for instance, we turn to
other remains of human settlements, we shall find a repetition
of the same phenomenon. Thus in the Danish shell-mounds
where worked flints are by far more plentiful than in the
St. Acheul gravel, human bones are of the greatest rarity,
only one piece in fact having ever been found. At that period,
as in the Drift Age, mankind lived by hunting and fishing,
and could not, therefore, be very numerous. In the era,
however, of the Swiss Lake-habitations, the case was different.
M. Tryon estimates the population of the " Pfahlbauten"
during the Stone Age at about 32,000 ; in the Bronze era,
42,000. On these calculations, indeed, even their ingenious
author would not probably place much reliance; still the
number of the Lake villages already known is very consider-
able ; in four of the Swiss lakes only, more than seventy have
been discovered, and some of them were of great extent :
Wangen, for instance, being, according to M. Lohle, supported
on more than 50,000 piles. Yet, if we exclude a few bones
of children, human remains have been obtained from these
settlements in six cases only. The number of flint imple-

* Some savages even now fight with stones, which they simply hold
in their hands.

2 A2

356

SCARCITY OF MEN IN ANCIENT TIMES.

ments obtained hitherto from the drift of the Somme Valley
probably does not much exceed 5000 ;* the settlement at
Concise alone (Lake of Neufchatel) has supplied about 24,000,
and yet has not produced a single human skeleton.^ Probably
this absence of bones is in part attributable to the habit of
burying or burning; the instinct of man has long been in
most cases to bury his dead out of his sight. Still, so far as
the drift of St. Acheul is concerned, the difficulty will alto-
gether disappear, if we remember that no trace lias ever yet
been found of any animal as small as a man. Even of the
elephant and rhinoceros, the ox, horse, and stag,J only the
larger arid more solid bones remain ; every vestige of the
smaller ones has perished. No one supposes that this scanty
list fairly represents the mammalian fauna of this time and
place. When we find at St. Acheul the remains of the wolf,
boar, roedeer, badger, and other animals which existed during
the drift period, then, and not till then, we may perhaps
begin to wonder at the entire absence of human skeletons.

We must also remember that when man lived on the pro-
duce of the chase, there must have been a very large number

* One of the tumuli in the Mis-
sissippi Valley is estimated to have
alone contained nearly four thou-
sand stone implements. This, how-
ever, must have been a very excep-
tional case.

f Rapport a la Commission des
Musees, October, 1861, p. 16.

J The bones of the stag owe their
preservation perhaps to another
cause. Prof. Riitimeyer tells us
that among the bones from the
Pfahlbauten none are in better con-
dition than those of the stag : this
is the consequence, he says, of their
" dichten Gefiige, ihrer Harte und
Sprodigkeit, so wie der grossen

Fettlosigkeit," peculiarities which
recommended them so strongly to
the men of the Stone Age, that
they used them in preference to all
others, nay, almost exclusively, in
the manufacture of those instru-
ments which could be made of bone
(Fauna der Pfahlbauten, p. 12).
How common the bones of the stag
are in quaternary strata geologists
know, and we have here perhaps
an explanation of the fact. The
antler of the reindeer is also pre-
ferred at the present day by the
Esquimaux in the manufacture of
their stone weapons. (Sir E. Bel-
cher, Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. i. p. 13U.)

PROPORTION OF MEN TO OTHER ANIMALS. 357

of wild animals to each hunter. Among the Laplanders, 100
reindeer is the smallest number on which a man can subsist,
and no one is considered rich who does not possess at least
from 300 to 500. But these are domesticated, and a lanre

' o

supply of nourishment is derived from their milk. In the
case of wild animals, we may safely assume that a much
larger number would be necessary The Hudson's Bay terri-
tory is said to comprise about 900,000,000 acres. The number
of Indians was estimated at 139,000. Allowing one wild animal
to each twenty acres, this would give about 300 animals to
each Indian ; and, if we consider the greater longevity of man,
we must multiply this by six, or even more.

Or, again, we may attempt to form an estimate in the
following manner. The number of skins received by the
Hudson's Bay Company in 1866 amounted to 1,250,000, made
up as follows :

Beaver 144,744

Fox 32,982

Lynx 68,040

Marten 92,373

Mink 73,149

Musquash 608,396

Otter 14,376

Eabbit 105,909

Bear 6,457

Racoon 24,860

Wolf 7,429

Sundries 63,950

1,242,765

The number of Indians is estimated at 139,000,
and Hearne states that every one requires at
least twenty deerskins for clothes, without

Carried over . . . 1,242,765

358 HUMAN REMAINS.

BrmigUovcr . . . 1,242,765
counting those required for tent-cloths, bags,
etc. ; this therefore would give us 139,000 x 20 2,780,000
But the deerskins are fit for clothes only during
2 months in the year, and as it will be observed
that the majority of the animals enumerated
above are not fit for food, others must have been
killed in sufficient quantities to serve as food for
10 months. Assuming that an Indian requires
one every month, which is probably well within
the mark, we shall again require 139,000 x 10
(the number of months) . . . 1,390,000

Making therefore a total of .... 5,412,765

And assuming that one animal out of twenty is killed by
the Indians, we shaU have 108,000,000 to 139,000 Indians,
or about 750 animals to each man ; besides which, a further
allowance must be made as before on account of man's greater
longevity. Dr. Kae, who has had so such experience in these
matters, has been good enough to look over the above calcu-
lation, which he considers fairly estimated, but it has of
course no pretensions to accuracy.

Lastly, it may be observed that man is less likely to be
drowned by sudden river floods, than is the case with other
land mammalia;* and, on the whole, therefore, it is natural
that the bones of animals would be far more common in these
gravels than those of man.

It must not, however, be supposed that the latter are alto-
gether absent. Without relying on the human lower jaw,
stated to have been found in the pit at Moulinguignon, and
about which there has been much discussion and difference
of opinion, I may instance the discovery of human remains

* See, for instance, Bakie, Exploring Voyage up the Kwora, p. 215.

CO-EXISTENCE OF MAN WITH THE MAMMOTH. 359

by M. Bertrand,* at Clichy, in the valley of the Seine. Among
these bones, about the authenticity and antiquity of which
there seems to be no doubt, was a skull which has been
examined by M. Lartet, and which is decidedly dolichocephalic.

We have as yet but partly answered the second of the two
questions with which we started. Even admitting that the
flint hatchets are coeval with the gravel in which they occur,
it remains to be shown that the bones of the extinct animals
belong also to the same period. This was at first doubted by
some geologists, who suggested that they might have been
washed out of earlier strata.

If, however, these bones belonged to a period earlier than
that of the gravel, where, we may ask, are the remains of the
animals which did exist at that time ? Moreover, the bones,
though sometimes much worn and broken, are at others, and
even, according to Mr. Prestwich, " as a general rule,-)- either
not rolled at all, or are slightly so." Secondly, these species,
and particularly the mammoth and the woolly-haired rhino-
ceros, are the characteristic and commonest species of these
beds, not only in the valley of the Somme, but in all the
drift gravels of England and France ; while, if they belonged
in reality to an earlier period, they would not occur so con-
stantly, and they would be accompanied by other species
characteristic of earlier times.

Thirdly, the materials forming the drift gravels of the
Somme Valley have all been obtained from the present area
of drainage, and there are in this district no older beds from
which the remains of these extinct mammalia could possibly
have been derived. There are, indeed, outliers of tertiary
strata, but the mammalian remains found in those beds belong
to other, and much older, species.

Fourthly, as regards the rhinoceros, we have the express
testimony of M. Baillon, that on one occasion all the bones

* Les Mondes, 1869, p. 64. t Phil. Trans. 1. c. p. 300.

360 THE MAMMOTH AND RHINOCEROS.

of a hind-leg were found in their natural positions at Menche-
court, near Abbeville, while the rest of the skeleton was found
at a little distance. In this case, therefore, the animal must
have been entombed before the ligaments had decayed away.

M. Casciano de Prado has made a very similar discovery
in Spain, not far from Madrid. There the section was as
follows : first, vegetable soil ; then about twenty-five feet of
sand and pebbles, under which was a layer of sandy loam, in
which, during the year 1850, a complete skeleton of the mam-
moth was discovered. Underneath this stratum was about
ten feet of coarse gravel, in which some flint axes, very closely
resembling those of Amiens, have been discovered.

Finally, as regards the rhinoceros, M. Lartet assures us*
that some of the bones bear the marks of flint implements ;
nay, more than this, he has even satisfied himself, " by com-
parative trials on homologous portions of existing animals,
that incisions, presenting such appearances, could only be
made in fresh bones, still retaining their cartilage."

There is, then, no more reason for believing that the bones
of these extinct mammalia were washed out of earlier strata
into the drift gravels, than for attributing such an origin to
the implements themselves ; and we may, I think, regard it
as well established, that the mammoth and woolly -haired
rhinoceros, as well as the other above-mentioned mammalia,
co-existed with the savages who used the rude " drift hatchets,"
at the time when the gravels of the Somine were being
deposited.

The second of the three questions with which we started
(p. 350) may therefore be answered in the affirmative.

Must, we, then, carry man back far into the past, or may
we retain our date for the origin of the human race by bring-
ing the extinct animals down to comparatively recent times ?
The absence of all tradition of the elephant and rhinoceros in

* Geological Journ. vol. xvi. p. 471.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DRIFT BEDS.

3G1

FIG. 201.

Europe carries us back far indeed in years,
but a little way only, when measured by
geological standards, and we must there-
fore solve this question by examining the
drift gravels themselves, the materials of
which they are composed, and the positions
which they so occupy, as to determine, if
possible, the conditions under which they
were deposited, and the lapse of time which
they indicate.

Fig. 201 gives a section across the valley
of the Somme at Abbeville, taken from the
memoir in the Philosophical Transactions,*
by Mr. Prestwich, who has long studied
the quaternary beds, and has done more
than any other man to render them intel-
ligible. We should find almost the same
arrangement and position of the different
beds not only at St. Acheul, but elsewhere
along the valley of the Somme, wherever
the higher beds of gravel have not been
removed by subsequent action of the river.
Even at St. Valery, at the present mouth
of the river, I found a bed of gravel at a

considerable height above the level of the

* sea.

This would seem to show that at
•f the period of these high-level gravels, the
I English Channel was narrower than it is
^ at present, as indeed we know to have
| been the case down to historical times. So
early as 1605, our countryman Verstegan
of pointed out that the waves and tides were
eating away our coasts. Sir C. Lyellf gives much information
* Phil. Trans. 1860. t See Principles of Geology, p. 315.

362 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOMME VALLEY.

on this subject, and it appears, for instance, that, even so lately
as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the town of Brighton occupied
the site of the present Chain Pier.

The difference between the height of the high-level gravels
and the river increases from the source to the sea. For in-
stance, in the Seine Valley at the boundaries of La Brie and
Champagne it is nothing ; at Paris, 34 metres ; at the sea, 50
or GO.*

FIG. 202.

Section at St. Acheul.

Mr. Prestwich has pointed outf that a section, similar to
that of the Somme, is presented by various rivers — the Lark,
Waveney, Ouse, etc., while it is well shown also along the
banks of the Seine. Probably, indeed, it holds good of most of
our rivers, that along the sides of their valleys are patches of
old gravels left by the stream at various heights, before they
had excavated the channels to their present depth. Mr.
Prestwich considers that the beds of sand and gravel can
generally be divided into two more or less distinct series, one
continuous along the bottom of the valleys and rising little
above the water level — these he calls the low-level gravels ;
the other, which he terms the upper or high-level gravels,
occurring in detached masses at an elevation of from fifty to
two hundred feet above the valley. They seem to me, on the
contrary, only the two extremes of a single series, once con-

* Belgrand, Bassin Parisien. p. 90. t Phil. Trans. 18G4.

ST. ACHEUL. 363

tinuous, but now generally presenting numerous interruptions.
A more magnified view of the strata at St. Acheul, near
Amiens, is shown in fig. 202. The upper layer of vegetable
soil having been removed, we have —

1. A bed of brick earth (a), from four to five feet in thick-
ness, and containing a few angular flints.

2. Below this is a thin layer of angular gravel (&), one to
two feet in thickness.

3. Still lower is a bed of sandy marl (c), five to six feet
thick, with land and freshwater shells, which, though very
delicate, are in most cases perfect.

4. At the bottom of all these, and immediately overlying
the chalk, is the bed of partially rounded gravel (d) in which
principally the flint implements are found. This layer also
contains many well-rolled tertiary pebbles.

In the early Christian period this spot was used as a ceme-
tery : the graves generally descend into the marly sand, and
their limits are very distinctly marked, as in fig. 202/; an
important fact; as showing that the rest of the strata have lain
undisturbed for 1500 years. Some of the coffins were of hard
chalk (fig. 202 e), some of wood, in which latter case the nails
and clamps only remain, every particle of wood having perished,
without leaving even a stain behind. Passing down the hill
towards the river, all these strata are seen to die out, and we
find ourselves on the bare chalk ; but again at a lower level
occurs another bed of gravel, resembling the first, and capped
also by the bed of brick earth which is generally known as
loess. This lower bed of gravel is that called by Mr. Prestwich
the lower-level gravel.

These strata, therefore, are our witnesses; but of what?
Are they older than the valley, or the valley than they ? Are
they the result of causes still in operation, or the offspring
of cataclysms now, happily, at an end ?

If we can show that the present river, somewhat swollen,

304 ST. ACHEUL.

perhaps, owing to the greater extension of forests in ancient
times, and by an alteration of climate, has excavated the
present valley, and produced the strata above numerated ;
then " the suggestion of an antiquity for the human family so
remote as is here implied, in the length of ages required by
the gentle rivers and small streams of eastern France to erode
its whole plain to the depths at which they now flow, acquires,
it must be confessed, a fascinating grandeur, when by simili-
tude of feature and geology, we extend the hypothesis to the
whole north-west frontiers of the continent, and assume that,
from the estuary of the Seine to the eastern shores of the
Baltic, every internal feature of valley, dale and ravine — in
short, the entire intaglio of the surface — has been moulded
by running waters, since the advent of the human race."*

But, on the other hand, it has been maintained that the
pliant facts may be read as " expressions of violent and sudden
mutations, only compatible with altogether briefer periods."
The argument of the Paroxysmist would probably be some-
thing like the following : —

" Assuming the pre-existing relief, or excavation rather, of
the surface to have approximated to that now prevailing, he
will account for the gravel by supposing a sudden rocking
movement of the lands and the bottom of the sea of the nature
of an earthquake, or a succession of them, to have launched a
portion of the temporarily uplifted waters upon the surface
of the land."

Let us, however, examine the strata, and see whether the
evidence they give is in reality so confused and contradictory.

Taking the section at St. Acheul and commencing at the
bottom, we have first of all the partially rounded high-level
gravel, throughout which, and especially at the lower part,
the flint implements occur.

These beds but rarely contain vegetable remains. Large
* Black wood's Magazine, October, 1860.

ORGANIC REMAINS. 365

pieces of the oak, yew, and fir, have, however, been deter-
mined at Hoxne. The mammalia, also, are but few; the
mammoth, the Eleplias antiquus, with species of Bos, Cervus,
and Equus, are the only ones which have yet occurred at St.
Acheul, though beds of the same age in other parts of England
and France have added the Rhinoceros licJiorhimts, the rein-
deer, and several other species. The mollusca are more
numerous ; they have been identified by Mr. J. G. Jeffreys,
who finds in the upper-level gravel thirty-six species, all of
them land or freshwater forms, and all belonging to existing

' O O O

species. It is hardly necessary to add, that these shells are
not found in the coarse gravel, but only here and there, where
quieter conditions, indicated by a seam of finer materials,
have preserved them from destruction. Here, therefore, we
have a conclusive answer to the suggestion that the gravel
may have been heaped up to its present height by a sudden
irruption of the sea. In that case we should find some marine
remains ; but as we do not, as all the fossils belong to animals
which live on the land, or inhabit fresh waters, it is at once
evident that this stratum, not being sub-aerial, must be a
freshwater deposit ; and as the most delicate shells are entire,
it is equally evident that they were deposited in tranquil
water, and not by a cataclysm.

But the gravel itself tells us even more than this : the
river Somme flows through a country in which there are no
rocks older than the chalk, and the gravel in its valley con-
sists entirely of chalk flints and tertiary debris.* The Seine,
on the other hand, receives tributaries which drain other for-
mations. In the valley of the Yonne we find fragments of
the crystalline rocks brought from the Morvan.f The Aube
runs through cretaceous and Jurassic strata, and the gravels
along its valley are entirely composed of materials derived
from these formations. The valley of the Oise is in this

* Buteux, 1. c. p. 98. t D'Archiac, Progres de la Geologic, p. 163.

366 MINERALOGICAL CONSTITUENTS.

respect particularly instructive: "De Maquenoise a Hirson*
la vallee ne presente que des fragments plus ou moms roules
des roches de transition que traverse le cours de la riviere.
En descendant a Etreaupont, on y trouve des calcaires juras-
siques et des silex de la craie, formations qui ont succede
aux roches anciennes. A Guise, le depot erratique .... est
compose de quartzites et de schistes de transition de quelques
gres plus recents, de silex de la craie, et surtout de quartz
laiteux, dont le volume varie depuis celui de la tete jusqu'a
celui de grains de sable. . . . Au dela les fragments de roches
anciennes diniinuent graduellement en volume et en noinbre."
At Paris the granitic debris brought down by the Yonne forms
a notable proportion of the gravel ; and at Precy, near Creil,
on the Oise, the fragments of the ancient rocks are abundant ;
but lower down the Seine, at Mantes, they are smaller and
less numerous, while at Eouen and Pont de 1'Arche I found
none, though a longer search would doubtless have shown
fragments of them. This case of the Oise is, however, inte-
resting, not only on account of the valuable evidence contained
in the above quotation ; but because, though the river flows,
as a glance at the map will show, immediately across and at
right-angles to the Somrne, yet none of the ancient rocks
which form the valley of the Oise have supplied any debris
to the valley of the Somme : and this, though the two rivers
are at one point within six miles of one another, and separated
by a ridge only eighty feet in height.

The same division occurs between the Seine and the Loire :
" Bien que la ligne de partage des eaux de la Loire et de la
Seine, entre St. Amand (Mevre) et Artenay, au nord d' Orleans,
soit a peine sensible, aucun debris de roches venant du centre
de la France, par la vallee de la Loire n'est passe dans le
bassin de la Seine." f

In the Vivarais near Auvergne, "Les depots diluvieus sont

* D'Arcliiac, L c. p. 155. t Ibid. 1. c. p. 164.

OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED THEORY. 367

composes des memes roches que celles que les rivieres actuelles
entrainent dans les vallees, et sont les debris des seules mon-
tagnes de la Lozin, du Tanargue et du Me'zene, qui entourent
le bassin du Vivarais."*

Again :

"Le diluvium des vallees de 1'Aisne et de 1'Aire ne ren-
ferme que les debris plus ou moms roules des terrains que ces
rivieres coupent dans leur cours."f

Finally, Mr. Prestwich has pointed out that the same thing
holds good in various English rivers. The conclusion deduced
by M. D'Archiac from the consideration of these observations,
and specially from those concerning the valley of the Seine,
is, " Que les courants diluviens ne venaient point d'une direc-
tion unique, mais qu'ils convergaient des bords du bassin vers
son centre, suivant les depressions preexistantes, et que leur
elevation ou leur force de transport ne suffisait pas pour faire
passer les debris quils cliarriaient d'une de ces valUes dans

Considering, however, all these facts, remembering that the
constituents of these river-drift gravels are, in all cases,
derived from beds now in situ along the valley, that they
have not only followed the lines of these valleys, but have
done so in the direction of the present waterflow, and without
in any case passing across from one river system to another,
it seems quite unnecessary to call in the assistance of diluvial
waves, or indeed any other agency than that of the rivers
themselves.

There are, however, certain facts in the case which have
been regarded by most geologists as fatal to this hypothesis,
and which prevented M. D'Archiac, as well as the French
geologists generally, from adopting an explanation apparently
so simple and so obvious. These difficulties appear to have

* D'Archiac, 1. c. p. 160.

t Malbos. Bull. Geol. vol. iii. p. 631. $ 1. c. p. 163.

368 OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED THEORY.

been twofold, or at least the two principal were ; firstly, the
large sandstone blocks which are scattered throughout the

FIG. 203.

Section at Joinville.

river gravels of Northern and Central France ; and secondly,
the height at which the upper-level gravels stand above the
present water-line. We will consider these two objections
separately.

It must be admitted that the presence of the sandstone
blocks in the gravels appears at first sight to be irreconcilable
with our hypothesis. In some places they occur frequently,
and are of considerable size ; the largest I have myself seen
is represented in the section, fig. 203, taken close to the railway-
station at Joinville. It was 8ft. Gin. in length, with a width
of 2ft. 8 in., and a thickness of 3ft. 4 in. Even when we remem-
ber that at the time of its deposition the valley was not
excavated to its present depth, we must still feel that a body
of water with power to move such masses as these must have
been very different from any floods now occurring in those
valleys, and might fairly deserve the name of a cataclysm.
But whence could we obtain so great a quantity of water ?
We have already seen that the gravel of the Oise, though so
near, is entirely unlike that of the Somme ; while that of the
Seine, again, is quite different from that of any of the neigh-
bouring rivers. These rivers, therefore, cannot have drained
a larger area than at present ; the river systems must have

ICE ACTION. 369

been the same as now. Nor would the supposition, after all,
account for the phenomena. We should but fall from Scylla
into Charybdis. Around the blocks we see no evidence of
violent action ; in the section at Joinville, the grey sub-angular
gravel passed under the large block above-mentioned, with
scarcely any traces of disturbance. But a flood which could
bring down so great a mass would certainly have swept
away the comparatively light and movable gravel below. We
cannot, therefore, account for the phenomena by aqueous
action, because a flood which would deposit the sandstone
blocks would remove the underlying gravel, and a flood which
would deposit the gravel would not move the blocks. The
Deus ex machina has not only been called in most unne-
cessarily, but, when examined, turns out to be but an idol
after all.

Driven, then, to seek some other explanation of the diffi-
culty, Mr. Prestwich falls back on that of floating ice. Here
we have an agency which would satisfactorily explain all the
difficulties of the case. The " packing" and propelling action
of ice would also account for some irregularities in the arrange-
ment of the beds, which are very difficult otherwise to under-
stand. Nor is it the physical evidence only which points to
an arctic climate during the period now under consideration ;
the fauna, as we have already seen, tells the same tale.

But though the presence of the sandstone blocks and the
occasional contortions of the strata are in perfect accordance
with the view of Mr. Prestwich, that the gravels have been
deposited by the rivers, our second difficulty still remains —
namely, the height at which the upper-level gravels stand
above the present water-line. We cannot wonder that these
beds have generally been attributed to violent cataclysms.

M. Boucher de Perthes was always of this opinion. " Ce
coquillage," he says, " cet elephant, cette hache, ou la main

2 B

370 FRESHWATER ORIGIN OF THE GRAVELS.

qui la fabriqua, furent done temoins du cataclysme qui donna
a notre pays sa configuration presents."*

M. C. D'Orbigny, observing that the fossils found in these
quaternary beds are all either of land or freshwater animals,
wisely dismisses the theory of any marine action, and ex-
presses himself as follows : — " En effet 1'opinion de la plupart
des geologues est que les cataclysmes diluviens ont eu pour
causes predominates de fortes oscillations de 1'ecorce ter-
restre, des soulevements de montagnes au milieu de 1'ocean,
d'ou seraient resultees de grandes Erosions. Par consequent
les puissants courants d'eau marine, auxquels on attribue ces
erosions diluviennes, auraient du laisser sur les continents des
traces authentiques de leur passage, tels que de nombreux
debris de coquilles, de poissons et autres animaux marins
analogues a ceux qui vivent actuellement dans la mer. Or,
ainsi que M. Cordier 1'a fait remarquer depuis longtemps a
son cours de geologic, rien de semblable n'a ete constate. Sur
tous les points du globe ou Ton a etudie les depots diluviens,
on a reconnu que, sauf quelques rares exceptions tres contes-
tables il n'existe dans ces depots aucun fossil marin : ou bien
ce sont des fossiles arraches aux terrains preexistants, dont la
denudation a fourni les materiaux qui composent le diluvium.
En sorte que les depots diluviens semblent avoir eu pour cause
des phenornenes meteorologiques, et paraissent etre le resultat
d'immenses inondations d'eaii, douce et non d'eau marine, qui,
se precipitant des points eleves vers la mer, auraient denude
une grande partie de la surface du sol, balaye la generalite des
etres organises et pour ainsi dire nivele', coordonne" les bassins
hydrographiques actuels."^

Such cataclysms, however, as those thus suggested by M.

* Mem. Soc. d'Em. 1'AbbeviUe, t C. D'Orbigny, Bui. Geo. 2nd
1861, p. 475. ser. V. xvii. p. 6. See also D'Ar-

chiac, 1. c. passim.

INAPPLICABILITY OF CATACLYSMS. 371

D'Orbigny, and many other French geologists, even if admitted,
would not account for the results before us. We have seen
that the transport of materials has not followed any single
direction, but has in all cases followed the lines of the present
valleys, and the direction of the present water-flow ; that the
rocks of one valley are never transported into another ; that
the condition of the loess is irreconcilable with a great rush of
water ; while, finally, the perfect preservation of many of the
most delicate shells is clear proof that the phenomena are not
due to violent or cataclysmic action.

We must, moreover, bear in mind that the gravels and sands
are themselves both the proof and the results of an immense
denudation. In a chalk country, such as that through which
the Somme flows, each cubic foot of flint, gravel or sand,
represents the removal of, at the very least, twenty cubic feet
of chalk, all of which, as we have already seen, must have
been removed from the present area of drainage. In consider-
ing, therefore, the formation of these upper and older gravels,
we must not picture to ourselves the original valley as it now
is, but must, in imagination, restore all that immense mass of
chalk which has been destroyed in the formation of the lower-
level gravels and sands. Mr. Prestwich has endeavoured to
illustrate this by a diagram ;* and I must once more repeat
that this is no mere hypothesis, since the mass of sand and
gravel cannot have been produced without an immense removal
of the chalk. On the whole, then, we may safely conclude
that the upper-level gravels were deposited by the existing
river, before it had excavated the valley to its present depth,
and when consequently it ran at a level considerably higher
than the present.

Far, therefore, from requiring an immense flood of water,
two hundred feet in depth, the accumulation of the gravel

* Proceed. Roy. Soc. 1862, p. 41.
2B2

372 ALTERATION OF THE RIVER LEVEL.

may have been effected by an annual volume of water, differ-
ing little from that of the present river.

A given quantity of water will, however, produce very dif-
ferent effects, according to the rapidity with which it flows.
" We learn from observation that a velocity of three inches
per second at the bottom will just begin to work upon fine
clay fit for pottery, and however firm and compact it may be,
it will tear it up. Yet no beds are more stable than clay
when the velocities do not exceed this ; for the water even
takes away the impalpable particles of the superficial clay,
leaving the particles of sand sticking by their lower half in
the rest of the clay, which they now protect, making a very
permanent bottom, if the stream does not bring down gravel
or coarse sand, which will rub off this very thin crust, and
allow another layer to be worn off. A velocity of six inches
will lift fine sand, eight inches will lift sand as coarse as
linseed, twelve inches will sweep along fine gravel, twenty-
four inches will roll along rounded pebbles an inch diameter,
and it requires three feet per second at the bottom to sweep
along shivery angular stones of the size of an egg."*

If, therefore, we are justified in assuming a colder climate
than that now existing,, we should much increase the erosive
action of the river, not only because the rains would fall on a
frozen surface, but because the rainfall of the winter months
would accumulate on the high grounds in the form of ice and
snow, and would every spring produce floods much greater
than any which now occur.-)-

Moreover, as Mr. Evans has well pointed out, in ancient
times, and before the river valleys were excavated to their
present depths, the chalk might have been saturated with

* Cyc. Brit., article "Rivers," t See Murchison's Geology of
p. 274. Russia and the Ural Mountains

p. 572.

GRADUAL EXCAVATION OF THE VALLEY. 373

water to a greater height than at present, and this also would
have rendered floods more frequent and more severe than at
present.

Eeturning to the fig. given on p. 3*71, we now come to the
light-coloured marl (fig. 202 c). Mr. Prestwich describes it
as follows : Of white siliceous sand and light-coloured marl,
mixed with fine chalk grit, a few large sub-angular flints, and
an occasional sandstone block, irregular patches of flint gravel,
bedding waved and contorted, here and there layers with
diagonal seams, a few ochreous bands, portions concreted.
Sand and freshwater shells common, some mammalian remains.

In the pits at Amiens this bed is generally distinct from
the underlying gravels, owing perhaps to the upper portion of
the gravel having been removed ; but in several places (Precy,
Ivry, Bicetre, etc.) this section is complete, the coarser gravel
below becoming finer and finer, and at length passing above
into siliceous sand. These sections evidently indicate a gradual
loss of power in the water at these particular spots ; rapid
enough at first to bring down large pebbles, its force became
less and less, until at length it was only able to carry fine
sand. This, therefore, appears to indicate a slight change in
the course of the river, and gradual excavation of the valley,
which, by supplying the floods with a lower bed, left the
waters at this height with a gradually diminishing force and
velocity.

The upper part of the section at St. Acheul consists of
brick earth (fig. 202 a), passing below into angular gravel,
while between this and the underlying sandy marl is some-
times a small layer of darker brick earth. These beds, how-
ever, vary much even in adjoining sections. Taken as a whole,
they are regarded by Mr. Prestwich as the representatives of
that remarkable loamy deposit which is found overlying the
gravels in all these valleys of Northern France, and which, as
the celebrated "loess" of the Ehine, attains in some places a

374

THE LOWER-LEVEL GRAVEL-BEDS.

thickness of three hundred feet. The greatest development of
it which I have seen in the north of France was in a pit in
the Hue de la Chevalerie, near Ivry, where it was twenty-two
feet thick ; some of this, however, may have been reconstructed
loess brought down by rain from the higher ground in the
immediate neighbourhood. Assuming that this loess is com-
posed of fine particles deposited from standing or slowly-
moving waters, we might be disposed to wonder at not finding
in it any traces of vegetable remains. We know, however,
from the arrangement of the nails and hasps, that in some of
the St. Acheul tombs wooden coffins were used, while the size
of the nails shows that the planks must have been tolerably
thick ; yet every trace of wood has been removed, and not even
a stain is left to indicate its presence. We need not, there-
fore, wonder at the absence of vegetable remains in the drift.

Such is a general account of those gravel-pits which lie at
a height of from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet above
the present water-level of the valleys, and which along the
Somme are found in some places even at a height of two hun-
dred feet.

Mr. Prestwich gives the following table of the mammalia :

BEDFORD.

Great Northern
Railway, or
Sumnierhouse
Hill

ABBEVILLE.
Menchecourt.

AMIENS.
St. Roch.

PARIS.

Grenelle, Ivry,
Clichy, or the
Rue de Reuilly.

Elephas primigenius, Slum

• antiquus, Falc

Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Cuv. ...
me^arhinus, Christol,

*r
•r

*
*1a

Ursus spelseus, Blum

• y

Hyaena speloea, Gold

*1Q

Felis spelaea, Gold

• if
*

Bos primigenius, Boj

•

Bison priscus, Boj

Equus (possibly two species)
Cervus euryceros, Aldr

*
*r

elaphus, Linn

tarandus, Linn,

Hippopotamus major, Nesti. ...
Sus

*
*r

...

THE PEAT. 375

To this list we may add the lemming, the Myodes torquatus,
and the musk ox, which has been found at two spots in the
Thames valley, as well as at Chauny on the Oise.

Let us now visit some of the pits at the lower levels. At
about thirty feet lower, as for instance at Menchecourt, near
Abbeville, and at St. Eoch, near Amiens, where the gravel
slopes from a height of sixty feet down to the bottom of the
valley, we find almost a repetition of the same succession;
coarse sub-angular gravel below, finer materials above. So
similar, indeed, are these beds to those already described, that
it will be unnecessary for me to give any special description
of them.

It is possible that when the fauna and flora of the upper
and lower-level gravels shall have been more thoroughly inves-
tigated, they may be found to be almost identical. At present,
however, the species obtained from the lower-level gravels are
more numerous than those from the upper levels.

The mollusca are fifty-two in number, of which forty-two
now live in Sweden, thirty-seven in Finland, and thirty-eight
in Lombardy. Bearing in mind that Lornbardy is much
richer than Finland in mollusca, this assemblage has rather a
northern aspect.

In such a group of species as this, the hippopotamus seems
singularly out of place, and in the preceding chapter I have
discussed the conclusions which are, I think, to be drawn
from its presence : taking the fauna as a whole, however, and
looking more especially to such animals as the musk ox, the
reindeer, the lemming, the Myodes torquatus, the Siberian
mammoth, and its faithful companion the woolly-haired rhi-
noceros, we have clear evidence of a climate unlike that now
prevailing in Western Europe.

Finally, the lowest portion of the valley is at present occu-
pied by a bed of gravel, covered by silt and peat, which latter
is in some places more than thirty or even forty feet thick,

376 OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PEAT.

and is extensively worked for fuel. These strata have afforded
to the antiquaries of the neighbourhood, and especially to M.
Boucher de Perthes, a rich harvest of interesting relics belong-
ing to various periods. The depth at which these objects are
found has been carefully noted by M. Boucher de Perthes.

" Prenant," he says, " pour terme moyen du sol de la valle'e,
une hauteur de 2 metres audessus du niveau de la Somme,
c'est h 30 a 40 centimetres de la surface qu'on rencontre le
plus abondamment les traces du moyen-age. Cinquante cen-
timetres plus bas, on commence a trouver des debris remains,
puis gallo-romains. On continue a suivre ces derniers pendant
un metre, c'est a dire jusqu'au niveau de la Sornrne. Apres
eux, viennent les vestiges gaulois purs qui descendent sans
interruption jusqu'a pres de 2 metres audessous de ce niveau,
preuve de la longue habitation de ces peuples dans la valle'e.
C'est a un metre plus bas, ou a 4 metres environ audessous
de ce merne niveau, qu'on arrive au centre du sol que nous
avons nomme Celtique, celui que foulerent les Gaulois primi-
tives ou les peuples qui les precederent ;" and which belonged,
therefore, to the Neolithic period. It is, however, hardly
necessary to add that these thicknesses are only given by
M. Boucher de Perthes "comme terme approximatif ;" and in
other localities no doubt the growth was more rapid. Mr.
Southall* gives instances of more rapid accumulation ; never-
theless, without attaching too much importance to M. Boucher
de Perthes' calculation, it is obvious that the formation of so
great a mass of peat must have required a considerable lapse
of time.

The " Antiquites Celtiques" was published several years
before the Swiss archaeologists had made us acquainted with
the nature of the Pfahlbauten ; but, from some indications
given by M. Boucher de Perthes, it would appear that there
must have been, at one time, lake-habitations in the neigh-
* Recent Origin of Man, pp. 270, 467.

OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PEAT. 377

bourhood of Abbeville. He found considerable platforms of
wood, with large quantities of bones, stone implements, and
handles closely resembling those which come from the Swiss
lake villages.

These weapons cannot for an instant be confounded with
the ruder ones from the drift-gravel. They are ground to a
smooth surface and a cutting edge, while those of the more
ancient types are merely chipped, not one of the many hun^
dreds already found having shown the slightest trace of grind-
ing. Yet though the former belong to the Stone Age, to a
time so remote that the use of metal was apparently still
unknown in Western Europe, they are separated from the
earlier weapons of the upper-level drift by the whole period
necessary for the excavation of the Somme Valley, to a depth
of more than one hundred feet.

If, therefore, we get no definite date for the arrival of man
in these countries, we can at least form a vivid idea of his
antiquity. He must have seen the Somme running at a height
of about a hundred feet above its present level. It is, indeed,
probable that he dates back in Northern France almost, if
not quite, as far as the rivers themselves. The fauna of the
country was unlike what it is now. Along the banks of the
rivers ranged a savage race of hunters and fishermen, and in
the forests wandered the mammoth, the two-horned woolly
rhinoceros, a species of lion, the musk ox, the reindeer, and
the urus.

Yet the geography of France cannot have been very dif-
ferent from what it is at present. The present rivers ran in
their present directions, and the sea even then lay between
the Somme and the Adur, though the channel was not so wide
as it is now.

Gradually the river deepened its valley ; ineffective, or even
perhaps constructive, in autumn and winter, the melting of
the snows turned it every spring into a roaring torrent. These

378 RELATION OF THE LOESS TO THE GRAVEL.

floods were perhaps more destructive to animals even than
man himself ; while, however rude they may have been, our
predecessors can hardly be supposed to have been incapable
of foreseeing and consequently escaping the danger.

While the water had sufficient force to deposit coarse gravel
at any given level, at a still higher one it would part with
finer particles, and would thus form the loess, which at the
same time would here and there receive angular flints and
shells brought down from the hills in a more or less transverse
direction by the rivulets after heavy rains.

Mr. Prestwich regards the difference of level between the
upper gravels and the loess as " a measure of the floods of that
period." If the gravel-beds were complete, this would no
doubt be the case ; but it seems to me that the upper-level
gravels are mere fragments of an originally almost continuous
deposit, and under such circumstances the present cannot be
taken as evidence of the original difference.

As the valley became deeper and deeper, the gravel would

FIG. 204.

CHALK

Diagram to show the Relations of the Loess and the Gravels.

be deposited at lower and lower levels, the loess always fol-
lowing it ;* thus we must not consider the loess as a distinct
bed, but as one which was being formed during the same time,
though never at the same place, as the beds of gravel. In
fig. 204 I have given a diagram, the better to illustrate my
meaning ; the loess is indicated by letters with a dash and is

* See Mr. Prestwich's paper read before the Royal Society, June 19,
1862.

CONTINUAL CHANGES OF RIVER COURSES. 379

dotted, while the gravels are represented as rudely stratified.
In this case I suppose the river to have run originally on the
level (1), and to have deposited the gravel (a) and the loess
(a) ; after a certain amount of erosion, which would reduce
the level to (2), the gravel would be spread out at (6), and
loess at (&'). Similarly the loess (c) would be contemporaneous
with the gravel (c).

Thus, while in each section the lower beds would of course
be the oldest, still the upper-level gravels as a whole would
be the most ancient, and the beds lying in the lower parts of
the valley the most modern.

For convenience, I have represented the sides of the valley
as forming a series of terraces ; and though this is not actually
the case, there are places in which such terraces do occur.

It is, however, well known that rivers continually tend to
shift their courses ; nor is the Somme any exception to the
rule; the valley itself indeed is comparatively straight, but
within it the river winds considerably, and when in one of its
curves the current crosses " its general line of descent, it eats
out a curve in the opposite bank, or in the side of the hills
bounding the valley, from which curve it is turned back again
at an equal angle, so that it re-crosses the line of descent, and
gradually hollows out another curve lower down in the oppo-
site bank," till the whole sides of the valley, or river-bed,
" present a succession of salient and retiring angles."* During
these wanderings from one side of the valley to the other, the
river continually undermines and removes the gravels which
at an earlier period it had deposited. Thus the upper-level
gravels are now only to be found here and there, as it were,
in patches, while in many parts they have altogether disap-
peared ; as, for instance, on the right side of the valley between
Amiens and Pont Eemy, where hardly a trace of the high-
level gravels is to be seen.

* LyelTs Principles, p. 206.

380 ELEVATION OF THE LAND.

The neighbouring shores of England and France show various

O O O

traces of a slight and recent elevation of the land. Eaised
beaches have been observed at an elevation of from five to ten
feet at various points along the coast of Sussex and the Pas
de Calais. Marine shells also occur at Abbeville about twenty-
five feet above the sea-level,* and no doubt this change of
level has had an important bearing on the excavation of the
valley.

Mr. A. Tyler/)- in a recent memoir, agrees with me that the
upper-level and lower-level gravels are merely the extremes
of a series, seldom complete, but generally imperfect, some-
times in one part, sometimes in another. But he also main-
tains that the surface of the chalk in the valley of the Somme
had assumed its present form prior to the deposition of any
of the gravel or loess now existing in it. As, however, he
admits that the materials forming this gravel and loess are
derived exclusively from the area drained by the Somme and
its tributaries, he involves himself in a double difficulty. In
the first place he maintains that the materials, by the removal
of which the valley was formed, were swept completely out
of the valley, which, considering its length, depth and narrow-
ness, appears to be impossible ; and in the second place, the
admission that the gravel and sand consist of flint debris
brought down by the Somme and its tributaries is fatal to his
argument, since you cannot remove matter from one place to
another without affecting the configuration of the surface in
both. In admitting, then, that " the gravel in the valley of
the Somme at Amiens is partly derived from debris brought
down by the river Somme, and by the two rivers, the Celle
and the Arve, and partly consists of material from the adjoin-

* The higher -level gravels in to an encroachment of the sea on
some places fringe the (toast at an the land, and the consequent inter-
elevation of as much as one hundred section of the old river-beds at a
feet ; this phenomenon, however, I higher level,
should be disposed to refer partly f Geol. Journal, vol. xxiv. p. 105.

RECAPITULATION. 381

ing higher grounds, washed in by land-floods,"* Mr. Tylor
virtually adopts the explanation of the phenomena given in
this work, since the formation or removal of this gravel neces-
sarily involved an alteration of the surface and a deepening
of the valley.

When, finally, the excavation of the valley was completed,
the climate had gradually become more like our own, and
either from this change, or rather perhaps yielding to the irre-
sistible power of man, the great Pachydermata became extinct.
Under the altered conditions of level, the river, unable to
carry out to sea the finer particles brought down from the
higher levels, deposited them in the valley, and thus raised
somewhat its general level, checking the velocity of the stream,
and producing extensive marshes, in which a thick deposit
of peat was gradually formed. We have, unfortunately, no
trustworthy means of estimating' the rate of formation of this
substance, which indeed varies considerably, according to the
conditions of the case ; but on any supposition the production
of a mass in some places more than thirty feet in thickness
must have required a very considerable period. Yet it is in
these beds that we find the remains of the Neolithic or later
Stone period. From the tombs at St. Acheul, from the Eoman
remains found in the superficial layers of the peat, at about
the present level of the river, we know that fifteen hundred
years have produced scarcely any change in the configuration
of the valley. In the peat, and at a depth of about fifteen
feet in the alluvium at Abbeville, are the remains of the Neo-
lithic period, which we have ample reason for believing, from
the researches in Denmark, Switzerland, and other countries,
to be of no slight antiquity. Yet all these are subsequent
to the excavation of the valley. What date then are we to
ascribe to the men who lived when the Somme was but begin-
ning its great task ? No one can properly appreciate the lapse

* 1. c. p. 105.

382 RECAPITULATION.

of time indicated, who has not stood on the heights of Lier-
court, Picquigny, or on one of the other points overlooking
the valley ; nor, I am sure, could any geologist return from
such a visit without an overpowering sense of the changes
which have taken place, and the length of time which must
have elapsed since the first appearance of man in Western
Europe.

( 383 )

CHAPTEE XII.

ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

A LTHOUGH the facts recorded in the preceding chapters
~L±. have been for the most part discovered within a com-
paratively recent period, it is by no means merely of late
years, or among archaeologists only, that the difficulties in
Archbishop Usher's chronology have been felt to be insuper-
able. Historians, philologists, and physiologists have alike
admitted that the short period allowed could hardly be recon-
ciled with the history of some Eastern nations ; that it did
not leave room for the development either of the different
languages, or (assuming the unity of the human race) for the
important physical peculiarities by which the various races
of men are distinguished.

Thus, Dr. Prichard says : " Many writers who have been
by no means inclined to raise objections against the authority
of the Sacred Scriptures, and in particular Michaelis, have
felt themselves embarrassed by the shortness of the interval
between the Noachic Deluge and the period at which the
records of various nations commence, or the earliest date to
which their historical memorials lead us back. The extrava-
gant claims to a remote and almost fathomless antiquity,
made by the fabulists of many ancient nations, have vanished
before the touch of accurate criticism ; but after abstracting
all that is apparently mythological from the early traditions
of the Indians, Egyptians, and some other nations, the pro-
bable history of some of them seems still to reach up to a
period too remote to be reconciled with the short chronology

384 HISTORICAL EVIDENCE.

of Usher and Petavius. This has been so universally felt
by all those writers who have entered on the investigation
of primeval history that it is superfluous to dwell upon the
subject."*

Baron Bunsen, one of the ablest among those who regard
the various forms of language as having had a common origin,
is forced to claim for the human race an antiquity of at least
20,000 years. Again, the ingenious author of " The Genesis
of the Earth and of Man/'f says truly that " one of the greatest
of the difficulties that beset us when we endeavour to account
for the commonly supposed descent of all mankind from a
single pair, .... lies in the fact of our rinding, upon Egyptian
monuments, mostly of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries before the Christian era, representations of indivi-
duals of numerous nations, African, Asiatic, and European,
differing in physical characteristics as widely as any equal
number of nations of the present age that could be grouped
together ; amongr these beinsj Negroes, of the true Negritian

O 7 - O O O ' O

stamp, depicted with a fidelity, as to colour and features,
hardly to be surpassed by an accomplished modern artist.
That such diversities had been produced by natural means in
the interval between that remote age and the time of Noah,
probably no one versed in the sciences of anatomy and phy-
siology will consider credible ;" and he concludes, therefore,
that the human race cannot have been derived from a single
pair. For, just as the philological difficulties will not, of
course, affect those who accept literally the account given in
our English Version of the miraculous creation of languages
at the Tower of Babel ; so in the same way " the shortness of
the period allowed by the received chronology, for the develop-
ment of those physical varieties which distinguish the different

* Prichard, Researches into the Physical Hist, of Mankind, vol. v.
p. 553.

f 1. c. p. 117.

ETHNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE. 385

races of men,"* though felt as "one of the greatest difficulties
connected with the opinion that all mankind are descended
from one primitive stock," will not affect those who believe
in the existence of separate species of men.

The study of language, again, clearly proves the great anti-
quity of man. Four thousand years ago the Assyrians, as
proved by their inscriptions, spoke a tongue in many respects
less archaic than that of central Arabia is now; and when
we consider that it was descended from a parent source which
has produced all the other Semitic languages, that this again
was probably related to Libyan and Egyptian, and that still
further back lie the ages in which inarticulate cries were
gradually moulded into true language, we must feel that lin-
guistic researches point most strongly in the same direction. -f-

Prof. Huxley has also deduced a very interesting argument
from the geographical distribution of the races of men. He
divides mankind into four groups, the Australoid, Negroid,
Mongoloid, and Xanthochroid. The latter are the fair, light-
haired, blue-eyed people who occupy a large part of Europe ;
the Mongoloid are the Tartar, American, and Polynesian races ;
the Negroid are the Negroes, Hottentots, and Negritos ; and
the Australoid type contains all the inhabitants of Australia,
and the native races of the Deccan, with whom he also asso-
ciates the ancient Egyptians. Whatever difference of opinion
may exist among ethnologists about the other three divi-
sions, still as to the Negroid race most are agreed, and this is
the one to which I now wish to call attention. The geogra-
phical distribution of the Xanthochroid and Mongoloid races
presents no difficulty, nor will I here discuss that of the
Australoid group. But I entirely agree with Prof. Huxley
that the present position of the Negro race cannot be explained
excepting on the hypothesis that since the appearance of that

* Pritcharcl, 1. c. p. 552.

t See Sayce, Int. to the Sci. of Lang. vol. ii. p. 319.

386 EVIDENCE DERIVABLE FROM PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.

race immense geographical changes have taken place, — that
continent has become ocean, and sea, land. The Negroes are
essentially a non-navigating race ; they build no ships, and
even the canoes of the Fijians are evidently copied from those
of the Polynesians. Now what is the geographical distribution
of the race ? They occupy all Africa south of the Sahara,
which neither they nor the rest of the true African fauna
have ever crossed ; and though they do not occur in Arabia,
Persia, Hindostan, Siam, or China, we find them in Mada-
gascar, and in the Andaman Islands, — not in Java, Sumatra,
or Borneo, but in the Malay peninsula, in the Philippines,
New Guinea, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Figi
Islands, and in Tasmania.

This remarkable distribution is perhaps most easily expli-
cable on the hypothesis that since the Negroid race came into
existence there must have been an immense tract of land or a
chain of islands stretching from the eastern coast of Africa
right across the Indian Ocean, and secondly, that sea then
occupied the area of the present great desert. In whatever
manner, however, these facts are to be explained, they certainly
indicate that the Negro race is of very great antiquity.

I have often been much struck, when standing at the feet
of glaciers, by the great size of the terminal moraines, and the
length of time which must have been required for their for-
mation. Let us take as an instance the Nisjard glacier in the

o o

Justedal, on the Sognefjord. The Norwegian glaciers no doubt
covered formerly a much larger area than that which they
now occupy. They retreated as the cold diminished; but we
have already seen that man was present in Western Europe
when the general temperature was several degrees at least
lower than it is at present ; and we shall probably, therefore,
be within the mark if we suppose that the glacier at Justedal
has retreated at least a mile up the valley since the period of
the river-drift gravels, and the entrance of man into Europe.

THE VEGETATION OF DENMARK. 387

Now the terminal moraine of the glacier covers the whole of
this space with great blocks of stones, thousands and hundreds
of thousands in number, and yet, although all these have
probably been brought down in the human period, I could
only see a few blocks on the lower end of the glacier itself.

As far as Denmark is concerned we must, for the present,
rely principally on the double change which has taken place
in the prevalent vegetation. Beech forests are now the pride
of the country, and, as far as tradition goes, they have always
been so. But, as is shown by the peat-bogs, this is a mistake.
The large peat-mosses do not help us very much in this
matter, but there are in many of the forests small and deep
impressions, filled with peat, and called skov-mose. These,
as might naturally be expected, contain many trees which
grew on their edges, and at length fell into them. At the
bottom is usually an amorphous peat, above is a layer of
pines — a tree which does not grow naturally in Denmark.
Higher up the pines disappear, and are replaced by oaks and
white birches, neither of which are now common in Denmark ;
while the upper layer consists principally of the Betula verru-
cosa, and corresponds to the present, which we may call the
Beech period. Professor Steenstrup has found stone imple-
ments among the stems of the pines ; and as the capercailzie,
which feeds on the young shoots of the pine, has been found
in the Kjokkenmoddings, it seems likely, to say the least, that
these shell-mounds belong to the pine period, and that the
three great stages of civilization correspond in some measure
to these three periods of arborescent vegetation. For one
species of tree thus to displace another, and in its turn to be
supplanted by a third, would evidently require a great, though
at present we have no means of measuring how great, lapse of
time.

Turning now from Denmark to Switzerland, there are two
cases in which a more definite estimate has been attempted.

2 c 2

388 THE CONE OF THE TINIERE.

We must not, indeed, place too much reliance on them as yet,
but if many calculations made on different data shall agree
in the main, we may at length come to some approximate
conclusion.

The first of these calculations we owe to M. Morlot. The
torrent of the Tiniere, at the point where it falls into the
Lake of Geneva, near Villeneuve, has gradually built up a cone
of gravel and alluvium. In the formation of the railway this
cone has been bisected for a length of one thousand feet, and
to a depth, in the central part, of about thirty-two feet six
inches above the level of the railway. The section of the
cone thus obtained shows a very regular structure, which
proves that its formation was gradual. It is composed of the
same materials (sand, gravel, and large blocks) as those which
are even now brought down by the stream. The amount of
detritus does, indeed, differ considerably from year to year,
but in the long-run the differences compensate for one another,
so that, when considering long periods, and the structure of
the whole mass, the influences of the temporary variations,
which arise from meteorological causes, altogether disappear,
and need not, therefore, be taken into account. Documents
preserved in the archives of Villeneuve show that in the
year 1710 the stream was dammed up, and its course a little
altered, which makes the present cone slightly irregular.
That the change was not of any great antiquity is also shown
by the fact that on the side where the cone was protected by
the dykes, the vegetable soil, where it has been affected by
cultivation, does not exceed two or three inches in thickness.
On the side thus protected by the dykes the railway cutting
has exposed three layers of vegetable soil, each of which must,
at one time, have formed the surface of the cone. They are
regularly intercalated among the gravel, and parallel to one
another, as well as to the present surface of the cone, which
itself follows a very regular curve. The first of these ancient

THE CONE OF THE TINIERE. 389

surfaces was traced on the south side of the cone, over a
surface of 15,000 square feet: it had a thickness of four to
six inches, and occurred at a depth of about four feet (1*14
metre measured to the base of the layer) below the present
surface of the cone. This layer, which belonged to the Roman
period, contained tiles and a Eoman coin.

The second layer was traced over a surface of 25,000 square
feet ; it was six inches in thickness, and lay at a depth of
about ten feet (2'97 metres) including the thickness of the
layer. In it have been found several fragments of unglazed
pottery, and a pair of tweezers in bronze. The third layer
has been followed for 3500 square feet; it was six or seven
inches in thickness, and lay at a depth of nineteen feet
(5 '69 metres) below the present surface : in it were found
some fragments of very rude pottery, some pieces of charcoal,
some broken bones, and a human skeleton with a small, round,
and very thick skull. Fragments of charcoal were even found
a foot deeper, and it is also worthy of notice that no trace of
tiles was found below the upper layer of earth.

Towards the centre of the cone the three layers disappear,
since at this part the torrent has most force, and has deposited
the coarsest materials, even some blocks as much as three
feet in diameter. The farther we go from this central region,
the smaller are the materials deposited, and the more easily
might a layer of earth, formed since the last great inundations,
be covered over by fresh deposits. Thus, at a depth of ten
feet, in the gravel on the south of the cone, at a part where
the layer of earth belonging to the Bronze Age had already
disappeared, two unrolled bronze implements were discovered.
They had probably been retained by their weight, when the
earth which once covered them was washed away by the
torrent. After disappearing towards the centre of the cone,
the three layers reappear on the north side, at a slightly
greater depth, but with the same regularity, and the same

390 THE CONE OF THE TINIERE.

relative position. The layer of the Stone Age was but slightly
interrupted, while that of the Bronze era was easily distin-
guishable by its peculiar character and colour.

It must be confessed that the starting-point of this argu-
ment, viz. the so-called "Koman" layer, is far from being
satisfactorily determined. It is quite possible that tiles were
used in Switzerland before the "Koman" period; it is pro-
bable that they continued in use to a later period. The coin
found in the " Kornan" layer was so much worn as to be unde-
terminable ; it had, therefore, probably been long in use. M,
Uhlmann has also argued* that the bones found in the lower
layer are not such as we should expect to find in a Stone
Age deposit, since they are not so much discoloured as those
from the Stone Age Pfahlbauten, and all belong to domestic
animals. Only fourteen determinable fragments, however,
were found, and of these several probably belonged to a single
individual. Moreover, it would be very illogical to compare
the condition of bones from a peat-moss with those which
had been lying in a material such as that forming the cone of
the Tiniere.

M. Morlot did not disguise from himself that there were
certain elements of doubt in the case, but on the whole it
seemed to him that the phenomena were so regular and so
well marked that he was justified in applying to them a cal-
culation, with some little confidence of at least approximate
accuracy. Making some allowances ; for instance, admitting
three hundred years instead of one hundred and fifty, for the
period since the embankment, and taking the Koman period
as representing an antiquity of from sixteen to eighteen cen-
turies, he obtains for the age of Bronze an antiquity of from
2900 years to 4200 years, for that of the Stone period from
4700 to 7000 years, and for the whole cone an age of from

* Ueber Thierreste und Gebisstheil gefunden in den Schuttablage-
rimgen der Tiniere. Bern, 1858.

THE VALLEY OF THE THIELE, 391

7400 to 11,000 years. M. Morlot thought that we should be
most nearly correct in deducting two hundred years only for
the action of the dykes, and in attributing to the Eoman layer
an antiquity of sixteen centuries, that is to say, in referring
it to the middle of the third century. This would give an
antiquity of 3800 years for the Bronze Age, and 6400 years
for that of Stone ; and, on the whole, he is inclined to suppose
for the former an antiquity of from 3000 to 4000 years, and
for the latter of from 5000 to 7000 years.

Not less ingenious is the attempt which has been made by
M. Gillie'ron,* Professor at the College of Neuveville, to obtain
a date for the lake-habitation at the Pont de Thiele. This
stream connects the Lakes of NeufcMtel and Bienne. During
the first part of its course the valley is narrow, and the bridge,
close to which the lake-dwelling has been discovered, is situ-
ated at the narrowest spot. A little farther down the valley
suddenly expands, and from this point remains "of the same
width until it joins the Lake of Bienne. It is evident that
the valley, as far as the bridge over the Thiele, was once occu-
pied by the lake, which has gradually been silted up by the
action of forces still in operation ; and if we could ascertain
how long it would have taken to effect this change, we should
then know approximately the date of the remains found at
the Pont de Thiele, which are evidently those of a lake-
dwelling. The Abbey of St. Jean, which stands in this valley,
about 375 metres from the present shore of the lake, was
founded, according to ancient documents, between the years
1090 and 1106, and is therefore about 750 years old. It is
possible that the abbey may not have been built exactly on
the then edge of the lake ; but even if this were the case, the
gain of land will only have been 375 metres in 750 years.
Prof. Gillieron does not compare with this the whole space

* Notice sur les Habitations Lacustres du Pont de Thiele. Porrentruy,
1862.

392 THE FORMATION OF EGYPT.

between the convent and the lake-dwelling, because in the
narrower part of the valley, in which the latter is situated,
the gain may have been more rapid ; but if we only go to the
point at which the basin contracts, we shall have a distance
of 3000 metres, which would, upon these data, indicate a
minimum antiquity of 6750 years. This calculation assumes
that the shape of the bottom of the valley was originally uni-
form. M. Morlot agrees with Prof. Gillieron in believing that
this was the case, and from the general configuration of the
valley it seems to me also to be a reasonable supposition.
Moreover, the soundings taken by M. Hisely in the Lake of
Bienne show that the variations in depth are but of slight
importance. We must not, indeed, attach too much impor-
tance to these two calculations ; but they appear to indicate
that 6000 or 7000 years ago Switzerland was already inha-
bited by men who used polished stone implements, but how
long they had been there, or how many centuries elapsed
before the discovery of metal, we have as yet no evidence to
show.

A still greater antiquity was obtained by Mr. Homer as the
result of his Egyptian researches, which were undertaken at
the joint expense of the Eoyal Society and the Egyptian
Government. Every year the Nile, during its periodical over-
flow, deposits a certain amount of fine mud, and even as
long ago as the time of Herodotus, it was inferred that Egypt
had been formerly an arm of the sea, filled, up gradually and
converted into dry land by the mud brought down from the
upper country.

In the great work on Egypt which we owe to the French
philosophers who accompanied Napoleon's expedition to that
country, an attempt was made to estimate the secular eleva-
tion thus produced, and it was assumed to be five inches in a
century. This general average was consistent, however, with
great differences at different parts, and Mr. Horner, therefore,

THE GRADUAL ELEVATION OF THE COUNTRY. 393

did not consider himself justified in applying this estimate to
particular cases, even if he had been satisfied with the evidence
on which it rested. He preferred to examine the accumula-
tion which had taken place round monuments of known age,
and selected two — namely, the obelisk at Heliopolis, and the
statue of Eameses II. in Memphis. " The obelisk is believed
to have been erected 2300 years B.C., and adding 1850, the
year when the observation was made (June 1851, i.e., before
the inundation of that year), we have 4150 years in which the
eleven feet of sediment were deposited, which is at the rate of
3 '18 inches in a century."* But Mr. Homer himself admits
that "entire reliance cannot be placed on this conclusion,
principally because it is possible that the site originally chosen
for the temple and city of Heliopolis was a portion of land
somewhat raised above the level of the rest of the desert."
He relies, therefore, principally on the evidence supplied by
the colossal statue in Memphis. In this case the present
surface is 10 feet 6f inches above the base of the platform on
which the statue stood. Assuming that the platform was
sunk 14f inches below the surface of the ground at the time
it was laid, we have a depth of sediment from the present
surface to that level of 9 feet 4 inches. Eameses is supposed
by Lepsius to have reigned between 1394 and 1328 B.C., which
would give an antiquity of 3215 years, and consequently a
mean increase of 3J inches in a century. Having thus ob-
tained an approximate measure of the rate of deposit in that
part of the Nile valley, Mr. Horner dug several pits to a con-
siderable depth, and in one of them, close to the statue and
at the depth of 39 feet, a piece of pottery was found, which
upon the above data would indicate an antiquity of about
13,000 years.

In many other excavations pieces of pottery and other indi-
cations of man were found at even greater depths, but it must,

* Horner, Phil. Trans. 1858, p. 73.

394 OWING TO THE ANNUAL DEPOSIT OF NILE MUD.

be confessed that there are several reasons which render the
calculations somewhat doubtful. For instance, it is impossible
to ascertain how far the pedestal of the statue was inserted
into the ground ; Mr. Homer has allowed 14f inches, but if
it was much deeper, the rate of deposition would be dimi-
nished and the age increased. On the other hand, if the
statue was on raised ground, of course the reverse would be
the case.

It has also been argued that the ancient Egyptians were in
the habit of making embankments round the areas on which
they erected temples, statues, etc., so as to keep out the waters
of the Nile.

" Whenever, then," says Sir Charles Lyell, " the waters at
length break into such depressions, they must at first carry
with them into the enclosure much mud washed from the
steep surrounding banks, so that a greater quantity would be
deposited in a few years than, perhaps, in as many centuries
on the great plain outside the depressed area, where no such
disturbing causes intervened." This objection is, however,
untenable, because the rapidity of depression will be in pro-
portion to the previous retardation, and will only tend to
bring the depressed area up to the general level. Supposing,
for instance, that the monument of Barneses, erected on the
flat plain of Memphis 3200 years ago, was protected by em-
bankments for the first 2000 years, and that during that time
the plain outside was gradually raised 5 feet 10 inches, being
at the rate of 3^ inches in a century : when the embankment
gave way the space enclosed would soon be filled up to the
general level, and a thickness of 5 feet 10 inches might be
deposited in a few years : still this exceptionally rapid accu-
mulation would only be the complement of the exceptional
want of deposit which had preceded it; and, consequently,
when the level of the surrounding plain had been attained,
then, although the mud covering the base of the statue may

MR. HORNER'S EGYPTIAN RESEARCHES. 395

have been altogether deposited in the last few hundred years,
i.e. since the embankments have been neglected, the thickness
of the deposit will still be a measure of the general elevation
which has taken place on the surrounding plain since the
erection of the monument.

Even if the embankments had remained intact to this day,
and the monument stood now in the hollow thus produced,
Mr. Horner's argument would not be invalidated, but rather
confirmed. The depth of the hollow would give us a measure
of the deposit which had taken place since the erection of the
monument, or rather since the formation of the embankment.
If, however, the monument had been erected in an area already
depressed by the action of still older embankments, the calcu-
lation would be vitiated, but in this case the rate of deposition
would appear to be greater than it really is, and the true age
consequently would be even greater than the above estimate.
There are other causes, however, whick prevent me from
accepting unreservedly the conclusions of Mr. Homer, although
his experiments are of great importance, and much credit is
due to the Egyptian Government for the liberal manner in
which they assisted Mr. Horner and the Koyal Society in this
investigation.

I have already mentioned the evidence on which M. Moiiot
has endeavoured to estimate the age of the Cone de la Tiniere,
and which gave about six thousand years for the lower layer
of vegetable soil, and ten thousand years for the whole of the
existing cone. But above this existing cone is another, which
was formed when the lake stood at a higher level than at
present, and which M. Moiiot refers to the period of the river-
drift gravels. This drift-age cone is about twelve times as
large as that now forming, and would appear, therefore, on
the same data, to indicate an antiquity of more than one hun-
dred thousand years.

In his " Travels in North America," Sir C. Lyell has endea-

396 AGE OF THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA.

voured to estimate the age of the Mississippi delta in the
following manner : — " Dr. Kiddle," he says, " communicated
to me, at New Orleans, the result of a series of experiments
which he had made to ascertain the proportion of sediment
contained in the waters of the Mississippi. He concluded
that the mean annual amount of solid matter was to the water
as yAr in weight, or about -g-^u in volume. Since that period
he has made another series of experiments, and his tables
show that the quantity of mud held in suspension increases
regularly with the increased height and velocity of the stream.
On the whole, comparing the flood season with that of clearest
water, his experiments, continued down to 1849, give an ave-
rage annual quantity of solid matter somewhat less than his
first estimate, but not varying materially from it. From these
observations, and those of Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Forskey (an
eminent engineer, to whom I have before alluded), on the
average width, depth, and velocity of the Mississippi, the mean
annual discharge of water and sediment were deduced. I
then assumed 528 feet, or the tenth of a mile, as the probable
thickness of the deposit of mud and sand in the delta ; found-
ing my conjecture chiefly on the depth of the Gulf of Mexico
between the southern point of Florida and the Balize, which
equals, on an average, one hundred fathoms, and partly on
some borings six hundred feet deep, in the delta near Lake
Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans, in which the bottom of
the alluvial matter is said not to have been reached. The
area of the delta being about 13,600 square statute miles, and
the quantity of solid matter annually brought down the river
3,702,758,400 cubic feet, it must have taken 67,000 years for
the formation of the whole ; and if the alluvial matter of the
plain above be 264 feet deep, or half that of the delta, it must
have required 33,500 more years for its accumulation, even if
its area be estimated only as equal to that of the delta, whereas
it is, in fact, larger."

LAPSE OF TIME AS INDICATED BY CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 397

Moreover, as Sir Charles has himself pointed out, a very
large proportion of the mud brought down by the river is not
deposited in the delta, but is carried out into the gulf. In
the "Antiquity of Man"* he refers to the above-given calcu-
lation, and admits that the discharge of water seems to have
been much underrated by the earlier experiments. Messrs.
Humphrey and Abbot, who have recently surveyed the delta,
also remark that " the river pushes along its bottom into the
gulf a certain quantity of sand and gravel, which would," they
suppose, " augment the volume of solid matter by about one-
tenth." This, of course, would greatly diminish the time re-
quired; but, taking into consideration the quantity of mud
which is carried out to sea, and which was not allowed for in
the previous calculation, Sir Charles Lyell still regards 100,000
years as a moderate estimate ; and he considers that " the
alluvium of the Somme containing flint implements and the
remains of the mammoth and hyaena," is not less ancient.

Again, whatever cause or causes may have produced the
great change which has taken place in the climate of Western
Europe, there can be little doubt that this change indicates
a very considerable lapse of time. We are indebted to Mr.
Hopkins for a very interesting memoir on this subject. Among
the possible causes of change he discusses —

Firstly. A variation in the intensity of solar radiation.

To this theory Mr. Hopkins sees no a priori objection; but
he does not feel disposed to attach much weight to it, because
it is " a mere hypothesis framed to account for a single and
limited class of facts, and unsupported by the testimony ot
any other class of allied but independent phenomena."

It is, moreover, open to the objections stated with great
force by Professor Tyndall,-f who argues that the ancient gla-

* Appendix to third edition, t Heat considered as a Mode of
p. 16. See also Geological Journal, Motion, p. 192.
1869, vol. xxv. p. 11.

398 LAPSE OF TIME AS INDICATED BY CHANGE OF CLIMATE.

ciers indicate the action of heat as much as of cold. " Cold,"
he says, " will not produce glaciers. You may have the bit-
terest north-east winds here in London throughout the winter,
without a single flake of snow. Cold must have the fitting
object to operate upon, and this object — the aqueous vapour
of the air — is the direct product of heat. Let us put this
glacier question in another form : the latent heat of aqueous
vapour, at the temperature of its production in the tropics, is
about 1000° Fahr., for the latent heat augments as the tem-
perature of evaporation descends. A pound of water thus
vaporized at the equator, has absorbed one thousand times
the quantity of heat which would raise a pound of the liquid

one degree in temperature It is perfectly manifest that

by weakening the sun's action, either through a defect of
emission, or by the steeping of the entire solar system in space
of a low temperature, we should be cutting off the glaciers at
their source."

Professor Frankland has even gone so far as to express the
opinion that " the sole cause of the phenomena of the glacial
epoch was a higher temperature of the ocean than that which
obtains at present,"* having no doubt overlooked the fact
that the fauna of the sea, as well as of the land, had an Arctic
character.

Secondly. Admitting the proper motion of the sun, it has
been suggested that we may have recently passed from a
colder into a warmer region of space.

I must refer to Mr. Hopkins' memoir for his objections to
this suggestion ; they certainly appear to " render the theory
utterly inapplicable to the explanation of the changes of tem-
perature at the more recent geological epochs."

This hypothesis, moreover, is liable to the same fatal objec-
tion as the first. To produce snow requires both heat and
cold ; the first to evaporate, the second to condense. In fact,

* Phil. Mag. 1864, p. 328.

SIR J. W. LUBBOCK ON THE EARTH'S AXIS. 399

what we require is a greater contrast betwen the temperature
of the tropics and that of our latitudes ; so that, paradoxical
as it may appear, the primary cause of the "glacial" epoch
may be, after all, an elevation of temperature in the tropics,
causing a greater amount of evaporation in the equatorial
regions, and consequently a greater supply of the raw material
of snow in the temperate regions during the winter months.

Thirdly. An alteration in the earth's axis.

The possibility of such a change has been denied by many
astronomers. My father, the late Sir J. W. Lubbock, has, on
the contrary, maintained* that this would necessarily follow
from upheavals and depressions of the earth's surface if only
they were of sufficient magnitude. The same view has re-
cently been taken by other mathematicians, and among geo-
logists by Dr. Duncan and M. Garret. Mr. Evans has made
the ingenious suggestion that the solid external crust of the
earth may have slid over its fluid or semi-fluid nucleus. On
the other hand, Mr. George Darwin, who has recently dealt
with the subject, •(• concludes that, while theoretically such a
change may have taken place, the amount could not have
been sufficient to cause any considerable change of climate in
a recent geological period. The subject is one of extreme
difficulty ; but it is at any rate clear that this suggestion, like
the preceding, presupposes immense geographical changes,
which would therefore necessarily imply an enormous lapse
of time.

Fourthly. Mr. Hopkins inclines to find the true solution of
the difficulty in the supposition that the Gulf-Stream did not
at this period warm the shores of Europe. " A depression of
2000 feet would," he says, "convert the Mississippi into a
great arm of the sea, of which the present Gulf of Mexico
would form the southern extremity, and which would com-
municate at its northern extremity with the waters occupying
* Geol. Journ. vol. v. p. 4. f Phil. Trans, vol. clxvii.

400 EFFECT OF A CHANGE IN THE GULF-STREAM.

the .... great valley now occupied by the chain of lakes."
In this case the Gulf-Stream would no longer be deflected
by the American coasts, but would pass directly up this
channel into the Arctic Sea ; and as a very great ocean current
must have its counter current, it is probable that there would
be a flow of cold water from the North between the coasts
of Norway and Greenland. The absence of the Gulf-Stream
would probably lower the January temperature of Western
Europe ten degrees, while the presence of a cold current from
the North would make a further difference of about three
or four degrees,* an alteration of the climate which would
apparently be sufficient to account for all the phenomena.
This theory Mr. Hopkins considers as no mere hypothesis,
but as necessarily following from the submergence of North
America, which has been inferred from evidence of a different
nature.

In this case, of course, the periods of great cold in Europe
and in America must have been successive, and not synchro-
nous ; and it may also be observed, that in this suggested
deflection of the Gulf-Stream, Mr. Hopkins was contemplating
a period anterior to that of the present rivers. For if we are
to adopt this solution of the difficulty, an immense time would
be required. If, when the gravels and loess of the Somnie and
the Seine were being deposited, the Gulf-Stream was passing
up what is now the valley of the Mississippi, then it follows
that the formation of the loess in that valley and its delta —
an accumulation which Sir C. Lyell has shown to require a
period of about 100,000 years — would be subsequent to the
excavation of the Sornme valley, and to the presence of man
in Western Europe.

The deflection of the Gulf-Stream from our coasts niisht,

however, be owing to another cause, namely, a subsidence of
the Isthmus of Panama ; in support of which suggestion may

* Hopkins. 1. c. p. 85.

EFFECT OF A CHANGE IN THE GULF-STREAM. 401

be mentioned the remarkable fact recently observed by Dr.
Giinther, that out of 173 tropical marine fish, no less than 57,
or 30 per cent., occur on both sides of the isthmus — in both
the Atlantic and the Pacific.*

Mr. Croll, however, has pointed out that at present the
" S.E. trade winds of the Atlantic blow with greater force than
the N.E. trades, and the consequence is that the S.E. trades
sometimes extend to 10° or 15° N. lat., whereas the N.E. trades
seldom blow south of the equator. But during the glacial
epoch the very reverse must have occurred. Hence the great
equatorial current of the Atlantic must during that period
have been driven considerably south of its present position." -f*
Even at present, while the greater part of the water enters the
Gulf of Mexico, one portion is deflected southwards, which in
the case mentioned above would happen to the greater portion,
if not the whole.

Under existing circumstances, however, the southern divi-
sion is comparatively small ; by far the larger portion of the
great equatorial current turns northwards, and warms the
Northern hemisphere, so that the comparatively high tempe-
rature of the Northern Atlantic is in some measure due to heat
derived from the Southern hemisphere. In a recent memoir,*
Mr. Croll has shown the great effect produced by the Gulf-
Stream on the present climate of Europe. He calculates that
it conveys as much heat as is received from the sun by
3,121,870 square miles of the Equator: nearly as much as is
received from the sun by the entire Arctic regions, the pro-
portions being as 15 to 18. Our present climate is 12° higher
than the normal due to its latitude, but Mr. Croll points out
that this is by no means to be considered as measuring the

effect of the Gulf-Stream. The temperature of the whole

* Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. vi. p. 397.
f Croll, Philosophical Magazine, Aug. 1864.
I 1. c. Feb. and Oct. 1870.

9 n

_i LJ

402 ASTRONOMICAL CAUSES.

hemisphere is raised by the equatorial currents, and the 12°
" only represent the number of degrees that the mean normal
temperature of our island stands above what is called the
normal temperature of the latitude."

There is yet another cause to which the present mild tem-
perature of Europe is partly due, and which must not be alto-
gether neglected. At the period under consideration, indeed,
the geography of Western Europe must have been very nearly
what it is now. There is, however, good reason for consider-
ing that the Desert of Sahara then formed part of the Atlantic
Ocean. Mr. Tristram has called attention to cliffs, ancient
sea-beaches, and lines of terraces along the northern margin
of the desert, and the common cockle is still found living in
some of the salt lakes. Mr. Tristram also discovered a species
of ffaligenes, which inhabits the Gulf of Guinea, in a salt lake
in lat. 32° N. and long. 7° E., separated, therefore, from its
present marine habitat by the whole extent of the great
Desert. Moreover, as we have already seen, the present geo-
graphical distribution of animals can only be explained on
the hypothesis that the existing fauna, including man, occupied
Africa long before the Sahara became dry land.

Mr. Croll has shown in the memoir already cited, that cur-
rents of warm water produce a far greater effect upon climate
than aerial currents of equal volume and temperature ; yet it
is evident that such a change would have a great effect on the
climate of Europe. At present we receive from the south hot
dry winds, which warm us both directly and also indirectly
by melting the snow and ice on our mountain-tops. If the
Sahara was a sea, the " Eohn," instead of being a burning, dry
wind, which strips the snow off the Alps, both by melting and
evaporation, would be a moist, damp wind, and when it reached
the mountains would produce dense clouds and thick fogs,
which would prevent the sun's rays from warming the earth
or melting the glaciers. So that to the barren desert of the

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES. 403

Sahara, which we are apt to look upon as a useless waste, we
are in reality much indebted for the fertility and civilization
of Europe.

M. Adhemar* has suggested a mode of accounting for the
cold of the glacial epoch, which, if the true one, would give
us means of calculating its antiquity. If the plane of the
equator coincided exactly with that of the ecliptic, i.e. with
that of the earth's orbit, then it is evident that every day
would be followed by a night of equal length. In conse-
quence, however, of the obliquity of the ecliptic, there are
only two days in the year when this is actually the case,
namely, the 20th of March and the 23rd September. Thus
our year is divided into four well-marked periods, " Winter"
begins on the 22nd December, which is the shortest clay of
the year, and continues until the 20th March, which is called
the spring equinox, because on it the day and night are of
equal lengths. "Spring" commences on the 20th March and
continues till the 21st June, during which time the days
continue to elongate at the expense of the night.

From the 21st June, however, which is the first day of
" summer," the days begin to shorten, until, on the 23rd of
September, day and night are again equal, and we have the
autumn equinox.

Autumn commences on the 23rd September, and the days
continue to diminish till the 22nd December, which is the
shortest day, and after which they begin to lengthen.

At present, then, the northern hemisphere enjoys in each
year seven days more of spring and summer than of autumn
and winter; while, on the other hand, the southern hemi-
sphere has seven days more of autumn and winter than of
spring and summer. This inequality of the seasons is due to
the greater rapidity with which the earth moves when it is

* Revolutions de la Mer. J. Adhemar. Paris.

2D 2

404 M. ADH£MAR'S ARGUMENT.

in perihelion, or nearest the sun, as is the case on the 31st
December.

The perihelion has not always been, nor will it always con-
tinue to be, at the same time of year as at present. On the
contrary, a constant though slow movement is continually
taking place : the time of perihelion takes place in each year
a little later than the preceding, so that perihelion which
now happens on the 31st December, will in the lapse of time
fall on the 1st of January, then on the 2nd, and so on. The
interval between the times at which perihelion occurs on the
same day of the year, is about 21,000 years. At some future
day, about 5000 years hence, the perihelion will occur on
the 20th March, and in about 21,000 years it will again be
on the 31st Dec. The aphelion changes of course in the
same way, and consequently the northern and southern hemi-
spheres alternately enjoy a preponderance of summer. The
year 1248 A.D. was that in which the first day of winter cor-
responded with the passage of the earth into perihelion, and
consequently was the period when the balance of summer in
favour of the northern hemisphere was greatest. Up to that
date the duration of summer was increasing ; it is now, and
has been for 630 years, gradually diminishing.

Astronomers have not, however, generally considered that
these changes, or even those which affect the excentricity of
our orbit, would produce any material difference between the
climates of the two hemispheres, because, whatever the excen-
tricity of our orbit may be, the two hemispheres must receive
exactly the same amounts of heat, " the proximity of the sun
in perigee, or its distance in apogee, exactly compensating
the effect of its swifter or slower motion ;" in other words,
the southern hemisphere has a shorter summer than ours
because it is nearer the sun, and for the same reason it receives
in a given time more heat, so that the two differences neutralize
one another.

THE CUPOLA OF ICE AT THE SOUTH POLE. 405

M. Adhemar points out, however, that the temperature of
each hemisphere does not depend on the quantity of heat
received from the sun, but on the difference between the
amount received and the amount radiated away into space ;
in other words, on the quantity retained. If, he says, in
illustration, you burn a given quantity of wood in two iden-
tical rooms, and then open the windows in one and not in the
other, you will soon have a difference of temperature, though
the supply of heat has been the same in both.*

Now, our northern hemisphere has 186x24 = 4464 hours
of day in the year, and 179 x 24 = 4296 hours of night, while
the southern hemisphere has 4464 hours of night, and only
4296 of day. We may admit that the southern hemisphere
will receive as much heat from the sun in its 4296 hours of
day, as we do in our 4464, but it is evident that it will retain
less, because it will have 168 hours more of night, during
which radiation will be going on. Though, therefore, the heat
received by the two hemispheres will be equal, the tempera-
ture of the two will not, M. Adhemar maintains, be by any
means the same ; and though at first this difference may be
slight, it will in its nature be to a certain extent cumulative.

Mr. Croll, however, is of opinion that this difference can,
after all, produce little or no effect on climate. However this
may be, it is evident that, on account of the much greater
accumulation of ice, the southern hemisphere is colder than
the northern ; and it is also clear that this very fact tends to
aggravate the difference to which it is due.

Moreover, M. Adhemar affirms that the immense cupola of
ice which is known to exist round the South Pole must affect
the centre of gravity of the earth, and consequently attract
the ocean southwards. In this manner, indeed, he attempts
to explain the remarkable preponderance of land in the north,
and of sea in the southern hemisphere. A glance at the map

* Revolutions de la Mer, p. 344,

406 THE CUPOLA OF ICE AT THE SOUTH POLE.

will show this difference, but the following table makes it
more apparent. Taking each parallel as unity, the proportion
of sea is as follows :

60° North . . 0.353 10° South . . 0.786

50° „ . . 0.407 20° „ . . 0.777

40° „ . . 0.527 30° „ . . 0.791

30° „ . . 0.536 40° „ . . 0.951

20° „ . . 0.677 50° „ . . 0.972

10° „ . . 0.710 60° „ . . 1.000

0° „ 0.771

Certainly a progressive increase of sea, which is so remarkably
regular, can hardly be the result of accident.

M. Adhemar maintains that this is due to the alteration of
the centre of gravity of the earth, caused by the great southern
cupola of ice, and consequently that 11,120 years ago (i.e.
10,500 years before 1248), when the northern hemisphere
was at its coldest, the northern glacier consequently at its
maximum, and the southern at its minimum, the preponde-
rance of water would have been in the northern hemisphere,
and the submersion of the lower lands of Europe and America
may have been due to an alteration, not in the level of the
land, but in that of the sea. He conceives that when the
increasing cupola counterbalances the decreasing one, there is
a sudden transfer of the centre of gravity of the earth from
one side of the centre of the solid part to the other, and con-
sequently a rush of water, or deluge, alternately from north
to south and from south to north, occurring every 10,500
years. It seems to me, however, that the alterations of the
ice cupolas would be too slow, and consequently the change
in the centre of gravity too gradual, to cause any sudden rush
or deluge of water from the one pole to the other.

According to this theory, the year 1248 was that in which
our northern hemisphere was at its period of greatest heat,

OBJECTIONS TO M. ADH^MAR'S THEORY. 407

the southern at that of greatest cold ; and as 630 years have
since elapsed we ought to find some evidence of subsequent
change.

As regards the southern hemisphere, M. Adhemar points
out that the great southern glacier has considerably retreated
since the time of Captain Cook, but it is in the northern
hemisphere that he finds the greatest evidence of alteration.
He dwells much on the increase, during the last few centuries,
of the Swiss glaciers, and of the ice in Greenland, and points
out that the cultivation of the vine does not now extend so
far northwards as was once the case. M. Adhemar, then,
considers that the last epoch of greatest cold must have been
11,120 years -ago, since which time the climate of our hemi-
sphere gradually improved up to the year 1248, when it was
most genial, and after which it has, in his opinion, gradually
commenced again to deteriorate. Sir Charles Lyell,* however,
does not think that this change, " which could hardly produce
more than a difference of half a degree Fahrenheit between
the cold of the present winter and that of 1248, would be
appreciable." He adds that the whole effect which can be
produced by secular astronomical changes must "always be
very subordinate to the influence of geographical conditions."-)-

Sir John Herschell j also is " very far from supposing it
competent" to account for so great an alteration. Moreover,
it is remarkable as showing how far we are from possessing
the data necessary for any satisfactory conclusions, that while,
as we have seen, M. Adhemar regards the enormous cupola
of ice at the South Pole as the reason for the almost entire
absence of land at that Pole, Sir C. Lyell, on the other hand,
states as a fact, that the chief cause of the intense cold of
high southern latitudes is "the vast height and extent of

* Principles of Geology, 1867, J Outlines of Astronomy, 1858,
vol. i. p. 278. p. 235.

t Ibid. vol. i. p. 243.

408 PROBABLE EFFECT OF PRECESSION.

the Antarctic continent," the very existence of which is denied
by, and is indeed incompatible with the theory of M. Adhemar,
while it is necessary to that of Sir C. Lyell.

It must, I think, be confessed that the existence of Victoria
Land, Enderby's Land, and other coasts, as well as the great
volcano of Mount Erebus, are unfavourable to the theory
advocated by M. Adhemar, so far at least as he applies it to
explain the present remarkable distribution of land and sea ;
and it must also be remembered, as tending to show that the
geographical distribution of land and sea has more influence
on climate than M. Adhemar is disposed to admit, that
according to his theory the southern hemisphere ought at the
present time to be, as a whole, far colder than the northern,
which, however, is not the case.

Although, then, there can be no doubt that astronomical
changes would, to a certain extent, affect our climate in the
manner indicated by M. Adhemar, those best qualified to
form an opinion do not consider that the cause assigned by
him would by itself be sufficient to account for changes so
great as those which have taken place. The effect produced
increases, however, with the excentricity of the earth's orbit.
The form of this orbit is always altering ; as it approaches to
a circle, the effect produced by precession and change of
position of perihelion diminishes, while on the other hand it
increases as the orbit elongates. At present the excentricity
of our orbit is only O'OICS, — that is to say, the orbit is nearly
circular ; but there have been periods when it was much more
elongated, and when consequently the extremes of tempera-
ture dependent on precession and the position of perihelion
must also have been much greater.

Mr. Croll and Mr. Stone have calculated the excentricity
for the last million years, and Mr. John Carrick Moore has
worked out the effect upon our climate, assuming other things
to remain unchanged, in the four last columns of the following

THE EXCENTRICITY OF THE EARTH'S ORBIT.

409

table, which is given by Sir C. Lyell in the last edition of
the " Principles of Geology."*

Table showing the variations in the excentricity of the earth's
orbit for a million years before A.D. 1800, and some of the
climatal effects of such variations.

Number of
years before
A.D. 1800.

Excentricity
of
Orbit.

Difference
of distance
in millions
of miles.

Number
of winter
days in
excess.

Mean of
hottest
month in lat.
of London.

Mean of
coldest
month in lat.
of London.

1,000,000

•0151

7-3

13° P.

21° F.

950,000

•0517

»i

25-1

109°

3°

900,000

•0102

4-9

80°

23°

850,000

•0747

13*

36-4

126°

7°

C ]b

800,000

•0132

6-4

82°

22°

750,000

•0575

104

27-8

113°

0°6

700,000

•0220

10-2

87°

17°

650,000

•0226

88°

16°

600,000

•0417

20-3

101°9

7°9

550,000

•0166

84°

20°

500,000

•0388

18-8

99°

9°

450,000

•0308

94°

13°

400,000

•0170

8-2

84°

20°

350,000

•0195

9-5

86°

18°

300,000

•0424

206

102°

7°

250,000

•0258

12-5

90°

15°

B I?

210,000

•0575

104

27-8

113°

0°7

200,000

•0567

10J

27-7

113°

1°9

150,000

•0332

16-1

95°

12°

] 00,000

•0473

105°

5°

50,000

•0131

»i

6-3

82°

22°

•0168

8-1

84°

20°

EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE.

COLUMN 1. — Division of a million years preceding 1800 into twenty equal parts.

COLUMN 2. — Computed by Mr. James Croll, by aid of Leverrier's formula, gives
the excentricity of the earth's orbit, in parts of a unit equal to the mean distance,
or half the longer diameter of the ellipse.

COLUMN 3. — Which, together with the three following columns, has been com-
puted by Mr. John Carrick Moore, gives in millions of miles the difference between
the greatest and least distances of the earth from the sun, during the excentricities
given in Column 2.

COLUMN 4. — Gives the number of days by which winter, occurring in aphelion,
is longer than the summer in perihelion.

COLUMN 5. — Gives the mean temperature of the hottest summer month in the
latitude of London when the summer occurs in perihelion.

COLUMN 6. — Gives the mean temperature of the coldest winter month in the
latitude of London when the winter occurs in aphelion.

* 1. c. vol. i. p. 293.

410 PROBABLE EFFECT OF PRECESSION.

Mr. Croll* does not indeed consider that an increase in the
excentricity would directly alter the relative temperature of
the two hemispheres, though it would bring about a condition
of things that would have this effect. The mid-winter tem-
perature of one hemisphere would be greatly lowered, the
consequence of which would be that all the moisture would
take the form of snow instead of rain, which would be the
more important because the winter would be longer. The
heat of the summer would be insufficient to melt the snow,
which consequently would accumulate year by year. On the
opposite hemisphere the reverse would be the case, and com-
paratively little snow would fall. The difference of tempera-
ture thus produced would cause the aerial currents, and espe-
cially the trade winds on the colder hemisphere, to be much
stronger than those on the other ; they would, therefore, blow
across the Equator, and, by impelling the equatorial waters
towards the hemisphere which was already the warmer of the
two, would raise its temperature still further.

This table shows that there are four periods, marked A, B,
C, and D, in which there has been a large excentricity and
an extreme climate. The periods marked A and B, says Sir
Charles Lyell, " would not, I conceive, be sufficiently distant
from our era to afford time for that series of glacial and post-
glacial events which we can prove to have happened since
the epoch of the greatest cold. These events relate to changes
in the level of the land in opposite directions, as well as the
excavation of valleys, and variations in the range and distri-
bution of aquatic and terrestrial animals, all of which take
place at so slow a rate that 200,000 years would not be suffi-
cient to allow of the series of changes with which we are
acquainted. I cannot but think, therefore, that if the date of
the most intense glacial cold can be arrived at by aid of a
very large excentricity, it would be a more probable conjecture

* Climate and Time, p. 228.

DATE SUGGESTED FOR THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 411

to assign C than B as the period in question ; " in other words,
to regard the glacial epoch as representing a period 800,000

years ago."

In differing from such a great authority as Sir C. Lyell,
I do so with great diffidence, but I confess that I should be
disposed rather to assign the glacial era to the periods A and B,
than to either C or D. *

It seems to me unlikely that the present fauna of Europe
should have continued to exist, almost without alteration, for
so long a period as 800,000 years, and the " variations in the
range and distribution of aquatic and terrestrial animals,"
might, I think, have occurred in even less than 200,000 years
under the great changes in climate which have taken place.
Moreover, the Geological Magazine for June, 1868, contains an
interesting paper by Mr. Geikie, " On Denudation now in
Progress," in which he discusses the general effect produced
by rivers in excavating valleys and lowering the general level
of the country. "For it is clear that if a river carries so
many millions of cubic feet of sediment every year into the
sea, the area of the country drained by it must have lost the
quantity of solid material, and if we could restore the sedi-
ment so as to spread it over the basin, the layer so laid down
would represent the fraction of a foot by which the basin had
been lowered during a year/' From observations made on
the Mississippi, Ganges, Ehone, Danube, and other great rivers,
Mr. Geikie estimates the annual loss at &^00 of a foot. But
he points out that this would not be uniform. The plains
and watersheds would lose little, the slopes and valleys much.
"There can be no doubt," he says, "that the erosion of the
slopes and water-courses is very much greater than that of
the more level grounds. Let it be assumed that the waste is
nine times greater in the one case than in the other (in all
likelihood it is more) : in other words, that while the plains

* MivCroll has also expressed this opinion. Phil. Mag. 1868, p. 367.

412 EFFECT OF RIVERS ON THE LEVEL OF CONTINENTS.

and table-lands have been having one foot worn off their
surface, the declivities and river-courses have lost nine feet.
Let it be further assumed that one-tenth part of the surface
of a country is occupied by its water-courses and glens, while
the remaining nine-tenths are covered by the plains, wide
valleys, or flat grounds. Now, according to the foregoing data,
the mean annual quantity of detritus carried to the sea is
equal to the yearly loss of Q-^QQ of a foot from the general
surface of the country. The valleys, therefore, are lowered by
TgW of a foot, and the more open and flat land by 10^00 of
a foot."

Mr. Geikie calculates in this manner that Europe would
disappear in little more than 4,000,000 of years. I cannot
altogether accept this conclusion, for when a river has less
than a given amount of fall, it ceases to excavate. Thus the
effect of the Nile is to raise, not to lower, the level of Egypt,
and most of our large rivers near their mouths act in a some-
what similar manner. As regards the higher districts, how-
ever, his data are perhaps not far wrong, and if we apply
them to the valley of the Somme, where the excavation is
about 200 feet in depth, they would indicate an antiquity
for the Paleolithic epoch of from 100,000 to 240,000 years,
which, though arrived at from perfectly different data, agrees
with the periods A and B in the calculation made by Messrs.
Croll and Stone.

In addition to the causes already alluded to, there is at
least one other astronomical phenomenon, namely, the change
in the obliquity of the ecliptic, which must be taken into
account in considering the effects which cosmical causes may,
or must, have exercised on climate. The whole question then
is one, not only of extreme interest, but also of very great
difficulty, and we are not, I think, at present in a position to
estimate with confidence the effects on climate which may
have been produced by these various causes.

THE OBLIQUITY OF THE ECLIPTIC. 413

Several other points connected with the glacial period
would receive a natural explanation if we were able to adopt
the suggestions of M. Adhemar and Mr. Croll. Thus M.
Morlot* some years ago pointed out that there are in Swit-
zerland evidences of several periods of cold, during what is
called the glacial epoch, separated by an interval of mildness.

Of this the most striking instance is afforded by the Dlirnten
beds, where a layer of coal or lignite no less than 12 feet
thick, lies between two glacial deposits. Mr. Croll gives -f-
particulars of 250 borings through the surface deposits of the
mining districts in Scotland. Of these, 25 showed two dis-
tinct boulder clay beds, 10 three, 1 four, 2 five, and 1 as many
as six, with stratified beds of sand and gravel between ; while
16 have two or three separate beds of boulder clay, differing
in colour and hardness, but without intermediate stratified
beds. Mr. Geikie also has found in the south-east of York-
shire that certain gravel beds, which have yielded mammalian
remains and myriads of Cyrena fluminalis and other shells,
are covered by a mass of unstratified tile or boulder clay.J

Whether M. Adhemar is right in attributing the prepon-
derance of ocean in the southern hemisphere to the influence
of the great Antarctic glacier, cannot, I think, in the present
state of our knowledge, be conclusively determined. There
can, however, be no doubt that an accumulation of snow and
ice at one pole would, by affecting the position of the centre
of gravity of the earth, attract the waters towards that pole.
Mr. Croll calculates that a diminution of 470 feet in the
thickness of the Antarctic glacier would raise the sea-level
at the North Pole 26 feet 5 inches, and 25 feet at the lati-

* Bull, de la Soc. Vaucloise des + Mr. Skertchiey also considers
Sciences Naturelles, March, 1854. that he has found a clear case, near
Bibl. Universelle de Geneve, May, Brandon, in which palaeolithic brick
1858. earth underlies boulder clay. Other

t Climate and Time, p. 254. geologists, however, have contested

his interpretation of the fact.

414 M. ADHE"MAR ON CHANGES IN THE SEA-LEVEL.

tude of Glasgow. A mile of ice removed in the same wav

O «/

would produce a change of 280 feet. M. Adhemar dwells
on various considerations which induce him to attribute a
very great thickness to the great southern glacier, and con-
sequently he considers that the alterations of sea-level which
would result from the alternate preponderance of ice in the
Arctic and Antarctic regions, would account for the various
alterations in the distribution of land and water. That there
must, however, have been elevations and depressions of the
land itself is sufficiently evident from other considerations;
but it is impossible to deny that the cause pointed out by
M. Adhemar may have produced the relative elevation of the
sea, as proved by the various raised beaches which fringe our
shores, and the depression on the other hand indicated by the
submerged forests, observed at so many points.

The former would indicate the periods of cold ; the latter,
those of heat. The present condition of our rivers will also
thus be simply explained. There can, I think, be no doubt
that many of them have excavated their own valleys. At
present, however, they are all filling up the lower parts of the
excavation, as, for instance, we have seen to be the case with
the Somme.

Moreover, the bottom of these valleys is in most cases lower
than the present sea-level, which cannot have been the case
at the time when they were excavated. It is evident, then,
that the excavation must have been finished at the time when
the sea was at a lower relative level than at present.

Again, it will be remembered that side by side with the
remains of Arctic animals have been found others indicating a
warm climate, such, for instance, as the hippopotamus. This fact,
which has always hitherto been felt as a difficulty, is at once
explained by Mr. Croll's suggestion ; for when the excentricity
was at a high value, we should have a change every ten or
twelve thousand years from a high to a low temperature, and

GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. 415

vice v-ersd. But a period of ten thousand years, long as it may
appear to us, is very little from a geological point of view ;
and we can thus understand how the remains of the hippopo-
tamus and the musk ox come to be found together in England
and France. The very same astronomical conditions which
fitted our valleys for the one, would at an interval of ten
thousand years render them suitable for the other. In this
case, Palaeolithic Man would date back to the warmer inter-
glacial times, which perhaps may explain the absence of any
human remains of this period in Scandinavia and Germany.

These considerations appear also to throw much light on
the changes in the distribution of land and sea which took
place during the glacial period. Mr. Croll has pointed out*
that the agglomeration of ice which must have taken place,
as above mentioned, would materially affect the question
by altering the position of the centre of the earth. It
must be remembered that what we call the " glacial " period,
was rather a period of extreme conditions ; the tempera-
ture of the northern and southern hemispheres being much
more unequal than at present, and each being alternately
much hotter and colder. We have not as yet any means
of measuring the amount of ice which under these circum-
stances would accumulate, first at one pole and then at the
other ; but even under the present comparatively equable
conditions, Mr. Croll considers that the ice cap at the Ant-
arctic Pole must be at least twelve miles in thickness. The
Antarctic continent appears to extend from the South Pole
to at least latitude 70°, so that it has a diameter of 2800
miles, and is undoubtedly covered with one continuous sheet
of ice. Sir James C. Eoss, after reaching the highest southern
latitude which has yet been attained, found himself stopped
by a precipitous wall of ice, which rose to a height of 180
feet, and effectually barred all further progress southwards.

* Geol. Mag., July and August, 1874.

416 GEOLOGICAL CHANGES.

For 450 miles he sailed in front of this cliff, and found it
unbroken by a single inlet.*

We can form some idea of this great ice sheet by what
we know of the interior of Greenland, which also is covered
by a continuous ice sheet, sloping gradually towards the
interior. Even of this ice sheet we know little beyond the
edge. Dr. Hayes, who has penetrated further inland than
any one else, in describing his camp at the furthest point he
reached, about seventy miles from the sea, says : " Our station
was as sublime as it was dangerous. We had attained an
altitude of 5000 feet above the sea-level, and were seventy
miles from the coast, in the midst of a vast frozen Sahara,
immeasurable to the human eye. There was neither hill,
mountain, nor gorge anywhere in view. We had completely
sunk the strip of land between the Mer de Glace and the sea,
and no object met the eye but our feeble tent, which bent to
the storm. Fitful clouds swept over the face of the full-
orbed moon, which, descending towards the horizon, glim-
mered through the drifting snow that scudded over the icy
plain — to the eye in undulating lines of downy softness, to
the flesh in showers of piercing darts." (Open Polar Sea,
p. 134.)

In fact, the ice sheet must slope upwards towards the
interior, because the snow which falls there would accumulate
until it reached an angle sufficient to carry it towards the
sea. In Greenland, the slope, so far as observed, appears to
be about 2°. Prof. Hopkins has shown that ice barely
moves on a slope of one degree. This minimum slope of 1°
continued over the 1400 miles from the edge of the Antarctic
ice cap to the South Pole, would give a thickness of ice at
the Pole of no less than twenty-four miles. But even if the
slope is only J degree, and, as Mr. Croll points out, we have
no evidence that such a slope would be sufficient to discharge

* Geikie's Ice Age, p. 101.

GEOLOGICAL CHANGES. 417

the ice, it must still be twelve miles thick at the South
Pole.

Now if the climatal conditions altered, so that the northern
hemisphere became colder, and the southern on the contrary
warmer, and if one-sixth of this ice, or two miles, was removed
from the latter, and a similar amount deposited on the former,
the result would be such a displacement of the earth's centre
of gravity as to cause, according to Mr. Croll, a rise of the
ocean at the North Pole of 380 feet; and in the latitude of
Edinburgh 312 feet, while according to other calculations it
would be much greater.

Again, it is very probable that ice would be melted at the
one Pole more rapidly than it would be formed at the other.
At the lowest estimate, the ice forming the present Antarctic
ice cap would be sufficient to raise the general level of the
ocean several hundred feet. The removal of two miles of ice
from the Antarctic continent, and the deposition of one mile
over a corresponding area round the North Pole, would alter
the sea-level no less than 485 feet at the Pole, and 435 feet
in the latitude of Edinburgh, as follows : — the removal of the
two miles would affect the centre of gravity of the earth 190
feet, the deposition of the ice round the North Pole would
carry it 95 feet further, while the additional water resulting
from the melting of the one mile of ice would raise the general
level of the ocean 200 feet, making, as before, a total change
at the North Pole of 485 feet.

Sir C. Lyell attempted* to form an estimate of the dura-
tion of the glacial epoch, on the assumption that the dif-
ferent movements of elevation and depression proceeded at
an average rate of 2| feet in a century. As the simplest
" series of changes in physical geography which can possibly
account for the phenomena of the glacial period," he gave the
following :

* Antiquity of Man, pp. 2S2; 285.
2 E

418 GEOLOGICAL CHANGES

" First, a continental period, towards the close of which the
forest of Cromer flourished ; when the land was at least 500
feet above its present level, perhaps much higher, and its
extent probably greater than that given in the map, fig. 41."
In this map the British Isles, including the Hebrides, Orkneys,
and Shetlands, are connected with one another and with the
Continent, the whole German Ocean being laid dry.

" Secondly, a period of submergence, by which the land
north of the Thames and Bristol Channel, and that of Ireland,
was gradually reduced to such an archipelago as is pictured
in map, fig. 40 ; and finally to such a general prevalence of
sea as is seen in map, fig. 39, only the tops of the mountains
being left above water. This was the period of great submer-
gence and of floating ice, when the Scandinavian flora, which

overspread the lower grounds during the first continental
period, may have obtained exclusive possession of the only
lands not covered with perpetual snow.

" Thirdly, a second continental period, when the bed of the
glacial sea, with its marine shells and erratic blocks, was laid
dry, and when the quantity of land equalled that of the first
period." During this period perhaps Spitzbergen, Greenland,
Iceland, and the Faroe Islands, received their present vege-
tation, the existence of which can hardly be accounted for
without a period of continuous or nearly continuous land.

It is evident that such changes as these would require a
great lapse of time. Sir Charles Lyell admits that the average
change of 2J feet in a century is a purely arbitrary and con-
jectural rate, and that there are cases in which a change of as
much as six feet in a century appears to have taken place :
still it is in his opinion probable that the rate assumed in a
century is, if anything, above the average, and in this I believe
most geologists would be disposed to agree with him. On
this hypothesis the submergence of Wales, to the extent of
1400 feet, would require 56,000 years ; but " taking Prof.

IN THE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 419

Ramsay's estimate of 800 feet more, that elevation being
required for the deposition of some of the stratified drift, we
must demand an additional period of 32,000 years, amounting
in all to 88,000 ; and the same time would be required for
re-elevation of the tract to its present height. But if the
land rose in the second continental period no more than 600
feet above the present level, this .... would have taken ano-
ther 24,000 years ; the whole of the grand oscillation, com-
prising the submergence and re-emergence, having taken, in
round numbers, 224,000 years for its completion ; and this,
even if there were no pause or stationary period, when the
downward movement ceased, and before it was converted into
an upward one."

To most geologists these figures, large as they are, will have
no appearance of improbability. All the facts of geology tend
to indicate an antiquity of which we are but beginning to
form a dim idea. Take, for instance, one single formation —
our well-known chalk. This consists entirely of shells and
fragments of shells deposited at the bottom of an ancient sea,
far away from any continent. Such a progress as this must
be very slow : probably we should be much above the mark
if we were to assume a rate of deposition of ten inches in
a century. Now the chalk is more than a thousand feet
in thickness, and would have required therefore more than
120,000 years for its formation. The fossiliferous beds of
Great Britain, as a whole, are more than 70,000 feet in thick-
ness ; and many which with us measure only a few inches,
on the Continent expand into strata of immense depth ; while
others of great importance elsewhere are wholly wanting with
us ; for it is evident that during all the different periods in
which Great Britain has been dry land, strata have been
forming (as is, for example, the case now) elsewhere, and not
with us. Moreover, we must remember that many of the
strata now existing have been formed at the expense of older

2E2

420 GEOLOGICAL TIME.

ones ; thus all the flint gravels in the south-east of England
have been produced by the destruction of chalk. This again
is a very slow process. It has been estimated that a cliff 500
feet high will be worn away at the rate of an inch in a century.
This may seem a low rate, but we must bear in mind that
along any line of coast there are comparatively few points
which are suffering at one time, and that even on those, when
a fall of cliff has taken place, the fragments serve as a pro-
tection to the coast until they have been gradually removed
by the waves. The Wealden Valley is twenty-two miles in
breadth, and on these data it has been calculated that the
denudation of the Weald must have required more than
150,000,000 of years.

There can be no doubt about the interest of these calcula-
tions, and they have also the great merit of giving some defi-
niteness to our ideas. We must not, however, attribute to
them a value which has been distinctly disclaimed even by
their authors. Moreover, we must remember that these esti-
mates are brought forward not as a proof, but as a measure,
of antiquity. Our belief in the antiquity of man rests not on
any isolated calculations, but on the changes which have taken
place since his appearance ; changes in the geography, in the
fauna, and in the climate of Europe. Valleys have been
deepened, widened, and partially filled up again; caves through
which subterranean rivers once ran are now left dry ; even
the configuration of laud has been materially altered, and
Africa finally separated from Europe.

Our climate has greatly changed for the better, and with it
the fauna has materially altered. In some cases — for instance,
in that of the hippopotamus and of the African elephant — we
may probably look to the diminution of food and the presence
of man as the main cause of their disappearance ; the extinc-
tion of the mammoth, the Eleplias antiquus, and the Rhinoceros
tichorhinus, may possibly be due to the same influences ; but

GEOLOGICAL TIME. 421

the retreat of the reindeer and the musk ox are probably in
great measure owing to the change of climate. These and
similar facts, though they afford us no means of measurement,
impress us with a vague and overpowering sense of antiquity.
All geologists, indeed, are now prepared to admit that man
has existed on our earth for a much longer period than was
until recently supposed to have been the case.

But it may be doubted whether even geologists yet realize
the great antiquity of our race.

"When speculations on the long series of events which
occurred in the glacial and post-glacial periods are indulged
in," says Sir C. Lyell,* " the imagination is apt to take alarm
at the immensity of the time required to interpret the monu-
ments of these ages, all referable to the era of existing species.
In order to abridge the number of centuries which would
otherwise be indispensable, a disposition is shown by many
to magnify the rate of change in pre-historic times, by invest-
ing the causes which have modified the animate and the in-

animate world with extraordinary and excessive energy

We of the living generation, when called upon to make grants
of thousands of centuries, in order to explain the events of
what is called the modern period, shrink naturally at first
from making what seems so lavish an expenditure of past
time."

That palaeolithic implements belong to a period of great
cold, i.e. to the glacial period, seems indicated by the fact that
they have not yet been found in the areas occupied by the
deposits of the late glacial epoch. If a map be constructed
showing the regions occupied by the deposits of the glacial
epoch, the morainic debris, diluvial gravels, and boulder clay,
on the one hand, and the palaaolithic implements on the other,
it would be seen at a glance that the former end when the
latter begin.

* Address to the Brit. Ass. 1864, p. 21. Bath.

422 REPORTED EVIDENCE OF MAX

That man existed in Western Europe during the period of
the Mammoth and the Ehinoceros tichorhinus, no longer, I
think, admits of a doubt ; but when we come to Pliocene, and
still more to Miocene times, the evidence is less conclusive.

M. Desnoyers* has called attention to some marks noticed
by him on bones found in the upper pliocene beds of St. Prest,
and belonging to the Elephas meridionalis, Rhinoceros lepto-
rJiinus, Hippopotamus major, several species of deer (including
the gigantic Megaceros carnutorum, Laugel), and two species
of Bos, which he considers to be of human origin.

Among the bones of the deer were several crania, all of
which have been broken in one way, namely, by a violent
blow given on the skull between, and at the base of, the
horns. M. Steenstrup has noticed fractures of this kind in
other less ancient skulls of ruminants, and at the present day
some of the northern tribes treat the skulls of ruminants in
the same manner. Through the courtesy of M. Desnoyers, I
have had the opportunity of examining some of the scratched
bones from Saint Prest. The markings fully bear out the
description given by him, and some of them at least appear
to me to be probably of human origin ; at the same time, and
in the present state of our knowledge, I am not prepared to
say that there is no other manner in which they might have
been produced. At the same place, that indefatigable archae-
ologist, M. 1'Abbe Bourgeois, has more recently discovered
worked flints, including flakes, awls and scrapers, but unfor-
tunately there is some doubt as to the stratigraphical relations
of the bed in which they occurred. •(• Moreover, some autho-
rities consider these beds to be interglacial. In the inter-
glacial coal-beds of Dlirnten already alluded to (ante, p. 413),
Prof. Eiitimeyer has found a fragment apparently of rough
basket or wattle work. The interpretation in this case again

* Comptes Rendus, June 8, 1863.

t Mat. pour 1'Histoire de 1'Homme, 1867, p. 17; ditto, 1873, p. 14.

IN THE PLIOCENE PERIOD. 423

has been questioned, but Prof. Schwendener, who has recently
examined the specimens with great care, is decidedly of opi-
nion that it is of human workmanship.

At the meeting in Spezzia of the " Societe" Italienne des
Sciences Naturelles," Prof. G. Piamorino exhibited some bones
of Pliocene Age, said to bear marks of knives. These speci-
mens are in the museum at Genoa, but I have not myself
seen them.*

M. Capellini also has described certain bones supposed to
belong to the same geological period, which, in his opinion,
bear marks of flint knives. Mr. Evans, however, has suggested
that these marks may have been made by the teeth of fishes.-f-

The existence of man during the period of the crag has
been supposed to be indicated by the fact that some of the
sharks' teeth, so abundant in these deposits, are perforated in
a manner ^which at first sight certainly resembles that in
which we find similar teeth pierced by savages at the present
clay. Mr. Charles worth, while carefully abstaining from the
expression of any opinion, exhibited several such specimens
at a recent meeting of the Anthropological Institute. It has,
however, I think, been shown that these perforations are pro-
bably the work of boring parasites.^:

Some archseologists even consider that we have proof of the
presence of man in miocene times. Thus M. Bourgeois has
found in the calcaire de Beauce, near Pontlevoy, many flints
which have been subjected to the action of heat, and others
which he considers to show undoubted marks of human work-
manship. On the former point there is still some difference
of opinion, and the action of fire, though it points strongly to,
does not absolutely prove, the presence of man. These inte-
resting specimens were found in a stratum which contains
the remains of Acerotherium, an extinct animal allied to the

* 1. c. vol. ii. p. 41. £ Hughes, Man in the Crag. Geol.

t Congres,Int.d'Anth.l876;p.46. Mag. vol. ix. June, 1872.

424 MIOCENE MAN.

Khinoceros, and beneath a bed which contains the Mastodon,
Dinotherium, and Khinoceros. The enormous number of these
cracked flints also throws some doubt on their bein^ of human

origin.

In the Materiaux pour 1'Histoire de FHomme for 1870,* is
a figure of a flint flake found by M. Tardy in the miocene
beds of Aurillac (Auvergne), together with the remains of
Dinotherium giganteum, and Machairodus latidens. I have
not visited the locality, and cannot express any opinion as to
the age of the bed in which this interesting specimen was
discovered, but from the figure given there can be no reason-
able doubt that it is of human workmanship. M. Delaunay
also has called attention to a rib, found by him at Pouance'
(Maine et Loire), and belonging to a well-known miocene
species, the Halitherium fossile ;*f this bears certain marks
which closely resemble those which might have been made
by flint implements. M. Hamy gives a good figure of this
interesting specimen. Whether, however, we have conclusive
evidence of the existence of man in miocene times, is a ques-
tion on which archaeologists are still of different opinions.

Sir Charles Lyell himself thinks that we may expect to
find the remains of man in the pliocene strata ; but there he
draws the line, and says that in miocene times, "had some
other rational being, representing man, then flourished, some
signs of his existence could hardly have escaped unnoticed,
in the shape of implements of stone or metal, more frequent
and more durable than the osseous remains of any of the
mammalia."

Without expressing any opinion as to the mental condition
of our ancestors in the miocene period, it seems to me evident
that the argument derived from the absence of human remains,
whatever may be its value, is as applicable to pliocene as to
miocene times. On the other hand, no living species of land
* 1. c. p. 93. t Precis de Paleontologie Humaine, p. 58.

MIOCENE MAN. 425

mammal has yet been found in the miocene strata. It is true
that, by the exercise of his brains, man is more able to render
himself independent of external conditions than other animals ;
cold, for instance, leading to warmer clothes in the one, to
more fur in the other ; still, judging from the analogy of other
species, I am disposed to think that in the miocene period
man was probably represented by anthropoid apes, more nearly
resembling us than do any of the existing quadrumana. We
need not, however, expect necessarily to find the proofs in
Europe ; our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom are con-
fined to hot, almost to tropical climates ; and though we know
that during parts of the miocene period the climate of Europe
was warmer than at present, so that monkeys lived much
north of their present limits, still it is in the warmer regions
of the earth that we are, perhaps, most likely to find the
earliest traces of the human race.

428 THE UNTEUST WORTHINESS OF TRADITION.

Ration of the Arabs is in the exact style of the Old Testament.
The name of God is coupled with every trifling incident in
life, and they believe in the continual action of Divine special
interference. Should a famine afflict the country, it is ex-
pressed in the stern language of the Bible, ' The Lord has sent
a grievous famine upon the land ;' or, ' The Lord called for a
famine, and it came upon the land/ Should their cattle fall
sick, it is considered to be an affliction by Divine command ;
or should the flocks prosper and multiply particularly during
one season, the prosperity is attributed to special interference.
Nothing can happen in the usual routine of daily life without
a direct connexion with the hand of God, in the Arab's belief.
"This striking similarity to the description of the Old
Testament is exceedingly interesting to a traveller when
residing among these curious and original people. "With the
Bible in one hand, and these unchanged tribes before the
eyes, there is a thrilling illustration of the sacred record : the
past becomes the present, the veil of three thousand years is
raised, and the living picture is a witness to the exactness of
the historical description. At the same time, there is a light
thrown upon many obscure passages in the Old Testament by
the experience of the present customs and figures of speech of
the Arabs, which are precisely those that were practised at
the periods described. I do not attempt to enter upon a theo-
logical treatise, therefore it is unnecessary to allude specially
to these particular points. The sudden and desolating arrival
of a flight of locusts, the plague, or any other unforeseen cala-
mity, is attributed to the anger of God, and is believed to be
an infliction of punishment upon the people thus visited,
precisely as the plagues of Egypt were specially inflicted upon
Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Should the present history of
the country be written by an Arab scribe, the style of the
description would be purely that of the Old Testament, and
the various calamities or the good fortunes that have in the

TENDENCY TO THE MARVELLOUS. 429

course of nature befallen both the tribes and individuals,
would be recounted either as special visitations of Divine
wrath, or blessings for good deeds performed. If in a dreain
a particular course of action is suggested, the Arab believes
that God has spoken and directed him. The Arab scribe or
historian would describe the event as the 'voice of the Lord*
(Kallam el Allah) having spoken unto the person ; or, that
God appeared to him in a dream and 'said.' Thus, much
allowance would be necessary on the part of a European
reader for the figurative ideas and expressions of the people."

Although, then, traditions and myths are of great impor-
tance, and indirectly throw much light on the condition of
man in ancient times, we must not expect to learn much
directly from them. At any rate, as regards the Stone Age
in Europe both history and tradition are silent, and here, as
in all long civilized countries, stone weapons and arrow-heads
are regarded as thunderbolts or "Elfin" arrows.

Deprived, therefore, as regards this period, of any assistance
from history, but relieved at the same time from the embar-
rassing interference of tradition, the archaeologist is free to
follow the methods which have been so successfully pursued
in geology — the rude bone and stone implements of bygone
ages being to the one what the remains of extinct animals are
to the other. The analogy may be pursued even farther than
this. Many mammalia which are extinct in Europe have
representatives still living in other countries. Much light is
thrown on our fossil pachyderms, for instance, by the species
which still inhabit some parts of Asia and Africa ; the secon-
dary marsupials are illustrated by their existing represen-
tatives in Australia and South America ; and in the same
manner, if we wish clearly to understand the antiquities of
Europe, we must compare them with the rude implements
and weapons still, or until lately, used by the savage races in
other parts of the world. In fact, the Van Dienianer and

430 NO EVIDENCE OF DEGRADATION.

South American are to the antiquary what the opossum and
the sloth are to the geologist.

A certain space, therefore, devoted to the consideration of
the modern savages will not be out of place in this work ;
and though it would require volumes to do justice to the
subject, still it may be possible to bring together a certain
number of facts which will throw light on the ancient remains
found in Europe, and on the condition of the early races which
inhabited our continent. In order, however, to limit the sub-
ject as much as possible, I propose, with one exception, to
describe only the "non-metallic savages" (if such an expres-
sion may be permitted), and even of these, only some of the
most instructive, or of those which have been most carefully
observed by travellers.

It is a common opinion that savages are, as a general rule,
only the miserable remnants of nations once more civilized ;
but although there are some well-established cases of national
decay, there is no scientific evidence which would justify us
in asserting that this applies to savages in general. No doubt
there are instances in which nations once progressive have
not only ceased to advance in civilization, but have even fallen
back. Still, if we compare the accounts of early travellers
with the state of things now existing, we shall find no evi-
dence of any general degradation. The Australians, Bushmen,
and Fuegians lived when first observed almost exactly as they
do now. In some savage tribes we even find traces of im-
provement; the Bachapins, when visited by Burchell, had
just introduced the art of working in iron ; the largest erection
in Tahiti was constructed by the generation living at the time
of Captain Cook's visit, and the practice of cannibalism had
been recently abandoned ;* the largest Mexican temple was
built only six years before the discovery of America ; in the

* Forster, Observations made p. 327. See also Ellis, Polynesian
during a Voyage round the World, Researches, vol. ii. p. 29.

PKOGRESS AMONG SAVAGES. 431

north of Australia, McGillivray tells us that the rude bark
canoes which were formerly in general use have been quite
superseded by those dug out of the trunk of a tree ; again,
outriggers are said to have been recently adopted by the
Andaman Islanders ; and if certain races, as for instance some
of the American tribes, have fallen back, this has. I think,
been due less to any inherent tendency than to the injurious
effect of European influence. Moreover, if the Cape of Good
Hope, Australia, New Zealand, etc., had ever been inhabited
by a race of men more advanced than those whom we are in
the habit of regarding as the aborigines, some evidence of this
would surely have remained ; and this not being the case,
none of our travellers having observed any ruins or other
traces of a more advanced civilization, there does not appear
to be any sufficient reason for supposing that these miserable
beings are at all inferior to the ancestors from whom they are
descended.

Tlie Hottentots.

Speaking generally, we may say that the use of metal has
been long known throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa ; while
in America, in Australia, and in the Oceanic Islands, all
implements and weapons were, until within the last three
hundred years, made of wood, bone, stone, or other similar
materials.

The semi -civilized nations of Central America formed,
indeed, a striking exception to the rule, since they were ac-
quainted with the use of bronze. The North American Indians
also had copper hatchets, but these were simply hammered
into shape, without the assistance of heat. Here, therefore,
we seem to get a glimpse of the manner in which our ances-
tors may have acquired the knowledge of metal. No doubt
the possession of iron generally marks a great advance in civi-
lization ; still the process is very gradual, and there are some

432 THE HOTTENTOTS.

nations which, though provided with metal implements, are
nevertheless but little removed from a state of barbarism.

Thus the Hottentots, who were not only acquainted with
the use, but even with the manufacture of iron, and who pos-
sessed large numbers of sheep and cattle, were yet in many
respects among the most disgusting of savages. Even Kolben,
who generally takes a favourable view of them, admits that
they are, in his opinion, the filthiest people in the world.*
We might go farther, and say the filthiest animals ; I think
no species of mammal could be fairly compared with them
in this respect. Their bodies were covered with grease, their
clothes were never washed, and their hair was loaded " from
day to day with such a quantity of soot and fat, and it gathers
so much dust and other filth which they leave to clot and
harden in it, for they never cleanse it, that it looks like a
crust or cap of black mortar." •(• They wore a skin over the
back, fastened in front. They carried this as long as they
lived, and were buried in it when they died. Their only other
garment was a square piece of skin, tied round the waist by
a string, and left to hang down in front. In winter, however,
they sometimes used a cap. For ornaments they wore rings
of iron, copper, ivory, or leather. The latter had the advan-
tage of serving for food in bad times.

Their huts were generally oval, about fourteen feet by ten
in diameter, and seldom more than four or five in height.
They were made of sticks and mats. The sticks were fastened
into the ground at both ends, or, if not long enough, two were
placed opposite to one another, and secured together at the
top. One end of the hut was left open to form the door. The
mats were made of bulrushes and flags dried in the sun, and
so closely fitted together that only the heaviest rain could

* Kolben's History of the Cape of Good Hope, vol. i. p. 47.
t Kolben, 1. c. p. 188.

DRESS. FOOD. WEAPONS. 433

penetrate them.* "With respect to household furniture/'
says Thunberg,-f- " they have little or none. The same dress
that covers a part of their body by day, serves them also for
beddino- at nio-ht." Their victuals are boiled in leathern sacs

o o

and water, by means of heated stones, but sometimes in
earthen pots.J Milk is kept in leathern sacs, bladders of
animals, and baskets made of platted rushes, perfectly water-
tight. These, a tobacco pouch of skin, a tobacco pipe of stone
or wood, and their weapons, constitute the whole catalogue of
their effects. According to Kolben, they sometimes broiled
their meat, sometimes boiled it in blood, to which they often
added milk ; " this they look on as a glorious dish." They
were, however, both filthy and careless about their cookery,
and the meat was often eaten half putrid, and more than half
raw.§

Their weapons consisted of bows and poisoned arrows,
spears, javelins or assagais, stones, and darting -sticks or
" kirris," about three feet long and an inch thick. With these
weapons they were very skilful, and feared not to attack the
elephant, the rhinoceros, or even the lion. Large animals were
also sometimes killed in pitfalls, from six to eight feet deep,
and about four feet in diameter. They fixed a strong pointed
stake in the middle. " Into this hole an elephant falling with
his fore-feet (it is not of dimensions to receive his whole body),
he is pierced in the neck and breast with the stake and there
held securely," || for the more he struggled the farther he
penetrated. They caught fish both with hooks and in nets.
They also ate wild fruits and roots of various kinds, which,
however, they did not take the trouble to cultivate.

* Thunberg, Pinkerton's Travels, § Thunberg, p. 141 ; Kolben,

vol. xvi. p. 33 ; Kolben, I.e. p. 221; p. 203; Harris, Wild Sports of

Sparrman, vol. i. p. 195. Africa, p. 142.

f Page 141. || Kolben, p. 250.

J This, however, they appear to
have learnt from the Europeans.

2 F

434 METALLURGY.

For domestic animals the Hottentots had oxen, sheep, and
dogs. It might have naturally been supposed that oxen were
used in the same manner all over the world. They seem evi-
dently adapted either for draught or for food. "With the dog
the case is different ; we ourselves use him in various ways,
and one feels therefore the less surprise at the different ser-
vices which he performs for different races of savages. But
even with regard to cattle the same was the case : besides
what we may call their normal uses, the Veddahs, or wild
inhabitants of Ceylon, used oxen in hunting ; and the Hotten-
tots trained some to serve as what we may call sheep-oxen, or
cow-oxen — that is to say, to guard and manage the flocks and
herds — and others as war-oxen, a function which might have
been considered as opposed to the whole character of the
beast, but in which, nevertheless, they appear to have been
very useful.

The Hottentots of late years not only used iron weapons,
but even made such for themselves. The ore was smelted
in the following manner:* "They make a hole in a raised
ground, large enough to contain a good quantity of ironstones,
which are found here and there in plenty in the Hottentot
countries. In this hole they melt out the iron from the ore.
About a foot and a half from this hole, upon the descent, they
make another, something less. This is the receiver of the
melted iron, which runs into it by a narrow channel they cut
from one hole to the other. Before they put the ironstones
into the hole where the iron is to be smelted out of them,
they make a fire in the hole, quite up to the mouth of it, in
order to make the earth about it thoroughly hot. When they
suppose the earth about it is well heated, they fill the hole
almost up with ironstones. They then make a large fire over
the stones, which they supply from time to time with fuel,
till the iron is melted and all of it is run into the receiver.

* Kolben, 1. c. p. 239.

CUSTOMS. CHARACTER. 435

As soon as the iron in the receiver is cold, they take it out,
and break it to pieces with stones. These pieces the Hotten-
tots, as they have occasion, heat in other fires, and with stones
beat 'em out and shape 'em to weapons. They rarely make
anything else of iron."

The Hottentot customs, some of which are extremely
curious, are fully described by Thunberg,* Kolben,-|- Cook,^:
Sparrman,§ and other travellers. Whether the Hottentots
can be said to have had any religion,] | depends upon the exact
meaning we attach to the word. Though they seem to have
had some notion of a Deity, even Kolben admits that they
had not "any institution of worship." The older writers,
indeed, consider certain dances as being religious ceremonies.
This was stoutly denied by the natives themselves,^]" in spite
of which Kolben assures us that they were " acts of religion,"
adding candidly, "let the Hottentots say what they will."
They are very fond of smoking, and are great drunkards. It
is only fair to say that Kolben gives them a good character
for integrity, chastity, fidelity, and liberality, assuring us that
they " are certainly the most friendly, the most liberal, and
the most benevolent people to one another that ever appeared
upon earth."** Other travellers also speak of them in very
high terms.-|"f- At the same time it is difficult to see how
these statements can be reconciled with the admitted fact
that, as soon as any man or woman is so enfeebled by old
age that he or she is unable to work, and can "no longer"—
I am quoting from Kolben himself — "be of any manner of

* 1. c. pp. 141, 142. Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 153 ;

t Pp. 113, 115, 118, 121, 153, so also Harris,Wild Sports of Africa,

252. p. 160; Sparrman, vol. i. p. 207.

I Hawkesworth's Voyages, vol. IT Sparrman, vol. i. p. 212; Kol-

iii. p. 791. ben, 1. c.

§ Vol. i. p. 357. ** 1. c. p. 334.

|| Thunberg, 1. c. p. 141, &c. ; tt See, for instance, Philips'

Kolben, pp. 37, 93, &c. Beeckman South Africa, pp. 4, 5, 6.
thought they had no religion at all.

2F2

436 THE BUSHMEN.

service in anything, they are thrust out of the society and
confined to a solitary hut at a considerable distance from the
kraal, there, with a small stock of provisions placed within
their reach, but without any one to comfort or assist 'ein, to
die either of age or hunger, or be devoured by some wild
beast."* This, it must be remembered, was no exceptional
atrocity, but a general custom, and applied to the rich as well
as the poor, for if an old man had property it was taken away
from him. Infanticide, again, was very common among them,
and was not regarded as a crime. Girls were generally the
victims ; and if a woman had twins, the ugliest of them was
almost always exposed or buried alive. This was done with
the consent of " the whole kraal, which generally allows it
without taking much pains to look into it."+ The poverty
and the hardships which they had to undergo may perhaps
plead as some excuse for these two unnatural customs.

The Bushmen resembled the Hottentots in many things,
but were even more uncivilized. They had no knowledge
of metallurgy, no domestic animals, and no canoes. They
frequently stole the cattle of their more advanced neighbours,
but always killed and ate them as quickly as possible. Their
principal weapons were bows and poisoned arrows. Lichten-
stein asserts that they had no names, J but this was probably
an error. Bleek regards them as the lowest of human races,
and Haeckel even goes so far as to assert that they seem " to
the unprejudiced comparative student of nature, to manifest
a closer connexion with the gorilla and chimpanzee than with
a Kant or a Goethe." §

The Veddalis.
The Veddahs, or wild tribes who inhabit the interior of

* 1. c. p. 321. § On the Origin of Language, by

f 1. c. p. 144. W. H. J. Bleek. Edited by Dr. E.

£ Travels in Southern Africa, Haeckel, pp. 4, 5.
\o\. i. p. 192.

THE VEDDAHS. 437

Ceylon, have been described by Knox,* TennemVf- and Bailey. J
They live in huts very rudely formed of boughs and bark,
and cultivate small patches of chena, but subsist principally
on honey and the produce of the chase. Their weapons con-
sist of axes and bows and arrows. With the latter they are
not very skilful, as they pursue only the larger game, and
the art of hunting consists in creeping close up to their prey
and taking it unawares. They are very good deer-stalkers,
and, besides excellent dogs, have also hunting buffaloes. These
are so trained that they are easily guided by a string tied
round the horn, and are used at night. The buffalo feeds, the
man crouches behind him, and thus, unseen and unsuspected,
steals upon his prey.

They have no pottery, and their cookery is very primitive.
They wear scarcely any clothes, nothing in fact but a scrap
of dirty rag, supported in front by a string tied round the
waist. Perhaps the women's cloth is a trifle larger than the
men's, but that appears to be the only difference. They are
very dirty, and very small; the ordinary height of the mun
being from four feet six to five feet one, and of the women
from four feet four to four feet eight. Mr. Bailey thinks that
it would be impossible to conceive more barbarous specimens
of the human race. Davy even asserts that they have no
names, and do not bury the dead.

They have, however, one remarkable peculiarity which it
would be unfair to omit. They are kind, affectionate, and
constant to their wives ; abhor polygamy, and have a proverb
that " Death alone can separate husband and wife/' In this
they are very unlike their more civilized neighbours. § An

* An Historical Eelation of Cey-

lon. 1681. § It is only fair to add that the

f Ceylon. Kandyans are said to have much

I Transactions of the Ethnologi- improved in this respect of late

cal Society, New Series, vol. ii. years.

p. 278. See also Davy's Ceylon.

438 THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS.

intelligent Kandyan chief, with whom Mr. Bailey visited
these Veddahs, was " perfectly scandalized at the utter bar-
barism of living with only one wife, and never parting until
separated by death." It was, he said, "just like the wan-
deroos" (monkeys). Even in their marriage relations, how-
ever, the Veddahs cannot altogether be commended, as it is —
or was until lately — very usual with them for a man to marry
his younger sister. This is the more remarkable, as marriage
with an elder sister seemed to them as horrible as it does to
us.

The Andaman Islanders.

The Mincopies, or inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,
have been described by Dr. Mouatt,* Sir E. Belcher,-)- Mr.
Day,| Mr. Man, and Prof. Owen,§ who considers that they
" are, perhaps, the most primitive, or lowest in the scale of
civilization, of the human race." Their huts consist of four
posts, the two front ones six to eight feet high, the back ones
only one or two feet. They are open at the sides, and covered
with a roof of bamboo, or a few palm-leaves bound tightly
together. The Mincopies live chiefly on fruit, mangroves, arid
shell-fish. Sometimes, however, they kill the small pigs which
run wild in the jungle.

They have single-tree canoes, hollowed out with a ^-shaped
axe, assisted probably by the action of fire. They are ac-
quainted with the use of outriggers, which, however, appear
to have been of recent introduction, as they are not alluded
to by the earlier writers. || Their arrows and spears are now
generally tipped with iron and glass, which they obtain from
wrecks, and which have to a great extent replaced bone.

* Adventures and Researches t Proc. Asiat. Soc. of Bengal,
among the Andaman Islanders. 1870.

t Belcher, Trans. Ethn. Soc., § Transactions of the Ethnologi-
New Series, vol. v. p. 40. cal Society, New Ser. vol. ii. p. 34.

il Mouatt, 1. c. p. 317.

THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS. 439

Their harpoons, like those of so many other savages, have a
movable head, and a long cord by which this may be held
when fixed in the victim.* They are very skilful with the
bow, and " make practice at forty or fifty yards with unerring
certainty," f though their arrows have no feathers. Their nets
are made with great ingenuity and neatness. They have no
pottery, but use either shells or pieces of bamboo to hold
water. They kill fish by harpoons, or with small hand-nets
they take any that are left by the tide, and it is even said that
they are able to dive and catch them with their hands. {

They cover themselves with mud, and also tattoo, but wear
no clothes. They count only up to two. They are stated to
have no idea of a Supreme Being, no religion, nor any belief
in a future state of existence. After death, the corpse is
buried in a sitting posture. When it is supposed to be entirely
decayed, the skeleton is dug up, and each of the relations
appropriates a bone. In the case of a married man, the widow
takes the skull and wears it suspended by a cord round her
neck.§ It forms a very convenient box for small articles.
Marriage, however, only lasts, at least in some tribes, until the
child is born and weaned, when, according to Lieut. St. John,
as quoted by Sir E. Belcher, the man and woman generally
separate, each seeking a new partner. ||

They have no dogs, nor indeed any domestic animals.

Tlie Australians.

Throughout the whole continent of Australia the aborigines
were remarkably similar in physical appearance, in character,
and in general habits. They were, in some respects, scarcely,
if at all, farther advanced than those of the Andaman Islands.
The "houses" observed by Captain Cook "at Botany Bay,

* 1. c. p. 326. t Mouatt, 1. c. pp. 310, 333.

f Belcher, Trans. Ethn. Society, § 1. c. p. 327. Belcher, 1. c. p. 43.
New Ser. vol. v. p. 49. || 1. c. p. 45.

440 THE AUSTRALIANS.

where they were best, were just high enough for a man to sit
upright in, but not large enough for hirn to extend himself
in his whole length in any direction ; they were built with
pliable rods about as thick as a man's finger, in the form of
an oven, by sticking the two ends into the ground, and then
covering them with palm-leaves and broad pieces of bark ;
the door is nothing but a large hole at one end." Eyre also
gives a very similar description of those observed by him.*
Further north, where the climate was warmer, the dwellings
were even less substantial, and being comparatively open on
one side, scarcely deserve even the name of huts, and were
little more than a protection against the wind. Finally, the
natives observed by Dampier near C. Leveque, on the north-
west coast, seem to have had no houses at all. Eound their
dwelling-places Captain Cook observed " vast heaps of shells,
the fish of which we suppose had been their food."-f Captain
Grey also describes similar shell mounds, J some of which
covered quite half an acre, and were as much as ten feet high.
They seem, however, to have been first noticed by Dampier. §
The food of the Australian savages differs much in different
parts of the continent. Speaking generally, it may be said to
consist of various roots, fruits, fungi, shell-fish, frogs, snakes,
honey, grubs, moths, birds, birds' eggs, fish, turtles, dog, kan-
garoo, and sometimes of seal and whale. || The kangaroo,
however, forms only an occasional luxury, nor are the natives,
so far as I am aware, able to kill whales for themselves, but
when one is washed on shore it is a real godsend to them.
Fires are immediately lit to give notice of the joyful event.

* Discoveries in Central Aus-
tralia, vol. ii. p. 300. || Grey's Explorations in North-

t First Voyage, vol. hi. p. 598. West and Western Australia, p. 263;

I I.e. vol. i. p. 110. See also Eyre, vol. ii. p. 251; McGillivray's

King's Australia, vol. i. p. 87. Voyage of H. M. S. Kattlesnake,

§ Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. ii. vol. i. p. 148.
p. 473.

FOOD. ROCK ENGRAVINGS. 441

Then they rub themselves all over with blubber, and anoint
their favourite wives in the same way ; after which they cut
down through the blubber to the beef, which they sometimes
eat raw and sometimes broil on pointed sticks. As other
natives arrive, they " fairly eat their way into the whale, and
you see them climbing in and about the stinking carcase,
choosing titbits." For days " they remain by the carcase,
rubbed from head to foot with stinking blubber, gorged to
repletion with putrid meat — out of temper from indigestion,
and therefore engaged in constant frays — suffering from a
cutaneous disorder by high feeding — and altogether a dis-
gusting spectacle. There is no sight in the world," Captain
Grey adds, " more revolting than to see a young and gracefully
formed native girl stepping out of the carcase of a putrid
whale." The Australians -also mash up bones and suck out
the fat contained in them. Like other savages, they are ex-
cessively fond of fatty substances.

In a cave on the north-eastern coast, Mr. Cunningham
observed certain " tolerable figures of sharks, porpoises, turtles,
lizards, trepang, starfish, clubs, canoes, water -gourds, and
some quadrupeds which were probably intended to represent
kangaroos and dogs." The natives round Sydney also fre-
quently drew upon the rocks " various figures of fish, clubs,
swords, animals, and branches of trees, not contemptibly
represented."* Other tribes are very deficient in art, and,
according to Mr. Oldfield, are "quite unable to realize the
most vivid artistic representations. On being shown a large
coloured engraving of an aboriginal New Hollander, one de-
clared it to be a ship, another a kangaroo, and so on ; not one
of a dozen identifying the portrait as having any connexion
with himself." •(• It is not, however, quite clear to me that
they were not poking fun at Mr. Oldfield.

* King, vol. ii. p. 26; Grey, vol. i. t Oldfield on the Aborigines of

p. 259; Collins, p. 381. Australia. Transactions of the Eth-

nological Society, New Ser. vol. iii.

442 CANOES. IMPLEMENTS.

On the north-eastern coasts they use canoes made from the
trunks of trees, each canoe being formed from a single trunk,
probably hollowed by fire. "They are about fourteen feet
long, and being very narrow, are fitted with an outrigger."*
Farther south the canoes were nothing but a piece of bark,
tied together at the ends and kept open in the middle by
small bows of wood. The western tribes had no canoes,-f-
owing, according to King,J to the absence of large timber. §
Instead of a boat they used a log of wood, on which they sat
astride, with a bit of bark in each hand, which served as
a paddle. Some tribes fasten four or five mangrove stems
together so as to make a small float or raft. The natives
observed by Dampier were even worse off in this respect ;
they had " no boats, canoes, or bark logs/' Yet they dwelt
on the shore, lived principally on fish, and swam about from
island to island. The Western Australians, according to Jukes,
had neither boats nor rafts, " and. the islands close to the
mainland had never been visited by them previously to the
founding of our colonies." So also some of the tribes near
Sydney are said to have been unable to swim.|| The absence
of canoes is very remarkable in a people whose habits were
so littoral, and whose food was derived almost entirely from
the sea.

The implements of the Australians are very simple. They
have no knowledge of pottery, and carry water in skins or
in vessels made of bark. They are quite ignorant of warm
water, which strikes them with great amazement.^]" Some
of them carry "a small bag, about the size of a moderate

* Freycinet, Voyage autour du § In his view, however, of Ca-

Moncle, vol. ii. p. 705 ; Jukes, Voy- reening Bay, the country appears

age of H.M.S. Fly, ii. 243. to be well wooded.

t Cook's First Voyage, vol. iii. || Voyage of the Novara, English

p. 643. Trans, vol. iii. p. 36.

I 1. c. vol. i. pp. 38, 43, 49 ; vol. ii. IT D'Urville, vol. i. p. 461.
pp. 66, 69.

IMPLEMENTS. 443

cabbage-net, which is made by laying threads loop within
loop, somewhat in the manner of knitting used by our ladies
to make purses. This bag the man carries loose upon his
back by a small string, which passes over his head ; it gene-
rally contains a lump or two of paint and resin, some fish-
hooks and lines, a shell or two, out of which their hooks
are made, a few points of darts, and their usual ornaments,
which includes the whole worldly treasure of the richest man
among them."

A very similar inventory is given by Capt. Grey, who adds,
however, a flat stone to pound roots with.* They have also
stone hatchets, hammers, knives, pieces of flint, and sticks to
dig up roots. The hammer is used for killing seals or .other
animals, and for breaking open shell-fish. The handle is from
twelve to fifteen inches long, pointed at one end, and having
on each side at the other a hard stone attached to the handle
by a mass of gum. The knives (fig. 205, which represents
a specimen presented to me by A. W. Franks, Esq.) have a
similar handle, and at the end a few splinters of quartz or
flint, arranged in a row and fastened into a slit with gum in
the same manner.

The natives of Botany Bay had fish-hooks, but no nets ; on
the contrary, Capt. Grey, in describing those of Western
Australia, mentions nets, but not hooks ; Eyre also states that
hooks were unknown in South Australia, while nets were used
in hunting and as bags ; Taplin says that the Narinyeri had
neither nets nor hooks; the natives of the North-west also,
according to Dampier, had "no instruments to catch great
fish." Those seen by King were also without hooks or nets.-f-
Throughout the continent they were ignorant both of slings
and bows and arrows. On the other hand, they had spears,
clubs (fig. 206), shields, and two very peculiar instruments,
namely, the thro wing-stick (fig. 207), and the boomerang (fig.
* 1. c. p. 266. t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 137.

444

THROWING-STICKS.

208). The spear, however, is their FIG- 205 FIG- 206- Fia 2u7-
national weapon. These are about
ten feet long, and very slender, made
of cane or wood, tapering to a point,
which is barbed. They are light, and
one would scarcely be inclined to
believe that they could be darted
with any force ; this, however, is
effected by the aid of the wummera,
a straight flat stick, three feet in
length, terminating in a socket of
bone or hide, into which the end of
the s-pear is fixed. The wummera is
grasped in the right hand by three
fingers (fig. 207), the spear lying be-
tween the forefinger and the thumb.
Previous to throwing it, a tremulous
or vibratory motion is given to it,
which is supposed to add to the
accuracy of the aim : in projecting
the spear, the wummera is retained
in the hand, and the use of this sim-
ple contrivance adds greatly to the
projectile force given to the spear.
They are well practised in the use
of these weapons.* Indeed, Capt.
Grey tells us that he has often seen
them kill a pigeon with a spear at a
distance of thirty yards; and Captain
Cook says that " at a distance of fifty
yards these Indians were more sure
of their mark than we could be with

Australian Australian Australian

a single bullet/' f The "wummera" Knife- spear-caster.

* United States Explor. Exped. vol. i. p. 191. t Cook, 1. c. 642.

THE BOOMERANG.

445

seems to have been used by almost all the Australian tribes.

It was, however, according to Flinders,* unknown at King
FIG. 208. George's Sound. The very long Aus-

tralian spears are not thrown with the
wummera, but by the strength of the
arm alone. They are of several kinds :
those used for striking turtle or dugong

o o o

have a movable, barbed blade, which is
attached by a string to the butt-end of
the spear ; when the turtle is struck, the
shaft becomes detached from the point,
which remains fixed in the body, while
the shaft serves partly to impede the
motions, and partly as a float to indi-
cate the position of the turtle."-)- A
similar weapon is used by the Esqui-
maux, the Mincopies, the Fuegians, the
Brazilian Indians, and other savages.
But the most extraordinary weapon, and
one quite peculiar to Australia, is the
boomerang. This is a curved stick,
generally rounded on one side, flatter
on the other, about three feet long and
two inches wide, by three-quarters of an
inch thick. At first sight it looks some-
thing like a very rude wooden sword. It
is used both in the chase and in war. " It is grasped at one end
in the right hand, and is thrown sickle-wise, either upwards into
the air, or downwards so as to strike the ground at some dis-
tance from the thrower. In the first case it flies with a rotatory
motion, as its shape would indicate ; after ascending to a great

* Voy. to Terra Australis, vol. ii. t Hawkesworth's Voyages, vol.
p. 66. iii. p. 636. See also Eyre, vol. ii.

p. 305 ; McGillivray, vol. i. p. 147.

Boomerang.

446 THE BOOMEEANG.

height in the air, it suddenly returns in an elliptical orbit to
a spot near its starting-point. On throwing it downwards on
the ground, it rebounds in a straight line, pursuing a ricochet
motion until it strikes the object at which it is thrown. Birds
and small animals are killed with it, and it is also used in
killing ducks. The most singular curve described by it is
when thrown into the air above the angle of 45° ; its flight is
always then backwards, and the native who throws it stands
with his back, instead of his face, to the object he is desirous
of hitting."* Mr. Merry, a gentleman who resided for some
time in Australia, informs me that on one occasion, in order
to test the skill with which the boomerang could be thrown,
he offered a reward of sixpence for every time the boomerang
was made to return to the spot from which it was thrown.
He drew a circle of five or six feet on the sand, and although
the boomerang was thrown with much force, the native suc-
ceeded in making it fall within the circle five times out of
twelve. Eyre also says that this weapon is particularly useful
in war, " as it is almost impossible, even when it is seen in
the air, to tell which way it will go, or where descend. I
once nearly had my arm broken by a wangno, whilst stand-
ing within a yard of the native who threw it, and looking out
purposely for it."-f- Mr. Oldfield,{ on the contrary, speaks
much less favourably of the boomerang. It is, he says, but
little used in war ; nor do the natives " ever attempt to kill a
solitary bird or beast by means of" it. On the other hand,
in swampy localities, where waterfowl "congregate largely,
the boomerang is of essential use ; for a great number of them
being simultaneously hurled into a large flock of waterfowl,
ensures the capture of considerable numbers." According to
McGillivray, the boomerang is unknown on the north coast

* United States Explor. Exped. t Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Series,
1. c. vol. iii. p. 264.

t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 308.

FIRE. 447

from Cape York to Port Essington.* Mr. W. D. Campbell has
suggested that the idea of the boomerang was given by the leaf
of the " Blue Gum," Eucelyptus, which is very similar in form.

The Australians obtain fire by rubbing together two pieces
of wood. The process, however, being one of considerable
labour, particularly in damp weather, great care is taken to
prevent the fire, when once lighted, from becoming extin-
guished. For this reason they often carry with them a cone
of banksia, which burns slowly, like amadou.^

Mr. Stuart informs me that some of the northern tribes
had no means of re-lighting their fires, but if they ever became
simultaneously extinguished, used to go to a neighbouring
tribe for a fresh light. So also, according to M. Angas, some
of the western tribes " have no means of kindling fire. They
say that it formerly came down from the north," and if it
happens to go out they procure it again from some neighbour-
ing encampment. J

According to Capt. Cook, the Australians had " no idea of
traffic, nor," he says, " could we communicate any to them :
they received the things which we gave them, but never
appeared to understand our signs when we required a return.
The same indifference which prevented them from buying
what we had, prevented them also from attempting to steal :
if they had coveted more, they would have been less honest."§
In other parts, however, they are more advanced in this respect.
Various kinds of pigments, feathers, shells, implements, and
especially flints, are the principal articles of barter.

The Australians observed by Cook, Dampier and Flinders,
were entirely destitute of clothing, and their principal orna-
ment consisted of a bone, five or six inches long, and half an
inch thick, thrust through the cartilage of the nose. They

* Voy. of the Rattlesnake, vol. i. J Savage Life and Scenes, vol. i.
p. 92. p. 112.

t D'Urville, vol. i. p. 194. § 1. c, p. 635.

448 CLOTHES. ORNAMENTS. TATTOOING.

did not tattoo. On the north-west coast, King observed some
of the natives with a very peculiar decoration. At every three
inches between the upper part of the chest and the navel,
the body was scarified in horizontal bands, the cicatrices of
which were at least an inch in diameter, and raised half an
inch from the body.* Some of them fastened to their hair,
by means of gum, teeth of kangaroos or of men, dogs' tails,
fish-bones, bits of wood, and other objects which they regarded
as ornamental. Frequently they wore pieces of opossum, or
kangaroo-skin — not for decency, but for warmth, and, while
hunting, as a protection from thorns. According to D'Urville,
however, the natives of New South Wales did not think it
decent that young children should go quite naked.-)- McGil-
livray also mentions a very similar idea at Moreton Bay. In
many parts of Australia the natives also paint themselves,
red and white being the favourite, or at least the commonest
colours. The red is laid on in broad patches, the white gene-
rally in stripes or spots, a circle often being drawn round
each eye. Some tribes, but not all, tattoo themselves on the
back and breast in rows, rings, and semicircles. Among the
females on the Murray, the only ceremony of importance with
which Eyre was acquainted was that of scarring the back.
Eyre indeed calls it tattooing, but "crimping" would, I think,
be a more correct expression. It takes place at the age of
puberty, and is extremely painful. The young woman kneels
down and places her head between the knees of a strong old
woman, and the operator, who is always a man, cuts the back
with a piece of shell or flint in rows of long, deep gashes from
left to right quite across the back, and completely up to the
shoulders. The whole scene is most revolting : the blood

gushes out in torrents, and saturates the ground, while the
cries of the poor victim gradually rise into screams of agony.
Still the girls submit voluntarily, as a well-carved back is

* 1. c. p. 42. t Voyage de 1'Astralabe, vol. i. p. 471.

INITIATION CEREMONIES. GAMES. SUPERSTITION. 449

much admired. The lads also generally have to undergo a
ceremony of initiation before they are permitted to rank as
men. This sometimes consists in circumcision,* sometimes
in another almost incredible ceremonial,-)- or frequently in
punching out one of the front teeth. Other tribes have pecu-
liar and distinctive incisions, such as scars running across the
chest, circles on the shoulders, or various combinations of
small dots.

In the Adelaide district, according to Mr. Moorhouse, there
are five distinct stages of initiation, before the native is
admitted to all the privileges of a man. Yet the Australians
cannot be said to have any form of government, nor have any
distinctions of rank, or recognized chiefs, ever been found
amongst them.

The children have a game with string something like our
cat's-cradle, but their principal amusements consist in learn-
ing to hunt, fish, etc. The elder people are fond of dances,
which may be divided into war-dances, hunting-dances, and
love-dances, — the two latter being most common. These
generally take place when tribes meet, and are held at night.
Their songs are rude, with simple and generally extempore
words.

They have no systematized religion, nor any worship or
prayer; but most of them have an indistinct dread of evil
beings, which, though mysterious, cannot, I think, be said to
be regarded as supernatural. They all have a great fear of
the dark, and of witchcraft. In fact, they believe that no one
ever dies a natural death.

Captain Wilkes^: describes an Australian funeral as follows.
Almost immediately after death the corpse was arranged in a
sitting posture, the knees bent up close to the body, the head

* Eyre, vol. ii. p. 332. J I.e. vol. ii. p. 195 ; Fitzroy, I.e.

t Finditur usque ad urethram a vol. ii. p. 628.
parte iniera penis.

450 MODES OF BUKIAL. LANGUAGE.

pressed forwards, and the whole body closely tied up in a
blanket. An oval grave was then dug, about six feet long,
three wide, and five deep. At the bottom was a bed of leaves,
covered with an opossum-skin cloak, and with a stuffed bag
of kangaroo-skin for a pillow ; on this the body was laid with
its implements and weapons. Above the corpse were strewn
leaves and branches, and the hole was then filled up with
stones. Finally, the earth which had been removed was put
over the whole, making a mound eight or nine feet high.
According to D'Urville, the natives of New South Wales bury
the young, and burn the old.* Other tribes dispose of their
dead in other ways ; but none of them were addicted to can-
nibalism as a matter of habit or choice, although they were
not unfrequently driven to it by the scarcity of other food,
and sometimes ate portions of enemies whom they had slain.

~No single fact, perhaps, gives us a more vivid idea of the
low condition of these miserable savages, than the observation
that they have no numerals enabling them to count their own
fingers — not even those of one hand. Mr. Crawfurd*|" has
examined the numerals of thirty Australian languages, " and
in no instance do they appear to go beyond the number
four." Mr. Scott Nind, indeed, has given an account of the
Australians of King George's Sound, to which a vocabulary is
annexed, containing the numerals, which are made to reach
the number five. The term for this last unit, however, turns
out to be only the word "many." In fact, the word "five" is
used by them to express the idea of a great number, just as a
"thousand" sometimes is by us.

Their language, moreover, contains "no generic terms, as
tree, fish, birds, etc., but only specific ones, as applied to each
particular variety." J

* Vol. i. p. 472.

t Transactions of Ethn. Soc., New Series, vol. ii. p. 84.

$ Eyre, vol. ii. p. 392.

MARRIAGE. 451

Though they are apparently fond of their children, even
Eyre admits that there is little affection between husband and
wife. " After a long absence," he says, " I have seen natives
upon their return, go to their carnp, exhibiting the most stoical
indifference, never take the least notice of their wives, but sit
down, and act and look as if they had never been out of the
encampment."* Women, in fact, are regarded as mere pro-
perty. There is no ceremony of marriage, and chastity is
entirely disregarded, wives being valued principally for their
services as slaves, and terribly ill-treated. "No one/' says
Eyre, " ever attempts to take the part of a female.' Jf Beauty
only makes matters worse. "The early life," says Captain
Grey, " of a young woman at all celebrated for beauty is gene-
' rally one continued series of captivity to different masters, of
ghastly wounds, rapid flights, and bad treatment from other
females"! jealous of her superior attractions. Few women in
Australia, it is said, live to thirty. Yet with all this lawless-
ness and tyranny, marriage is regulated by certain very curious
prohibitions. Thus a man may steal another man's wife if he
can, but, as already mentioned, he may not under any circum-
stances marry a woman of the same clan, even though not
related in the remotest degree. There are certain great fami-
lies, such as the Ballaroke, Tdondarup, Ngotak, Nagarnook,
Nogonyuk, Mongalmy, and Narrangur, which occur over a
great portion of the continent, and within which marriage is
not permitted.§ Indeed, it appears that every tribe is divided
into clans, and that no man may marry a woman belonging to
his own clan. In one sense every man is regarded as a husband
of every woman belonging to any clan into which he might
legally marry. These " communal marriages," however, as I
have elsewhere proposed to call them, are often more or less

* 1. c. pp. 2, 215. See also p. 320. § Eyre, voL ii. p. 329. For fur-
t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 387. ther particulars, see my " Origin of

J 1. c. vol. ii. p. 249. Civilisation."

2o2

452 THE TASMANIANS.

theoretical, and a man has also his own special wife or wives.
There are many other cases of prohibitions ; " indeed/' says
Mr. Lang,* " instead of enjoying perfect personal freedom,
as it would at first appear, they are governed by a code
of rules and a set of customs which form one of the most
cruel tyrannies that has ever, perhaps, existed on the face
of the earth, subjecting not only the will, but the property
and life of the weak to the dominion of the strong. The
whole tendency of the system is to give everything to the
strong and old, to the prejudice of the weak and young, and
more particularly to the detriment of the women. They have
rules by which the best food, the best pieces, the best animals,
etc., are prohibited to the women and young men, and reserved
for the old. The women are generally appropriated to the old
and powerful, some of whom possess from four to seven wives;
while wives are altogether denied to young men, unless they
have sisters to give in exchange, and are strong and courageous
enough to prevent their sisters from being taken without

exchange."

TJie Tasmanians.

The inhabitants of Van Dieman's Land belonged to quite a
different race, but were just as wretched as those of Australia.
According to Captain Cook's account, they had no houses, no
clothes, no canoes, no instrument to catch large fish, no nets,
no hooks ; they lived on mussels, cockles, and periwinkles, and
their only weapon was a straight pole, sharpened at one end.-f-
Mr. Dove informs us that they are entirely without any
" moral views and impressions." Indeed, he scarcely appears
to regard them as rational beings. J Like the Australians,
they have no means of expressing abstract ideas ; they have

* The Aborigines of Australia. J Tasmauian Jour, of Nat. Sci.
G. S. Lang, p. 7. vol. i. p. 249.

t Third Voyage, vol. I p, 100.

FIJI ISLANDERS.

453

not even a word for a " tree." Although fire was well known
to them, some tribes, at least, appear to have been ignorant
whence it was originally obtained, or how, if extinguished, it
could be re-lighted. "In all their wanderings/' says Mr. Dove,

FIG. 209.

Tasmanian Firesticks.

"they were particularly careful to bear in their hands the
materials for kindling a fire. Their memory supplies them
with no instances of a period in which they were obliged to
draw on their inventive powers for the means of resuscitating
an element so essential to their health and comfort as flame.
How it came originally into their possession is unknown.
Whether it may be viewed as a gift of nature, or the product
of art and sagacity, they cannot recollect a period when it was

a desideratum It was the part of the females especially

to carry a firebrand in their hands, which was studiously re-
freshed from time to time as it became dull and evanescent."*
Fig. 209 represents a pair of Tasmanian firesticks, presented
to me by Mr. Eobinson.

Fiji Islanders.

The islands of the Pacific contain two very distinct races
of men — the Negrito and the Polynesian. My space does
not permit me to enter into the interesting question of their
relationships and affinities.

The Fijians belong to the former category, and in many
respects resemble Negroes. They are darker than the Poly-
nesians. The jaws are larger, and the hair, though not exactly
woolly, is frizzled. They are a powerful race, but not so grace-

* Tasmanian Journal of Nat. Sci. vol. i. p. 250.

454 FIJI ISLANDERS.

ful as the Polynesians. Their language is, however, more
Polynesian than Negrito. Their institutions, customs, and
manners, were partly Polynesian, partly Negrito.* It is re-
markable that they did not use the consonants " b," " d," or
"or," without placing "m" or "n" before them, as for instance

O* -F O

Mbau, Nduandua, Ngata. It is well known how frequent
these sounds are in Negro names.

The food of the Fiji Islanders consisted of fish, turtle, shell-
fish, crabs, human flesh whenever it could be obtained, taro,
yams, mandrai, bananas, and cocoa-nuts ; in addition to which,
the higher classes occasionally indulged in pigs and fowls.
They drank ava habitually, and at all their ceremonies.

Their weapons consisted of spears, slings, clubs, bows and
arrows. The spears were from ten to fifteen feet long, and
were generally made of cocoa-nut wood ; the end was pointed
and charred ; sometimes, though not often, a sharp bone was
used for the point. They had several kinds of clubs, all made
of iron wood. That most esteemed was about three feet long,
with a heavy knob at the end. Another kind was somewhat
shovel-shaped, and might rather be called a short sword. The
ula was a short heavy club, about eighteen inches long, with
a large and heavy knob. It was used as a missile, and the
natives threw it with great accuracy and force. These were
their principal weapons, the bows and arrows being weak and
light. They were, however, used in war, as well as in killing
fish. The fortified towns of the Fijians had an earthen "ram-
part, about six feet thick, faced with large stones, surmounted
by a reed fence of cocoa-nut trunks, and surrounded by a
muddy moat."-)-

Their houses were oblong, from twenty to thirty feet long,
and fifteen feet high. They were made of cocoa-nut wood
and tree fern, and were sometimes very well built. They had

* Latham, Varieties of Man, p. 226.

t Williams, Figi and the Figians, vol. i. p. 48.

HOUSES. TEMPLES. RELIGION. 455

two doorways on opposite sides, from three to four feet high
and four feet wide. The sides were made of posts about three
feet apart, and filled in with wicker-work. The roof had a
steep pitch; the rafters were generally of palm wood, thatched
with wild sugar-cane, under which they placed fern leaves.
A mat served as a door, and a few flat stones near the middle
of the house served as the fire-place. The houses were seldom
divided by partitions, but the two ends were raised about a
foot, and were covered with layers of mats on which the
natives slept.

Their temples were pyramidal in form, and were often
erected on terraced mounds, like those of Central America.*
They also venerated certain upright stones,f resembling those
which we call Druidical. " The Feegeeans," says Mr. Hazle-
wood, "consider the gods as beings of like passions with them-
selves. They love and hate ; they are proud and revengeful,
and make war, and kill and eat each other ; and are, in fact,
savages and cannibals like themselves/' "Cruelty," says
Captain Erskine,| "a craving for blood, and especially for
human flesh as food, are characteristic of the gods." Yet the
Fijians looked upon the Samoans with horror, regarding them
as having no religion, because they had no belief in any such
deities, nor any of the sanguinary rites which prevailed in
other islands.

The Fiji canoes were very well constructed. They were
generally double, of unequal size, the smaller one serving as
an outrigger. The larger ones were sometimes more than a
hundred feet in length. The two canoes were connected by
a platform, generally about fifteen feet wide, and projecting
two or three feet beyond the sides. The bottom of each con-
sisted of a single plank ; the sides were fitted by dovetailing,

* B. Seemann, in the Vacation Tourist for 1861, p. 269.

t Figi and the Figians, vol. i. p. 220.

J Journal of a Cruise in the "Western Pacific, p. 247.

456 CANOES. POTTERY. GAMES.

and closely united by lashings passed through flanges left on
each of the pieces. The joints were closed by the gum of the
bread-fruit tree. The sails were large and made of mats.
The mast was generally about half the length of the canoe,
and the yard and boom usually twice as long as the mast.
Their principal tool was an adze, formerly of stone, but now
generally of iron. For boring holes they used the long spines
of the echina, pointed bones, and, when they could get them,
nails. Small teeth, such as those of rats and mice, were used
for carving ; and their knives were made of the outside of a
piece of bamboo, shaped into form while green. After being
dried, it was charred, and thus became very hard and sharp,
so that it might even be used in surgical operations. They
differed from the Polynesians in using earthenware pots for
cooking. These were graceful and well made, though the
potter's-wheel was unknown. The pottery was all made by
women. Their tools were very simple, consisting of a small
round flat stone to fashion the inside, and a flat mallet or
spatula for the surface, which they made almost as round as
if it had been turned in a lathe. Forks appear to have been
long in use among the Fijians ; a remarkable fact, if we
remember that they were unknown in Northern Europe until
the seventeenth century.

The Fijians have several kinds of games. They are fond
of swinging, and of throwing stories or fruits at a mark. They
have also a game resembling skittles. Their dances, like
those of so many other nations, are anything but decorous.
Their musical instruments are the conch-shell, the nose-flute,
pipes, a Jew's-harp made of a strip of bamboo, and several
sorts of drums. They are also fond of poetry.

Their agricultural implements have been described by Mr.
"Williams. The digging- sticks are made of a young mangrove-
tree. They are about the size of an ordinary hay-fork, and
the lower end "is tapered off on one side, after the shape

AGRICULTURE. WOMEN. 457

of a quill toothpick. In digging, this flattened side is kept
downwards. When preparing a piece of ground for yams, a
number of men are employed, divided into groups of three or
four. Each man being furnished with a digging-stick, they
drive them into the ground so as to enclose a circle of about
two feet in diameter. When, by repeated strokes, the sticks
reach the depth of eighteen inches, they are used as levers,
and the mass of soil between them is thus loosened and
raised."* The clods are then broken up by boys with short
sticks. Weeding " is accomplished by means of a tool used
like a Dutch hoe, the workman squatting so as to bring the
handle nearly level with the ground. The blade used formerly
to be made of a bone from the back of a turtle, or a plate of
tortoise-shell, or the valve of a large oyster, or large kind of
pinna. In the Windward Islands they use a large dibble,
eight feet long, about eighteen inches in circumference, and
tapering to a point. They had also pruning knives of" tor-
toise-shell lashed to the end of a rod ten feet long. They are
skilful in basket-making, and have good strong nets made of
creepers or of sinnet.

The women are kept in great subjection. "The men fre-
quently tie them up and flog them. Like other property,
wives might be sold at pleasure, and the usual price is a
musket. Those who purchase them may do with them as
they please, even to knocking them on the head." Erskine,
however, gives a more satisfactory account of the position
held by the women; and it appears that they are on the
whole more chaste than is the case in some of the other
Pacific Islands, which is saying something for them, but cer-
tainly not much. Although so lax in some things, they were
very strict in others, and it was thought improper in some of
these islands for husband and wife to spend the night under
the same roof.

* Figi and the Figians, vol. i. p. 63.

458 DRESS. TATTOOING. BURIAL.

Although but scantily clothed, the Fijians were very par-
ticular about their garments and their paint. They were
specially proud of their hair, and if it was short they wore a
wig as a substitute. Some of these wigs were most elaborate.
The men wore " tapa," which is a kind of cloth obtained from
the inner bark of the paper-mulberry, and made into a sash,
from three to one hundred yards in length. Six or ten yards
is, however, the usual quantity, and it is passed between the
legs and round the waist.* The women are not permitted
to use " tapa," and their dress is more scanty than that of the
men, consisting, indeed, only of the " liku," a kind of band,
made of the bark of the hibiscus, and fastened round the
/ waist. It ends in a fringe, which is worn short by the girls,
but longer after marriage. Nevertheless, though almost naked,
the Fijians are said to have been very modest, and if any one
were found entirely without clothes, Captain Wilkes thinks
that the offender would be immediately put to death.

Tattooing is confined to the women, who are ornamented
in this maner on the fingers, the corners of the mouth, and,
oddly enough, on those parts of the body which are covered
by the " liku." The process is very painful, but submission
to it is regarded as a religious duty,-f- any neglect of which
will assuredly be punished after death. :[

The graves of the common people are only marked by a
few stones, but over those of chiefs they build small houses,
from two to six feet high, or in some cases erect large cairns
of stone ; these also are sometimes " set up to mark the spot
where a man has died."§ The body is buried in a sitting
posture. The usual sign of mourning is to crop the hair or
beard, or both. Very often, also, they burn the skin into

* Figi and the Figians, vol. i. J A Mission to Viti, p. 112.
p. 156. § Figi and the Figians, vol. i.

t Ibid. p. 160 ; Wilkes, 1. c. p. 192.
p. 355.

CUSTOMS. PARRICIDE. 459

blisters, and cut off the end-joints of the small toe and little
finger.

Among the Fijians, parricide is not a crime, but a custom.
They believe that " as they die, such will be their condition
in the next world." Moreover, the road to Mbulu is long
and difficult. Hence it would be cruel to allow a beloved
relative to become old and infirm. We are assured that so
deeply rooted was this conviction, that as a matter of fact
parents were generally killed by their children. Sometimes
the aged people make up their minds that it is time to die ;
sometimes it is the children who give notice to their parents
that they are a burden to them. In either case, the friends
and relatives are summoned, a consultation takes place, and a
day is fixed for the ceremony, which commences with a great
feast. The missionaries have often witnessed these horrible
tragedies. On one occasion, a young man invited Mr. Hunt
to attend his mother's funeral, which was just going to take
place. Mr. Hunt accepted the invitation ; but when the
funeral procession started, he was surprised to see no corpse,
and accordingly made inquiries, when the young savage
" pointed out his mother,* who was walking along with them
as gay and lively as any of them present, and apparently as
much pleased. . . . He added that it was from love for his
mother that he had done so ; that in consequence of the same
love, they were now going to bury her, and that none but
themselves could or ought to do so sacred an office. . . . She
was their mother, and they were her children, and they ought
to put her to death." In such cases, the grave is dug about
four feet deep, the relatives and friends begin their lamenta-
tions, take an affectionate parting, and bury the poor victim
alive. It is surprising after this to hear that Mr. Hunt
regarded the Fijians as being kind and affectionate to their
parents ; but in fact " they consider this custom so great a

* Wilkes, 1. c. p. 95.

460 HORRIBLE RITES.

proof of affection, that none but children could be found to
perform it." So general in fact was this custom, so powerful
the influence which it had upon them, that in one town,
containing several hundred inhabitants, Capt. Wilkes did not
see one man over forty years of age ; and, on asking for the
old people, he was informed that they were all buried. Again,
during the first year of Mr. Hunt's residence at Somo-soino,
there was only one instance of natural death, all the aged and
diseased having been strangled or buried alive.

When a chief died, it was usual to "send with him" some
of his women and some slaves. At the death .of Ngavindi,
Mr. Calvert went to Mbau, hoping " to prevent the strangling
of women, but was too late. Three had been murdered.
Thakornbau proposed to strangle his sister, the chief wife of
the deceased, as was the usual custom ; but the Lasakau
people begged that she might be spared, and that her child
might become their chief. Ngavindi's mother offered herself
as a substitute, and was strangled. The dead chief lay in
state, with a dead wife by his side, on a raised platform ; the
corpse of his mother on a bier at his feet, and a murdered
servant on a mat in the midst of the house. A large grave
was dug in the foundation of a house near by, in which the
servant was laid first, and upon her the other three corpses,
wrapped and wound up together."* In these cases the wives
generally die voluntarily, believing that thus only can they
hope to go to heaven. Horrible as are these facts, they at
least show how strong must be the belief felt in a future
state of existence.

Still, though we may allow the goodness of the motive to
extenuate some of these atrocities, it must be allowed that
human life was but little regarded in Fiji. Not only infan-
ticide, but also human sacrifices, were very common, and, in
fact, scarcely anything was undertaken without the latter.
* Figi and the Figians, vol. ii. p. 301.

CANNIBALISM. 461

When the king launched a canoe, ten or more men were
slaughtered on the deck, in order that it might be washed

O *— '

with human blood. But there is even worse to be told. The
Fijians were most inveterate cannibals, and so fond were they
of human flesh, that "the greatest praise they can bestow
on any delicacy is to say that it is as tender as a dead man."
Nay, they were even so fastidious as to dislike the taste of
white men,* to prefer the flesh of women to that of men, and
to consider the arm above the elbow and the thigh as the
best joints ; and so greedy, that human flesh was reserved for
the men, being considered too good to be wasted upon the
women. When the king gave a feast, human flesh always
formed one of the dishes, and though the bodies of enemies
slain in battle were always eaten, they did not afford a
sufficient supply, but slaves were fattened up for the market.
Sometimes they roasted them alive and ate them at once,
while at others they kept bodies until they were far gone in
decay. Ea Undre-undre, Chief of Eakiraki, was said to have
eaten nine hundred persons himself, permitting no one to
share them with him.-f-

It was not from any want of food that the Fijians were
cannibals. On one occasion they offered to the God of War
"ten thousand yams (weighing from six to twelve pounds
each), thirty turtles, forty roots of yaquona (some very large),
many hundreds of native puddings (two tons), one hundred
and fifty giant oysters, fifteen water-melons, cocoa-nuts, a
large number of violet land-crabs, taro, and ripe banauas."J
At a public feast Mr. Williams once saw " two hundred men
employed for nearly six hours in collecting and piling cooked
food. There were six mounds of yams, taro, vakalolo, pigs,
and turtles : these contained about fifty tons of cooked yams

* So also did the Australians, t Figi and the Figians, vol. i.
the Tongans, and the New Zea- p. 213.
landers. I Ibid. vol. i. p. 44.

462 CHARACTER OF THE FIJIAXS.

and taro, fifteen tons of sweet pudding, seventy turtles, five
cartloads of yaquona, and about two hundred tons of uncooked
yams. One pudding, at a Lakemba feast, measured twenty-
one feet in circumference." Yet so habitual has cannibalism
become, that they have no word for a corpse which does not
include the idea of something edible. Human flesh is known
as " puaka balava," or " long pig/' * " On contemplating the
character of this extraordinary people/' says Erskine,-)- " the
mind is struck with wonder and awe at the mixture of a
complicated and carefully-conducted political system, highly
finished manners, and ceremonious politeness, with a ferocity
and practice of savage vices which is probably unparalleled in
any other part of the world." " Murder/' says Mr. Williams,
" is not an occasional thing in Figi, but habitual, systematic,
and classed among ordinary transactions." J Elsewhere he
tells us that no Fijian ever feels safe with a stranger at his
heels, § and that to be "an acknowledged murderer is the
object of the Figian's restless ambition." || On the island of
Vanua Levu, even among the women, there were " few who
had not in some way been murderers." ^[ To this they are
trained up from infancy. " One of the first lessons taught the
infant is to strike its mother." At Somo-somo, Mr. Williams
saw mothers leading their children " to kick and tread upon
the dead bodies of enemies."** No wonder that under these
circumstances " a happy and united household is most rare."
Indeed it is nearly impossible, for by an arrangement, which
seems almost incredible, "brothers and sisters, first cousins,

* Erskine, 1. c. p. 260. Other

mammalia, when introduced into t Erskine, 1. c. p. 272.

the South Sea Islands, received J Figi and the Figians, vol. i.

names indicative of their similarity p. 134.

to this their principal quadruped: § I.e. p. 133.

thus the horse was called the "man- || 1. c. p. 1 12.

carrying pig" in Tahiti ; the sheep IT 1. c. p. 180.

was the " hog with teeth on its fore- ** 1. c. p. 177.
head" (Forster, 1. c. p. 384).

THE MAORIES. 463

fathers and sons-in-law, mothers and daughters-in-law, and
brothers and sisters-in-law, are severally forbidden to speak
to each other, or to eat from the same dish/'* Yet amid so
much that is horrible, there is still something in the Fijian
which redeems his character from utter atrocity. If he hates
deeply, he also loves truly; if his revenge never dies, his
fidelity and loyalty are strong and enduring. Thakombau
was a thorough Fijian. Almost to the last he opposed the
missionaries. He was not only heathen, but an ti- Christian.
At length being converted, he called his people together, and,
says Mr. Calvert, " What a congregation he had ! — husbands
whose wives he had dishonoured ! widows whose husbands he
had slain ! sisters whose relatives had been strangled by his
orders ! relatives whose friends he had eaten ! and children,
the descendants of those he had murdered, and who had vowed
to avenge the wrongs inflicted on their fathers !"•(• Yet even
this man — an adulterer, a parricide, and a cannibal, whose
hands were stained with a hundred murders — had still some-
thing noble and lovable about him ; so much so, indeed, that,
in spite of his crimes, he secured the affection, the friendship,
even the respect, of a man so excellent as Mr. Calvert.

The Maories.

The New Zealanders are the southernmost representatives
of the great Polynesian family. Their principal food consisted
of fern roots, which they scorched over the fire, and then beat
with a stick, till the bark and dry outside fell off; the re-
mainder being a soft substance, rather clammy and sweet, not
unpleasant to the taste, but mixed with numerous stringy
fibres which are very disagreeable. J In the northern districts
were large plantations of yams and sweet potatoes. They also
cultivated gourds, which were used for vessels, as they had no

* 1. c. p. 136. f Figi and the Figians, vol. ii. p. 357.

J Dieffenbacli's New Zealand, vol. ii. p. 11.

464 DRESS.

pottery. Their only instrument for tillage was "a long narrow
stake sharpened to an edge at one end, with a short piece
fastened transversely at a little distance above it, for the con-
venience of pressing it down with the foot." Their animal
food consisted principally of fish and shell-fish, and Captain
Cook observed large shell-mounds near their houses. They
sometimes also, though rarely, killed rails, penguins, shags,
and other birds. They obtained fire from two pieces of wood
in the usual manner.* A New Zealand stone adze is repre-
sented in figs. 111—113, p. 103.

The only quadrupeds in the islands were dogs and rats.
They had no hogs, and the dogs were kept entirely for food.
They were skilful in fishing, having excellent lines, hooks
made of bone and shell, and very large nets, which were made
of the leaves of a kind of flax, split into strips of the proper
breadth and tied together. In making the lines the leaves
are " scraped by a shell, which removes the upper or green
part, and leaves the strong white fibres, that run longitudi-
nally along the under side."^ This kind of cordage has even
been preferred to that made of European hemp.

Of these leaves also they made most of their clothes, for
though acquainted with the manufacture of bark-cloth, it was
very scarce, and worn only as an ornament. The leaves were
split into three or four slips, which were interwoven into a
kind of stuff, something between netting and cloth. Dog's
wool was also used for the same purpose. J The dress was
alike in both sexes, and consisted of two parts ; one piece of
their rude cloth (if so it may be called) was tied over the
shoulders and reached to the knees, beinsr fastened in front

by a piece of string or a bone bodkin ; the other piece was
wrapped round the waist, and reached nearly to the ground.

* D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 479.

t Fitzroy's Voyage of the "Adventure" and " Beagle," vol. ii. p. 599.

I D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 500.

ORNAMENTS. TATTOOING. HOUSES. 465

This garment, however, was worn by the men only on parti-
cular occasions.

For ornament they wore combs of wood or bone, feathers,
necklaces, bracelets, and anklets of bones and shells, and ear-
rings of jade or albatross -down. Many of them had also
small grotesque figures of jade, which were suspended from
the neck and were regarded as very precious. The New Zea-
landers were also tattooed with great dexterity and elegance ;
not only on the body, but even on the face, the general effect
of which was in many cases far from unpleasant. The process,
however, was extremely painful, so much so, indeed, that it
could not be supported all at once, but was sometimes spread
over several months, or even years. The lips and the corners
of the eyes were the part that hurt most. To have shrunk
from it would, however, have been a great disgrace.

Their houses were about eighteen or twenty feet long, eight
or ten broad, and five or six high. The sides sloped quite
down to the ground, differing in this respect from those of
Tahiti, which are left open at the sides. This was done,
however, not for the sake of privacy, but to keep out the
wind and rain. The sides were made of sticks, closely
thatched with grass and hay, and the door was at one end,
just high enough to admit a man on all fours. Another hole
served both for window and chimney. The roof was often
carved, and they frequently attached to the end of the ridge
pole a monstrous representation of the proprietor.*

Their villages were all fortified. They chose the strongest
natural situations, and surrounded the houses with a palisade
about ten feet high. The weaker sides were also defended
"by a double ditch, the innermost of which has a bank, and
an additional palisade." The stakes were driven obliquely
into the ground, so that they projected over the ditch, which
" from the bottom to the top or crown of the bank is four-and-

* Dieffenbach, 1. c. p. 69.
2 H

466

FORTIFICATIONS. WEAPONS. CANOES.

FIG. 210

twenty feet. Close within the innermost palisade is a stage,
twenty feet high, forty feet long, and six broad ; it is sup-
ported by strong posts, and is intended as a station for those
who defend the place, from which they may annoy the assail-
ants by darts and stones, heaps of which lay ready for use.
Another stage of the same kind commands the steep avenue
from the back, and stands also within the palisade."* Within
the palisades they had reduced the ground, " not to one level,
but to several, rising in stages one above the other, like an
amphitheatre, each of which is enclosed within its separate
palisade." These different platforms communicated only by
narrow passages, so that each one was capable of separate
defence ; and they were provided with large stores of dried

fish, fern -roots, etc. As the natives, when
first discovered, had no bows and arrows,
nor even slings, in fact, no " missile weapon
except the lance, which was thrown by hand,"
such positions as these must have been almost
impregnable. Their principal weapon was
the patoo patoo (fig. 210), which was fas-
tened to the wrist by a strong strap, lest
it should be wrenched from them. They
had no defensive armour, but besides their
weapons the chiefs carried a " staff of dis-
tinction."

Their canoes were well built, and resembled
those of the other islands. Many of them,
however, were broad enough to sail without
an outrider. The two ends were often in-

patoo patoo. geniously carved.f

The dead were wrapped in native cloth, and either buried
in a contracted posture, or exposed for a while on small square
platforms ; when the flesh had decayed away, the bones were
* Cook's First Voyage, p. 343. t Forster, 1. c. p. 326.

BURIAL. MUSIC. CHARACTER. 467

washed, and finally deposited in a small covered box, which
was generally elevated on a column in or near the village.*
In some districts, however, they were usually thrown into the
sea, except indeed those that were killed in battle. These
were generally eaten by their enemies. None of the objects
used by the dead during his last illness were ever employed
again ; f they were generally broken or buried with the
deceased. In one case a moa's egg has been found in the
hands of a dead Maori, who was buried in the usual sitting
posture. The egg was perfect, { and may have been intended
to serve as food for the dead.

In the Taranaki district, according to Taylor, the natives
were buried in their houses, the door was tied up and painted
with ochre to show that it was "taboo." In most of the
Pahs or fortified villages half the houses belonged to the
dead, and these being never repaired gave the village a very
neglected appearance. §

Their principal musical instrument was the flute, of which
they had three or four varieties. D'Urville|| also observed
among them a kind of lyre, with three or four strings. They
used large shells, too, as a kind of trumpet. They were very
fond of singing, of poetry, and of dances. The latter were of
two kinds, warlike and amorous.

In character the New Zealanders were proud, jealous, irri-
table, cruel, and implacable ; but at the same time sensible,
generous, sincere, hospitable, and affectionate. Like other
Polynesians, the Maories were much given to infanticide.lf
The girls before marriage were allowed great freedom. When
once married, however, the women were faithful and affec-
tionate to their husbands, by whom, on the other hand, they

* Dieffenbach, 1. c. p. 63 ; Fitzroy, § Taylor, New Zealand and its

1. c. p. 579. Inhabitants, p. 101.

f D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 536. || 1. c. vol. ii. p. 501.

t Zoologist, February, 1865, p. IT Dieffenbach, I.e. p. 16.
9454.

2 H 2

468 RELIGION. CANNIBALISM.

were generally treated with both kindness and respect. On
the whole, it must be admitted that the position of the women
among the New Zealanders was far from unsatisfactory. The
Maories were perpetually at war during life, and hoped to
continue so after death. Heaven they regarded as a place
where there would be continual feasts of fish and sweet
potatoes ; where they would be always fighting, and always
victorious. Whether they can be said to have had a religion,
or not, depends upon the meaning we attach to the word.
They believe in the survival of the soul, but not in the
resurrection of the body, an article of faith which, as Mr.
Marsden tells us, the missionaries could not induce them to
accept. They had no idea of an Almighty Deity. Speaking
to Mr. Taylor, Te Heuheu, chief of Taupo, ridiculed the idea.
" Is there," he asked, " one maker of all things amongst you
Europeans ? Is not one a carpenter, another a blacksmith,
another a ship-builder, and another a house-builder ? So it
was in the beginning ; one God made this, another that : Tane
made trees, Ku mountains, Tangaroa fish, and so forth. Your
religion is of to-day, ours from remote antiquity. Do not
think, then, to destroy our ancient faith with your fresh-born
religion."*

Their principal deity was known as the Atoua, who was
a cruel cannibal like themselves. When any one was ill,
Atoua was supposed to be devouring his inside, and they
endeavoured to frighten him away by curses and threats.-f-
This we may regard as a kind of negative worship ; but oil
other occasions they certainly offered human and other sacri-
fices, in the vain hope of appeasing his wrath. They did not
worship idols, but many of the priests seem to have really
thought that they had been in actual communication with the
Atoua; and some of the early missionaries were inclined to
believe that Satan might have been permitted to practise

* Dieffenbach, I.e. p, 13, t Missionary Register, Nov. 1819.

RELIGION. CANNIBALISM. 469

a deception upon them in order to strengthen his power !
However extraordinary this may appear, the same was the
case in Tahiti. " In addition," says Mr. Ellis, " to the firm
belief which many who were sorcerers, or agents of the infernal
powers, and others who were the victims of incantation, still
maintain, some of the early missionaries are disposed to think
this was the fact/'* Even Mr. Ellis himself was of the same
opinion. With such low ideas of the Divinity, it is perhaps
not surprising that some of the chiefs were looked upon as
gods even during life. Watches and white men also were at
first regarded as deities ; the latter not, perhaps, unnaturally,
their fire-arms being regarded as thunder and lightning.
The New Zealanders had but little regard for human life.

Earle relates that a young chief named Atoi, who is described
as having " a handsome open countenance," on one occasion
recognized a pretty girl of about 16, who had been working
for Mr. Earle, and claiming her as a runaway slave, took her
back with him to his village, where he killed and ate her.
The next day he showed Mr. Earle " the post to which she had
been tied, and laughed to think how he had cheated her."
" For," said he, " I told her I only intended to give her a flog-
ging ; but I fired, and shot her through the heart." " Yet,"
adds Mr. Earle, "I again affirm, that he was not only a hand-
some young man, but mild and genteel in his demeanour,
and a general favourite with us all."")-

Although the New Zealanders were addicted to cannibalism,
it was with them a very different habit from that of the
Fijian. No doubt the Maori enjoyed his meals of human
flesh. But the cannibalism of a New Zealander, though often
a mere meal, was also sometimes a ceremony ; in these cases
the object was something very different from mere sensual
gratification ; it must be regarded as a part of his religion, as

* Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 226.
t Residences in New Zealand, p. 117.

470 CANNIBALISM.

a sort of unholy sacrament. This is proved by the fact that,
after a battle, the bodies which they preferred were not those
of plump young men or tender damsels, but of the most cele-
brated chiefs, however old and dry they might be.* In fact,
they believed that it was not only the material substance
which they thus appropriated, but also the spirit, the ability,
and the glory of him whom they devoured. The greater the
number of corpses they had eaten, the higher they thought
would be their position in the world to come. The Fans of
Central Africa are said to entertain a similar idea. Under
such a creed, there is a certain dignity about the habit, which
is, at any rate, far removed from the sensuality of ordinary
cannibalism. To be eaten was, on the other hand, the greatest
misfortune that could happen to a New Zealander ; since he
believed that the soul was thus destroyed as well as the body.
The chief who could both kill and devour his enemy had
nothing more to fear from him either in this world or the
next ; on the contrary, the strength, ability, and prestige
against which he had had to contend, were not only con-
quered, but, by this dreadful process, incorporated with and
added to his own.

In other cases, slaves were killed and eaten in honour of
the gods. The New Zealanders declared that criminals alone
were thus treated. The celebrated chief, E'hongui, evidently
considered that the whole analogy of nature was in favour of
cannibalism. He was surprised at the horror of it felt by
D'Urville. Big fish, he said, eat little fish ; insects devour
insects ; large birds feed upon small ones ; it is in accordance
with the whole analogy of nature that men should eat their

enemies.-f

Tahiti.

Tahiti, the queen of islands, has excited the wonder and
admiration of almost all those by whom it has been visited.

* D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 547. t Ibid. p. 548.

TAHITI.

471

FIG. 211

In some respects the Tahitians were surpassed by other South
Sea Islanders ; the Eijians, for instance, being, as we have
seen, acquainted with pottery ; but on the whole they may
be taken as representing the highest stage in civilization to
which man has in any country raised himself before the
discovery or introduction
of metallic implements.
It is not, indeed, at all pro-
bable that any inhabitants
of the great continents
were so far advanced in
civilization during their
Stone Age. Doubtless, the
Society Islanders would
not have remained with-
out metal, if the country
had afforded them the
means of obtaining it.
On the other hand, the
ancient inhabitants of
Europe were confined to
the use of stone weapons
only until they became
acquainted with the supe-
riority of, and acquired
the art of working in,
copper, bronze, or iron;
and it is evident that a
nation would in all pro-
bability discover the use
of metal before attaining the highest pitch of civilization,
which, without such aid, it would be possible for it to attain.
The tools of the Tahitians when first discovered were made
of stone, bone, shell, or wood. Of metal they had no idea.

Stone Axe with Wooden Handle

472 IMPLEMENTS.

When they first obtained nails, they mistook them for the
young shoots of some very hard wood, and, hoping that life
might not be quite extinct, planted a number of them care-
fully in their gardens.*

In a very short time, however, the earlier weapons were
entirely replaced by those of iron ; and in his last voyage
Captain Cook tells us*f* that "a stone hatchet is, at present,
as rare a thing amongst them as an iron one was eight years
ago ; and a chisel of bone or stone is not to be seen." The
stone axes, or rather adzes, were of various sizes ; those in-
tended for cutting down trees weighed six or seven pounds,
the little ones, which were used for carving, only a few ounces.
All of them required continual sharpening, and a stone was
always kept in readiness for this purpose. The natives were
very skilful in the use of their adzes ; nevertheless, to fell a
tree was a work of several days. Some of the South Sea axes
have beautifully carved handles, as in fig. 212, representing
a specimen in my own collection. These were axes of state.
The chisels, or gouges, were of bone, generally that of a man's
arrn between the wrist and elbow. Pieces of coral were used
as rasps, and splinters of bamboo for knives. For cultivating
the ground they had instruments of hard wood, about five feet
long, narrow, with sharp edges and pointed. These they used
as spades or hoes.J They had fish-hooks made of mother-of-
pearl, and every fisherman made them for himself. They
generally served for the double purpose of hook and bait.
"The shell § is first cut into square pieces by the edge of
another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the
outline of the hook by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently
rough to perform the office of a file ; a hole is then bored in

Ellis, Polynesian Researches, J Wilson, Missionary Voyage to

P. 298. the South Pacific, p. 245.

t Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, § Cook's Voyage round theWorld,

.vol. ii. p. 137. vol. i. p. 483; vol. ii. p. 218.

FISH-HOOKS.

473

FIG. 212 .

i.".<v-1>-iv-'-a>-K<-:-«>ivi>ri>Ti>a'j'j'(-M

'.'"'• •'>Tt-T<'Ti-ri>7i>T»"'V.'!>"'i^i7<i'i'4.vi VI

', •>. 7, lT .». .->, ^L T. -r. — -* •* - . i1 V - ' k >' i .'.

\-w

South Sea Axe of Ceremony, in my Collection.

the middle, the
drill being no
other than the
first stone they
pick up that has
a sharp corner ;
this they fix into
the end of a piece
of bamboo, and
turn it between
the hands like a
chocolate mill ;
when the shell
is perforated and
the hole suffi-
ciently wide, a
small file of coral
is introduced, by
the application of
which the hook
is in a short time
completed, few
costing the arti-
ficer more time
than a quarter of
an hour. From
the bark of the
Poerou, a species
of Hibiscus, they
made ropes and
lines, from the
thickness of an
inch to the size
of a small pack-
thread ; with
these they make

474

MODES OF FISHING. BASKETS. MATS.

FIG. 213.

nets for fishing." They had also a kind of seine net, made
" of a coarse broad grass, the blades of which are like flags :
these they twist and tie together in a loose manner, till the
net, which is about as wide as a large sack, is from sixty to
eighty fathoms long ; this they haul in shoal-smooth water,
and its own weight keeps it so close to the ground that

scarcely a single fish can escape." They
also used certain leaves and fruit which,
when thrown into the water, inebriated
the fish to such a degree that they might
be caught by the hands.* Their fishing-
lines were made of the bark of the Erowa,
a kind of nettle which grows in the moun-
tains, and were described as " the best fish-
ing-lines in the world," better even than
our strongest silk lines. They also used
the fibres of the cocoa-nut for making
threads, with which they fastened together
the various parts of their canoes. They
were very dexterous in making basket and
wicker-work, " of a thousand different pat-
terns, many of them exceedingly neat ;"
they also made many sorts of mats from
rushes, grass, and bark, which were woven
with great neatness and regularity, although
south sea Fish-hook, entirely by hand and without any loom or
machinery.-)- But their principal manufacture was a kind of
cloth, made from bark, and of which there were three varieties,
obtained respectively from the paper-mulberry, which was the
best, the bread-fruit tree, and a kind of fig. This last, though
less ornamental, was more useful than either of the others,

* Forster, Observations made during a Voyage round the World,
p. 463 ; Ellis, vol. ii. p. 288.

t Ellis, vol. ii. pp. 179, 180.

BARK-CLOTH. 475

because it resisted water, which they did not. All three
kinds of cloth were made in the same way, the difference
between them being only in the material. When the trees
were of a proper size, that is to say, about six or eight feet
high, and somewhat thicker than a man's thumb, they were
pulled up and the roots and branches were cut off. The bark
being slit up longitudinally, it peeled off readily, and was then
soaked for some time in running water. After this, the green
outside bark was carefully scraped off with a shell, and the
strips were laid out in the evening to dry, being placed one
by the side of another " till they are about a foot broad, and
two or three layers are also laid one upon the other." By the
morning a great part of the water had drained off or evapo-
rated, and " the several fibres adhere together, so as that the
whole may be raised from the ground in one piece." It was
then placed on the smooth side of a long piece of wood, and
beaten by the women-servants with a wooden instrument,
shaped like a square razor-strap, and about a foot long. The
four sides of this instrument were " marked lengthways with
small grooves or furrows, of different degrees of fineness ;
those on one side being of a width and depth sufficient to
receive a small packthread, and the others finer in a regular
gradation, so that the last are not more than equal to sewing
silk." They beat the cloth first with the coarsest side, and
afterwards with the others, ending with the finest : under this
treatment it expanded greatly, and might be made almost as
thin as a muslin. The different pieces of bark by this treat-
ment were so closely fastened together, that the cloth might
be washed and wrung out without any fear of tearing ; but
even if it were accidentally broken, it was repaired without
difficulty, by pasting on a patch with a gluten prepared from
the root of the pea : this was done so nicely that it could not
be discovered. This cloth was cool and agreeable to the touch,
being even softer than our broadcloth. It is hardly necessary

476 DRESS.

to say that the fineness was regulated according to the purpose
for which it was intended. The two first kinds were easily
bleached, and then dyed of various colours, generally red and
yellow. Both of these were vegetable colours, and not very
fast.

They had various strange and complicated dresses for great
occasions, but their ordinary clothes were very simple, and
consisted of two parts. One of them was a piece of cloth
with a hole "in the middle to put the head through," and
long enough to reach from the shoulder to the knee. The
other was wrapped round the waist so as to hang down like
a petticoat as low as the knee ; this was called the Parou.
Frequently also they wore a piece of cloth tied round the
head like a turban. The dress of the Queen is thus described
by Ellis :* " She was attired in a light, loose, and flowing dress
of beautifully white native cloth, tastefully fastened on the
left shoulder, and reaching to the ankle ; her hair was rather
lighter than that of the natives in general ; and on her head
she wore a light and elegant native bonnet, of green and
yellow cocoa-nut leaves ; each ear was perforated, and in the
perforation two or three flowers of the fragrant Cape jessamine
were inserted." The dress of the men was very similar, but
instead of the petticoat, they brought the cloth between the
legs ; this was called the Maro. In hot weather,-)- and at
noon, both sexes went almost naked, wearing only the cloth
round the waist. Besides the turbans and head-dresses of
leaves, they sometimes wore long plaits of human hair, which
they wound about the head in such a manner as to produce a
very pretty effect. They were very clean both in their persons
and their clothes ; constantly washing three times a day.
Ornaments were worn by the men as much as by the women,

* 1. c. p. 148. work, with handles of the same or

t The Sandwich Islanders had of wood,
small square fans of mat or wicker-

DRESS. CANOES. 477

and consisted of feathers, flowers, pieces of shells, and pearls.
Tattooing also was almost universal ; and a person not pro-
perly tattooed would " be as much reproached and shunned,
as if with us he should go about the streets naked."* They
anointed their heads frequently with perfumed cocoa-nut oil,
but had no combs, which in so hot a country must have been
much wanted. Notwithstanding this, the hair of the grown-
up people was very neatly dressed.

Their houses were used principally as dormitories. They
were made of wood, and were generally about twenty -four
feet long, eleven wide, and nine feet high. They had no side
walls, but the roof reached to within about three feet and a
half of the ground. Palm leaves took the place of thatch, and
the floor was generally covered with soft hay.

The canoes resembled those of the Fijians, but are said to
have been scarcely so well built. " To prepare the planks
was no easy task, but the great difficulty was to fasten them
together. This was effected by strong thongs of plaiting,
which are passed several times through holes that are bored
with a gouge or auger of bone."^ The length of the canoes
varied from ten up to ninety feet, " but the breadth is by no
means in proportion ; for those of ten feet are about a foot
wide, and those of more than seventy are scarcely two."J
These larger ones were not, however, used singly, but were
fastened together side by side, in the manner already described.
A canoe without an outrigger seemed to them an impossibi-
lity^ The labour of constructing these canoes must have
been very great ; nevertheless, the South Sea Islanders pos-
sessed large numbers of them. On one occasion Captain Cook
saw more than three hundred in one place ; and, without
counting the smaller vessels, he estimated the whole naval

* Wilson, 1. c. p. 355. J Cook's First Voyage, p. 221.

f Cook's First Voyage, p. 225 ; § Ellis, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 55.
Forster, 1. c. p. 459.

478 MUSIC. GAMES. FURNITURE.

force of the Society Islands at one thousand seven hundred
war canoes, manned by sixty-eight thousand men.*

Their principal musical instrument was the drum ; it was
made from a piece of solid wood, hollowed out, and covered
over with shark's skin. They had also a kind of trumpet
made of a large shell, with a hole at the small end, into
which they fastened a bamboo cane about three feet long.
Their flutes were of bamboo, and were blown with the nose.
They had various kinds of games, some of which appear to
have resembled our hockey and football. They were also very
fond of dancing.

They were quite ignorant of pottery, but had large dishes
made of polished wood. The shells of cocoa-nuts were used
as water-bottles and cups. They were scraped thin, polished,
often very ingeniously carved, and kept extremely clean.
Generally the natives of Tahiti sat cross-legged on mats spread
on the floor ; but the chiefs had often four -legged stools.
Chairs and tables were unknown. They slept also on mats
and used a wooden pillow, very much resembling a small
stool. The upper side was curved like the seat of the stool,
to admit the neck. Each house also contained a light post,
planted in the floor, and with several projections, from which
the various dishes, calabashes of water, baskets of food, etc.,
were hung.-f-

Their weapons were formidable, though simple. They con-
sisted of slings, pikes headed with stone, and long clubs made
of hard, heavy wood. With the former they were very skilful.
Their sling-stones were of two kinds, " either smooth, being-
polished by friction in the bed of a river, or sharp, angular
and ruuced ; these were called qfai ara — faced or celled

oO ' " *— '

stones." J We have already mentioned (p. 105) that two
sorts of sling-stones, closely corresponding to these, were used

* Cook's Second Voyage, vol. i. t Ellis, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 184.
p. 349. I Ibid. vol. ii. p. 49.

WEAPONS. FOOD. 479

by the ancient inhabitants of Europe. It would be interesting
to know the relative advantage of the two classes, which
surely cannot have been used for exactly the same purposes.
They had also bows and arrows, which, however, were not
sufficiently strong to be used in warfare. The bow-strings
were made of Roava bark.* The Society Islanders are said
to have been cruel in war, but according to Captain Cook
"they are seldom disturbed by either foreign or domestic
troubles." Though not cowards, they regard it as " much
less disgraceful to run away from an enemy with whole bones,
than to fight and be wounded." f

" Of tame animals they had only hogs, dogs, and poultry ; J
neither was there a wild animal in the island, except ducks,
pigeons, parroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there
being no other quadruped, nor any serpent." § The dogs
were kept entirely for food, and Captain Cook assures us that
"a South Sea dog was little inferior to an English lamb:
their excellence is probably owing to their being kept up and
fed wholly on vegetables." The natives preferred dog to pork.
From the sea they obtained excellent fish and shell-fish. They
had also bread-fruit, bananas, plantains, yams, cocoa-nnts,
potatoes, the sugar-cane, a fruit not unlike an apple, and
several other plants which served for fruit, and required very
little culture. The bread-fruit tree supplied them with
abundance of fresh fruit for eicfht months, and during the

O ' O

other four they used " mahie," which is a kind of sour paste,
prepared from the fermented ripe fruit. It is probable that
nine -tenths of their diet consisted of vegetable food ; and
the common people scarcely ever tasted either pork or dog,
although the hogs appear to have been very abundant.

* Wilson, 1. c. p. 368. World ; Hawkesworth's Voyages,

t Ibid. p. 363. vol. i. p. 482.

£ Wallis's Voyage round the § Cook's Voyage round the World,

p. 187.

480 FOOD. FIRE.

They obtained fire by friction. When the wood was quite
dry, the process did not take longer than two minutes, but in
wet weather it was very tedious. Having no pottery, they
did not boil their food. " It is impossible," says Wallis, " to
describe the astonishment they expressed when they saw the
gunner, who, while he kept the market, used to dine on shore,
dress his pork and poultry by boiling them in a pot ; having,
as I have before observed, no vessel that would bear the fire,
they had no idea of hot water."* Captain Cook also expressly
states that " they had but two ways of applying fire to dress
their food, broiling and baking." -f Mr. Tylor, however, has
pointed out* that they were acquainted with the use of boiling
stones, and that they could not therefore have been entirely
ignorant of hot water. In order to bake a hog, they made a
small pit in the ground, which they paved with large stones,
over which they then lighted a fire. When the stones were
hot enough, they took out the embers, raked away the ashes,
and covered the stones with green cocoa-nut leaves. The
animal which was to be dressed, having been cleaned and
prepared, was wrapped up in plantain leaves, and covered
with the hot embers, on which again they placed bread-fruit
and yams, which also were wrapped up in plantain leaves.
Over these they spread the rest of the embers, and some hot
stones, finally covering the whole with earth. The meat
thus cooked is described as being tender and full of gravy ;
in fact, both Wallis and Cook considered that it was " better
in every respect than when it is dressed in any other way."
For sauce they used salt water, without which no meal was
ever eaten, and a kind of thick paste made from the kernels
of cocoa-nuts. At their meals they drank either water or
cocoa-nut juice. The Sandwich Islanders were very fond of
salt meat, and had regular salt-pans on the sea-shore.§

* 1. c. vol. i. p. 484. t Second Voyage, vol. ii. p. 197.

J Early History of Mankind, p. 266.
§ Cook's Third Voyage, vol. iii. p. 151.

COOKERY. AVA. 481

The only intoxicating liquor was the ava, an infusion made
from the root, stalks, and leaves of a kind of pepper, which,
however, fortunately for them, was entirely forbidden to the
women, and seldom permitted to the lower classes. In some
of the other islands this liquid is prepared in a very disgusting
way. The roots were broken in pieces, cleaned, chewed, and
then placed in a wooden bowl, mixed with a certain quantity
of water, and stirred up with the hands. In Tahiti, however,
the chewing was dispensed with. The wooden bowls out of
which the chiefs drank their ava were often very fair speci-
mens of carving. In the Sandwich Islands they are described
as having been "usually about eight or ten inches in diameter,
perfectly round, and beautifully polished. They are supported
by three, and sometimes four, small human figures, in various
attitudes. Some of them rest on the hands of their sup-
porters, extended over the head : others on the head and
hands ; and some on the shoulders." These figures are said
to have been " accurately proportioned and neatly finished,
and even the anatomy of the muscles, in supporting the
weight, well expressed.*

Captain Cook-f- gives an interesting description of the
manner in which the chiefs dined. They had no table, and
each person ate alone and in silence. Some leaves were
spread on the ground to serve as a table-cloth, and a basket
was set by the chief containing his provision, which, if fish
or flesh, was ready dressed and wrapped in leaves. Two
cocoa-nut shells were put by the side, one containing salt
water and the other fresh. He first washed his hands and
mouth thoroughly with the fresh water, and this he repeated
almost continually through the meal. He then took part of
his provision out of the basket, which generally consisted of a
small fish or two, two or three bread-fruits, fourteen or fifteen
ripe bananas, or six or seven apples. He began by eating

* Third Voyage, vol. iii. p. 148. t First Voyage, vol. ii. p. 200.

482 A CHIEF'S DINNER.

some bread-fruit, at the same time breaking one of the fishes
into the salt water. He then took up the bits of fish in his
fingers, in such a manner as to. get with it as much salt water
as possible, and very frequently he took a mouthful of the
salt water, either out of the cocoa-nut or in his hand. Some-
times, also, he drank the juice of a cocoa-nut. When he had
done his bread-fruit and fish, he began his plantains or apples,
after which he ate some more bread-fruit, beaten into a sort
of paste, and generally flavoured with banana or some other
fruit. For a knife he used either a shell or a piece of split
bamboo, and in conclusion he again washed his hands and
mouth. They were quite unacquainted with forks, and Cap-
tain Wallis* tells us that, during his visit, one of the natives
who " tried to feed himself with that instrument, could not
guide it, but by the mere force of habit his hand came to his
mouth and the victuals at the end of the fork went away to
his ear." Nor did they use plates. Poulaho, Chief of the
Friendly Islands, dining one day on board the ship, was so
much struck by the pewter plates that Captain Cook gave
him one. He did not, however, intend to employ it in the
usual manner, but said that " whenever he should have occa-
sion to visit any of the other islands, he would leave this plate
behind him at Tongataboo, as a sort of representative in his
absence."f

Captain Cook was much surprised to find that a people
who were so sociable, and who enjoyed so much the society
of women, never made their meals together. Even brothers
and sisters had each their own basket, and when they wished'
to eat would go out, " sit down upon the ground, at two or
three yards' distance from each other, and, turning their faces
different ways, take their repast without interchanging a single
word." They ate alone, they said, " because it was right," but
why it was right they were unable to explain. We must,

* Voyage round the World, p. 482. t Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 326.

SOLITARY MEALS. 483

however, remember that these islanders were together much
more than we are. We enjoy a sociable meal, because the
nature of our occupations keeps us apart so much at other
times ; but among a people whose wants were supplied with
so little exertion on their part, who were all day long together,
and had no rooms into which they could retire and be alone,
it must have been a great thing to have some way of escaping
from their friends and being quiet without giving offence.
As there were no stated times for meals, a man who wished
to be alone need only to take out his basket of provisions,
and he might be sure that he would not be disturbed. This
custom, therefore, seems to have been both ingenious and
convenient.*

Although they usually went to bed soon after dark, still
the natives of Tahiti were not entirely without candles, for
which they used the "kernels of a kind of oily nut, which
they stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust
through the middle of them/ These candles burn a con-

siderable time, and are said to have given a pretty good light.
The Society Islanders had no knowledge of medicine as dis-
tinct from witchcraft ; but some wonderful stories are told of
their skill in surgery. I will give perhaps the most extra-
ordinary. " It is related," says Mr. Ellis, " although," he adds
with perfect gravity, " I confess I can scarcely believe it, that
on some occasions, when the brain has been injured as well as
the bone, they have .opened the skull, taken out the injured
portion of the brain, and, having a pig ready, have killed it,

* Since the above was written, ways retired the moment my dinner

I have met with the following pas- or breakfast was brought to me.

sage in Burchell : " I had sufficient This gave me a few moments' relief

reason for admiring one of the cus- from the fatigue of incessant con-

toms of the Bachapins; that, not- versation."- -Travels in Southern

withstanding they never at any Africa, vol. ii. p. 408.
other time left me alone, they al-

2i2

484 SURGERY. MODES OF BURIAL.

taken out the pig's brains, put them in the man's head, and
covered them up."*

The nostrils of the female infants were often pressed or
spread out during infancy, because they looked on a flat nose
as a mark of beauty. Tn the same way the boys sometimes
had their forehead and the back of their head pressed upwards,
so that the upper part of the skull appeared in the shape of a
wedge. This was supposed to make them look more formi-
dable in war.-f-

The dead were not buried at once, but were placed on a
platform raised several feet above the ground, and neatly
railed in with bamboo. The body was covered with a cloth,
and sheltered by a roof. By the side were deposited the
weapons of the deceased, and a supply of food and water.
When the body had entirely decayed, the bones were collected,
carefully cleaned and buried, according to the rank of the
deceased, either within or without a "morai/'J The largest
morai seen by Captain Cook was the one prepared for Oamo
and Oberea, who were the then reigning sovereigns. This was
indeed the " principal piece of architecture in the island. It
was a pile of stonework, raised pyramidically, upon an oblong
base, or square, two hundred and sixty-seven feet long, and
eighty -seven wide. It was built like the small pyramidal
mounts upon which we sometimes fix the pillar of a sun-dial,
where each side is a flight of steps ; the steps, however, at the
sides, were broader than those at the ends, so that it terminated
not in a square of the same figure with the base, but in a ridge,
like the roof of a house : there were eleven of these steps, each
of which was four feet high, so that the height of the pile was
forty-four feet ; each step was formed of one course of white

* Ellis, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 277. + In some cases the head is not

t 1. c. vol. i. p. 343. buried with the other bones, but is

deposited in a kind of box.

OBEREA'S MORAL 485

coral stone, which was neatly squared and polished ; the rest
of the mass, for there was no hollow within, consisted of
round pebbles, which, from the regularity of their figure,
seemed to have been wrought."* A very similar account of
this structure has been more recently given by Wilson,-)- who
makes the size and height a little greater; and when it is
considered that this was raised without the assistance of iron
tools to shape the stones, or of mortar to fasten them together,
it is impossible not to be struck with admiration at the mag-
nitude of the enterprize, and the skill with which it appears
to have been carried out. It is, perhaps, the most important
monument which is positively known to have been constructed
with stone tools only, and renders it the less unlikely that
some of the large tumuli and other ancient monuments of
Europe may belong to the Stone Age. When a chief died,
his relations and attendants cut and mangled themselves in a
dreadful manner. They ran spears through their thighs, arms,
and cheeks, and beat themselves about the head with clubs
" till the blood ran down in streams." They also frequently
cut off the little finger on these occasions ; a curious custom,
which is common also in the Friendly Islands.

In Tiarrabou, Captain Cook saw a rude figure of a man,
made of basket-work and about seven feet high. This was
intended as a representation of one of the inferior gods, but
was said to be the only one on the island ; for the natives,
when first discovered, though they worshipped numerous
deities, to whom also human sacrifices were sometimes offered,
yet were not idolaters. At a later period, however, Ellis saw

* Cook's Voyage round the World, a similar mausoleum built with

vol. ii. p. 166. Similar "but some- blocks of stone, some of which were

what smaller morais were observed twenty feet long, six or eight broad,

in the Sandwich Islands (Third and two in height. They were

Voyage, vol. iii. p. 6). In the neatly squared. 1. c. vol. iv. p. 106.
Friendly Islands, D'Urville saw t I c. p. 207.

486 KELIGION.

among them many rude idols.* Captain Cook found their
religion, "like that of most other countries, involved in

o '

mystery, and perplexed with apparent inconsistencies." -\
They believed in the survival of the soul, and in "two
situations of different degrees of happiness, somewhat ana-
logous to our heaven and hell ;" but, far from regarding them
as places of reward and punishment, thought that the happiest
lot was of course intended for the chiefs and superior classes,
the other for the people of inferior rank.J Indeed, they did
not suppose that their actions here in the least influenced
their future state ; so that their religion did not act upon them
by promises or threats, and their "expressions of adoration
and reverence, whether by words or actions, arise only from
a humble sense of their own inferiority, and the ineffable
excellence of divine perfection." However mistaken they
may have been on many points, however wrong many of their
customs doubtless appear to us, surely under such a creed as
this, good actions become doubly virtuous, and virtue itself
shines the brighter.

They had no laws, nor courts of justice. Personal security
and the rights of private property were but little regarded
among them. The chiefs and priests exercised an authority
founded on fear and superstition. They were, in fact, governed
by custom rather than by law, for which, indeed, they had no
word in the language. § It is only fair to the chiefs to add
that they were above being idle, and thought it a disgrace if
they did not excel in all departments of labour. || In character
the inhabitants of Tahiti, according to Captain Cook, " were
liberal, brave, open, and candid, without either suspicion or

* Ellis, 1. c. vol. i. p. 526 ; Wil- £ Cook's First Voyage, vol. ii.
son, 1. c. p. 242. p. 239 ; Ellis, vol. i. p. 518.

t See also Forster, 1. c. p. 539. § Ellis, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 427.

|| Ibid. vol. ii. p. 178.

GOVERNMENT. 487

treachery, cruelty or revenge.* They were very anxious for
education. The women were affectionate, tender, and obedient ;
the men mild, generous, slow to take offence, and easily satis-
fied. Both sexes were very healthy. " I never saw any one,"
says Forster,""f" " of a morose, peevish, discontented disposition
in the whole nation ; they all join to their cheerful temper
a politeness and elegance which is happily blended with the
most innocent simplicity of manners." Murders were very
rare among them ; and though much licence was permitted
to the young women before marriage, the married women,
according to Captain Cook,J were as well behaved "as in any
other country whatever/' They were very thievish ; but we
must consider the immense temptations to which they were
subjected, and the, to them, inestimable value of the articles
which they stole. Like other savages, they resembled children
in many respects : their sorrows were transient, their passions
suddenly and strongly expressed. On one occasion, Oberea,
the queen, who was then about forty years old, took a parti-
cular fancy to a large doll, which was accordingly presented
to her. Shortly afterwards they met Tootahah, one of the
principal chiefs, who became so jealous of Oberea's doll, that
they were obliged to give him one also.

There are scarcely any nations, whether barbarous or civi-
lized, in which the relations of the two sexes are on the whole
satisfactory. Savages, almost without exception, treat their
women as slaves, and civilized nations too often avoid this
error only to fall into others.

The inhabitants of Tahiti are said to have been absolutely
without any ideas of decency, or rather, as Captain Cook puts
it, perhaps more correctly, " of indecency," that is, at least, in
our sense of the term. This no doubt arose in part from their
large open houses, which were not divided into separate rooms.

* First Voyage, vol. ii. p. 188. $ "Voyage to the South Pole,

t 1. c, p. 582. Tol. i. p. 187.

488 IDEALS OF RIGHT AND WRONG.

However this may be, where there was no sin, they saw no
shame, and it must be confessed that in many points their idea
of sin was very different from ours. Before, however, we con-
demn them, let us remember that a dinner-party would have
seemed as wrong to them as many of their customs do to us.
If the freedom, both in language and in action, which they per-
mitted to themselves, seems to us in many respects objection-
able, we must not forget that our ideas of delicacy shut out
from general conversation numerous subjects of great interest
and importance, and throw round many matters of the utmost
importance an air of mystery which is not without serious
disadvantages.

A considerable number of the principal people of both
sexes in Tahiti were formed into an association called the
"Arreoy," all the members of which were regarded as being
married to one another. If any of the women of the society
had a child, it was almost invariably killed : but if it was
allowed to live, the father and mother were regarded as having

o o

definitely engaged themselves to one another, and were ejected
from the association ; the woman being known from that time
as a "bearer of children," which was among this extraordinary
people a term of reproach. The existence of such a society
shows how fundamentally the idea of virtue may differ in
different countries. Yet the married women were faithful to
their husbands, and beautifully modest. It is impossible,
indeed, to acquit even them of the charge of infanticide, for
which we may find a cause, though not an excuse. I do not
allude to the curious custom, that a child, as soon as it was born,
inherited the titles, rank, and property of its father, so that a
man who was yesterday a chief might be thus at once reduced
to the condition of a private person ; nor to the fact that any
Arreoy who spared her infant was at once excluded from that
society. We cannot suppose that such customs were without
their effect; but a more powerful reason may perhaps be found

THE AKREOY SOCIETY. 489

in the fact, that their numbers were already large, the means
of subsistence limited, and that, as but few were carried oft'
either by disease or in war, the population would soon have
outgrown their supplies, if some means were not taken to
check the natural increase of numbers.* However this may
be, infanticide appears to have been dreadfully prevalent
ainonsst them. It has been estimated that two-thirds of the

children were destroyed by their own parents,^ and both Mr.
Nott and Mr. Ellis agree that, during the whole of their resi-
dence in the island, until the adoption of Christianity, they
did not know a single case of a mother who had not been
guilty of this crime.

According to Wilson, J their language contained no word
for " thanks," and even Cook admits that they had no respect
for old age. Fitzroy goes still farther, and assures us that
" they scrupled not to destroy their aged or sick — yes, even
their parents, if disabled by age or sickness." § No such
accusation is, however, brought against them by earlier writers,
so that such actions are probably very rare, and the result, as
among the Fijians, of misdirected affection rather than of
deliberate cruelty.

They had no money ; and though it was easy to obtain the
necessaries of life, to accumulate property was almost impos-
sible. Again, the absence of spirituous liquors, and the rela-
tions between the sexes (however unsatisfactory in some
respects), took away from them some of the principal incen-
tives to crime. On the whole, then, if we judge them by a
South Sea standard, the natives of the Society Islands appear
to have been very free from crime.

In spite of the differences which sometimes arose in conse-
quence of their thievish disposition, and also perhaps in great

* See, for instance, Kotzebue's J 1. c. p. 365.

New Voyage, vol. i. p. 308. § 1. c. vol. ii. p. 551.

t Ellis, vol. i. pp. 334, 336.

490 GENERAL CHARACTER.

measure from their not being able perfectly to understand
each other, Captain Cook and his officers lived with the
natives "in the most cordial friendship/' and took leave of
them with great regret. Mr. Ellis, on the contrary, assures
us that " no portion of the human race was ever perhaps sunk
lower in brutal licentiousness and moral degradation than
this isolated people/'* Such a statement is surely quite
inconsistent with the account he gives of their anxiety to
possess copies of the Bible when it was translated into their
language. "They were," he says, "deemed by them more
precious than gold — yea, than much fine gold," and " became
at once the constant companion of their possessors, and the
source of their highest enjoyment." •(•

The inhabitants of the Friendly, or Tonga, and of the
Sandwich Islands, are also very well described by Captain
Cook, but they belonged to the same race as those of Tahiti
and New Zealand, and resembled them in religion, language,
canoes, houses, weapons, food, habits, etc. It is somewhat
remarkable that the Sandwich Islanders, in many respects, as
for instance in their dances, houses, tattooing, etc., resembled
the New Zealanders even more than their nearer neighbours
in the Society and Friendly Islands. In the Friendly Islands
Captain Cook observed a very singular luxury in which the
chiefs indulged themselves. When one of them wished to go
to sleep, two women came and sat by him, " beating briskly
on his body and legs with both fists, as on a drum, till he fell
asleep, and continuing it the whole night, with some short
intervals." When the chief is sound aleep they sometimes
rest themselves a little, " but resume it if they observe any
appearance of his waking." J A similar statement is made by
Wilson in his Missionary Voyage. § In all the islands the
chiefs appear to have been treated with respect, none the less

* Ellis, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 25. t Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 323.

t Ibid. vol. i. pp. 393—408. § 1. c. p. 237.

THE TONGANS. 491

profound because shown in ways which seem to us peculiar.
One of them was to uncover the body from the waist, and it
seems to have been a matter of indifference, or rather of con-
venience, whether this was done upwards or downwards.* In
the Friendly Islands it was accounted a striking; mark of

f O

rudeness to speak to the king while standing up.

There was also a certain amount of commerce between the
different islands. Bora-bora and Otahaw produced abundance
of cocoa-nut oil, which was exchanged at Tahiti for cloth.
The Low Islands, again, could not successfully grow the paper-
mulberry ; but they had a breed of dogs with long silky hair,
which was much prized in the other islands.

* Cook's First Voyage, vol. ii. p. 125,

( 492 )

CHAPTEE XIV.

MODERN SAVAGES — continued.

Esquimaux.

THE Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux alone among savage
races, occupy both the Old and the New World. They
inhabit the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Green-
land; and throughout this great extent of country the language,
appearance, habits, occupations, and weapons of the natives
are very similar, and it must be added that the latter are
most ingenious. The language of the Innuit, or Esquimaux,
is akin to that of the North American Indians in structure,
while their appearance has a decided likeness, particularly
about the eyes, to the Chinese and Tartars.

Their dwellings are of two kinds. The summer they pass
in tents or wigwams, with the entrance to the south or south-
east. In those observed by Captain Parry, the tent-poles
were, in the absence of wood, formed of stags' horns, or bones
lashed together. The lower borders of the skins were held
down by large stones. These were sometimes built up into
regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter, and four or five
feet high.* These circles were at first supposed to be the
remains of winter-houses ; but it was subsequently ascertained
that they were exclusively used for extending the skins of the
summer-tents. Near these " hut circles," long rows of stand-
ing stones were several times observed.-)* The winter-houses

* Parry's Voyage, 1821-23, pp. 17, 51.
t 1. c. pp. 62, 285, 363.

TEXTS. HOUSES. 403

in the southern districts are constructed of earth or drift-
timber, which is very abundant in some places. In the north,
however, wood becomes extremely rare. The Esquimaux at
the northern end of Baffin's Bay,* who had no wood, except-
ing twigs of a dwarfish heath, were so little acquainted with
the nature of timber that several of them successively seized
on the spare top-mast of the " Isabella," evidently with the
intention of stealing it, and quite unconscious of its weight.
In the absence of wood, their houses were built of ice and
snow ; those of ice are beautiful, and almost transparent, so
that even at some little distance it is possible to see every-
thing that ta'kes place in them. They are, however, much
colder than those of snow, which therefore are generally pre-
ferred. West of the Eocky Mountains the winter-houses were
usually under-ground. A Kamskatchadale "yourt" is thus
described by Captain Cook :•(• "An oblong square, of dimen-
sions proportionate to the number of persons for whom it is
intended (for it is proper to observe that several families live
together in the same jourf), is dug into the earth to the depth
of about six feet. Within this space strong posts, or wooden
pillars, are fastened in the ground, at proper distances from
each other, on which are extended the beams for the support
of the roof, which is formed by joists resting on the ground
with one end, and on the beams with the other. The inter-
stices between the joists are filled up with a strong wicker-
work, and the whole covered with turf; so that a jourt has
externally the appearance of a low round hillock. A hole is
left in the centre, which serves for chimney, window, and
entrance, and the inhabitants pass in and out by means of a
strong pole (instead of a ladder) notched deep enough to
afford a little holding for the toe," as in fig. 141 (p. 137).

* Boss, Baffin's Bay, p. 122. vol. iii. p. 374. See also vol. iii.

t Voyages to the Pacific Ocean, p. 450.

494 INTERIOR OF AN ESQUIMAUX HOUSE.

More often, however, the entrance consisted of a sunken
passage, as in fig. 141* (p. 139) or fig. 143 (p. 163).

As a general rule we may say that the western yourts are
subterranean, while those of the tribes who live east of the
Rocky Mountains are generally above-ground. The manner
in which the Esquimaux construct their snow igloos has been
well described by Captain Parry. They choose •(• a drift of
hard and compact snow, and from this they cut oblong slabs,
six or seven inches thick and about two feet in length. With
these they build a circular wall, inclining inwards so as to
form a dome, which is sometimes as much as nine or ten feet
high, and from eight to fifteen feet in diameter. A small door
is then cut on the south side. It is about three feet high, two
and a half wide at the bottom, and leads into a passage about
ten feet long, and with a step in the middle, the half next the
hut being lower than either the floor of the hut or the outer
passage. For the admission of light, a round hole is cut on
one side of the roof, and a circular plate of ice, three or four
inches thick and two feet in diameter, is let into it. If several
families intend to live together, other chambers are constructed
which open into the first, and then, after a quantity of snow
has been shovelled up on the outside, the shell of the building
is regarded as finished. The next thing is to raise a bank of
snow two and a half feet high all round the interior of the
building, except on the side next the door. This bank forms
the bed. Over it is laid some gravel, upon that again paddles,
tent-poles, pieces of whale-bone, twigs of birch and of andro-
meda, etc., and finally a number of deer-skins, which form a
soft and luxurious couch. They have no fireplace, properly
so called, that is to say, no hearth, but each family has a
separate lamp or shallow vessel generally made of lapis ollaris,
in which they burn seal's oil, with a wick made of dry moss.

t Parry, 1. c. p. 500.

ABSENCE OF CLEANLINESS. 495

Although they had no knowledge of pottery, Captain Cook
saw at Oonalashka vessels " of a flat stone, with sides of clay,
not unlike a standing pie."* We here obtain an idea of the
manner in which the knowledge of pottery may have been
developed. After using clay to raise the sides of their stone
vessels, it would naturally occur to them that the same sub-
stance would serve for the bottom also, and thus the use of
stone might be replaced by a more convenient material.

The natives of the Lower Murray cook their food in a
hollow in the ground, which they line with clay, and in other
cases gourds and wooden vessels are coated with clay in order
to enable them to stand heat. Thus we see three ways in
which pottery may have been invented.

The snow- houses melt away every spring ; but in some
places the Esquimaux construct their dwellings on a similar
plan, but with the bones of whales and walruses on a founda-
tion of stones, and with a covering of earth. The snow-houses
are of course pretty clean at first, but they gradually become
very filthy. The bone huts are even dirtier, because more
durable. " In every direction round the huts," says Captain
Parry, "were lying innumerable bones of walruses and seab,
together with skulls of dogs, bears, and foxes, on many of
which a part of the putrid flesh still remaining sent forth the
most offensive effluvia." •(• He even observed a number of
human bones lying about among the restj The inside of the
huts, " from their extreme closeness and accumulated filth,
emitted an almost insupportable stench, to which an abundant
supply of raw and half-putrid walrus flesh in no small degree
contributed." §

On the north-western coast of America the natives find
plenty of drift-wood, and the floors of their yourts are, ac-

* Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, t See also Lyon's Journal, p. 236.
vol. ii. p. 510. § Parry, 1. c. p. 358.

t Parry, 1. c. p. 280.

496 STORES OF FOOD.

cording to Belcher, made of split timber, nicely smoothed and
carefully caulked with moss. Underneath is often a large
store-room, for in summer they kill many reindeer, whales,
walrus, seals, swans, ducks, etc., the greater part of which are
laid by for winter use. One of these winter stores is thus
expressively, though somewhat hastily, described by Sir E.
Belcher :* " It was frozen into a solid mass beneath, but loose
from those on the surface, and seemed to be incorporated, by
some unexplained process, into a gelatinous snow, which they
scraped up easily with the hand and ate with satisfaction —
fish oil predominating. It was not offensive nor putrid. How
many years the lower mass may have remained there I could
not determine." He estimates the quantity of solid meat in
this storehouse alone at 71,424 pounds. Captain Eoss also
mentions •(• the large stores of food laid up by the Esquimaux
of Boothia Felix during the summer for winter use. The
habit does not, however, appear to be general among the
Esquimaux, though they all of them make "caches" of meat
under stone cairns.

Charlevoix derives the name "Esquimaux" from the Indian
word Esltimantsik, which means "eaters of raw food;" many
of these northern tribes being in the habit of eating their meat
uncooked. We must in justice to them remember that several
of our Arctic Expeditions have adopted the same custom,
which seems indeed in those latitudes highly conducive to
health. |

Their food, if cooked at all, is broiled or boiled. Their
vessels being of stone or wood cannot, indeed, be put on the
fire ; but heated stones are thrown in until the water becomes

* Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser., vol. ii. p. 311 ; Kane's Arctic Ex-

vol. i. p. 132. plorations, vol. ii. p. 133.

t Narrative of a Second Voyage, £ See, for instance, Kane's Arctic

p. 251 ; and Appendix, p. 21. See Explorations, vol. ii. p. 14.
also Hall's Life with the Esquimaux,

COOKERY. FOOD. 497

hot enough, and the food is cooked. Of course, the result is
a mess of soot, dirt, and ashes, which would, according to our
ideas, be almost intolerable ; but if the stench of their houses
does not take away a man's appetite, nothing else would be
likely to do so. They never wash their pots or kettles ; the
dogs save them this trouble. Those who have arrived at a
dim consciousness of their dirtiness, do generally but make
matters worse, for if they wish to treat a guest " genteelly,
they first lick the piece of meat he is to eat clean from the
blood and scum it has contracted in the kettle, with their
tongue ; and should any one not kindly accept it, he would be
looked upon as an unmannerly man for despising their civil-
ity."* The Esquimaux observed by Dr. Eae at Eepulse Bay
were, however, much cleaner in their habits. •

Their food consists principally of reindeer, musk ox, walrus,
seals, birds, and salmon. They will, however, eat any kind
of animal food. They are very fond of fat and marrow, to
get at which they pound the bones with a stone. The southern
tribes get a few berries in summer, but those who live in the
north have scarcely any vegetable food except that which they
obtain in a half-digested form from the stomach of the rein-

deer, and this they regard as a great delicacy ;•(• the northern-
most of all, being unable to kill reindeer, are entirely deprived
of vegetable food.

" I was once present," says Captain Cook,J: "when the chief
of Oonalashka made his dinner of the raw head of a large
halibut, just caught. Before any was given to the chief, two
of his servants ate the gills, without any other dressing besides
squeezing out the slime. This done, one of them cut off the
head of the fish, took it to the sea and washed it, then came
with it and sat down by the chief: first pulling up some grass,

* Crantz, p. 168 ; Parry, Second t Ross, Narrative, of a Second
Voyage, p. 293 ; Lyon's Journal, Voyage, p. 352.
p. 142. t Third Voyage, vol. ii. p. 511.

9 v-

498 FOOD. DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WATEK.

upon a part of which the head was laid, and the rest was
strewed before the chief. He then cut large pieces off the
cheeks, and laid these within the reach of the great man, who
swallowed them with as much satisfaction as we should do
raw oysters. When he had done, the remains of the head
were cut in pieces, and given to the attendants, who tore off
the meat with their teeth, and gnawed the bones like so many
dogs."

A feast among some of the more civilized Esquimaux of
Greenland is thus described by Crantz:* "A factor being
invited to a great entertainment with several topping Green-
landers, counted the following dishes : 1. Dried herrings. 2.
Dried seal's flesh. 3. Boiled ditto. 4. Half-raw and rotten
ditto, called Mikiak. 5. Boiled willocks. 6. A piece of a half-
rotten whale's tail : this was the dainty dish or haunch of
venison to which the guests were properly invited. 7. Dried
salmon. 8. Dried reindeer venison. 9. A dessert of crow-
berries mixed with the chyle out of the maw of a reindeer.
10. The same, enriched with train oil."

Their drink consists of blood or water : during the greater
part of the year they have considerable difficulty in obtaining
sufficient water to satisfy their thirst, and it is much too pre-
cious to be used for washing. It may seem surprising that
people who are surrounded by snow and ice should suffer
from want of water, but the amount of heat required to melt
snow is so great, that a man without the means of obtaining
fire might die of thirst in these Arctic regions as easily as in
the sandy deserts of Africa. Any direct "resort to snow,"
says Kane, " for the purpose of allaying thirst, was followed
by bloody lips and tongue; it burnt like caustic."^ When
the Esquimaux visited Captain Parry, they were always
anxious for water, which they drank in such quantities " that

* History of Greenland, vol. i. t Arctic Explorations, vol. i.

p. 172. p. 190.

DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING WATER. 499

it was impossible to furnish them with half as much as they
desired." * In the extreme north, one of the principal duties
of the women in the winter is to thaw snow over their lamps,
feeding the wick with oil if it does not rise well of its own
accord ;•(• the natural heat of the room is not sufficient to
melt snow, as the temperature of the huts is always kept, if
possible, below the freezing-point. In South Greenland, how-
ever, the huts are built of turf, etc., and are very warm. J But
we must remember that coolness, rather than heat, is required
by the Esquimaux who live in snow dwellings, because if the
temperature rises to thirty-two degrees, the continual dripping
from the roof produces extreme inconvenience, and, in fact,
the most unhealthy season is the spring, when the weather is
too warm for snow huts and too cold for tents. Thus, there-
fore, the Esquimaux, though living in a climate so extremely
rigorous, would be debarred from the use of fires by the very
nature of their dwellings, even if they were enabled to obtain
the necessary materials. They never, says Simpson, " seem
to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth ;"§ their
lamps are used for cooking, for light, and for melting snow
and drying clothes, rather than to warm the air,|| and as,
nevertheless, the body temperature of the Esquimaux is
almost the same as ours, it is evident that they must require
a large amount of animal food. The quantity of meat which
they consume is astonishing ; and it is worthy of remark that,
from the scarcity of wood in the far north, they use the same
substance for food and fuel ; the calorific material being the
same — namely, blubber — whether the heat is to be obtained
by digestion or combustion ; whether the material is to be
placed in a lamp and burnt, or to be eaten and digested. In
summer, however, when it is less necessary to keep down the

* I.e. p. 188. § Discoveries in North America,

t Osborn's Arctic Journal, p. 17. p. 346.

£ Egede, 1. c. p. 116. || Kane, 1. c, vol. ii. p. 202.

2 K 2

500 IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS.

general temperature, they sometimes burn bones well satu-
rated with oil. For obtaining fire the Esquimaux generally
use lumps of iron pyrites and quartz, from which they strike
sparks on to moss which has been well dried and rubbed
between the hands.* They are also acquainted with the
method of obtaining it by friction,^ which is a slower and
more laborious process. It appears, however, to be the one
generally pursued by the Greenland Esquimaux. J

It has been generally assumed that man could scarcely live
in temperate climates, and certainly not in the Arctic regions,
without the advantage of fire. From the above facts, however,
as well as from others which will presently be recorded, it
may be doubted whether this is really the case. Esquimaux
do not use fire to warm their dwellings, and cookery is with
them a refinement. In fact, those Esquimaux who live on
reindeer more than on seal, having little blubber, make hardly
any use of fire.

In the south the men have bows and arrows, harpoons,
spears, lines, fish-hooks, knives, snow -knives, ice -chisels,
snow-shovels, groovers, drill-bows, drills, etc. The women
have lamps and stone kettles, lamp moss, pieces of iron
pyrites, bone needles, pieces of sinew, scrapers (figs. 105 — 107),
horn spoons, sealskin vessels, pointed bones, marrow-spoons,
and knives (figs. 214 — 216). They have generally also, accord-
ing to Dr. Eae, a small piece of stone, bone, or ivory, about
six inches lon^ and half an inch thick ; this is used for arrant-

o / o

ing the wicks of the lamps.

Kane gives the following inventory of an Esquimaux hut
visited by him : a sealskin cup, for gathering and holding
water ; the shoulder-blade of a walrus, to serve as a lamp ; a
large flat stone to support it; another large, thin flat stone
to support the melting snow ; a lance-head, with a long coil

* Kane, 1. c. vol. i. p. 379 ; Parry, t Lyon's Journal, p. 290.
1. c. p. 504 ; Ross, 1. c. p. 513. J Egede, 1. c. p. 138.

IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS.

501

of walrus line; a stand for clothes; and the clothes them-
selves completed the whole worldly goods of this poor family.*

FIG. 214.

FIG. 215.

FIG. 216.

Esquimaux Knife.

On their travelling expeditions, even less than this is neces-
sary ; raw meat and a fur bag are all they require.

The implements of the Esquimaux are very ingenious.
Besides knives resembling those figured above, the women
use others of a semicircular form, and very similar to the
curious semi-lunar knives (pi. 1, fig. 3) which are so common

* Kane's Arctic Explorations, vol. i. p. 381.

502 IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS.

in Denmark. They are, however, now made of metal, which
the southern Esquimaux have been enabled to obtain, though
in small quantities, from the Europeans. Some few of them
also break off bits of meteoric iron, which they hammer to an
edge, and then fix in a handle of horn or bone. The arrow-
heads are of several kinds and shapes. Those of stone (fig.
217) are made, not by blows, but by pressure, for which pur-
pose they use the point of a reindeer's horn, set in bone ; bone
itself would not be tough enough. Other arrow-heads are of
horn; these often bear "owners' marks/' as may be seen by
fig. 2 (p. 11). The shafts of the arrows are short, straightened
FnL!17' by steam, and provided with feathers at the butt
end. These are fastened on by deer sinews.
The bows are generally of wood, either made of
one piece steamed into the right form, or of
three parts most ingeniously fastened together,
and strengthened by pieces of bone or sinew.
When wood cannot be obtained, they use bone
or horn. They do not appear to be particularly
good shots: but Captain Parry* thinks that
~Arrow-headT they would generally hit a deer from forty to
forty-five yards, if the animal stood stillf Moreover, against
large game they are, after all, not very effective. Sir J. C. Eoss
gives an interesting account of a musk-sheep hunt which he
witnessed. At length becoming impatient, as the Esquimaux
" continued to shoot without apparent effect, finding his
opportunities for an aim with much difficulty, and losing
much time afterwards in recovering his arrows, Sir James
fired, and broke the animal's shoulder-blade, to the immense
astonishment of his companion."!

* 1. c. p. 511. also their ancient habits have been

t The Esquimaux of Greenland modified, and their condition greatly

have long abandoned the bow and improved, by this intercourse.

arrow, using guns obtained from £ Sir J. Ross' Arctic Expedition,

the Danes. In many other respects 1829-33, p. 350.

HUNTING.

503

The spears are made like the arrows, but are larger ; the
heads also are frequently barbed, and in many cases fit loosely

218-

into the shaft, but are securely fastened to a
long leathern thong, which is tied to the butt
end of the spear. For throwing the harpoon
they use a short handle or throwing-stick,
about two feet long, narrow below, four inches
wide above, and with a notch on each side
for the thumb and forefinger. With these
weapons they attack not only seals and wal-
ruses, but even whales. They strike the
whale, if possible at the same time, with
many harpoons, " to which bladders are hung,
made of great sealskins, several of which so
encumber and stop the whale, that it cannot
sink deep. When he is tired out, they de-
spatch him quite with their little lances."
Kane gives the figure of a lance, the blade
of which closely resembles one of the longer
"axes" from the Danish shell-mounds.*

The Esquimaux have three principal ways
of killing seals. The commonest is with the
harpoon and bladder. When an Esquimaux
in his kayak " spies a seal, he tries to surprise
it unawares, with the wind and sun in his
back, that he may not be heard or seen by it. spear-head.
He tries to conceal himself behind a wave, and makes hastily
but softly up to it till he comes within four, five, or six
fathoms of it ; meanwhile he takes the utmost care that the

* *

harpoon, line, and bladder lie in proper order." •(• As soon as
the seal is struck, the point of the spear detaches itself from
the shaft, and at the same moment the Esquimaux throws
the large air-bladder on to the water. This is often draped

<-' oo

* Arctic Explorations, vol. ii. p. 129. f Craiitz, p. 154.

504 MODES OF HUNTING AND FISHING.

under water a little way, but it is so great an impediment,
that the seal is soon obliged to come up. " The Greenlander
hastens to the spot where he sees the bladder rise up, and
smites the seal as soon as it appears" with the great lance
or " angovigak." This is not barbed, and does not therefore
remain in the seal's body, but can be used again and again

FIG. 219.

Bone Harpoon.

until the animal is exhausted. The second way is the " clapper-
hunt." If the Esquimaux find, or can drive any seals into the
creeks or inlets, they frighten them by shouting, clapping,
and throwing stones every time they come up to breathe,
until at last they are exhausted and easily killed. In winter,
when the sea is frozen, the seals, which are obliged to come

' O

up from time to time for the sake of air, keep open certain
breathing- holes for this purpose, and the Esquimaux, when
he has found one of these, waits patiently till the seal makes
its appearance, when he kills it instantly with his harpoon.

The Esquimaux are excellent deerstalkers, and are much
assisted by the skill with which they can imitate the cry of
the reindeer. Fish are caught sometimes with the hook and
line, sometimes by means of small nets when they come to
the shore in shoals to spawn, or finally with the spear. The
nets are made of " small hoops or rings of whalebone, firmly
lashed together with rings of the same material."* The fishing-
lines are also made of whalebone. -f- Salmon are sometimes
so abundant, that in Boothia Felix, Captain Eoss bought a
ton weight for a single knife. For killing birds they use
an instrument in some respects like the "bolas" of South

* Parry, 1. c. p. 100. t Egede, 1. c. p. 107.

MODES OF HUNTING AND FISHING. 505

America : a number of stones or walrus teeth being fastened
to short pieces of string, and all the strings then tied together
at the other end.* The spears, which are intended to be
thrown at birds or other small animals, have a double fork at
the extremity, and three other barbed points near the middle.
These diverge in different directions, so that if the end pair
should miss, one of the central trio might strike the victim.
Aquatic birds are also caught in whalebone nooses ; but the
" moulting season is the great bird-harvest, as a few persons
wading into the shallow lakes can soon tire out the birds and
catch them by hand."^

The so-called "Arctic Highlanders," however, are said to
have no means of killing the reindeer, though it abounds in
their country ; nor have they the art of fishing, although,
curiously enough, they catch large numbers of birds in small
hand-nets. Seals, bears, walrus, and birds, constitute almost
the whole of their diet, j Neither the American nor Green-
land Esquimaux have succeeded in taming the reindeer. Dogs
are their only domestic animals, and are sometimes used in
hunting, but principally to draw the sledges.

The sledges vary much both in materials and form : accord-
ing to Captain Lyon, the best are made of the jaw-bones of
the whale, sawn to about two inches in thickness, and from
six inches to a foot in depth. These are the runners, and are
shod with a thin plank of the same material. The sides are
connected by pieces of bone, horn, or wood, firmly lashed
together. In Boothia, Captain Eoss saw sledges in which the
runners were made of salmon, packed into a cylinder, rolled
up in skins, and frozen together. In spring the skins are
made into bags, and the fish are eaten.§ Altogether these

* Simpson, 1. c. p. 156. vol. ii. p. 25 ; Simpson's Discove-

t Lyon's Journal, p. 338. ries in North America, p. 347 ;

J Kane, Arctic Explorations, Ross, 1. c. p. 585.

vol. ii. pp. 208, 210. See also § 1. c. Appendix, p. 24.

Richardson's Arctic Expedition,

506 SLEDGES. BOATS.

sledges are well constructed, when it is considered with what
simple tools they are made.

The dogs by which these sledges are drawn are by no
means easy to manage. Each has a separate trace attached
to the front of the sledge, passing between the legs, and
fastened in front to a collar. The dogs therefore are nearly
abreast, and the traces are very liable to become entangled.
The team is guided by throwing the lash of the whip on one
side or the other, and repeating certain words. " Wooa," as
among our carters, means " Stop."

Their boats are also very ingeniously built, and are of two
kinds, the kajak or men's boat, and the umiak or women's
boat. The kajak is from eighteen to twenty feet long, eighteen
inches broad in the middle, tapering to both ends, and scarcely
a foot deep. It has no outriggers, and is therefore very diffi-
cult to sit. It is quite covered over at the top, with the
exception of a hole in the middle, into which the Esquimaux
puts his legs. The boat therefore cannot fill with water, and
even if it upsets, they can right it again by a sudden jerk of
the oar, or rather paddle. Indeed, a skilful Esquimaux will
turn somersaults in the water, in his boat, with great ease.
In spite of this, they are frequently drowned ; and indeed so
dangerous is the navigation that they generally go in pairs, so
as to assist one another on an emergency, for the skin sides of
the kajak are very thin, and if they come in contact with any
of the floating ice or drift-timber which abound in the Green-
land seas, are liable to be torn open, in which case the unfor-
tunate Esquimaux has little chance of saving himself. The
umiak is much larger, and has a flat bottom. It is made of
slender laths, fastened together with whalebone, and covered
over with sealskins. The Esquimaux observed by Boss, at
the northern end of Baffin's Bay, were entirely without canoes,
and were " ignorant, even traditionally, of the existence of a

Parry's Three Voyages for the Discovery of a N.W. Passage, vol. iv.
p. 310.

BOATS. SCRAPERS. 507

boat."* It is, as he justly observes, an extraordinary thing
to find "a maritime and a fishing tribe unacquainted with
any means of floating on the water ;" but we must remember
that they had no wood, and that there were only a few weeks
in the year when the sea was unfrozen. No wonder that
Eoss's ships were mistaken for living creatures,"^ and that his
boats excited the most unbounded astonishment and admira-
tion. Kane alsoj confirms the absence of boats, but he adds
" that the kayak was known to them traditionally."

In the preparation of skins the Esquimaux use certain
stone instruments (figs. 105 — 107), which have frequently been
overlooked on account of their simplicity, but which yet are
interesting because they are exactly similar to certain ancient
implements which are very common in various parts of Europe,
and have been already described in page 101. The collection
bequeathed by my lamented friend, Mr. Christy, to the nation,
and which is now in the British Museum, contains four of
these skin -scrapers, three of which were obtained . from the
Esquimaux north of Behring Straits. These are set in fossil
ivory. The fourth was found in a Greenland grave, probably
not older than the fifteenth century, and belonging to the
Stone period which supervened when the intercourse with
Norway was suspended. Some archaeologists had considered
that the "scrapers" were "probably knives, the prolonged
thick ends of which were intended for handles, to be held
between the finger and thumb, or possibly for attachment to
a short wooden shaft." § The true nature and use of the
ancient skin-scrapers has, however, been entirely explained by
these modern specimens, with which they are absolutely iden-
tical. The method of preparing skins is curious and ingenious,
but very disgusting.

* Ross, Baffin's Bay, p. 170. t 1. c. p. 118.

t Arctic Explorations, vol. ii. pp. 135, 210.
§ See Archeeologia, vol. xxxviii. p. 415.

508 CLOTHES. ORNAMENTS. CHEEK-STUDS.

The clothes of the Esquimaux are made from the skins of
reindeer, seals, and birds, sewn together with sinews. For
needles they use bones either of birds or fishes; yet with
these simple instruments they sew very strongly and well.
The outer dress of the men resembles a short great-coat, with
a hood that can be pulled over the head if necessary, and
which serves as a substitute for a hat or cap. Their under-
garments or shirts are made of bird-skins with the feathers
ft

inwards ; or of skins with the hair inside ; sometimes, how-
ever, they wear in addition another shirt made of seal's
entrails. Their breeches, " of which in winter they also wear
two pair, and similarly disposed as to the fur,"* are either of
seal-skin or reindeer-skin, and their stockings of skins from
very young animals. The boots are of smooth black dressed
seal's leather, and sometimes when at sea they wear a great
overcoat of the same material Their clothes are generally
very greasy and dirty, and swarm with lice. The dress of the
women does not differ much from that of the men.

Among the Western tribes the prin- FIG 220.

cipal ornaments are cheek-studs (fig.
220), or pieces of polished stone or
bone, which are worn in the lower lip
or cheeks. The hole is made in early
infancy, and gradually enlarged by a Esquimaux cheek-stud,
series of "guides."^ These "labrets," however, are not worn
by the Eastern tribes. According to Richardson, they are in
use from Behring Straits to the Mackenzie river. J They are
worn exclusively by the men. The women paint their eye-
brows ; and tattoo the face, and especially the chin, in blue
lines. § The other ornaments consist of strips of variously

* Parry, 1. c. p. 495. t Arctic Expedition, vol. i. p.

t Vancouver's Voyage, vol. ii. 355.

p. 280; see also p. 408; Belcher, § Beechey's Voyage, vol. i. p.

1. c. p. 141. 280.

GAMES. BONE IMPLEMENTS. 509

coloured fur, and fringes of pierced teeth, generally those of
the fox or wolf. Among the Esquimaux visited by Captain
Lyon, the ornaments were all appropriated by the men.* Some
of the families are in the habit of tattooing themselves.

The men hunt and fish. They make the weapons and
implements, and prepare the woodwork of the boats. The
women-(- are the cooks, prepare the skins, and make the
clothes. They also repair the houses, tents, and boats, the
men doing only carpenter's work. Though they do not
appear to be very harshly treated, still the women have
certainly "a hard and almost slavish life of it," although
perhaps, after all, not more so than the men.

The Esquimaux are not altogether without music. They
have a kind of drum, and sing both alone and in chorus.
They are acquainted with several kinds of games, j" both of
strength and skill, and are fond of dances, which are often
very indecent. One of their games resembled our cat's-
cradle,§ and Kane saw the children in Smith's Sound play-
ing hockey on the ice. The Esquimaux have also a great
natural ability for drawing. In many cases they have made
rude maps for our officers, which have turned out to be
substantially correct. Many of their bone implements are
covered with sketches. Figs. 221 to 223 represent three bone
drill-bows presented to the Ashmolean Museum by Captain
Beechey, and which I presume to be some of those which he
obtained in Hotham Inlet, Kotzebue Sound, and described
in his Voyage to the Pacific. In fig. 223 we see yourts, or
winter-houses, in two cases, with dogs standing on them ; men
armed with bows and arrows, and others dragging seals home
over the ice, and one man about to spear a reindeer with a
movable-headed harpoon. In fig. 222 are reindeer, geese, a
baidar, or flat-bottomed boat, a tent, round which various

* Lyon's Journal, p. 314. J Egede, 1. c. p. 162.

t Crantz, p. 164. § Hall, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 316.

510

DRAWINGS.

FIG. 222.

FIG. 223.

FIG. 221.

RELIGION. MODES OF BURIAL. 511

articles of clothing are hung up to dry, a woman, apparently
engaged in the preparation of food, and a hunting scene. A
decoy, roughly representing the head and antlers of a reindeer,
has been put up ; and a real reindeer, while unsuspiciously
browsing close by, is about to be shot by an Esquimaux
hunter. In fig. 221 are represented two animals, apparently
intended for crocodiles ; the draughtsman must, I think, have
seen drawings of this animal in some European vessel.

According to Crantz, the Greenland Esquimaux "have
neither a religious nor idolatrous worship, nor so much as
any ceremonies to be perceived tending towards it."* This
statement has been confirmed by many other observers.-)*
Their burial ceremonies have, however, been supposed to indi-
cate a belief in the resurrection. They generally bend the
body into a sitting posture, bringing the knees up tinder the
chin, and then wrap the corpse in one of their best skins.
For the grave they choose some high place, and over the
corpse they make a heap of stones. Near the body some of
them place the implements of the deceased, and even some-
times, if he was a man, his kajak ; believing, as it has been
said, that they will be of use to him in the new world. Egede, J
however, expressly denies that it is done with any such idea.
This view is also confirmed by Hall, according to whom the
Esquimaux have a superstitious objection to use, or even
touch, anything which has been in a house containing a dead
body.§ It is, perhaps, the same idea which induces them to
remove a corpse, not through the ordinary entrance, but by
way of the window. || In other cases, when a person is evi-
dently dying, they place by him everything which can soothe

* I.e. p. 197. Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 44 ;

t Graah's Voyage to Greenland, Egede, I.e. p. 183.
p. 123 ; Ross, Baffin's Bay, vol. i. £ I.e. p. 151.
p. 1 75 ; Voyage of Discovery, p. 1 28 ; § 1. c. vol. i. p. 201 , vol. ii. p. 221 ,

Parry, I.e. p. 551; Richardson's || Graah, 1. c. p. 128 ; Ross, Arctic

Expedition, 1829-33, p. 290.

512 THINGS BURIED WITH THE DEAD.

and comfort his last moments, and then leave the igloo, or
house, which they close up, thus converting it into a tomb.*
Crantz tells us that they " lay a dog's head by the grave of a
child, for the soul of a dog can find its way everywhere, and
will show the ignorant babe the way to the land of souls,"
and this is admitted by Egede. Moreover, the custom of
occasionally burying models of implements, instead of the
implements themselves, tends to the same conclusion.

Captain Cook saw burial mounds of earth or stone at
Oonalashka. One of the latter was near the village, and he
observed that, in accordance with a custom which seems to
prevail all over the world, every one who passed threw a stone
on it.f Infants, if unfortunate enough to lose their mothers,
are always buried with them; and sickly aged people are
sometimes buried alive, as it is considered a kindness to spare
them the pain of a lingering death. The Esquimaux observed
by Captain Parry had a superstitious idea that any weight
pressing upon the corpse would give pain to the deceased. J
Such a belief would naturally give rise, in a more favoured
country, to vaulted tumuli; but in the extreme north, the
only result is that the dead bodies are but slightly covered
up, in consequence of which the foxes and dogs frequently
dig them up and eat them. This the natives regard with the
utmost indifference ; they leave the human bones lying about
near the huts, among those of animals which have served
for food ; another reason for doubting whether their burial
customs can be regarded as satisfactory evidence of any very
definite and general belief in a resurrection, or whether the
objects which they bury with their friends are really supposed
to be of actual use to them. On the whole, the burial customs
of the Esquimaux are curiously like those of which we find

* Graah, 1. c. p. 126.

t Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii. p. 519.

I 1. c. pp. 395, 417, 550.

CHARACTER. 513

evidence in the ancient tumuli of northern and western
Europe.

In character the Esquimaux are a quiet, peaceable people.
Those observed by Ross, in Baffin's Bay, " could not be made
to understand what was meant by war, nor had they any war-
like weapons."* Like other savages, they resemble children
in a great many respects. They are such bad arithmeticians
that the " enumeration of ten is a labour, and of fifteen an
impossibility with many of them."-f- Dr. Eae, whose partiality
for the Esquimaux is well known, assures us that if a man is
asked the number of his children, he is generally much puzzled.
After counting some time on his fingers, he will probably
consult his wife, and the two often differ, even though they
may not have more than four or five.;];

Amongst the Esquimaux both polygamy and polyandry
appear to occur. A strong or skilful man has often more than
one wife, a beautiful or clever woman in some cases more
than one husband. § Again, the temporary loan of a wife is
considered a mark of peculiar friendship ; in which, however,
the advantage is not all on one side, as a large family, far
from being any incumbrance, is among the Esquimaux a great
advantage. 1 1 Apart, moreover, from these recognized customs,
it does not appear that the Esquimaux set any very high
value on the virtue of chastity.

They are excessively dirty. Considering the difficulty in
obtaining enough water even to drink during the greater part
of the year, we cannot, perhaps, wonder that they never dream
of washing. Their word for dirt, eberk, conveys no idea of
anything disagreeable or offensive; 11 but, in justice to them,
we must remember that the extreme cold, by preventing

* 1. c. p. 186. § Ross, 1. c. p. 273.

f Parry, 1. c. p. 251. || Ib. 1. c. p. 515.

t See, for a curious instance of IT Kane, Arctic Explorations,

this, Graah, 1. c. p. 131. vol. ii. p. 116.

2 L

514 CHARACTER.

putrefaction, removes one of our principal inducements to
cleanliness, and at the same time induces so great a scarcity
of liquid water, as to render washing almost an impossibility.
As a general rule, it is impossible to put any dependence
on their promises, not so much that they are intentionally
deceitful, as on account of the wavering and inconstant dis-
position which they possess in common with so many other
savages. Among themselves a successful huntsman or fisher-

o o

man is always ready to share his seal or walrus with his less
fortunate neighbours ; but he expects, as a matter of course,
that sufficient return will he made to him when an oppor-
tunity occurs. They give away nothing themselves without
expecting to receive as much again, and, being unable to
imagine any other line of conduct, are naturally very deficient
in gratitude. Captain Ross, however, and Dr. Rae consider
that the Esquimaux encountered by them were neither un-
grateful nor particularly selfish. In other respects also these
appear to have been very favourable specimens of the race.
Though not cruel, the Esquimaux seem to be a somewhat
heartless people. They do not, indeed, feel any actual plea-
sure in the infliction of pain, but they will take little trouble
to remove or relieve suffering. They are also great thieves;
but, as Captain Tarry truly observes,* we must " make due
allowance for the degree of temptation to which they were
daily exposed, amidst the boundless stores of wealth which
our ships appeared to them to furnish." According to Hall,"}-
moreover, they are strictly honest among themselves, kind,
generous, and trustworthy.

Tarry thus di-sr.ribes them: " In the few opportunities we
had of putting their hospitality to the test, we had every
reason to be pleased with them. Both as to food and ac-
commodation, the best they had were always at our service;
and their att< ntion, both in kind and degree, was everything

* 1. c. p. 522. t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 312.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 515

that hospitality and even good breeding could dictate. The
kindly offices of drying and mending our clothes, cooking our
provisions, and thawing snow for our drink, were performed
by the women with an obliging cheerfulness which we shall
not easily forget, and which commanded its due share of our
admiration and esteem. While thus their guest, I have passed
an evening not only with comfort, but with extreme gratifica-
tion ; for, with the women working and singing, their husbands
quietly mending their lines, the children playing before the
door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp,
one might well forget for the time that an Esquimaux hut
was the scene of this domestic comfort and tranquillity ; and
I can safely affirm with Cartwright that, while thus lodged
beneath their roof, I know no people whom I would more
confidently trust, as respects either my person or my property,
than the Esquimaux."*

Dr. Eae also has a very high opinion of them, and they
seem from all accounts to present the remarkable pheno--
menon of a really high state of morality, without anything
which can be called religion.

The North American Indians.

The aboriginal, or at least the pre-Columbian inhabitants
of North America, fall naturally into three divisions. The
Esquimaux in the extreme north, the Indian tribes in the
centre, and the comparatively civilized Mexicans in the south'
The central tribes, which occupied by far the greater extent
of the continent, were again divided by the Rocky Mountains
into two great groups ; that on the western side being in much
the most abject condition. Though no doubt there was and
is an immense difference between different tribes — and parti-
cularly between the semi-agricultural nations of the west, and

* Parry's Three Voyages for the Discovery of a North-west Passage,
vol. v. p. 13.

2 L 2

51 G DRESS.

the filthy barbarians of Northern California — still, as Mr.
Schoolcraft, to whom we are indebted for an excellent work
on the " History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian
Tribes,"* truly says, "their manners and customs, their
opinions and mental habits, had, wherever they were inquired
into, at the earliest dates, much in common. Their modes of
war and worship, hunting and amusements, were very similar.
In the sacrifice of prisoners taken in war; in the laws of reta-
liation; in the sacred character attached to public transactions
solemnized by smoking the pipe ; in the adoption of persons
taken in war, in families ; in the exhibition of dances on
almost every occasion that can enlist human sympathy; in
the meagre and inartificial style of music ; in the totemic tie
that binds relationships together, and in the system of symbols
and figures cut and marked on their grave-posts, on trees, and
sometimes on rocks, there is a perfect identity of principles,
arts, and opinions. The mere act of wandering and petty
warfare kept them in a savage state, though they had the
element of civilization with them in the Maize." -f-

As regards dress, many of the Indian chiefs had magnificent
dresses of skins and feathers. Some of the tribes, indeed,
wore no clothes; but this was rarely the case with the women,
and even the men had generally at least a loin-cloth. The
amount of clothing, however, depended very much on the
temperature. In the plains and forests of the tropical and
southern latitudes, " the Indian wears little or no clothing
during a large part of the year;" but it is very different on
the mountains and in the north, where the common dress was
the breech-cloth and mocassins, with a buffalo-skin thrown
over the shoulders. The inhabitants of Vancouver's Island
had mats, made either of dosfs-wool alone, of dou-'s-wool and

o ^

goose-down together, or of threads obtained from cedar-bark.

Published by authority of Congress. Philadelphia, 1853.
t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 47.

ORNAMENTS. LABRETS. 517

They often wore " necklaces of shells, claws, or wampum ;
feathers on the head and armlets, as well as ear and nose
jewels/'* Many of the Indian tribes are clean in their
persons, and frequently use both the sweat-house and cold
bath; others are described as repulsive in countenance and
filthy both in person and habit.

Among the western tribes tattooing is very general with
the women, though not carried to any great extent.

The eastern tribes do not generally disfigure themselves
artificially, except indeed by the use of paint ; but it is very
different in the west. The Sachet Indians of De Fuca's
Straits wear pieces of bone or wood passed through the carti-
lage of the nose ; the Classet Indians cut their noses when
they capture a whale ; among the Babines, who live north of
Columbia Eiver, the size of the under-lip is the standard of
female beauty.-)- A hole is made in the under-lip of the infant,
in which a small bone is inserted; from time to time the
bone is replaced by a larger one, until at last a piece of wood
three inches long and an inch and a half wide, is inserted in
the orifice, which makes the lip protrude to a frightful extent.
The process appears to be very painful.

Owing to the almost universal custom of fastening babies
to a cradle-board, the American skulls are characterized by
a flattened occiput. This peculiarity does not now occur in
European heads, but it is found in many ancient skulls from
various parts of the old continents, and indicates, as pointed
out by Vesalius, Gosse, and Wilson, that the cradle-board,
though long abandoned, was at one time used in Western
Europe, as it is even now among the Indians of North Ame-
rica. The extraordinary practice of moulding the form of the
head was common to several of the Indian tribes. It pre-
vailed in Mexico and Peru, in the Carib Islands, and among

* Schoolcraft, vol. iii. p. 65. rica, p. 242 ; Vancouver, 1. c. vol. ii.

t Kane's Indians of North Ame- pp. 280, 408.

f»18 THE PRACTICE OF HEAD-MOULDING.

the savage tribes of Oregon. Among the Natchez the deform-
ity is described by the historian of De Soto's expedition as
consisting of an upward elongation of the cranium, until it
terminated in a point or edge. The Choctaws, though enemies
of the Natchez, "improved" their heads in the same way.
Their children were placed upon a board, and a bag of sand
was laid upon the forehead, " which, by continual gentle corn-
pressure, gives the forehead somewhat the form of a brick
from the temples upwards, and by these means they have high
and lofty foreheads sloping off backwards." * The Waxsaws,
Muscogees or Creehs, Catawbas, and Altacapas, are described
as having had a similar custom. It was, however, only the
male infants which were treated in this manner. Among the
Nootka-Columbians the practice of flattening the head was
universal. The child was placed in a box or cradle lined
with moss. The occiput rested on a board at the upper part
of the box, and another board was brought over the forehead,
and tied firmly down on the head of the infant. The process
continued until the child was able to walk, at which time it
is described as presenting a most hideous appearance. The
eyes " stand a prodigious way asunder ;" the eyeballs project
very much, and are directed upwards ; the head is very wide,
and has almost the form of a wedge. The Newatees, a tribe
residing on the north end of Vancouver's Island, forced the
head into a conical shape by means of a cord of deer-skin
padded with the inner bark of the cedar-tree. This cord,
which is about as thick as a man's thumb, is wound round
the infant's head, and gradually forces it to take the shape of
a tapering cone.-f- Among the Peruvians the forehead was
pressed downwards and backwards by tight bandages, of
which there seem to have been generally two, leaving a space
between them, and thus producing a well-marked ridge run-

* Schoolcraft, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 324.

t Wilson on Physical Ethnology, Smithsonian Report, 1862, p. 288.

RELIGION. SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN. 519

ning transversely across the skull. Thus, while the forehead
was prevented from rising, and the sides of the head from
expanding, the occipital region was allowed full freedom of
growth, and the development of the brain was forced to take
an unnatural direction. So great was the change produced, so
extraordinary is the shape of these abnormal skulls, that many
ethnologists have been disposed to regard them as belonging
to a peculiar race. This theory, however, has been clearly
proved to be erroneous, and is now universally abandoned.
It is very remarkable that this unnatural process does not
appear to have any prejudicial effect on the minds of the
sufferers.*

Hearne states that the Northern Indians had no religion ;
even the celebrated "five nations" of Canada, according to
Golden, had no religion, nor any word for God. Burnet'f'
never found any semblance of worship among the Comanches.
In the central parts of North America, however, the Indian
tribes generally believed in the existence of a Great Spirit, and
the survival of the soul ; but they seem to have had scarcely
any religious observances, still less any edifices for sacred
purposes. The Dacotahs never pray to the Creator ; if they
wish for fine weather, they pray to the weather itself. They
believe that the Great Spirit made all things except thunder
and rice, but we are not told the reason for these two curious
exceptions.

The social position of the women seems to have been very
degraded among the aboriginal tribes of North America.
" Their wives, or dogs, as some of the Indians term them,"
are indeed well treated as long as they do all the work, and
there is plenty to eat ; but throughout the continent, as indeed
among all savages, the domestic drudgery falls to their lot,

* Beecher's Voyage round the f Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 237. See
"World, vol. i. p. 308 ; Wilson, also Richardson's Arctic Expedi-
Smithsonian Report, 1862, p. 287. tion, vol. ii. p. 21.

520 CHARACTER.

while the men hunt and make war; though injustice to them
we must remember that the former at least of these two occu-
pations was of the greatest possible importance, and that upon
it depended their principal means of subsistence. Polygamy
generally prevailed ; the husband had absolute power over
his wives, and the marriage lasted only as long as he pleased.
Among some of the North Californian Indians it is not thought
ricrht to beat the wives, but the men " allow themselves the

privilege of shooting such as they tired of."* Among the
Dogribs and other northern tribes, the women are the property
of the strongest. Every one is considered to have both a legal
and moral right to take the wife of any man weaker than he
is. In fact, the men fight for the possession of the women,
just like stags and the males of other wild beasts.^ Lending
wives is a frequent custom. J

" Imperturbability, § in all situations, is one of the most
striking and general traits of the Indian character. To still

o o

his muscles to resist the expression of all emotion, seems to
be the point of attainment ; and this is particularly observed
on public occasions. Neither fear nor joy are permitted to
break this trained equanimity." Even among relations "it
is not customary to indulge in warm greetings. The pride
and stoicism of the hunter and warrior forbid it. The pride
of the wife, who has been made the creature of rough endur-
ance, also forbids it."

But perhaps the most remarkable evidence of this is the
fact that the Algonquin language, although one of the richest,
contained no word for "to love;" and when Elliott translated
the Bible for them in 1661, he was obliged to coin one. He
introduced the word " wornon" to supply the want. Again,

* Col. M'Kee in Schoolcraft's t Hearne; 1. c. p. 128 ; Carver's
Indian Tribes, vol. iii. p. 127. Travels, p. 131 ; James' Expedition

t See Hearne's Journey to the to the Rocky Mountains, vol. i.
Copper- Mine River, p. 104. p. 212.

§ Schoolcraft, vol. iii. p. 58.

CRUELTY. INFANTICIDE. 521

the Tinne language* contains no word to express "dear" or
" beloved." It is only fair to add that Kane found the Cree
Indians swearing in French, having no oaths in their own
language.^ Mr. Schoolcraft records, as an indication that they
are in reality of affectionate disposition, that he " once saw a
Fox Indian on the banks of the Mississippi, near whose wig-
wam I had, unnoticed to him, wandered, take up his male
infant in his arms, and several times kiss it."J The special
mention of this fact conveys a different impression from that
which was intended. Nevertheless, among the better tribes
many no doubt are capable of feeling strong affection, and
there are even cases on record in which the father has re-
deemed his son from the stake, and actually been burnt in
his stead.

Partly no doubt from the hatred produced by almost in-
cessant wars, partly perhaps encouraged by the stoical dis-
regard of pain which it was their pride to affect, the North
American Indians were very cruel to captives taken in war.
Scalping seems to have been an universal practice, and it is
even said that the Sioux sometimes ate the hearts of their
enemies, every one of the war- party getting a mouthful, if
possible.

Infanticide was common in the north, but does not seem to
have prevailed among the southern tribes to any great extent;
and until the advent of Europeans they do not appear to
have had any fermented liquors. The Sioux, Assiuiboines,
and other tribes on the Missouri, are said to have habitually
abandoned those who from age or infirmities were unable to
follow the hunting-camps. The same was frequently the case
among the northern tribes.

Copper is found native in the northern districts, and even
before the advent of the Europeans was used for hatchets

* Richardson's Arctic Expedi- t 1. c. p. 339.

tion, vol. ii. p. 24. % 1. c. vol. iii. p. 64.

522 IMPLEMENTS. WEAPONS.

bracelets, etc. Nevertheless, it was used rather as a stone
than as a metal ; that is to say, the Indians did not heat it
and run it into moulds, or work it when hot, but simply took
advantage of its malleability and hammered it into form,
without the assistance of heat. Metallic vessels were quite
unknown to the aborigines of North America.

The implements of the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, are
described by Wyeth. Their possessions were confined to
''the pot, bow and arrow, knives, graining tools, awls, root-
digger, fish-spears, nets, a kind of boat or raft, the pipe, mats
for shelter, and implements to produce fire."*

The pot was made of "long tough roots, wound in plies
around a centre, shortening the circumference of the outer
plies so as to form a vessel in the shape of an inverted bee-
hive." They were so well made as to be quite water-tight,
and though of course they could not be put on the fire, still
they were used for boiling, in the manner already described
as practised by other savages. The Dacotahs are said to have
sometimes boiled animals in their own skins, taking the skin
off whole, suspending it at the four corners, and making use
of boiling stones as usual. They had also stone vessels, but
these were rare, and probably used only as mortars.

Their bows are very skilfully made of the horns of the
mountain sheep and elk, or sometimes of wood. " The string
is of twisted sinew, and is used loose, and those using this
bow require a guard to protect the hand which holds it."
The arrow is driven with such force that it will pass right
through the body of a horse or buffalo,-)- and in the account
of De Soto's expedition, it is stated that on one occasion an
arrow went through the saddle and housings of a horse and
penetrated one- third of its length into the body. Although

* Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 212. p. 141 ; Catlin, 1. c. vol. i. p. 31,

t Ibid. 1. c. vol. iii. pp. 35, 46 ; vol. ii. p. 212 ; McKean and Hall's
Kane's North American Indians, Indian Tribes, vol. ii. p. 4.

KNIVES. SPEARS. 523

on the whole far inferior to the rifle, still, in hunting, the bow
has the one great advantage of silence. Among several of
the tribes, arrow- making was a distinct profession. The
arrow-heads are of obsidian, about three-fourths of an inch
long and half an inch wide, and quite thin. The base is
expanded and is inserted into the split end of the shaft, being
kept in its place by sinews. The shaft is about two feet and
a half long ; when intented for hunting it is expanded at the
end, so that when it is drawn out of the wound the arrow-
head is extracted also ; but the shafts of war-arrows taper to
the end, so that when they are drawn out the head remains
behind. The sling does not appear to have been much used.
The knives are rudely made of obsidian, and are sometimes
fastened in handles of wood or horn. The graining tools
for preparing skins are sometimes of bone, sometimes of
obsidian. Mr. Wyeth does not describe their form. Awls
were made of bone ; large thorns also being sometimes used
for the purpose. Boot-diggers are either made of horns, or
of crooked sticks pointed and hardened by fire. " The fish-
spear is a very simple and ingenious implement. The head
is of bone, to which a small strong line is attached near the
middle, connecting it with the shaft about two feet from the
point. Near the forward end of this head there is a small
hole, which enters it ranging acutely towards the point of the
head ; it is quite shallow. In this hole the front end of the
shaft is placed." The shaft is of light willow, and about ten
feet long. When the fish is struck, the shaft is withdrawn,
and the string at once pulls the bone end into a transverse
position. The fish-nets are made of bark, which gives a very
strong line, and are of two kinds, the scoop and the seine.
They are, however, unknown among the northern tribes west
of the Mackenzie.* The boats of the Shoshonees hardly
deserve the name, and seem to be used only for crossing
* Richardson's Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 25.

524

BOATS. FIRE.

rivers. They are about eight feet long, and made of reeds,
but there is no attempt to make them water-tight. Other
tribes, however, have much better canoes, made either of bark
or of a log hollowed out. The pipes are large, and the bowl
is generally of fuller's-earth, or of soap-stone. The mats are
about four feet long, are made of rushes, and are used either
as beds, or in the construction of wigwams.

They obtain fire by rubbing a piece of wood in a hole. The
Chippeways and Natchez tribes had an institution for keeping
up a perpetual fire, certain persons being set aside and devoted
to this occupation.

The Dacotahs used a drill bow (fig. 224) for the purpose of
obtaining fire. This instrument, as shown in the accompany-
ing figure, is a small stiff bow, the string of which forms a
loop round the upright stick, and thus, when the bow is
moved backwards and forwards, gives it a rotatory movement.
The Iroquois had effected a still further improvement, and
worked with an instrument (fig. 225) closely resembling that

FIG. 225.

FIG. 224.

Daeotah Fire Drill Bow.

Iroquois Fire Pump Drill.

used in Western Europe, and also in Samoa,* and Ceylon,-f- to
drill holes in earthenware and metal.

* Turner, Nineteen Years in t Davy's Ceylon, p. 263.
Polynesia, p. 274.

DWELLINGS. 525

The huts or wigwams of the North American Indians are
of two kinds, one for summer, and the other for winter The
winter wigwam of the Dacotahs is thus described by School-
craft : " To erect one of them it is only necessary to cut a few
saplings about fifteen feet in length, place the large ends on
the ground in a circle, letting the tops meet, thus forming a
cone. The buffalo-skins, sewed together in the form of a cap,
are then thrown over them and fastened together with a few
splints. The fire is made on the ground in the centre of the
wigwam, and the smoke escapes through an aperture at the
top. These wigwams are warm and comfortable. The other
kind of hut is made of bark, usually that of the elm."* The
huts of the Mandans,-f- Minatarees, etc., were circular in form,
and from forty to sixty feet in diameter. The earth was
removed to a depth of about two feet. The framework was
of timber, covered with willow boughs, but leaving a space in
the middle to serve both as chimney and window. Over the
woodwork was placed a thick layer of earth, and at the top of
all some tough clay, which was impervious to water, and in
time became quite hard, as in fine weather the tops of the
huts were the common lounging -place for the whole tribe.
Though these dwellings were sometimes kept very clean and
tidy,J this was not always the case. Speaking of the Nootka
Sound Indians, Captain Cook§ says: "The nastiness and
stench of their houses are, however, at least equal to the con-
fusion. For, as they dry their fish within doors, they also gut
them there, which, with their bones and fragments thrown
down at meals, and the addition of other sorts of filth, lie
everywhere in heaps, and are, I believe, never carried away
till it becomes troublesome, from their size, to walk over them.

* 1. c. vol. ii. p. 191. | Catlin's American Indians,

t This tribe, one of the most in- vol. i. p. 82.

teresting, has been entirely swept § Third Voyage, vol. ii. p. 316.
away by the small-pox.

526 DWELLINGS. AGRICULTURE.

In a word, their houses are as filthy as hog-sties : everything
in and about them stinking of fish, train-oil, and smoke."

The Wallawalla Indians* of Columbia dig a circular hole
in the ground about ten. or twelve feet deep, and from forty
to fifty feet in circumference, and cover it over with drift-
wood and mud. A hole is left on one side for a door, and a
notched pole serves as a ladder (see fig. 141, p. 137). Here
twelve or fifteen persons burrow through the winter, requiring
very little fire, as they generally eat their salmon raw, and
the place is warm from the numbers collected together, and
the absence of ventilation. In summer they use lodges made
of rushes or mats spread on poles. This tribe lives principally
on salmon, preferring it putrid.

South of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and west of the Eocky
Mountains almost all the tribes seem to have grown more or
less maize. In the Carolinas and Virginia the Indians raised
large quantities, and "all relied on it as one of their fixed
means of subsistence/' -f The Delawares had extensive maize
fields at the time of the discovery of America. In 1527,
De Vaca saw it in small quantities in Florida, and De Soto,
twelve years later, found it abundant among the Muscogees,
Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Cherokees. On one occasion his
army marched through fields of it for a distance of two
leagues. It is known to have been cultivated by the Iroquois
in 1610, and, though only in small quantities, "by the hunter
communities of the Ohio, the Wabagh, the Miami, and the
Illinois," as well as by the natives along both banks of the
Mississippi. The evidences of ancient agriculture have been
already alluded to in the chapter on North American Archae-
ology; the maize appears to have been the only plant actually
under cultivation ; but some of the tribes depended for their

* Kane's North American In- t Schoolcraft, 1. c. vol. i. p. 6.
<lians, p. 272 ; United States Ex- See also Richardson's Arctic Expe-
ploring Expedition, vol. iv. p. 452. dition, vol. ii. p. 51.

MAIZE. RICE. ANIMAL FOOD. 527

subsistence very much on roots, etc. The principal imple-
ment of agriculture seems to have been the hoe, for which

they often used the shoulder-blade of the bison fixed into a
handle of wood. Wild rice also grew abundantly in the
shallow lakes and streams of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa,
Minnesota, as well as in the upper valleys of the Mississippi
and Missouri. It was gathered by the women, and formed
one of their principal articles of food. They went into the
rice-fields in canoes, and bending the stalks in handfuls over
the sides of the canoe, beat out the grain with paddles.

The North American Indians, however, depended mainly
on the animal kingdom for their subsistence. They are
essentially hunters and fishermen ; the buffalo, the deer,
and the salmon supplying them with their principal articles
of food The buffaloes were sometimes driven into pounds,
sometimes shot on the open prairie with bows and arrows.
Fish were speared, caught in weirs, etc., or shot with the bow.
The Macaws and Clallums on the Pacific coast sometimes even
killed whales. For this purpose they use large barbed harpoons
of bone, with a string, and a strong sealskin bag filled with
air. This apparatus was used in the same manner as among
the Esquimaux (ante, p. 504). Like all carnivorous animals,
the Indians alternate between seasons of great plenty and
extreme want. Usually game is abundant, and Noka, one of
their most celebrated hunters, is said to have killed in one
day sixteen elks, four buffaloes, five deer, three bears, one
porcupine, and one lynx. This of course was a very excep-
tional case. Still there is generally some season of the year
when they kill more game than is required for immediate
consumption. In this case the surplus is dried and made into
pemmican. In winter, however, they are often very short of
provisions. Back gives a terrible picture of their sufferings
in famine times ;* and Wyeth tells us that the Shoshonees

* Arctic Land Expedition, pp. 194 — 226. See also Richardson's
Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 96.

528 BURIAL. ART.

" nearly starve to death annually, and in winter and spring
are emaciated to the last degree ; the trappers used to think
they all eventually died from starvation, as they became old
and feeble."*

As might naturally be expected, the mode of burial varies
much in different parts of North America. In Columbia,
and among many of the Prairie tribes, the dead are generally
sewn up in a skin or blanket, and placed either on the boughs
of a tree or on a scaffold; the personal property of each
deceased individual being placed near the body.-f- In some
cases the bodies were placed in canoes, and deposited among
the branches of trees. Many of the Eastern races, as already
mentioned (ante, p. 135), buried their dead under tumuli.
Among the Clear Lake Indians, the Carriers, etc., it was
usual to burn them, while in Florida they were interred in a
sitting posture. Among other tribes the bones of the dead
were collected every eight or ten years, and laid in one
common burial-place.

The Eedskins are not altogether deficient in art, being able
to make rude carvings, and to trace equally rude drawings
on their wigwams, robes, etc. ; but about portraits they have
some curious ideas. They think that an artist acquires some
mysterious power over any one whose likeness he may have
taken ; and on one occasion, when annoyed by some Indians,
Mr. Kane got rid of them at once by threatening to draw any
one who remained. Not one ventured to do so. If the like-
ness is good, so much the worse : it is, they fancy, half alive —
at the expense of the sitter. So much life, they argue, could
only be put in the picture by taking it away from the original.
Again, they fancy that if the picture were injured, by some
mysterious connection the original would suffer also. But
perhaps the oddest notion of all is recorded by Catlin. He
excited great commotion among the Sioux by drawing one of

* Schoolcraft, vol. i. p. 216. t United States' Exploring Ex-

pedition, vol. iv. p. 389.

ART. THE PARAGUAY INDIANS. 529

their great chiefs in profile. " Why was half his face left out ?"
they asked ; " Mahtocheega was never ashamed to look a
white man in the face." Mahtocheega himself does not seem
to have taken any offence, but Shonka, The Dog, took advan-
tage of the idea to taunt him. " The Englishman knows," he
said, "that you are but half a man; he has painted but one-
half of your face, and knows that the rest is good for nothing."
This view of the case led to a fight, in which poor Mahtocheega
was shot ; and as ill-luck would have it, the bullet by which
he was killed tore away just that part of the face which had
been omitted in the drawing. This was very unfortunate for
Mr. Catlin, who had great difficulty in making his escape,
and lived some months after in fear for his life ; nor was the
matter settled until both Shonka and his brother had been
killed in revenge for the death of Mahtocheega.

Like so many other savage races, the North Americans are
rapidly disappearing. Left to themselves they would perhaps
have developed an indigenous civilization, but for ours they
are unfit. Unable to compete with Europeans as equals, and
too proud to work as inferiors, they have profited by inter-
course with the superior race only where the paternal govern-
ment of the Hudson's Bay Company has protected them both
from the settlers and from themselves, has encouraged hunting,
put an end to war, prevented the sale of spirits, and, in times
of scarcity, provided food. Ere long almost the only remains
of the Indian blood will, perhaps, be found in the territories
of the Hudson's Bay Company.

The Paraguay Indians.

The Indians of Paraguay have been described by Dobritz-
hoffer* and by Don Felix de Azara,-)- who lived a long time
among them. He found them divided into several different

* Dobritzhoffer, History of the f Voyages dans 1'Amerique Me-
Abipones. ridionale, 1809.

2 M

580 THE PARAGUAY INDIANS.

nations or tribes, with at least forty distinct languages, and
with different customs. Some of them lived by fishing, but
the greater number depended for their subsistence on the
wild horses and cattle, and must therefore have had different
habits before the discovery of America by the Europeans.
Their principal arms were long spears, clubs, and bows and
arrows. Some tribes, however, as, for instance, those of the
Pampas, do not use bows and arrows, but prefer the bolas.
In war, the Indians of Paraguay gave no quarter to men, but
spared only the women and children.

Their houses, if we can call them so, were of the simplest
character ; they cut three or four boughs, stuck the two ends
into the ground, and threw over them a cow-skin. Their bed
consisted of another skin ; they had no chairs or tables, or
any kind of furniture. The men seldom wore any clothes ;
the dress of the women consisted usually of a poncho, although
among some of the tribes, as the Nalicuegas, even this was
dispensed with. The art of washing seems to have been
entirely unknown, though Azara admits that in very hot
weather they used sometimes to bathe, rather, however, as it
would appear, for coolness, than for cleanliness. It is unne-
cessary therefore to say that they were excessively filthy.
They had no domestic animals, nor any idea of agriculture.
Their doctors had but one remedy, which they applied in all
cases, and which had at least the great merit of being harm-
less— since it consisted "a sucer avec beaucoup de force
1'estomac du patient, pour en tirer le mal."*

Many of the tribes painted their bodies in various ways,
and it was usual to pierce the under-lip and insert a piece
of wood, about four or five inches long, which they never
removed.

They had no established form of government, nor, accord-

* Azara, 1. c. p. 25. Dobritzhoffer's History of the Abipones, vol. ii.
p. 251.

THE PATAGOXIANS. 5ol

ing to Azara, any ideas of religion. He makes this latter
statement generally for all the Indians, and repeats it parti-
cularly for the following tribes — namely, the Charruas, Min-
uanas, Aucas, Guaranys, Guayanas, Nalicuegas, Guasarapos,
Guatos, Mnaquiguilas, Guanas, Lenguas, Aguilots, Mocobys,
Abipones, and Paraguas ; yet it appears from other passages
that some at least of these tribes were believers in witchcraft
and in mysterious evil beings.

Azara describes the language of the Guaranys as being the
most copious, and yet it was in many respects very deficient ;
for instance, they could only count up to four, and had no
words for the higher numbers, not even for five or six. It is
quite unnecessary to say that the marriage tie was little
regarded among them ; they married when they liked, and
separated again when they pleased.

Infanticide was, in several of the tribes, the rule, rather
than the exception ; the women brought up but one child
each, and as they spared only the one which they thought
likely to be the last, it often happened that they were left
without any at all

The Patagonmns.

The inhabitants of the southern parts of South America,
although they are divided into numerous different tribes, may
be considered as falling into two great groups: the Patagonians,
or Horse Indians, on the East, who have horses but no canoes;
and the Chonos and Fuegians, or Canoe Indians, who have
canoes, but no horses, and who inhabit the tempestuous
islands on the south and west.

The Yacana-kunny, who inhabit the north-eastern part of
Tierra del Fuego, are, properly speaking, not Fuegians, but
Patagonians, and resemble them in colour, stature, and cloth-
ing, except the peculiar boots. They live now pretty much
as the mainlanders probably did before the introduction of

2 M 2

532 STATUKE. HUTS.

horses, and feed principally on guauacoes, ostriches, birds, and
seals, which they kill with dogs, hows and arrows, bolas, slings,
lances, and clubs.* The habits of the Patagonians must have
been much altered by the introduction of the horse, but we
can only deal with them as they now are.

The Horse and Canoe Indians offer a great contrast in point
of size ; while the latter are short, ill-looking, and badly-pro-
portioned, the former are considerably above the average
height, and are described by early travellers as being truly
gigantic. They were first visited in 1519 by Magellan, who
assures us that many of them were above seven feet (French)
in height. In 1525 they were seen by Garcia de Loaisa, who
mentions their great stature, but does not seem to have mea-
sured them. Similar statements were made by Cavendish,
Knevett, Sibald de Veert, Van Noort, Spilbergen, and Lemaire;
in fact, out of the fifteen first voyagers who passed through
the Magellanic Straits, not fewer than nine attest the fact of
the gigantic size of the Patagoniaus ; in which they are con-
firmed by the testimony of several subsequent travellers, and
especially of Falkner, who assures us that he saw many men
who were over seven feet in height.

It is difficult altogether to reject these statements, and as
they are certainly not applicable to the present race, it is
possible that there may have been a change of size owing to
the introduction and general use of the horse.

The huts, or " toldos," of the Patagonians, are "rectangular
in form, about ten or twelve feet long, ten deep, seven feet
high in front, and six feet in the rear. The frame of the
building is formed by poles stuck in the ground, having forked
tops to hold cross pieces, on which are laid poles for rafters,
to support the covering, which is made of skins of animals
sewn together, so as to be almost impervious to rain or wind.
The posts and rafters, which are not easily procured, are

* Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 137.

HUTS. DRESS. 533

carried from place to place in all their travelling excursions.
Having reached their bivouac, and marked out a place with
due regard to shelter from the wind, they dig holes with a
piece of pointed hard wood, to receive the posts : and all the
frame and cover being ready, it takes but a short time to
erect a dwelling."*

They have no pottery, and for carrying water the only
vessels they use are bladders. Their dress consists princi-
pally of skins, sewn together with ostrich sinews, and often
curiously painted on one side ; but, according to Falkner,f
some of the tribes " make or weave fine mantles of woollen
yarn, beautifully dyed with many colours. They have also a
small triangular apron, two corners of which are tied round
the waist, while the third passes between the legs and is
fastened behind. When on horseback they use a kind of
poncho or mantle, with a slit in the middle, through which
they put their head. For boots they wear the " skin of the
thighs and legs of mares and colts;" they clean the skins,
and then, after drying, soften with grease, and so put them
on without either shaping or sewing.j They make brushes
of grass, twigs, and rushes, and use the jaw of a porpoise
for a comb.§ The women wear a mantle, fastened across the
breast by a wooden skewer, or pin, and tied round the waist.
They have also a kind of apron which reaches down to their
knees, but which only covers them in front. Their boots
are made in the same way as those of the men. Like other
savages, they are fond of beads, feathers, and other ornaments.
They also paint themselves with red, black, and white, which,
however, to European eyes is anything but an improvement.
Their defensive armour consists of a helmet and a shield, both

* Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. i. p. 93. purpose, and it was on account of

t Falkner's Patagonia, p. 128. these shoes that Magellan called

| When first visited they used them " Patagonians."

the skin of the guanaco for this § Fitzroy, vol. i. p. 75.

534 WEAPONS. FOOD.

made of thick hide, and strong enough to resist either arrows
or lances.

Bows and arrows have been abandoned by most of the
Patagonian tribes. "Where used, the bows are small, and
the arrows, which are pointed with stone or bone, are said to
be sometimes poisoned. They have also clubs and long cane
lances, most of which are now tipped with iron. But the
weapons which are most characteristic of the Patagonians,
and which are indeed almost peculiar to them, are the bolas,*
of which there are two or three sorts. That used in war is
a single rounded stone or ball of hardened clay, weighing
about a pound, and fastened to a short rope or sinew of skin.
This they sometimes throw at their adversary, rope and all,
but generally they prefer to strike at his head with it. For
hunting they use two similar stones fastened together by a
rope, which is generally three or four yards long. One of
the stones they take in their hand, and then whirling the
other round their head, throw both at the object they wish
to entangle. Sometimes several balls are used, but two ap-
pear to be the usual number. They do not try to strike their
victim with the balls themselves, but with the rope, "and
then of course the balls swing round in different directions,
and the thongs become so ' laid up,' or twisted, that struggling
only makes the captive more secure." -f- It is said that a man
on horseback can use the "bolas" effectually at a distance of
eighty yards. + They also use the lasso.

On the coast their food consists principally of fish, which
they kill either by diving or striking them with their darts.
Guanacoes and ostriches they catch with the bolas, and they
also eat mare's flesh, as well as various sorts of small game,
and at least two kinds of wild roots. They have no fermented
liquor, and the only prepared drink which they use is a de-

* Falkner, 1. c. p. 130. J Darwin's Journal, p. 129.

t Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 148.

BURIAL. RELIGION. 535

coction of chalas and the juice of berberries mixed with
water.

The death of a native is attended with peculiar ceremonies.
The bones having been as much as possible freed from the
flesh, are hung " on high, upon canes or twigs woven together,
to dry and whiten with the sun and rain." One of the most
distinguished women is chosen to perform the disgusting
office of making the skeleton, and, during the process, "the
Indians, covered with long mantles of skins, and their faces
blackened with soot, walk round the tent with long poles or
lances in their hands, singing in a mournful tone of voice
and striking the ground, to frighten away the Valichus or

evil beings The horses of the dead are killed, that

he may have wherewithal to ride upon in the Alhue Mapu,
or Country of the Dead." In about a year the bones are
"packed together in a hide, and placed upon one of the
deceased's favourite horses, kept alive for that purpose," and
in this manner the natives bear the relics, sometimes to a
very great distance, until they arrive at the proper burial-
place, where the ancestors of the dead man are lying. The
bones are arranged in their proper positions, and fastened by
string. The skeleton is then placed, with others, in a square
pit, clothed in the best robes, and adorned with beads, fea-
thers, etc. The arms of the deceased are buried with him,
and round the grave are ranged several dead horses, raised on
their feet, and supported with sticks.* Sometimes a cairn of
stones is raised over the grave.-f*

Falkner regarded the Patagonians as Polytheists, but we
do not know much about their religion. According to the
missionaries, neither the Patagonians nor the Araucanians had
any ideas of prayer, or "any vestige of religious worship."^:

* Falkner's Patagonia, pp. 118, f The Voice of Pity, vol. ii. pp:

119. 37, 95.

t Fitzroy, vol. ii. p. 158.

536 THE FUEGIANS.

The Fuegians.

The inhabitants of Tierra Del Fuego are even more de-
graded than those of the mainland : in fact, they have been
regarded by many travellers as being the lowest of mankind.*
Adolph Decker, who visited Polynesia and Australasia under
Jaques le Hermite in 1624, describes them as "rather beasts
than men ; for they tear human bodies to pieces, and eat the
flesh raw and bloody as it is. There is not the least spark
of religion or policy to be observed among them : on the
contrary, they are in every respect brutal" — of which he
proceeds to give evidence so convincing, that I refrain from
quoting it.-f The men go altogether naked, and the women

have only a bit of skin about their middles Their huts

are made of trees, in the shape of tents, with a hole at the top
to let out the smoke. Within they are sunk two or three
feet under the earth ; and the mould is thrown upon the
outside. Their fishing-tackle is very curious, and their stone
hooks very nearly the same shape as ours. They are differently
armed, some having bows, and arrows headed with stone;
others have long javelins, pointed with bone; some, again,
have great wooden clubs ; and some have slings, with stone-
knives, which are very sharp/' Their arrows are of hard wood,
straight and well polished. They are about two feet long,
and are tipped with a piece of agate, obsidian, or glass. The
bows are from three to four feet long, and quite plain. The
string is made of twisted sinews.

Forster J found them " remarkably stupid, being incapable
of understanding any of our signs, which, however, were very
intelligible to the nations of the South Sea." Wallis, in his

* Byron's Voyage round the

World, p. 80 ; Wallis's Voyage t Calender's Voyages, vol. ii.
round the World, p. 392; Cook's p. 307.
Voyage to the South Pole, vol. ii. \ I.e. p. 251.

p. 187; Darwin's Journal, p. 235.

FOOD. STATURE. 537

" Voyage round the World,"* describes them as follows : " They
were covered with seal-skins, which stunk abominably, and
some of them were eating the rotten flesh and blubber raw,
with a keen appetite and great seeming satisfaction." And
again he says : " Some of our people, who were fishing with
a hook and line, gave one of them a fish, somewhat bigger
than a herring, alive, just as it came out of the water. The
Indian took it hastily, as a dog would take a bone, and in-
stantly killed it, by giving it a bite near the gills : he then
proceeded to eat it, beginning with the head, and going on to
the tail, without rejecting either the bones, fins, scales, or
entrails." f Their cookery is, if possible, still more disgusting.
Fitzroy tells us that it was "too offensive" for description;
and the account given by Byron J entirely confirms this state-
ment.

The men, says Fitzroy,§ "are low in stature, ill-looking,
and badly proportioned. Their colour is that of very old
mahogany — or rather between dark copper and bronze. The
trunk of the body is large, in proportion to their cramped
or rather crooked limbs. Their rough, coarse, and extremely
dirty black hair half hides, yet heightens, a villanous expres-
sion of the worst description of savage features. The hair of
the women is longer, less coarse, and certainly cleaner than
that of the men. It is combed with the jaw of a porpoise,
but neither plaited nor tied ; and none is cut away, excepting
from over their eyes. They are short, with bodies largely out
of proportion to their height ; their features, especially those
of the old, are scarcely less disagreeable than the repulsive
ones of the men. About four feet and some inches is the
stature of these she-Fuegians — by courtesy called women.

* Hawkesworth's Voyages, I.e. J Byron's Loss of the "Wager,"
p. 403. p. 132.

t 1. c. p. 403. § Voyages of the " Adventure"

and " Beagle," vol. ii. p. 137.

538 HABITS.

They never walk upright ; a stooping posture and awkward
movement is their natural gait. They may be fit mates for
such uncouth men, but to civilized people their appearance is
disgusting. The smoke of wood fires, confined in small

o O

wigwams, hurts their eyes so much that they are red and
watery : the effects of their oiling or greasing themselves, and
then rubbing ochre, clay, or charcoal over their bodies ; of
their often feeding upon the most offensive substances, some-
times in a state of putridity ; and of other vile habits, may
readily be imagined."* Their incisors are worn flat,-)* like
those of the Esquimaux and of many ancient races.

"The men procure food of the larger kind, such as seal,
otter, porpoise, etc. ; they break or cut wood and bark for fuel,
as well as for building the wigwams or canoes. They go out
at night to get birds ; they train the dogs, and of course
undertake all hunting or warlike excursions. The women
nurse their children, attend the fire (feeding it with dead
wood rather than green, on account of the smoke), make
baskets and water-buckets, fishing-lines and necklaces, go out
to catch small fish in their canoes, gather shell-fish, dive for
sea-eggs, take care of their canoes, upon ordinary occasions
paddle their masters about while they sit idle, and do any
other drudgery." J

"When there is time, the natives roast their shell-fish, and
half- roast any other food that is of a solid nature ; but when

in haste, they eat fish, as well as meat, in a raw state

Both seals and porpoises are speared by them from their canoes.
When struck, the fish usually run into the kelp, with the
spear floating on the water, being attached by a short line to
a movable barb : and then the men follow with their canoe,
seize the spear, and tow by it till the fish is dead. To them
the taking of a seal or a porpoise is a matter of as much

* 1. c, p. 139. t Ibid. I- c. p. 185.

t Fitzroy, Appendix, p. 144.

MODE OF FISHING. 539

consequence as the capture of a whale is to our countrymen.
On moonlight nights birds are caught when roosting, not only
by the men, but by their dogs, which are sent out to seize
them while asleep upon the rocks or beach ; and so well are
these dogs trained, that they bring all they catch safely to
their masters, without making any noise, and then return for
another mouthful. Birds are also frequently killed with
arrows or by stones slung at them with unerring aim. Eggs
are largely sought for by the natives ; indeed I may say that
they eat anything and everything that is eatable, without
being particular as to its state of freshness, or as to its having
been near the fire."*

According to Byron, the dogs of the Chinos Indians assist
in killing fish as well as birds. They are, he says, " cur-like
looking animals, but very sagacious, and easily trained to this

business The net is held by two Indians, who get into

the water ; then the dogs, taking a large compass, dive after
the fish, and drive them into the net ; but it is only in parti-
cular places that the fish are taken in this manner." He
adds, that the dogs " enjoy it much, and express their eager-
ness by barking every time they raise their heads above the
water to breathe." -f-

" In the winter, when the snow lies deep, the Tekeenica
people assemble to hunt the guanaco, which then comes down
from the high lands to seek for pasture near the sea. The
long legs of the animal stick deeply into the snow and soft
boggy ground, disabling him from escape, while the Fuegians
and their dogs hem him in on every side, and quickly make
him their prey At other times of the year they some-
times get them by lying in wait, and shooting them with
arrows, or by getting into a tree near their track, and spearing
them as they pass beneath the branches. An arrow was

* Fit/roy, 1. c. p. 184. in Kerr's Voyages and Travels, vol.

t Byron's Loss of the u Wager," xvii. pp. 339, 368, 463.

540

FOOD.

rl
Mm

shown to Low, which was marked with blood two-thirds of
its length in wounding a guanaco, afterwards caught by dogs.
Low held out his jacket, making signs that the arrow FIQ 226
would not penetrate it ; upon which the native pointed
to his eye."* Fig. 226 represents the head of a
Fuegian harpoon, which closely resembles the ancient
Danish specimen figured in p. 110.

Of vegetable food they have very little: a few
berries, cranberries, those which grow on the arbutus,
and a kind of fungus which is found on the beech,
being the only sorts used. The wretched Fuegians
often suffer greatly from famine. On one occasion,
when the Chonos were in great distress on this ac-
count, a small party went away, and the natives said
that in four sleeps they would return with food. On
the fifth day they came back almost dead with
fatigue, and "each man having two or three great
pieces of whale-blubber, shaped like a poncho with a
hole in the middle, on his shoulders. The blubber
was half putrid, and looked as if it had been buried
underground." Notwithstanding this, it was cut into
slices, broiled, and eaten. On another occasion, masses
of blubber were found in sand, doubtless laid in store
for a season of want. Their principal food, however,
consists of limpets, mussels, and other shell-fish.

Admiral Fitzroy entertains no doubt that the Fue-
gians are cannibals. " Almost •)* always at war with
adjoining tribes, they seldom meet but a hostile
encounter is the result ; and then those who are van-
quished and taken, if not already dead, are killed and
eaten by the conquerors. The arms and breast are
eaten by the women, the men eat the legs, and the Harpoon-
trunk is thrown into the sea." Again, in severe winters, when
* Fitzroy, 1. c. p. 1«7. f 1- c. p. 183.

i "-Win

snlll

CANNIBALISM. ABSENCE OF RELIGION. 541

they can obtain no other food, they take " the oldest woman
of their party, hold her head over a thick smoke, made by
burning green wood, and, pinching her throat, choke her. They
then devour every particle of the flesh, not excepting the trunk,
as in the former case." When asked why they did not rather
kill their dogs, they said, "Dog catch iappo," i.e. otters.

Like Decker, Admiral Fitzroy "never witnessed or heard
of any act of a decidedly religious nature."* Still, some of
the natives suppose that there is a powerful and mysterious
being who resides in the woods. When a person dies, they
carry the body far into the woods,-)- " place it upon some
broken boughs, or pieces of solid wood, and then pile a great
quantity of branches over the corpse."

Their canoes are large pieces of bark sewn together. In
the bottom they make a fireplace of clay, for they always
keep fires alight, though with the help of iron pyrites they
soon obtain sparks if any accident happens. The Chonos
Indians, who in most respects resemble the Fuegians, have
much better canoes. These are formed of planks, which are
generally five in number, two on each side and one at the
bottom. Along the edges of each are small holes about an
inch apart. The planks are sewn together with woodbine,
the holes being filled with a kind of bark beaten up until it
resembles oakum. Byron truly observes that in the absence
of metal, " the labour must be great of hacking a single plank
out of a large tree with shells and flints, even though with the
help of fire."

The Fuegians have no pottery, but, like the North American
Indians, use vessels made of birch, or rather of beech-bark.
On the east coast many of the natives possess guanaco-skins,
and on the west some of them wear seal-skins. "Amongst

* See also Weddell, Voyage to South Pole, p. 179 ; The Voice of Pity,
vol. vi. p. 92, &c.

t I.e. p. 181.

542 DRESS. FIRE.

the central tribes the men generally possess an otter-skin,
or some small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief,
which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down
as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and
'according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side."*
Many, however, even of the women, go absolutely without
clothes. Yet, as Captain Cook quaintly expresses it, "al-
though they are content to be naked, they are very ambitious
to be fine ;" for which purpose they adorn themselves with
streaks of red, black, and white ; and the men as well as the
women wear bracelets and anklets of shell and bone. Sir
J. D. Hooker informs us that at the extreme south of Tierra
del Fuego, and in mid-winter, he has often seen the men lying
asleep in their wigwams, without a scrap of clothing, and the
women standing naked, and some with children at their
breasts, in the water up to their middles, gathering limpets
and other shell-fish, while the snow fell thickly on them and
on their equally naked babies. In fact, fire does not appear
to be necessary with them, nor do they use it to warm the air
of their huts as we do, though sometimes as a luxury they
take advantage of it to toast their hands or feet. Doubtless,
however, if deprived of this source of warmth, they would die
of starvation rather oftener than is now the case.

If not the lowest, the Fuegians certainly appear to be
among the most miserable specimens of the human race, and
the habits of this people are of especial interest from their
probable similarity to those of the ancient Danish shell-
mound builders, who, however, were in some respects rather
more advanced, being acquainted with the art of making
pottery.

* Darwin's Researches in Geology and Natural History, p. 234.

( 543 )

CHAPTEE XV.

MODERN SAVAGES — concluded.

IN reading almost any account of savages, it is impossible
not to admire the skill with which they use their
weapons and implements, their ingenuity in hunting and
fishing, and their close and accurate powers of observation.
Some savages even recognize individuals by their footsteps.
Thus Mr. Laing mentions* that one day while travelling near
Moreton Bay, in Australia, he pointed to a footstep, and asked
whose it was. The guide " glanced at it, without stopping his
horse, and at once answered, 'White fellow call him Tiger."
This turned out to be correct, which was the more remarkable
as the two men belonged to different tribes, and had not met
for two years. Among the Arabs, Burckhardt asserts-)- that
some men know every individual in the tribe by his footstep.
" Besides this, every Arab knows the printed footsteps of his
own camels, and of those belonoins; to his immediate nei^h-

o o o

bours. He knows by the depth or slightness of the impression
whether a camel was pasturing, and therefore not carrying
any load, or mounted by one person only, or heavily loaded/'
The North American Indian will send an arrow right through
a horse or even a buffalo. The African savage will kill the
elephant, and the Chinook fears not to attack even the whale.
Captain Grey tells us that he has often seen the Australians
kill a pigeon with a spear, at a distance of thirty paces..}
Speaking of the Chamisso Island Esquimaux, Beechey says

* Aborigines of Australia, p. 24. J Grey, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 285.

t Bedouins and Waliaby s. p. 374.

544 SKILFULNESS OF SAVAGES.

that one day a Diver was swimming at a distance of thirty
yards from the beach, and a native was offered a reward if he
could shoot it. He immediately frightened it so that it dived,
and directly it reappeared, he transfixed both eyes with an
arrow.* Speaking of the Australians, Mr. Stanbridge asserts
that " it is a favourite feat on the Murray to dive into the
river, spear in hand, and come up with a fish upon it."-f-
Woodes Eogers says that the Californian Indians used to dive,
and strike the fish under water with wooden spears, J and
Falkner§ tells us that some of the Patagonian tribes live
chiefly on fish, " which they catch either by diving, or striking
them with their darts." Tertre again says the same of the
Caribs,!| and Wallace of the Brazilian Indians.11" The South
Sea Islanders are particularly active in the water. They dive
after fish which " takes refuge under the coral rock ; thither
the diver pursues him, and brings him up with a finger in each
eye."** They are even more than a match for the shark,
which they attack fearlessly with a knife. If they are
unarmed, " they all surround him and force him ashore, if they
can but once get him into the surf;" but even if he escapes
they continue their bathing without the least fear. •(••(• Ellis
more cautiously says only, that "when armed they have some-
times been known to attack a shark in the water." JJ The
Andaman Islanders also are said to dive and catch fish under
water ;§§ and Rutherford makes a similar statement as regards
the New Zealanders. Dobritzhotfer tells us that the Payajuas
and Vilelas live principally on fish, using a small net with
which they dive, "and if they spy any fish at the bottom,

* Beechey's Narrative, vol. ii. § Hist, of the Carriby Is. p. 305.

p. 574. IF Travels on the Amazon, p. 488.

t On the Aborigines of Victoria. ** Wilson, I.e. p. 385.

Ethn. Trans. New Ser. vol. i. p. 293. ft 1. c. p. 368.

1 Caliander's Voyages, vol. iii. ££ Polynesian Researches, vol. i.

p. 331. p. 178.

§ Patagonia, p. 111. §§ Mouat. I.e. pp. 310, 333.

SKILFULNESS OF SAVAGES. 545

swim after it, catch it in the net," and so bring it to shore.*
The Esquimaux in his kayak can actually turn somersaults in
the water. Skyringf saw a Fuegian who " threw stones from
each hand with astonishing force and precision. His first
stone struck the master with much force, broke a powder-horn
which hung round his neck, and nearly knocked him back-
wards." In his description of the Hottentots, Kolben saysj
that their dexterity in throwing the " hassagaye and rackum-
stick strikes every witness of it with the highest admiration.
.... If a Hottentot, in the chase of a hare, deer, or wild goat,
comes but within thirty or forty yards of the creature, away
flies the rackum-stick and down falls the creature, generally
pierced quite through the body." The death of Goliath is a
well-known instance of skill in the use of the sling ; and we
are told also that in the tribe of Benjamin there was a corps
of " seven hundred chosen men left-handed ; every one could
sling stones at an hair-breadth, and not miss."S The Brazilian

*«- ' t3

Indians kill turtles with bows and arrows ; but if they aimed
direct at the animal, the arrow would glance off the smooth
hard shell ; therefore they shoot up into the air, so that the
arrow falls nearly vertically on the shell, which it is thus
enabled to penetrate. ||

What an amount of practice must be required to obtain
such skill as this ! How true also must the weapons be !
Indeed, it is very evident that each distinct type of flint im-
plement must have been designed for some distinct purpose.
Thus the different forms of arrow-head, of harpoon, or of
stone axe, cannot have been intended to be used in the same
manner. Among the North American Indians the arrows
used in hunting were so made that when the shaft was drawn
out of the wound the head came out also ; while in the war-

* History of the Abipones, vol. i. £ Kolben, I.e. vol. i. p. 243.
p. 343. § Judges x. 16.

t Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. i. p. 398. || Wallace's Amazon, p. 466.

2 N

546 VARIETIES OF IMPLEMENTS.

•

arrows the shaft tapered to the end, so that even when it was
withdrawn the head of the arrow remained in the wound.
Again, the different forms of harpoons are illustrated by the
barbed and unbarbed lances of the Esquimaux (ante, p. 510).
Unfortunately, however, we have but few details of this kind ;
travellers have generally thought it unnecessary to observe
or record these apparently unimportant details ; and that our
knowledge of flint implements is most rudimentary, is well
shown by the discussion between Professors Steenstrup and
Worsaae, whether the so-called " axes" of the shell-mounds
were really axes, or whether they were not rather used in
fishing.

We may hope, however, that in future those who have the
opportunity of observing stone implements among modern
savages will enve us more detailed information both as to the

O o

exact manner in which they are used, and also about the way
in which they are made ; that they will collect not only the
well-made weapons, but also, and even more carefully, the
humble implements of every-day life.

Some archseologists have argued that the shell -mound
builders of Denmark must have possessed more formidable
weapons than any that have yet been found, because it was
considered impossible that they could have killed large game,
as, for instance, the bull and seal, with the simple weapons
of bone and stone which alone have hitherto been discovered.
Professor Worsaae* even goes so far as to say: "Against
birds and other small creatures these stone arrows might
prove effectual, but against larger animals, such as the aurochs,
the elk, the reindeer, the stag, and the wild boar, they were
evidently insufficient ; particularly since these animals often
become furious as soon as they are struck." I can, however,
by no means agree with Professor Worsaae in this supposi-
tion ; we know, on the contrary, that modern savages are able

* Pago 18.

ART OF DRILLING. 547

to kill even the largest game with arrows and spears tipped
with stone. Knives, again, of stone, are much more effective
than might at first be expected, and many savage tribes
readily cut flesh with pieces of shell or of hard wood.

The neatness with which the Hottentots, Esquimaux, North
American Indians, etc., are able to sew, is very remarkable,
although awls and sinews would in our hands be but poor
substitutes for needles and thread. As already mentioned in
p. 331, some cautious archaeologists hesitated to refer the rein-
deer caves of the Dordogne to the Stone Age, on account of
the bone needles and the works of art which are found in
them. The eyes of the needles especially, they thought, could
only be made with metallic implements. Professor Lartet
ingeniously removed these doubts by making a similar needle
for himself with the help of a flint ; but he might have referred
to the fact stated by Cook* in his first voyage, that the New
Zealanders succeeded in drilling a hole through a piece of
glass which he had given them, using for this purpose, as he
supposed, a piece of jasper.

The Brazilians also use ornaments of imperfectly crystal-
lized quartz, from four to eight inches long and about an inch
in diameter. Hard as it is, they contrive to drill a hole at
each end, using for that purpose the pointed leaf-shoot of the
large wild plantain, with sand and water. The hole is gene-
rally transverse, but the ornaments of the chiefs are actually
pierced lengthways. This, Mr. Wallace thinks, must be a
work of years.-)-

The works of art found in the Dordogne caves are little
ruder than those of the Esquimaux or the North American
Indians. In fact, the appreciation of art is to be regarded
rather as an ethnological characteristic than as an indication
of any particular stage in civilization. We see, again, that in
many cases a certain knowledge of agriculture has preceded

* Vol. iii. p. 464. t Travels on the Amazon, p. 278.

2 N 2

548 IMPORTANT WORKS ERECTED BY SAVAGES.

the use of rnetals ; and the fortifications of New Zealand, as
well as the large morais of the South Sea Islands, are argu-
ments in favour of the theory which ascribes some of our
camps, our great tumuli, and other Druidical remains, to the
later part of the Stone Age. The great morai of Oberea, in
Tahiti, has been already described (p. 484). Again, the cele-
brated statues of Easter Island are really colossal. One of
them, which has fallen down, measures twenty-seven feet
long, and others appear to be even larger. The houses of the
Ladrone Islanders, also, are very remarkable. The larger
ones were supported on strong pyramids of stone. These
were, according to Freycinet,* in one piece, made of chalk,
sand, or large stones, imbedded in a kind of cement. They
were found in large numbers ; in one case they formed a stone
row four hundred yards long. They were first described by
Anson, who saw many which were thirteen feet in height ;
while one of those seen by Freycinet measured as much as
twenty feet. They were square at the base, and rested on the
ground. On each pillar was a hemisphere, with the flat side
upwards. The South Sea Islanders afford, indeed, wonderful
instances of what can be accomplished with stone implements.
Their houses are large and often well built, and their canoes
have excited the wonder of all who have seen them.

Although, then, the use of stone as the principal material of
implements and weapons may be regarded as characterizing
an early stage in the development of civilization, still it is
evident that this stage is itself susceptible of much subdivi-
sion. The Mincopie or the Australian, for instance, is not to
be compared for an instant with the semi-civilized native of
the Society Islands. So also in the ancient Stone Age of
Europe we find evidences of great difference. The savage
inhabitants of the South French caves had, according to MM.

Christy and Lartet, no domestic animals, and no knowledge of

Vol. ii. p. 318.

DIFFERENCES IN THE STONE AGE. 549

pottery or agriculture. The shell-mound builders of Denmark
had the dog ; the Swiss Lake-dwellers also possessed this
animal, together with the ox, sheep, and pig, perhaps even
the horse ; they had a certain knowledge of agriculture, and
were acquainted with the art of weaving. Thus, then, even
when we have satisfied ourselves that any given remains
belong to the Stone Age. we are still but on the threshold of

o o *

our inquiry.

Travellers and naturalists have varied a good deal in
opinion as to the race of savages which is entitled to the
unenviable reputation of being the lowest in the scale of
civilization. Cook, Darwin, Fitzroy, and Wallis, were deci-
dedly in favour, if I may so say, of the Fuegian ; Burchell
maintained that the Bushmen are the lowest ; D'Urville voted
for the Australians and Tasmanians ; Dampier thought the
Australians " the miserablest people in the world ; " Forster
said that the people of Mallicollo " bordered the nearest upon
the tribe of monkeys ;" Owen inclines to the Andamaners ;
others have supported the North American Eoot-diggers ; and
one French writer even insinuates that monkeys are more
human than Laplanders.

The civilization, moreover, of the Stone Age differs, not only
in degree, but also in kind, varying according to the climate,
vegetation, food, etc., from which it becomes evident — at least
to all those who believe in the unity of the human race — that
the present habits of savage races are not to be regarded as
representing exactly those which characterized the first men,
but as depending also on external conditions, influenced indeed
to a certain extent by national character, which, however, is
after all but the result of the external conditions which have
acted on previous generations.

If we take a few of the things which are most generally
useful in savage life, and at the same time most easily
obtainable, such, for instance, as bows and arrows, slings,

550 DIFFERENT LINES OF CIVILIZATION.

spear-casters, pottery, domestic animals, or a knowledge of
agriculture, we might perhaps have expected a priori that the
acquisition of them would have followed some regular succes-
sion. That this, however, was not the case is shown by the
annexed table, which will, I think, be found interesting. It
gives some idea of the progress made by various savage tribes
at the time when they were first visited by Europeans.

Some of the differences exhibited in this table may indeed
be easily accounted for. The frozen soil and arctic climate
of the Esquimaux would not encourage, would not even per-
mit, any agriculture. So, again, the absence of hogs in New
Zealand, of dogs in the Friendly Isles, and of all mammalia
in Easter Island, is probably due to the fact that the original
colonists did not possess these animals, and that their isolated
position prevented them afterwards from obtaining any. More-
over, we must remember that as a general rule the lowest
savage can only use one or two weapons. He is limited to
those which he can carry about with him, and naturally pre-
fers those which are of most general utility.* We cannot,
however, in this manner account for all the facts. In Columbia,
Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and elsewhere, agriculture
was unknown before the advent of Europeans. Easter Island,
on the contrary, contained large plantations of sweet pota-
toes, yams, plantains, sugar-canes, etc. Yet the Chinooks of
Columbia had bows and arrows, fish-hooks, and nets; the
Australians had throwing-sticks, boomerangs, fish-hooks, and
nets ; the Hottentots had bows and arrows, nets, fish-hooks,
pottery, and at last even a certain knowledge of iron ; all of
which seem to have been unknown to the Easter Islanders,
though they would have been very useful, and, excepting the
iron, might have been invented and used by them.

If the case of Easter Island stood alone, the absence of bows

Weapons of war depending are probably more liable to change

very much on the caprice of chiefs, than those used in hunting.

DIFFERENCES OF WEAPONS. 551

and arrows might, perhaps, be plausibly accounted for by the
absence of game, the scarcity of birds, and the isolation of the
little island, which rendered war almost impossible. But such
an argument cannot be applied to other cases which are indi-
cated in the table. Let us compare, for instance, the Atlantic
tribes of North American Indians, the Australians, Kaffirs,
Bushmen, New Zealanders, and Society Islanders. All these
were constantly at war, and the two first lived very much on
the produce of the chase. They at least had therefore similar
wants. Yet spears, and perhaps clubs, were the only weapons
which they had in common ; the North Americans had good
bows and arrows, the Society Islanders and Bushmen had bad
ones — in fact, those of the former were so weak as to be use-
less in war; the Australians, Kaffirs, and New Zealanders,
had none. On the other hand, the Australians had the throw-
ing-stick and the boomerang ; the Society Islanders used
slings ; and the New Zealanders, besides very effective clubs,
had numerous and extensive fortifications. It is certainly
most remarkable that tribes so warlike, and in many respects
so advanced, as the New Zealanders and Kaffirs, should have
been ignorant of bows and arrows, which were used by many
very low races, such as the Fuegians, the Chinooks, the
Andamaners, and Bushmen ; particularly as it is impossible
to doubt that the New Zealanders at least would have found
bows of great use, and that any of their tribes, having invented
them, would have had an immense advantage in the " struggle
for existence." Other similar contrasts will strike any one
who examines the table ; but perhaps it may be said that
some of these cases may be explained by the influence of
more civilized neighbours ; that the comparison above made,
for instance, might be regarded as unfair, because the New
Zealanders were an isolated race, while the Chinooks might
have derived their knowledge of bows and arrows from the
eastern tribes, and these again might have acquired the art of

552

DIFFERENCES OF WEAPONS, ETC.

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ISOLATION OF SAVAGES. 553

making pottery from the semi-civilized nations of the south.
No one can deny that this may be true in some instances,
because we know that at the present day most savages possess
hatchets, knives, beads, etc., which they have received from
traders, and which they cannot yet manufacture for them-
selves.

It is certainly possible that the Chinooks may have derived
their knowledge of the bow from their northern neighbours ;
but we can hardly suppose that they did so from the Bed
Indian tribes to the east, because in that case it is difficult to
understand why they should not also have learnt from these
the much simpler, and almost equally useful, art of making
pottery. Moreover, there are some cases in which any such
idea is absolutely out of the question ; thus, the spear-caster
is used by the Esquimaux, the Australians, the New Cale-
donians, and some Brazilian tribes ; the bolas by the Esqui-
maux and the Patagonians; the boomerang is peculiar to the
Australians.* The " sumpitan," or blow-pipe of the Malays,
occurs again in the valley of the Amazon. Again, different
races of savages have but little peaceful intercourse with one
another. They are almost always at war. If their habits are
similar, they are deadly rivals, fighting for the best hunting-
grounds or fisheries ; if their wants are different, they fight
for slaves, for women, for ornaments ; or if they do not care
about any of these, for the mere love of fighting, for scalps,
heads, or some other recognized emblems of glory. In this
condition of society, each tribe lives in a state either of isola-
tion from, or enmity with, its neighbours. Delenda est Car-
thago is the universal motto, and savages can only live in
peace when they have a little world of their own. Sometimes
a broad sea or a high range of mountains, at others a wide

* The ancient Egyptians had, and which are thrown in war. But these
the Negroesof Niam Niamhave,iron do not appear to possess the peculiar
crescents resembling boomerangs, properties of the boomerang.

55-4 ISOLATION OF SAVAGES.

" march" or neutral territory, supplies the necessary conditions
and keeps them apart. They meet only to fight, and are there-
fore not likely to learn much from one another. Moreover,
there are cases in which some tribes have weapons which are
quite unknown to their neighbours. Thus, among the Brazilian
tribes we find the bow and arrow, the blow-pipe, the lasso, and
the throwing-stick. The first is the most general; but the
Barbados use only the blow-pipe, the Moxos have abandoned
the bow and arrow for the lasso, and the Purupurus are dis-
tinguished from all their neighbours by using, not bows and
arrows, but the "palheta," or throwing-stick. Again, the
Kaffirs have not generally adopted the bows and arrows of
the Bushmen ; the Esquimaux have not acquired the art of
making pottery from the North American Indians, nor the
southern Columbian tribes from the northern Mexicans.

Many, again, of the ruder arts, as, for instance, the manu-
facture of pottery and of bows, are so useful, and at the same
time, however ingenious in idea, so simple in execution, as
to render it highly improbable that they would ever be lost
when they had once been acquired. Yet we have seen that
the New Zealanders and Kaffirs had no bows, and that none
of the Polynesians had any knowledge of pottery ; though it
is evident from their skill in other manufactures, and their
general state of civilization, that they would have found no
difficulty in the matter if the manner had once occurred to
them. Again, " bolas" are a most effectual weapon, and there
is certainly no difficulty in making them, yet the knowledge
of them appears to be confined to the Patagonians and the
Esquimaux. The art of pottery, on the contrary, sometimes
has been, I believe, communicated by one race to another.
Nevertheless, there are cases, even among existing races,* in
which we seem to find indications of an independent discovery;
at any rate, in which the art is in a rudimentary stage.

* See, lur instance, p. 495.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SAVAGES. 555

On the whole, then, from a review of these and other similar
facts which might have been mentioned, it seems to me most
probable that many of the simpler weapons, implements, etc.,
have been invented independently by various savage tribes,
although there are no doubt also cases in which they have
been borrowed by one tribe from another.

The contrary opinion has been adopted by many writers
on account of the undeniable similarity existing between the
weapons used by savages in very different parts of the world.
But however paradoxical it may sound, though the imple-
ments and weapons of savages are remarkably similar, they
are at the same time curiously different. No doubt the neces-
saries of life are simple and similar all over the world. The
materials also with which man has to deal are very much
alike ; wood, bone, and to a certain extent stone, have every-
where the same properties. The obsidian flakes of the Aztecs
resemble the flint flakes of our ancestors, not so much because
the ancient Briton resembled the Aztec, as because the frac-
ture of flint is like that of obsidian. So also the pointed
bones used as awls are necessarily similar all over the world.
Similarity exists, in fact, rather in the raw material than in
the manufactured article, and some even of the simplest im-
plements of stone are very different among different races.
The adze-like hatchets of the South Sea Islanders are unlike
those of the Australians or ancient Britons ; the latter again
differ very much from the type which is characteristic of the
Drift or Archseolithic period.

Again, the habits and customs of savages, while presenting
many remarkable similarities, which, as it seems to me, go far
to prove the unity of the human race, still differ greatly, and
thus give strong evidence of independent development. Many,
indeed, of those differences which must have struck any one
in reading the preceding part of the chapter, follow evidently
and directly from the external conditions in which different

556 DIFFERENT USES FOR THE DOG.

races are placed. The habits of an Esquimaux and a Hot-
tentot could not possibly be similar. But let us take some
act which is common to many races, and is susceptible of
being accomplished in several ways. For instance, most
savages live in part on the flesh of birds; how is this ob-
tained ? Generally with bows and arrows ; but while the
Australians catch birds with the hand, or kill them with the
simple spear or the boomerang, the Euegians have both the
sling and the bow, while the Esquimaux use a complex spear
with several points, or a projectile which consists of a number
of walrus-teeth fastened together by short pieces of string,
and thus forming a kind of bolas. The northern tribes visited
by Kane practised a different method. They caught large
numbers of birds, especially little auks, in small nets, resem-
bling landing-nets, with long ivory handles. Yet this very
people were entirely ignorant of fishing.*

Take, again, the use made of the dog. At first, probably,
the dog and the man hunted together ;•(• the cunning of the
one supplemented the speed of the other, and they shared the
produce of their joint exertions. Gradually mind asserted its
pre-eminence over matter, and the man became master. Then
the dog was employed in other ways, less congenial to his
nature. The Esquimaux forced him to draw the sledge ; the
Chinook kept him for the sake of his wool ; the South Sea
Islanders, having no game, bred the dog for food ; the Chonos
Indians taught him to fish ; where tribes became shepherds,
their dogs became shepherds also ; finally, it is recorded by
Pliny that in ancient times troops of dogs were trained to
serve in war. Even the ox, though less versatile than the
dog, has been used for the first and the two last of these pur-
poses.

Kane, Arctic Explorations, t The low American Wood In-
vol. ii. pp. 203, 243. dians, however, used the dog rather

as a watch-dog than as a hound.

MODES OF OBTAINING FIRE. 557

Again, in obtaining fire, two principal methods are followed;
some savages, as for instance the Aleutians and Fuegians,
using percussion, while others, as the South Sea Islanders, rub
one piece of wood against another. The Aleutians rub two
pieces of quartz with sulphur, and then strike them together,
catching the sparks on dry grass.* Opinions are divided
whether we have any trustworthy record of a people without
the means of obtaining fire. It has been already mentioned
(pp. 447, 453) that some of the Australians and Tasmanians,
though acquainted with fire, did not know how to obtain it.
In his history of the Ladrone Islands, Father Gobien asserts
that fire, " an element of such universal use, was utterly un-
known to them, till Magellan, provoked by their repeated
thefts, burned one of their villages. When they saw their
wooden houses blazing, they first thought the fire a beast
which fed upon wood, and some of them who came too near,
being burnt, the rest stood afar off, lest they should be de-
voured, or poisoned, by the violent breathings of this terrible
animal/' This fact is not mentioned in the original account
of Magellan's Voyage. Freycinet believes that the assertion
of Father Gobien is entirely without foundation. The lan-
guage, he says, of the inhabitants contains words for fire,
burning charcoal, oven, grilling, boiling, etc. ; and even before
the advent of the Europeans, pottery)- was well known. It
is difficult, however, to get over the distinct assertion made
by Gobien, which moreover derives some support from similar
statements made by other travellers. Thus Alvaro de Saavedra
states that the inhabitants of certain small islands in the
Pacific, which he called " Los Jardines," but which cannot
now be satisfactorily determined, stood in terror of fire be-
cause they had never seen it.J Again, Wilkes tells us§ that

* Bancroft, Nat. Races of the J Hakluyt Soc. 1862, p. 178.
Pacific States, vol. i. p. 91. § United States' Expl. Exped.

t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 166. vol. v. p. 18.

558 MODES OF OBTAINING FIRE.

on the island of Fakaafo, which he calls " Bowditch," " there
was no sign of places for cooking, nor any appearance of fire."
The natives also were very much alarmed when they saw
sparks struck from flint and steel. Here, at least, we might
have thought, was a case beyond question or suspicion ; the
presence of fire could hardly have escaped observation ; the
marks it leaves are very conspicuous. If we cannot depend
on such a statement as this, made by an officer in the United
States' Navy, in the official report of an expedition sent out
especially for scientific purposes, we may well be disheartened,
and lose confidence in ethnological investigations. Yet the
assertions of Wilkes are questioned, and with much appearance
of justice, by Mr. Tylor.* In the " Ethnography of the United
States' Exploring Expedition," Hale gives a list of Fakaafo
words, in which we find a-fi for " fire." This is evidently the
same word as the New Zealand alii ; but as it denotes light
and heat, as well as fire, we might suppose that it thus found
its way into the Fakaafo vocabulary. I should not, therefore,
attribute to this argument quite so much force as does Mr.
Tylor. It is, however, evident that Captain Wilkes did not
perceive the importance of the observation, or he would cer-
tainly have taken steps to determine the question ; and as
Hale, in his special work on the Ethnology of the Expedition,
does not say a word on the subject, it is clear he had no idea
that the inhabitants of Fakaafo exhibited such an interesting

peculiarity. The fact, if established, would be most impor-
tant ; but it cannot be said to be satisfactorily proved that
there is at present, or has been within historical times, any
race of men entirely ignorant of fire. It is at least certain
that as far back as the earliest Swiss lake villages and Danish
shell-mounds the use of fire was well known in Europe.

On the other hand, as already mentioned, some of the Tas-
manian and Australian tribes, and of the Andaman Islanders,

* Early History of Mankind, p. 230.

DIFFERENT MODES OF BUKIAL. 559

though well acquainted with the use of fire, know no way of
kindling it. Consequently, they take great pains to keep it
always burning ; and if by any mischance it should be extin-
guished, are obliged to get a fresh light from some neighbour-
ing tribe.

There is, again, scarcely any conceivable way in which the
dead could be disposed of, which has not been adopted in some
part of the world. Among some races the corpse is simply
buried ; by others it is burned. Some of the North American
Indians expose their dead on scaffolds in the branches of trees.
Some tribes deposit them in sacred rivers ; others in the sea.
Among the Sea Dyaks, the dead chief is placed in his war
canoe, with his favourite weapons and principal property, and
is thus turned adrift. Other tribes gave their dead to be food
for wild beasts ; and others preferred to eat them themselves.
Some Brazilian tribes drink the dead.* The Tarianas and
Tucanos, and some other tribes, about a month after the
funeral, disinter the corpse, which is then much decomposed,
and put it in a great pan or oven over the fire, till all the
volatile parts are driven off with a most horrible odour, leaving
only a black carbonaceous mass, which is pounded into a fine
powder, and mixed in several large conches of caxiri : this is
drunk by the assembled company, under the full belief that
the virtues of the deceased will thus be transmitted to the
drinkers. The Cobeus also drink the ashes of the dead in the
same manner.

Indeed, if there are two possible ways of doing a thing, we
may be sure that some tribes will prefer one, and some the
other. It seems natural to us that descent should go in the
male line ; but there are very many races in which it is traced
from the mother, not the father. The husband or father seems
to us to be the natural head of the family ; in Tahiti the re-
verse is the case, and the son enters at once into the property
* Wallace, Travels on the Amazon, p. 498.

560 DESCENT OF PROPERTY.

and titles of his father, who then holds them only as a
guardian or trustee ; so that among this extraordinary people,
not the father, but the son, is in reality the head of the family.
So also in Australia, the father is called after the son, not the
son after the father. At Cape York and in the neighbouring
islands the youngest son has a double share.* Among the
New Zealanders, Mr. Brown assures us that the youngest son
succeeded to the property of the father. -f Among the Wany-
ameuzi, property descends not to the legitimate, but to the
illegitimate children.^ There are many races in which those
holding certain relationships are forbidden to talk to one
another, an extraordinary superstition which, as we have seen
(p. 463), reaches its climax among the Fijiaus.

It seems natural to us that after childbirth the woman
should keep her bed ; and that as far as possible the husband
should relieve her for a time from the labours and cares of
life. In this, at least, one might have thought that all nations
would be alike. Yet it is not so. Among the Caribs the
lather, on the birth of a child, took to his hammock, and
placed himself in the hands of the doctor, the mother mean-
while going about her work as usual. A similar custom has
1 >een observed on the mainland of South America, among the

Abipones, Mundrucus, Fuegians, etc.; among the Arawaks of
Surinam ; in the Chinese province of West Yunnan ; among
the Dyaks of Borneo, and the Esquimaux of Greenland. It
is mentioned by Xenophon as occurring in Asia Minor, and
by Strabo among the Iberians ; is found even in the present
day among the Basques, among whom we are told that in some
of the valleys the " women rise immediately after childbirth,
and attend to the duties of the household, while the husband
goes to bed, taking the baby with him, and thus receives the

* McGillivray, Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, vol. ii. p. 28.
t New Zealand and its Aborigines, p. 26.
I Burton's Lake Regions of Africa, p. 198.

DIFFERENCES IN PREVALENT SOUNDS. 561

neighbours' compliments." The same habit has been noticed
also in the South of France ; according to Diodorus Siculus,
i t prevailed at his time in Corsica ; and, finally, it " is said
still to exist in some cantons of Beam, where it is called
faire la couvade."

Again, the love of life — the dread of death — are among the
strongest of our feelings. " Everything that a man hath he
will give in exchange for his life." This is true, but by no
means universally so. According to Azara, the Indians of
Paraguay have a great indifference to death ; and we have
already seen that this is the case with the Fijians ; while
Burton makes a similar statement as regards the Negroes of
Dahomey. Among the Chinese it is said that a man con-
demned to death, if permitted to do so, may always secure
a substitute on payment of a moderate sum of money ; and
a coffin is regarded as a most appropriate present for an aged
relative.

Again, the sounds of which language is constituted differ
extremely in different parts of the world. The clicks of the
Hottentots are a striking illustration of this. The Hurons
did not use the labials ; the Indians of Port au Fran^ais in
Columbia, according to M. de Lamanon,* make no use of
the consonants b, f, x, j, d, p, or v. The Peruvian language
wanted the letters &, d, f, g, s, and #.•(• The Australians did
not use the sound conveyed by our letter s.j Many of the
Negroes have no r. The Fijians do not use the letter c, the
Somo-Somo dialect has no k, that of Rakiraki and other parts,
no £.§ The Society Islanders and Australians exclude both
s and c.\\ In representing the New Zealand language, the

* Voyage de la Perouse, vol. ii. t Freycinet, vol. ii. p. 757; D'Ur-
p. 211. ville, vol. i. pp. 188, 199, 481.

t Garcilasso de la Vega. Mark- § Williams, Figi and the Figians,
ham's Translation, Author's Pre- vol. i. p. v. 257.
face, p. x. || Ellis, Polynesian Researches,

vol. i. p. 77.

5G2 DIFFERENCES IN SIGNS.

missionaries found themselves able to discard no less than
thirteen letters, namely, &, c, d, /, g, ,/, I, q, s, v, x, y, and z*
Schaaff hausen observes that the labials are especially difficult
to prognathous races.

Shortland asserts that whistling was unknown in New
Zealand. f Even the symbols by which the feelings are ex-
pressed are very different in different races. Kissing appears
to us the natural expression of affection. " 'Tis certain," says
Steele, "nature was its author, and it began with the first
courtship." On the contrary, it was entirely unknown to the
Tahitians, the New Zealanders,J the Papouans,§ and the
aborigines of Australia, nor was it in use among the Somals,||
or the Esquimaux.^ The Hill Tribes of Chittagong do not
say " Kiss me," but " Smell me."** The Malays,ft Eijians,^
Tongans, and many other Polynesians, always sit down when
speaking to a superior ; the inhabitants of Mallicollo testify
"admiration by hissing like a goose,"§§ the sound being per-
haps like our " hush," a call for silence, and hence a mark of
interest ; the mode of showing respect among the Todas of the
Neilgherry hills is by raising the open right hand to the face,
resting the thumb on the bridge of the nose; at Vatavulu|||| it
is respectful to turn one's back on a superior, especially in
addressing him. The same custom occurs in Congo ;1F1T Denham
found it in Central Africa ;*** and Speke among the Wahuma

* Brown, New Zealand and its ft Marsden, Memoirs of a Ma-
Aborigines, p. 100. layan Family, p. 37.

t Traditions of the New Zea- JJ Williams, Figi and the Figi-

landers, p. 134. ans, vol. i. p. 38.

I D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 501; §§ Cook's Second Voyage, vol. ii.

t Voyage of the Novara, vol. iii. p. 36.

p. 106. HI) Figi and the Figians, vol. i.

§ Freycinet, vol. ii. p. 56. p. 154.

|| Burton's First Footsteps in 1F1F Astley's Voyage and Travels,

Africa, p. 123. vol. iii. p. 72.

IT Lyon's Journal, p. 353. *** Travels and Discoveries in

** Lewin. Hill Tribes -of Chit- Africa, vol. ii. p. 27, vol. iii. p. 15.
tagong, p. 46.

IDEAS OF DECENCY. 5 63

in the East.* The people of Iddah shake their clenched fist,-f-
while on the White Nile and in Ashantee they spit on you as
a compliment. According to Freycinet, tears were regarded
in the Sandwich Islands as a sign of happiness ;| and some
of the Esquimaux pull noses as a token of respect.§ Spix and
Martius assure us that blushing was unknown among the
Brazilian Indians ; and that only after long intercourse with
Europeans, does a change of colour become in them any indi-
cation of mental emotion.||

Again, we find the most striking differences of feeling in
the matter of clothing. The Turk thinks it highly improper
for a woman to show her face. The sculptures on early
Indian temples show that a race may attain to a considerable
degree of civilization without perceiving any necessity what-
ever for clothingr This is the case with the women listening

o o

to Buddha while preaching, and even Buddha's wife and
Maya his mother IF are habitually so represented ; indeed, Mr.
Fergusson does not hesitate to say that " before the Mahome-
dan conquest nudity in India conveyed no sense of indecency."
The ideas of virtue also differ extremely. Neither faith,
hope, nor charity, enters into the virtues of a savage. The
Sichuana language contains no expression for thanks ; the
Algonquin had no word for love ; the Tinne no word for be-
loved ; mercy was with the North American Indians a mistake,
and peace an evil; theft, says Catlin, they "call capturing ;"
humility is an idea which they could not comprehend. Among
the Koupouees the greatest misconduct, says Major McCulloch,
" is to forgive an enemy, the first virtue is revenge." **

* Discovery of the Source of the IF See, for instance, Fergusson's
Nile, p. 206. Tree and Serpent Worship. PL

f Allen and Thompson, Exped. Ixxiv. and passim,
to the Niger, vol. i. p. 290. ** Selection from the Records

* 1. c. vol. ii. pp. 542, 589. of the Government of India, by
§ Ross, Baffin's Bay, p. 118. Major W. McCulloch, p. 75.

|| Vol. i. p. 376.

2o2

564 IDEAS OF VIRTUE.

Among the ancient Greeks, we see in Homer that the
deceitful cunning of Ulysses was looked upon with approval.

" Is a man to starve," said an African, indignantly, to Capt.
Burton, " while his sister has children whom she might sell ? "
This sentiment reads at first like the acme of selfishness, but
this impression would perhaps be unjust. Marsden records a
Sumatran Malay as saying, in admiration of an European
watch, :< Is it not fitting that such as we should be slaves to
people who have the ingenuity to invent, and the skill to
construct, so wonderful a machine ?"*

Chastity before marriage was not reckoned as a virtue by
the New Zealanders,-f- the Hill Tribes of North Aracan,J or
by many of the ruder inhabitants of Northern and Central
America ; § it was disapproved of, though for very different
reasons, by some of the Brazilian tribes, by the inhabitants of
the Ladrones, and by the Andamaners. According to Ulloa,||
the Brazilians do not approve of chastity in an unmarried
woman, regarding it as a proof that she can have nothing
attractive about her. The inhabitants of the Ladrones,1T and
of the Andaman Islands,** come to the same conclusion ; in
the latter case, however, for a different reason, regarding it as
a proof of selfishness and pride. On the other hand, the
Australians would have been shocked at a man marrying a
woman of his own family name ; the Abipones thought it a
sin for a man to pronounce his own name ; the Tahitians
thought it very wrong to eat in company, and were horrified
at an English sailor, who carried some food in a basket on his
head. This prejudice was also shared by the New Zealanders,-f-f

* History of Sumatra, p. 205. Native Races of the Pacific States,

f Brown, New Zealand and its vol. i. pp. 123, 242.

Aborigines, p. 35. || Pinkerton, vol. xiv. p. 521.

t St. John, Jour. Anthr. Inst. 1" Freycinet, vol. ii. p. 370.

1872, p. 239. ** Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser.

§ Franklin's Journeys to the vol. ii. p. 35.

Polar Seas, vol. i. p. 132. Dunn's ft D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 533.
Oregon Territory, p. 92. Bancroft,

IDEAS OF VIKTUE. 565

while the Fijians, who were habitual cannibals, who regarded
mercy as a weakness, and cruelty as a virtue, fully believed
that a woman who was not tattooed in an orthodox manner
during life, could not possibly hope for happiness after death.
This curious idea is also found among the Esquimaux. Hall
tells us that they tattoo " from principle, the theory being that
the lines thus made will be regarded in the next world as a
sign of goodness."* It seems to the Veddahs the most natu-
ral thing in the world that a man should marry his younger
sister, but marriage with an elder one is as repugnant to them
as to us. Among the Friendly Islanders the chief priest was
considered too holy to be married ; but he had the right to
take as many concubines as he pleased ; and even the chiefs
dared not refuse their daughters to him. In Western Africa
the women of the reigning families might have as many lovers
as they wished, but were forbidden to degrade themselves by
marriage. Among the natives of New South Wales, though
the women wore no clothes, it was thought indecent for young
girls to go naked. •(•

Many savage races think it wrong for a woman to have
twins ; among the Ibos of Eastern Africa, for instance, in
such a case the children were exposed to wild beasts, and the
mother was driven out of society, j There also it is thought
unlucky to cut the upper teeth before the lower ones,§ and
" You cut your top teeth first" is the bitterest of insults. I can-
not indeed but think that the differences observable in savage
tribes are even more remarkable than the similarities.

In endeavouring to estimate the moral character of savages,
we must remember not only that their standard of right and

* Life with the Esquimaux, vol. stances of this, my Origin of Civi-

ii. p. 315. lization, 2nd ed. p. 25.

t D'Urville, vol. i. p. 471 ; Voy- § This idea is, I find to my sur-

age of the Rattlesnake, vol. i. p. 49. prise, also prevalent among our own

t Burton's Lake Regions of nurses.
Africa,, p. 90. See, for other in-

566 DEIFICATION OF WHITE MEN.

wrong was, and is, in many cases, very different from ours,
but also that, according to the statements of travellers, some
of them can hardly be regarded as responsible beings, and
have not attained to any notions, however faulty and unde-
fined, of moral rectitude.* But where such notions do exist,
they differ widely, as we have seen, from our own ; and it
would open up too large a question to inquire whether, in all
cases, our standard is the correct one.

In considering the character of women belonging to savage
or semi-savage races, we must also remember that savages
often regard the white men as beings of a superior order.
Thus M. du Chaillu tells us that some of the African savages
looked upon him as a superior being; and the South Sea
Islanders worshipped Captain Cook as a deity. Even when
they had killed him, and cut him into small pieces, the
inhabitants of Owhyhee fully expected him to reappear, and
frequently asked " what he would do to them on his return/' -f-
However absurd and extravagant such a belief may at first
sight appear, it must be admitted that it is in many respects
very natural. Savages can only raise their minds to the con-
ception of a being a few degrees superior to themselves, and
Captain Cook was more powerful, wiser, and, we may add,
more virtuous than most of their so-called " Deities." Under
these circumstances, although it must be admitted that the
chastity of the women is not, as a general rule, much regarded
among savages, we must not too severely condemn them on
this account. It is not surprising that any connection with
white men is regarded rather as an honour than as a disgrace :
the Europeans hold, in fact, almost the same position in public
estimation as did the amorous deities of ancient mythology.

Again, with savages, as with children, time appears longer

* See, for instance, Burchell, t Cook's Voyage to the Pacific
v<»l. i. p. 461. Ocean, by Capt, King, F.R.S., vol.

iii. p. 69.

CURIOUS CUSTOMS. $67

than it does to us, and a temporary marriage as natural and
honourable as one that is permanent. Hospitality, again, is
frequently carried so far that it is thought wrong to withhold
from a guest anything that might contribute to his comfort,
and unless therefore he was provided with a temporary wife,
hospitality would be regarded as incomplete. This custom is
found throughout North America and the South Sea Islands,
among the Abyssinians, Bedouins, Kaffirs, Patagonians, and
other races. Among the Esquimaux it is considered a great
mark of friendship for two men to exchange wives for a day
or two. It has been already mentioned that a Kandyan chief,
described by Mr. Bayley, was quite scandalized at the idea of
having on]y one wife. It was, he said, "just like monkeys."
When Captain Cook was in New Zealand, his companions
contracted many temporary marriages with the Maori women ;
these were arranged in a formal and decent manner, and were
regarded, by the New Zealanders at any rate, as perfectly
regular and innocent.* Begnard-j- assures us that the Lapps
preferred to marry a girl that had had a child by a white
man, thinking " that because a man whom they believe to be
possessed of a better taste than themselves has been anxious
to give marks of his love for a girl of their country, she must
therefore be possessed of some secret merit/' Even at the
present day, Lady Duff Gordon tells us, in her paper on the
Cape,t that "there are no so-called 'morals' among the
coloured people, and how or why should there ? It is an
honour to one of these girls to have a child by a white man."
Taking all these facts into consideration, the intercourse which
has taken place between Europeans and women of lower
tribes must not, I think, be too severely condemned, or rather
the blame ought to fall on us and not on them. But, even

* Cook's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 450.

f Pinkerton, Journey to Lapland, vol. i. p. 166.

I Vacation Tourists, 1863, p. 178.

508 SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN.

amonfj savages themselves, we must admit that female virtue

o o

is, in many cases, but slightly regarded; as, indeed, is but
natural when women themselves are looked upon as little
better than domestic animals. Among many tribes, for in-
stance the South Sea Islanders and the Esquimaux, indecent
dances are not only common, but are countenanced by women
of the highest rank, to whom it does not appear to occur that
there is any harm or impropriety in them. Judged by our
standards, these facts are very dreadful ; but we must remem-
ber they did not entail on savages the same fatal consequences
as with us ; and before we condemn them too severely, let us
remember our own literature and our own morality, even in
the last century.

The harsh, not to say cruel treatment of women, which is
almost universal among savages, is one of the deepest stains
upon their character. They regard the weaker sex as beings
of an inferior order, as mere domestic drudges. Nor are the
labours and sufferings of the women sweetened by any great
affection on the part of those for whom they toil. We have
already seen that the Algonquins had no word for "love" in
their language, and that the Tinne Indians had no equivalent
for "dear" or "beloved/' Captain Lefroy* says: "I endea-
voured to put this intelligibly to Nannette, by supposing such
an expression as ' ma chere femme ; ma chere fille.' When at
length she understood it, her reply was (with great emphasis),
' I' disent jamais c,a ; i' disent ma femme, ma fille." Spix and
Martius-f- tell us that among the Brazilian tribes the father
has scarcely any, the mother only an instinctive, affection for.
the child. There can be no doubt that, as an almost universal
rule, savages are cruel ; but we must remember that they are
less sensitive to pain than those who spend much of their
time in-doors, and that in many cases they inflict upon them-
selves also the most horrible tortures.

* Richardson's Arctic Expetli- t Rcise, vol. i. p. 381.

tion3 vol. ii. p. 24.

SAVAGES AND CHILDREN. 569

Savages may be likened to children, and the compari-
son is not only correct, but also highly instructive. Many
naturalists consider that the early condition of the individual
indicates that of the race, — that the best test of the affinities
of a species are the stages through which it passes. So also
it is in the case of man ; the life of each individual is an
epitome of the history of the race, and the gradual develop-
ment of the child illustrates that of the species. Hence tire
importance of the similarity between savages and children.
Savages, like children, have no steadiness of purpose. Speak-
ing of the Dogrib Indians, we found, says Richardson,* " by
experience, that however high the reward they expected to
receive on reaching their destination, they could not be de-
pended on to carry letters. A slight difficulty, the prospect
of a banquet on venison, or a sudden impulse to visit some
friend, were sufficient to turn them aside for an indefinite
length of time." Even among the comparatively civilized
South Sea Islanders this childishness was very apparent.
"Their tears indeed,-)- like those of children, were always
ready to express any passion that was strongly excited, and
like those of children they also appear to be forgotten as soon
as shed." D'Urville also mentions that Tai-wanga, a New
Zealand chief, cried like a child because the sailors spoilt his
favourite cloak by powdering it with flour. J It is not, says
Cook, " indeed strange that the sorrows of these artless people
should be transient, any more than that their passions should
be suddenly and strongly expressed ; what they feel they
have never been taught either to disguise or suppress; and
having no habits of thinking which perpetually recall the past
and anticipate the future, they are affected by all the changes
of the passing hour, and reflect the colour of the time, how-

* Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 23. I D'Urville, vol. ii. p. 398. See
f Cook's First Voyage, p. 103. also Burton's Lake Regions of Cen-
tral Africa, p. 332.

570 SAVAGES AND CHILDREN.

ever frequently it may vary ; they have no project which is to
be pursued from day to day, the subject of unremitted anxiety
and solicitude, that first rushes into the mind when they
awake in the morning, and is last dismissed when they sleep
at night. Yet if we admit that they are upon the whole
happier than we, we must admit that the child is happier
than the man, and that we are losers by the perfection of our
nature, the increase of our knowledge, and the enlargement of

our views."

We know the difficulty which children find in pronouncing
certain sounds : r and /, for instance, they constantly confound.
This is the case also among the Sandwich Islanders and in
the Ladrones, according to Freycinet ;* in Vanikoro ;•(• among
the Danimaras ;| and in the Tonga Islands. § Mr. Darwin
observed that the Fuegians had great difficulty in compre-
hending an alternative; and every one must have noticed
the tendency among savages to form words by re-duplication.
This also is characteristic of childhood among civilized races.

Again, some of the most brutal acts which have been
recorded against them are to be regarded less as instances of
deliberate cruelty, than of a childish thoughtlessness and im-
pulsiveness. A striking, instance of this is recorded by Byron
in his narrative of the Loss of the Wager. A cacique of the
Chonos, who was nominally a Christian, had been out with
his wife to fish for sea-eggs, and having had little success,
returned in a bad humour. "A little boy of theirs, about
three years old, whom they appeared to be doatingly fond of,
watching for his father and mother's return, ran into the surf
to meet them: the father handed a basket of eggs to the child,
which being too heavy for him to carry, he let it fall, upon
which the father jumped out of the canoe, and catching the

* Vol. ii. pp. 260, 519. t Vol. v. p. 218.

£ Galton, Tropical South Africa, p. 181.
§ Mariner's Tonga Island*, vol. i. p. 30.

MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL INFERIORITY. 571

boy up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost violence
against the stones. The poor little creature lay motionless
and bleeding, and in that condition was taken up by the
mother, but died soon after."*

In fact, we may fairly sum up this part of the question in
a few words by saying, as the most general conclusion which
can be arrived at, that savages have the character of children
with the passions and strength of men. No doubt different
races of savages differ very much in character. An Esquimaux
and a Fijian, for instance, have little in common. But after
making every possible allowance for savages, it must I think
be admitted that they are inferior, morally as well as in other
respects, to the more civilized races. There is indeed no
atrocious crime, no vice recorded by any traveller, whicli
might not be paralleled in Europe. But that which is with
us the exception, is with them the rule ; that which with us
is condemned by the general verdict of society, and is confined
to the uneducated and vicious, is among savages passed over
almost without condemnation, and treated as a mere matter
of course. In Tahiti, for instance, the missionaries considered
that " not less than two-thirds of the children were murdered
by their parents."

If we now turn to the mental differences between civilized
and uncivilized races, we shall find them very strongly marked.
Speaking of a Bushman tribe, Burchell observes that " whether
capable of reflection or not, these individuals never exerted
it."-)- The Eev. T. Dove describes the Tasmanians as distin-
guished " by the absence of all moral views and impressions.
Every idea bearing on our origin and destination as rational
beings seems to have been erased from their breasts." J It
would be easy to fill a volume with the evidence of excessive

* Byron's Loss of the Wager ; t 1. c. vol. i. p. 461.
Kerr's Voyages, vol. xvii. p. 374. J Tasmanian Journal of Natural

Science, vol. i. p. 249.

572 POVERTY OF SAVAGE LANGUAGES.

stupidity recorded by different travellers. It may be perhaps
thought that these were rather instances of individual dulness,
than any indication of a national characteristic ; but in the
nature and capacity of a language we find a test and measure
of the higher minds in a nation. Unfortunately, however,
travellers have found it difficult enough to obtain vocabularies
of the words in use ; and it is far less easy to collect infor-
mation as to those which they do not possess. Yet there are
not a few cases in which this has been done. I have already
mentioned the deficiency of some North American languages
in terms of endearment ; this fact suggests a melancholy con-
dition of the domestic relations, but it may here be referred
to asrain as an evidence of a low mental, as well as moral,

O *' '

condition. What Spix and Martius tell us about the Brazilian
tribes * appears also to be true of many, if not of most, savage
races. Their vocabulary is rich, and they have separate names
for the different parts of the body, for all the different animals
and plants with which they are acquainted ; for everything,
in fact, which they can see and handle. Yet they are entirely
deficient in words for abstract ideas ; they have no expressions
for colour, tone, sex, genus, spirit, etc.

The Abipones have no such words as man, body, place,
time, never, ever, everywhere, etc.; nor such a verb as "to
be." They cannot say, " I am an Abipon," but only, " I
Abipon." •)- The Malay language, also, according to Crawfurd,
is very deficient in abstract terms. It contains a word for
each colour, but no term for colour itself. The St. Petersburg
Bible Society endeavoured some years ago to translate the
Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments into the language
of the Tschuktschi, but "partly from the language being
entirely deficient in words to express new and abstract ideas,
and partly for want of letters to convey the variety of strange

* Eeise in Brasilien, vol. i. p. 385.
t Dobritzhoffer, vol. ii. p. 183.

DEFICIENCIES IN NUMERATION. 573

and uncouth sounds of which the language itself consists, the
translation was wholly unintelligible."*

So, again, the Tasmanians had no word for a tree, though

* O ' * C1

they had a name for each species ; nor could they express
" qualities, such as hard, soft, warm, cold, long, short, round,
etc.; for 'hard' they would say 'like a stone;' for 'tall' they
would say 'long legs/ etc.; and for 'round' they said 'like a
ball,' 'like the moon,' and so on."-f- According to the mis-
sionaries,! Fuegians have "no abstract terms for expressing
the truths of our religion;" and among the North American
languages, "a term sufficiently general to denote an 'oak-tree'
is exceptional." § Even the comparatively civilized inhabi-
tants of Tahiti had, according to Forster, " no proper words
for expressing abstract ideas." ||

The names for numbers are, however, the best, or, at least,
the most easily applicable test of mental condition among
the lower races of man. We have seen that the Esquimaux
can only with difficulty count up to ten, and that some in-
dividuals cannot go beyond five. The AbiponesH can only
express three numbers in proper words. The Dammaras
" in practice, whatever they may possess in their language,
certainly use no numeral greater than three. When they
wish to express four, they take to their fingers, which are to
them as formidable instruments of calculation as a sliding
rule is to an English schoolboy. They puzzle very much
after five, because no spare hand remains to grasp and secure
the fingers that are required for units.'3** Mr. Crawfurd, to
whom we are indebted for an interesting paper on this sub-
ject,^ has examined no less than thirty Australian languages,

* "WrangeU's Siberia and Polar || 1. c. p. 403.

Sea, p. 121. IT Dobritxhoffer, vol. ii. p. 169.

t Milligan, Proc. Hoy. Society, ** Gallon's Tropical Africa, p. 133.

Tasmania, vol. iii. p. 281. ft Ethnological Society's Trans-

| The Voice of Pity, vol. x. p. 152. actions, New Series, vol. ii. p. 84.

§ Latham, Varieties of Maiiap. 375.

574 ABSENCE OF RELIGION

and it appears that none of the tribes in that vast continent
count beyond four. According to Mr. Scott Nind, indeed,
the numerals used by the natives of King George's Sound
reach up to five ; but the last is merely the word " many."
The Brazilian Indians also count only up to three ; for any
higher number they use the word "many."* The Cape Yorkers
(Australia) can hardly be said to go beyond two ; their nume-
rals are as follows :

One Netat.

Two Naes.

Three Naes-netat.

Four Naes-naes.

Five Naes-naes-nctat.

Six Naes-naes-naes.

Again, in the state of their religious conceptions, still
more in the absence of religious conceptions, we get another
proof of extreme mental inferiority. The question has been
frequently discussed whether there is any race of men so
degraded as to be entirely without a religion — without some
idea of a deity. The conclusion to be arrived at depends, as
it seems to me, very much on the meaning which we ascribe
to the term " religion." If a mere fear of the unknown, if a
more or less vague belief in witchcraft, is to be regarded as a
religion, it would, I think, be difficult to refute this assertion.
But if a higher estimate of religion is adopted, then, so far
from this being true, the very reverse is the case. Many, we
might almost say all, of the most savage races are, according
to the nearly universal testimony of travellers, in this condi-
tion.

According to Spix and Martius,-f- Bates and Wallace, some
of the Brazilian Indians were entirely without religion.

* Spix and Martins, vol. i. p. 387.
t Reise in Brasilien, vol. i. p. 379.

AMONG SAVAGE RACES. 575

Burmeister confirms this statement, and, in the list of the
principal tribes of the valley of the Amazons, published by
the Hakluyt Society, the Chunchos are stated "to have no
religion whatever," and we are told that the Curetus " have
no idea of a Supreme Being/' The Toupinambas of Brazil
had no religion. The South American Indians of the Gran
Chaco are said by the missionaries to have " no religious or
idolatrous belief or worship whatever; neither do they possess
any idea of God, or of a Supreme Being. They make no
distinction between right and wrong, and have, therefore,
neither fear nor hope of any present or future punishment or
reward, nor any mysterious terror of some supernatural power,
whom they might seek to assuage by sacrifices or superstitious
rites."* Bates-)- tells us "that none of the tribes on the
Upper Amazons have an idea of a Supreme Being, and con-
sequently have no word to express it in their languages."
Azara also makes the same statement as regards many of the
South American tribes visited by him.!

Father Baegert, who lived as a missionary among the
Indians of California for seventeen years, affirms that " idols,
temples, religious worship, or ceremonies, were unknown to
them, and they neither believed in the true and only God,
nor adored false deities ;"§ and M. de la Perouse also says
that they " had no knowledge of a God, or of a future state/'
Golden, who had ample means of judging, assures us that the
celebrated "five nations" of Canada "had no public worship
nor any word for God;" and Hearne, who lived amongst the
Northern American Indians for years, and was perfectly
acquainted with their habits and language, says the same of
some tribes on Hudson's Bay.

* Voice of Pity, vol. ix. p. 220. vol. ii. pp. 3, 14, 33, 51, 60, 76, 80,

t Life in the Amazons, vol. ii. 81, 84, 90, 138, 1GO, 164, 166.

p. 162. § See Mr. Rau's translation, Smith-

J Voyages dans 1'Amer. Merid. sonian Contrib. 1863-64, p. 390.

576 ABSENCE OF RELIGION

In the Voyage of 1'Astrolabe, it is stated that the natives
of the Samoan and Solomon Islands, in the Pacific, had no
religion, and in the voyage of the Novara the same is said of
the Caroline Islanders. The Samoans " have neither moraes,
nor temples, nor altars, nor offerings, and consequently none
of the sanguinary rites, observed at the other groups. In
consequence of this the Samoans were considered an impious
race ; and their impiety became proverbial with the people of
Earotonga, for, when upbraiding a person who neglected the
worship of the gods, they would call him "a godless Samoan."*
On Damood Island, between Australia and New Guinea, Jukes
could find no "traces of any religious belief or observance."^
Duradawan, a sepoy who lived some time with the Andaman
Islanders, maintained that they had no religion, and Dr.
Mouatt believes his statements to be correct. J Portman, who
lived so long with them, and studied them so lovingly, makes
the same statement as regards the native of the Lesser Anda-
mans.§ Some of the Australian tribes also are said to have
no religion. ] In the Pellew Islands, Wilson found no reli-
gious buildings, nor any sign of religion.

Mr. Wallace, who had excellent opportunities for judging,
and whose merits as an observer no one can question, tells
us that among the people of Wanumbai, in the Aru Islands,
he could find no trace of a religion ;1F adding, however, that
he was but a short time among them.

The Yenadies and the Villees, according to Dr. Shortt, are
entirely without any belief in a future state ;** and again,
Hooker tells us that the Lepchas of Northern India have no

* Missionary Enterprises, p. 464.

t Jukes, Voyage of the "Fly," IF The Malayan Archipelago,

vol. i. p. 164. vol. ii. p. 280.

£ Trans. Ethn. Soc. vol. ii. p. 45. ** Proceedings of Madras Go vern-

§ J. Geog. Soc. Sep. 1888. ment, Revenue Department. May,

|| Collins' English Colony in New 1864.
South Wales, p. 354.

AMONG SAVAGE RACES. 577

religion. Captain Grant could find " no distinct form of reli-
gion" in some of the comparatively civilized tribes visited by
him.* According to Burchell, the Bachapins (Kaffirs) had
no form of worship or religion.*)* They thought " that every
thing made itself, and that trees and herbage grew by their
own will." They had no belief in a good deity, but some
vague idea of an evil being. Indeed, the first idea of a god is
almost always as an evil spirit.

Speaking of the Foulahs of Wassoulo, in Central Africa,
Caillie states : " I tried to discover whether they had any reli-
gion of their own ; whether they worshipped fetishes, or the
sun, moon, or stars ; but I could never perceive any religious
ceremony amongst them."* Again, he says of the Bainbaras
that, "like the people of Wassoulo, they have no religion," §
adding, however, that they have great faith in charms.

Burton also states that some of the tribes in the Lake
districts of Central Africa " admit neither God, nor angel, nor
devil." 1 1 Speaking of Hottentots, Le Vaillant says :*T " Je n'y
ai vu aucune trace de religion, rien qui approche meme de
1'idee d'un etre vengeur et remunerateur. J'ai vecu assez
longtemps avec eux, chez eux aux sein de leurs deserts
paisibles ; j'ai fait, avec ces braves humains, des voyages dans
des regions fort eloignees ; nuile part je n'ai rencontre rien
qui ressemble a la religion." Livingstone mentions that on
one occasion, after talking to a Bushman for some time, as he
supposed, about the Deity, he found that the savage thought
he was speaking about Sekomi, the principal chief of the
district.

Speaking of the Esquimaux, Eoss says : " Ervick, being the

* A Walk across Africa, p. 145. § 1. c. p. 375.

t Travels in South Africa, vol. ii. || Trans. Ethn. Soc. New Ser.

p. 550. vol. i. p. 323.

£ Travels to Timbuctoo, vol. i. IT Voyages dans 1'Afritjue, vol. i.

p. 303. p. 93.

2 P

578 RUDIMENTS OF RELIGION.

senior of the first party that came on board, was judged to be
the most proper person to question on the subject of religion.
I directed Sacheuse to ask him if he had any knowledge of a
Supreme Being ; but after trying every word used in his own
language to express it, he could not make him understand
what he meant. It was distinctly ascertained that he did not
worship the sun, moon, stars, or any image or living creature.
When asked what the sun or moon was for, he said to give
light. He had no knowledge, or idea, how he came into being,
or of a future state ; but said that when he died he would be
put into the ground. Having fully ascertained that he had
no idea of a beneficent Supreme Being, I proceeded, through
Sacheuse, to inquire if he believed in an evil spirit ; but he

could not be made to understand what it meant He was

positive that in this incantation he did not receive assistance
from anything, nor could he be made to understand what a
good or an evil spirit meant."*

In some cases travellers have arrived at these views very
much to their own astonishment. Thus Father Dobritzhoffer
says : " Theologians agree in denying that any man in posses-
sion of his reason can, without a crime, remain ignorant of
God for any length of time. This opinion I warmly defended
in the University of Cordoba, where I finished the four years*
course of theology begun at Gratz, in Styria. But what was
my astonishment when, on removing from thence to a colony
of Abipones, I found that the whole language of these savages
does not contain a single word which expresses God or a
divinity. To instruct them in religion, it was necessary to
borrow the Spanish word for God, and insert into the cate-
chism 'Dios ecnam caogerik/ ' God the creator of things."' f

Canon Callaway, in his " Eeligious System of the Amazulu

* Ross's Voyage of Discovery to t 1. c. vol. ii. p. 57. See also
the Arctic Regions, p. 127. p. 64.

LOW IDEAS OF THE DEITY. 570

Kaffirs," agrees* with Casalis, Arbousset, Vanderkemp, and
Moffat, that they have " scarcely any notion of a Deity, if any."
We have already observed a case of this kind in Kolben,
who, in spite of the assertions of the natives themselves, felt
quite sure that certain dances must be of a religious charac-
ter, "let the Hottentots say what they will." Again, Mr.
Matthews, who went out to act as a missionary among the
Fuegians, but was soon obliged to abandon the hopeless task,
observed only one act " which could be supposed devotional."
He sometimes, we are told, "heard a great howling or lamen-
tation about sunrise in the morning ; and upon asking Jemmy
Button what occasioned the outcry, he could obtain no satis-
factory answer; the boy only saying, 'People very sad, cry
very much." This appears so natural and sufficient an expla-
nation, that why the outcry should be " supposed devotional,"
I must confess myself unable to see. Once more, Sir J. D.
Hooker states that the Khasias, an Indian tribe, had no reli-
gion. Col. Yule,^ on the contrary, says that they have ; but
he admits that breaking hens' eggs is " the principal part of
their religious practice." But if most travellers have expected
to find a religion everywhere, and have been convinced, almost
against their will, that the reverse is the case, it is quite
possible that there may have been others who have too hastily
denied the existence of a religion among the tribes they
visited. However this may be, those who assert that even
the lowest savages believe in a Supreme Deity, affirm that
which is entirely contrary to the evidence. The direct testi-
mony of travellers on this point is indirectly corroborated by
their other statements. How, for instance, can a people who
are unable to count their own fingers, possibly raise their
mind so far as to realize the difficult problems of religion ?|

* Galloway, Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 124.

t Yule, On the Khasia Hills and People, p. 18.

£ See, for instance, Greg's Creed of Christendom, p. 212.

580 WITCHCRAFT.

Fetich worship, which is so widely prevalent in Africa, can
hardly be called a religion ; and even the South Sea Islanders,
who were in many respects so highly civilized, are said to
have been seriously offended with their deity if they thought
that he treated them with undue severity, or without proper
consideration. According to Kotzebue, the Kamschatkans
adored their deities "when their wishes were fulfilled, and
insulted them when their affairs went amiss."* When the
missionaries introduced a printing-press into Fiji, " the hea-
then at once declared it to be a god."-f-

The natives of the Nicobar Islands put up scarecrows to
frighten away the deity ; J and Burton once heard an old Eesa
woman, who was suffering from tooth-ache, offer up the fol-
lowing prayer : " Oh Allah, may thy teeth ache like mine !
Oh Allah, may thy gums be as sore as mine are now !"

The savage is, however, almost universally a believer in
witchcraft. Confusing together subjective and objective re-
lations, he is a prey to constant fears. Nor is the belief in
sorcery easily shaken off even by the most civilized nations.
James the First was under the impression that by melting
little images of wax, " the persons that they bear the name
of may be continually melted or dried away by continual
sickness." As regards pictures, the most curious fancies exist
among savage races. They have a very general dislike to be
represented, thinking that the artist thereby acquires some
mysterious power over them. Kane on one occasion freed
himself from some importunate Indians, by threatening to
draw them if they did not go away. I have already mentioned
(p. 529) the danger in which Catling found himself from
sketching a chief in a profile, and thereby, as it was supposed,
depriving him of half his face. So, again, a mysterious con-

* New Voyage round the World, vol. ii. p. 13.
t Figi and the Figians, vol. ii. p. 222.
+ Voyage of the " Novara," vol. ii. p. 66.

WITCHCRAFT. 581

nection is supposed to exist between a cut lock of hair and
the person to whom it belonged. In various parts of the
world the sorcerer gets clippings of the hair of his enemy,
parings of his nails, or leavings of his food, convinced that
whatever evil is done to these will re-act on their former owner.
Even a piece of clothing, or the ground on which a person
has trodden, will answer the purpose, and among some tribes
the mere knowledge of a person's name is supposed to give a
mysterious power. The Indians of British Columbia have a
great horror of telling their names. Among the Algonquins
a person's real name is communicated only to his nearest
relations and dearest friends : the outer world address him by
a kind of nickname. Thus the true name of La Belle Sauvage
was not Pocahontas, but Matokes, which they were afraid to
communicate to the English. In some tribes these name-
fancies take a different form. According to Ward, it is an
unpardonable sin for a Hindoo woman to mention the name
of her husband. The Kaffirs have a similar custom, and so
have some East African tribes. In many parts of the world
the names of the dead are avoided with superstitious horror.
This is the case in great parts of North and South America,
in Siberia, among the Papuans and Australians, and even in
Shetland, where it is said that widows are very reluctant to
mention their departed husbands.

Throughout Australia, among some of the Brazilian tribes,
in parts of Africa, and in various other countries, natural
death is regarded as an impossibility. In the New Hebrides,
" when a man fell ill, he knew that some sorcerer was burning
his rubbish ; and shell-trumpets, which could be heard for
miles, were blown to signal to the sorcerers to stop, and wait
for the presents which would be sent next morning. Night
after night, Mr. Turner used to hear the melancholy too-tooing
of the shells, entreating the wizards to stop plaguing their

582 GENERAL WRETCHEDNESS OF SAVAGES.

victims."* Savages never know but what they may be
placing themselves in the power of these terrible enemies ;-f-
and it is not too much to say that the horrible dread of
unknown evil hangs like a thick cloud over savage life, and
embitters every pleasure.

The mental sufferings which they thus undergo, the horrible
tortures which they sometimes inflict on themselves, and the
crimes which they are led to commit, are melancholy in the
extreme. It must not be supposed that in the preceding
chapter I have selected from various works all the passages
most unfavourable to savages, and that the picture I have
drawn of them is unfair. In reality, the very reverse is the case.
Their real condition is even worse and more abject than that
which I have endeavoured to depict. I have been careful to
quote only from trustworthy authorities, but there are many
things stated by them which I have not ventured to repeat ;
and there are other facts which the travellers themselves were
ashamed to publish.

* Tylor, 1. c. p. 129 ; Turner's t See Brown, New Zealand and
Polynesia, pp. 18, 89, 424. its Aborigines, p. 80.

( 583 )

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

I HA YE already expressed my belief that the simple arts
and implements have been independently invented by
various tribes, at different times, and in different parts of the
world. Even at the present day, we may, I think, obtain
glimpses of the manner in which they were, or may have
been, invented. Elephants break off boughs to use as fans
and scrapers. Monkeys use clubs, and throw sticks and stones
at those who intrude upon them. Eengger saw a monkey
take a stick and use it to open the lid of a box, and this has
since been confirmed by other observers. They also use
round stones for cracking nuts, and surely a very small step
would lead from that to the application of a sharp stone for
cutting. When the edge became blunt, it would be thrown
away, and another chosen ; but after a while, accident, if not
reflection, would show that a round stone would crack other
stones, as well as nuts, and thus the savage would learn to
make sharp-edged stones for himself. At first, as we see in
the drift specimens, these would be coarse and rough, but
gradually the pieces chipped off would become smaller, the
blows would be more cautiously and thoughtfully given, and
at length it would be found that better work might be done
by pressure than by blows. From pressure to polishing would
again be but a small step. In making flint implements, sparks
would be produced ; in polishing them, it would not fail to be
observed that they became hot, and in this way it is easy to

584 THE HIGHER ANIMALS.

see how the two methods of obtaining fire may have origi-
nated.*

The chimpanzee builds himself a house or resting-place
quite equal to that of some savages. Our earliest ancestors
therefore may have had this art ; but even if not, when they
became hunters, and, as we find to be the case with all hunt-
ing tribes, supplemented the inefficiency of their weapons by
an intimate acquaintance with the manners and customs of
the animals on which they preyed, they could not fail to ob-
serve, and perhaps to copy, the houses which various species
of animals construct for themselves.

The Esquimaux have no pottery ; they use hollow stones
as a substitute; but we have seen how they sometimes improve
upon these by a rim of clay. To extend this rim, diminish,
and at last replace the stone, is an obvious process. In hotter
countries, vessels of wood, or the shells of fruit, such as cocoa-

nuts and gourds, are used for holding liquids. These will not
stand fire, but in some cases by plastering them on the out-
side with clay, they are enabled to do so. There is some
evidence that this obvious improvement has been made by
several separate tribes even in modern times. Other similar
cases might be mentioned, in which by a very simple and
apparently obvious process, an important improvement is
secured. It seems very improbable that any such advantage
should ever be lost again. There is no evidence, says Mr.
Tylor,-f- "of any tribe giving up the use of the spindle to twist
their thread by hand, or having been in the habit of working
the fire-drill with a thong, and going back to the clumsier
practice of working it without, and it is even hard to fancy
such a thing happening." What follows from this argument ?
Evidently that the lowest races of existing savages must,

* The idea of using fire would ning, and by the natural fires which
also have been suggested by vol- occur in hot summers,
canoes, by trees set on tire by light- t 1. c. p. 364.

THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN. 585

always assuming the common origin of the human race, be at
least as far advanced as were our ancestors when they spread
over the earth's surface.

What, then, must have been their condition ? They were
ignorant of pottery, for the Esquimaux, the Polynesians, the
Australians, some North and South American tribes, and
many other savage races, have none even now, or at least had
none until quite lately. They had no bows and arrows, for
these weapons were unknown to the Australians and New
Zealanders ; their boats for the same reason must have been
of the rudest possible character ; they were naked, and igno-
rant of the art of spinning ; they had no knowledge of agri-
culture, and probably no domestic animal but the dog, though
here the argument is weaker, inasmuch as experience is more
portable than property. It is, however, in my opinion, most
probable that the dog was long the only domesticated animal.
Of the more unusual weapons, such as the boomerang, blow-
pipe, bolas, etc., they were certainly ignorant. The sling and
the thro wing -stick were doubtless unknown, and even the
shield, as it is only used in war, had probably not been
invented. The spear, which is but a development of the
knife-point, and the club, which is but a long hammer, are
the only things left by this line of argument. They seem to
be the only natural and universal weapons of man.

We might be disposed to wonder how man was at first able
to kill game ; but we must remember that if man was unskil-
ful, animals were unsuspicious. The tameness of the birds
on uninhabited islands is well known; the wariness of animals
and the skill of man must have increased almost pari passu.

The same argument may be applied to the mental condition
of savages. That our earliest ancestors could have counted
to ten is very improbable, considering that so many races now
in existence cannot get beyond four. On the other hand, it
is very improbable that man can have existed in a lower con-

586 DIFFUSION OF MAN.

dition than that thus indicated. So long, indeed, as he was
confined to the tropics, he may have found a succession of
fruits, and have lived as the monkeys do now. Indeed,
according to Bates, this is still the case with some of the
Brazilian Indians. " The monkeys," he says, " lead in fact a
life similar to that of the Pararauate Indians." Directly,
however, our ancestors spread into temperate climates, this
mode of life would become impossible, and they would be
compelled to seek their nourishment, in part at least, from
the animal kingdom. Then, if not before, the knife and the
hammer would develope into the spear and the club.

It is too often supposed that the world was peopled by a
series of "migrations." But migrations, properly so called, are
compatible only with a comparatively high state of organiza-
tion. Moreover, it has been observed that the geographical
distribution of the various races of man curiously coincides
with that of other races of animals : and there can be no
doubt that he originally crept over the earth's surface little
by little, year by year, just, for instance, as the weeds of Europe
are now gradually but surely creeping over the surface of
Australia.

The preceding argument assumes, of course, the unity of
the human race. It would, however, be impossible for me
to end this volume without saying a few words on this great
question. It must be admitted that the principal varieties
of mankind are of great antiquity. We find on the earliest
Egyptian monuments, some of which are certainly as ancient
as 2400 B.C., " two great distinct types, the Arab on the east
and west of Egypt, the Negro on the south ; and the Egyptian
type occupying a middle place between the two. The repre-
sentations of the monuments, although conventional, are so
extremely characteristic that it is quite impossible to mistake
them." These distinct types still predominate in Egypt and
the neighbouring countries. Thus, then, says Mr. Poole, in

EARLY RACES OF MAN. 587

this immense interval we do not find " the least change in the
Negro or the Arab ; and even the type which seems to be
intermediate between them is virtually as unaltered. Those
who consider that length of time can change a type of man,
will do well to consider the fact that three thousand years
give no ratio on which a calculation could be founded."*
I am, however, not aware that it is supposed by any school
of ethnologists that " time" alone, without a change of exter-
nal conditions, will produce an alteration of type. Let us
now turn to the instances relied on by Mr. Crawfurd.^ The
millions, he says, " of African Negroes that have during three
centuries been transported to the New World and its islands,
are the same in colour as the present inhabitants of the
parent country of their forefathers. The Creole Spaniards,
who have for at least as long a time been settled in tropical
America, are as fair as the people of Arragon and Andalusia,
with the same variety of colour in the hair and eye as their
progenitors. The pure Dutch Creole colonists of the Cape of
Good Hope, after dwelling two centuries among black Kaffirs,
and yellow Hottentots, do not differ in colour from the people
of Holland." Here, on the contrary, we have great change of
circumstances, but a very insufficient lapse of time, and in
fact there is no well- authenticated case in which these two
requisites are united. But Mr. Crawfurd went, I think, too
far when he denied altogether any change of type. In spite
of the comparatively short time which has elapsed, and of
the immense immigration which has been kept up, there is
already a marked difference between the English of Europe
and those of America ; and it would be desirable to inquire
whether, in their own eyes, the Negroes of the New World
exactly resemble those of Africa.

But there are some reasons which make it probable that

* Poole, Trans. Ethn. Soc., New f Crawfurd, Trans. Ethn. Soc.,
Ser. vol. ii. p. 261. New Ser. vol. ii. p. 252.

588 PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN.

changes of external condition, or rather of country, produce
less effect now than was formerly the case. At present, when
men migrate they carry with them the manners and appliances
of civilized life. They build houses more or less like those
to which they have been accustomed, carry with them flocks
and herds, and introduce into their new country the principal
plants which served them for food in the old. If their new
abode is cold, they increase their clothing ; if warm, they dimi-
nish it. In these and a hundred other ways the effect which
would otherwise be produced is greatly diminished.

But, as we have seen, this has not always been the case.
When man first spread over the earth, he had no domestic
animals, perhaps not even the dog ; no knowledge of agricul-
ture : his weapons were of the rudest character, and his
houses scarcely worthy of the name. His food, habits, and
whole manner of life must then have varied as he passed
from one country to another ; he must have been far more
subject to the influence of external circumstances, and in all
probability more susceptible of change. Moreover, his form,
which is now stereotyped by long ages of repetition, may
reasonably be supposed to have been itself more plastic than
is now the case.

If there is any truth in this view of the subject, it will
necessarily follow that the principal varieties of man are of
great antiquity, and in fact go back almost to the very origin
of the human race. We may then cease to wonder that the
earliest paintings on Egyptian tombs represent so accurately
several varieties still existing in those regions, and that the
Engis skull, probably the most ancient yet found in Europe,
so closely resembles many that may be seen even at the
present day.

This argument has been carried still farther by Mr. Wallace,
in an admirable memoir on "The Origin of Human Eaces
and the Antiquity of Man deduced from the Theory of Natu-

NATUHAL SELECTION APPLIED TO MAN. 580

ral Selection."* He has attemped to reconcile the two great
schools of ethnologists who hold opinions " so diametrically
opposed to each other ; the one party positively maintaining
that man is a species, and is essentially one — that all differ-
ences are but local and temporary variations produced by the
different physical and moral conditions by which he is sur-
rounded ; the other party maintaining with equal confidence
that man is a genus of many species, each of which is prac-
tically unchangeable, and has ever been as distinct, or even
more distinct, than we now behold them." Mr. Wallace him-
self holds the former of these theories, although admitting
that at present apparently " the best of the argument is on
the side of those who maintain the primitive diversity of
man," and he shows that the true solution of this difficulty
lies in the theory of Natural Selection, which, with charac-
teristic unselfishness, he ascribes unreservedly to Mr. Darwin,
although, as is well known,he struck out the idea independently,
and published it, not indeed with the same elaboration, at the
same time.

After explaining the true nature of the theory, which it
must be confessed is even yet very much misunderstood,
he points out that as long as man led what may be called a
mere animal existence, he would be subject to the same laws,
and would vary in the same manner, as the rest of his fellow-
creatures, but that at length "by the capacity of clothing
himself, and making weapons and tools, (he) has taken away
from nature that power of changing the external form and

structure which she exercises over all other animals

From the time, then, when the social and sympathetic feel-
ings came into active operation, and the intellectual and
moral faculties became fairly developed, man would cease to
be influenced by natural selection in his physical form and
structure ; as an animal he would remain almost stationary :
* Anthropological Review, May, 1864.

590 THE INFLUENCE OF MIND.

the changes of the surrounding universe would cease to have
upon him that powerful modifying effect which it exercises
over other parts of the organic world. But from the moment
that his body became stationary, his mind would become
subject to those very influences from which his body had
escaped ; every slight variation in his mental and moral nature
which should enable him better to guard against adverse
circumstances, and combine for mutual comfort and protection,
would be preserved and accumulated ; the better and higher
specimens of our race would therefore increase and spread,
the lower and more brutal would give way and successively
die out, and that rapid advancement of mental organization
would occur, which has raised the very lowest races of men
so far above the brutes (although differing so little from some
of them in physical structure), and, in conjunction with
scarcely perceptible modifications of form, has developed the
wonderful intellect of the Germanic races."*

Mr. Wallace appears to me, however, to press his argument
a little too far when he says that man is no longer "influenced
by natural selection," and that his body has "become station-
ary." Slow and gradual changes still take place, although
his "mere bodily structure" long ago became of less importance
to man than " that subtle force we term mind." This, as Mr.
Wallace eloquently says, " with a naked and unprotected body,
this gave him clothing against the varying inclemencies of
the seasons. Though unable to compete with the deer in
swiftness, or with the wild bull in strength, this gave him
weapons wherewith to capture or overcome both. Though
less capable than most other animals of living on the herbs
and the fruits that unaided nature supplies, this wonderful
faculty taught him to govern and direct nature to his own

* M. Lartet has attempted to the brain as compared with the rest
show that even among animals of the body. Comptes E-endus,
there is a gradual enlargement of 1868, p. 1119.

THE INFLUENCE OF MIND. 591

benefit, and make her produce food for him when and where
he pleased. From the moment when the first skin was used
as a covering, when the first rude spear was formed to assist
in the chase, the first seed sown or shoot planted, a grand
revolution was effected in nature, a revolution which in all
the previous ages of the world's history had had no parallel,
for a being had arisen who was no longer necessarily subject
to change with the changing universe, — a being who was in
some degree superior to nature, inasmuch as he knew how to
control and regulate her action, and could keep himself in
harmony with her, not by a change in body, but by an
advance in mind.

" Here, then, we see the true grandeur and dignity of man.
On this view of his special attributes, we may admit that even
those who claim for him a position and an order, a class, or a
sub-kingdom by himself, have some reason on their side. He
is, indeed, a being apart, since he is not influenced by the
great laws which irresistibly modify all other organic beings.
Nay, more : this victory which he has gained for himself gives
him a directing influence over other existences. Man has
not only escaped ' natural selection' himself, but he is actually
able to take away some of that power from nature which,
before his appearance, she universally exercised. We can
anticipate the time when the earth will produce only culti-
vated plants and domestic animals ; when man's selection
shall have supplanted 'natural selection;' and when the
ocean will be the only domain in which that power can be
exerted, which for countless cycles of ages ruled supreme over
the earth."

Thus, then, the great principle of Natural Selection, which
is to biology what the law of gravitation is for astronomy, not
only throws an unexpected light on the past, but illuminates
the future with hope ; nor can I but feel surprised that a
theory which thus teaches us humility for the past, faith in

592 INCREASE OF HAPPINESS.

the present, and hope for the future, should have been regarded
as opposed to the principles of Christianity or the interests of
true religion.

But even if the theory of "natural selection" should even-
tually prove to be untenable, and if those are right who believe
that neither our minds nor our bodies are susceptible of any
important change, any great improvement, still I think we
are justified in believing that the happiness of man is greatly
on the increase. It is generally admitted that if any animal
increases in numbers, it must be because the conditions are
becoming more favourable to it — in other words, because it is
happier and more comfortable. Now how will this test apply
to man? Schoolcraft estimates* that in a population which
lives on the produce of the chase, each hunter requires on
an average 50,000 acres, or 78 square miles, for his support.
Again, he tells us^ that, excluding Michigan territory, west
of Lake Michigan, and north of Illinois, there were in the
United States in 1825 about 97,000 Indians, occupying
77,000,000 of acres, or 120,312 square miles. This gives one
inhabitant to every 1J square miles. In this case, however,
the Indians lived partly on the subsidies granted them by
Government in exchange for land, and the population was
therefore greater than would have been the case if they had
lived entirely on the produce of the chase. The same reason
affects, though to a smaller extent, the Indians in the Hudson's
Bay territory. These tribes were estimated by Sir George
Simpson, late Governor of the territories belonging to the
Hudson's Bay Company, in his evidence given before the
Committee of the House of Commons in 1857, at 139,000,
and the extent is supposed to be more than 1,400,000 square
miles, to which we must add 13,000 more for Vancouver's
Island, making a total of more than 900,000,000 of acres ;
about 6500 acres, or 10 square miles, to each, individual.
* Indian Tribes, vol. i. p. 433. t 1. c. vol. iii. p. 575.

SUFFERINGS OF SAVAGES. 593

the inhabitants of Patagonia, south of 40°, and ex-

*-*

elusive of Chiloe and Tierra del Fuego, are estimated by
Admiral Fitzroy at less than 4000, and the number of acres
is 176,640,000, giving more than 44,000 acres, or 68 square
miles, for each person. A writer in the " Voice of Pity," how-
ever, thinks that their numbers may perhaps amount to 14,000
or 15,00-0.* It would be difficult to form any census of the
aborigines in Australia : Mr. Oldfield estimates that there is
one native to every fifty square miles ;-f and it is at least
evident that, since the introduction of civilization, the total
population of that continent has greatly increased.

Indeed, population as a general rule increases with civiliza-
tion. Paraguay, with 100,000 square miles, has from 300,000
to 500,000 inhabitants, or about four to a square mile. The
uncivilized parts of Mexico contained 374,000 inhabitants in
675,000 square miles; while Mexico proper, with 833,600
square miles, had 6,691,000 inhabitants. Naples had more
than 183 inhabitants to each square mile, Yenetia more than
200, Lombardy 280, England 280, Belgium as many as 320.

Finally, we cannot but observe that, under civilization, the
means of subsistence have increased even more rapidly than
the population. Far from suffering for want of food, the more
densely peopled countries are exactly those in which it is,
not only absolutely, but even relatively, most abundant. It
is said that any one who makes two blades of grass grow
where one grew before, is a benefactor to the human race ;
what, then, shall we say of that which enables a thousand
men to live in plenty where one savage could scarcely find a
scanty and precarious subsistence ?

There are, indeed, many who doubt whether happiness is
increased by civilization, and who talk of the free and noble
savage. But the true savage is neither free nor noble ; he is

* 1. c. vol. ii. p. 93. f Trans. Ethn. Soc,, New Ser. vol. iii. p. 220.

594 SUPERSTITIOUS TERRORS OF SAVAGES.

a slave to his own wants, his own passions ; imperfectly pro-
tected from the weather, he suffers from the cold by night and
the heat of the sun by day ; ignorant of agriculture, living by
the chase, and improvident in success, hunger always stares
him in the face, and often drives him to the dreadful alterna-
tive of cannibalism or death.

Wild animals are always in danger. Mr. Galton, who is
so well qualified to form an opinion, believes that the life of
all beasts in their wild state is an exceedingly anxious one ;
that " every antelope in South Africa has literally to run for
its life once in every one or two days upon an average, and
that he starts or gallops under the influence of a false alarm
many times in a day."* So it is with the savage ; he is always
suspicious, always in danger, always on the watch. He can
depend on no one, and no one can depend upon him. He
expects nothing from his neighbour, and does unto others as
he believes that they would do unto him. Thus his life is one
prolonged scene of selfishness and fear. Even in his religion,
if he has any, he creates for himself a new source of terror,
and peoples the world with invisible enemies. The position
of the female savage is even more wretched than that of her
master. She not only shares his sufferings, but has to bear
his ill-humour and ill-usage. She may truly be said to be
" little better than his dog, little dearer than his horse." In
Australia, Mr. Oldfield never saw a woman's grave, and does
not think that the natives took the trouble to bury them.
But, indeed, he believes that few of them are so fortunate as
to die a natural death, "they being generally despatched ere
they become old and emaciated, that so much good food may

not be lost In fine, so little importance is attached to

them, either before or after death, that it may be doubted

whether the man does not value his dog, when alive, quite as

* Trans. Etlm. Soc., New Ser. vol. iii. p. 133.

SELF-INFLICTED SUFFERINGS. 595

much as he does his woman, and think of both quite as often
and lovingly after he has eaten them."*

Not content, moreover, with those incident to their mode
of life, savages appear to take a melancholy pleasure in self-
inflicted sufferings. Besides the very general practice of
tattooing, the most extraordinary methods of disfigurement
and self-torture are adopted; some cut off the little finger,
some make an immense hole in the under-lip, or pierce the
cartilage of the nose. The Easter Islanders enlarge their ears
till they come down to their shoulders ; the Chinooks, and
many other American tribes, alter the shape of their heads.
Some of the African tribes chip their teeth in various manners,
each community having a fashion of its own. The Nyambanas,
a division of the Kaffirs, are characterized by a row of artifi-
cial pimples or warts, about the size of a pea, and extending
from the upper part of the forehead to the tip of the nose.
Of these they are very proud.-f* Among the Bachapins, those
who have distinguished themselves in battle are allowed the
privilege of marking " their thigh with a long scar, which is
rendered indelible and of a bluish colour by means of wood
ashes rubbed into the fresh wound." J In Australia, Captain
King saw a native ornamented with horizontal scars which
extended across the upper part of the chest. They were at
least an inch in diameter, and protruded half an inch from the
body.§ In some parts of Australia, and in Tasmania, all the
men have a tooth knocked out in a very clumsy and painful
manner. || " The inhabitants of Tanna have on their arms and
bellies elevated scars, representing plants, flowers, stars, and
various other figures. They are made by first cutting the skin

* Trans. Ethn. Soc., New Ser. § Narrative of a Survey of the

vol. iii. p. 248. Intertropical and Western Coasts

t United States' Exploring Ex- of Australia, p. 42. See also Eyre's

pedition, vol. i. p. 63. account, quoted in p. 449.

t Burchell, 1. c. vol. ii. pp. 478, || Freycinet, vol. ii. p. 70.~>.
535.

2 Q 2

596 SELF-INFLICTED SUFFERINGS.

with a sharp bamboo reed, and then applying a certain plant
to the wound, which raises the scar above the rest of the skin.
The inhabitants of Tazavan, or Formosa, by a very painful
operation, impress on their naked skins various figures of trees,
flowers, and animals. The great men in Guinea have their
skin flowered like damask ; and in the Deccan the women
likewise have flowers cut into their flesh on the forehead, the
arms, and the breast, and the elevated scars are painted in
colours, and exhibit the appearance of flowered damask."*
The native women in New South Wales used to tie a string
tightly round the little finger, and wear it until the finger
rotted off. Few of them escaped the painful experience.-)-
The American Indians also inflicted the most horrible tortures
upon themselves, i These and many other curious practices
are none the less painful because they are voluntary.

If we turn to the bright side of the question, the whole
analogy of nature justifies us in concluding that the pleasures
of civilized man are greater than those of the savage. As
we descend in the scale of organization, we find that animals
become more and more vegetative in their characteristics ;
with less susceptibility to pain, and consequently less capa-
city for happiness. It may, indeed, be doubted whether some
of those beings, which from their anatomy we are compelled
to class as animals, have much more consciousness of enjoy-
ment, or even of existence, than a tree or a sea-weed. But
even to animals which possess a clearly defined nervous
system, we must ascribe very different degrees of sensibility.
The study of the sensory organs in the lower animals offers
great difficulties ; but at least we know that they are, in
many cases, few in number, and capable of conveying only
general impressions. Every one will admit that the posses-

* Forster, 1. c. p. 588. J See, for instance, Catlin's North

t D'Urville, vol. i. p. 406. American Indians, vol. i. p. 170 ;

Azara, vol. ii. p. 136.

THE BLESSINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 597

sion of a new sense, or the improvement of an old one, is a
fresh source of possible happiness ; but how, it may be asked,
does this affect the present question ? There are no just
grounds for expecting man to be ever endued with a sixth
sense ; so far from being able to improve the organization of
the eye or the ear, we cannot make one hair black or white,
nor add one cubit to our stature. But, on the other hand,
the invention of the telescope and microscope is equivalent
in its results to an immense improvement of the eye, and
opens up to us new worlds, fresh sources of interest and
happiness. Again, we cannot alter the physical structure of
the ear, but we can train it, we can invent new musical instru-
ments, compose new melodies. The music of savages is rude
and melancholy in comparison with ours ; and thus, though
the ear of man may not have appreciably altered, the pleasure
which we may derive from it has been immensely increased.
Moreover, the savage is like a child who sees and hears only that
which is brought directly before him, but the civilized man
questions nature, and by the various processes of chemistry,
by electricity, and magnetism, by a thousand ingenious con-
trivances, he forces nature to throw light upon herself, dis-
covers hidden uses and unsuspected beauties, almost as if he
were endowed with some entirely new organ of sense.

The love of travel is deeply implanted in the human breast;
it is an immense pleasure to visit other countries, and see
new races of men. Again, the discovery of printing brings
all who choose into communion with the greatest minds.
The thoughts of a Shakespeare or a Tennyson, the discoveries
of a Newton or a Darwin, become thus the common property
of mankind. Already the results of this all-important though
simple process have been equivalent to an immense improve-
ment of our mental faculties ; and day by day, as books
become cheaper, schools are established, and education is
improved, a greater and greater effect will be produced.

598 THE DIMINUTION OF SUFFERING.

The well-known proverb against looking a gift horse in
the mouth does not apply to the gifts of nature ; they will
bear the closest inspection, and the more we examine, the
more we shall find to admire. Nor are these new sources of
happiness accompanied by any new liability to suffering ; on
the contrary, while our pleasures are increased, our pains are
lessened ; in a thousand ways we can avoid or diminish evils
which to our ancestors were great and inevitable. How much
misery, for instance, has been spared to the human race by
the single discovery of chloroform ? The capacity for pain,
so far as it can serve as a warning, remains in full force, but
the necessity for endurance has been greatly diminished.
With increased knowledge of, and attention to, the laws of
health, disease will become less and less frequent. Those
tendencies thereto which we have derived from our ancestors
will gradually die out ; and if fresh seeds are not sown, our
race may one day enjoy the inestimable advantages of health.

Thus, then, with the increasing influence of science, we
may confidently look to a great improvement in the condition
of man. But it may be said that our present sufferings and
sorrows arise principally from sin, and that any moral im-
provement must be due to religion, not to science. This
separation of the two mighty agents of improvement is the
great misfortune of humanity, and has done more than any-
thing else to retard the progress of civilization. But even if
for the moment we admit that science will not render us
more virtuous, it must certainly make us more innocent.
Out of 164,000 persons committed to prison in England and
Wales, only 4000 could read and write well. In fact,
our criminal population are mere savages, and most of their
crimes are but injudicious and desperate attempts to live
as a savage in the midst, and at the expense, of a civilized
community.

Men do not sin for the sake of sinning ; they yield to

THE ADVANTAGES OF SCIENCE. 599

temptation. Most of our sufferings arise from a mistaken
pursuit of pleasure ; from a misapprehension of that which
constitutes true happiness. Men do wrong either from igno-
rance or in the hope, unexpressed perhaps even to themselves,
that they may enjoy the pleasure, and yet avoid the penalty,
of sin. In this respect there can be no doubt that religious
teaching is much misapprehended. Eepentance is too often
regarded as a substitute for punishment. Sin, it is thought,
is followed either by the one or the other. So far, however,
as our world is concerned, this is not the case ; repentance
may enable a man to avoid sin in future, but has no effect on
the consequences of the past. The laws of nature are just
and salutary, but they are also inexorable. All men admit
that " the wages of sin is death ;" but they seem to think that
this is a general rule to which there may be many exceptions
— that some sins may possibly tend to happiness — that some
thorns may grow grapes, some thistles produce figs. That
suffering is the inevitable consequence of sin, as surely as
night follows day, is, however, the stern yet salutary teaching
of science. And surely if this lesson were thoroughly im-
pressed upon our minds, if we really believed in the certainty
of punishment, and that sin could not conduce to happiness,
temptation, which is at the very root of crime, would be cut
away, and mankind must necessarily become more innocent.

May we not, however, go even farther than this, and say
that science will also render man more virtuous ? " To pass
our time/' says Lord Brougham,* "in the study of the sciences,
in learning what others have discovered, and in extending the
bounds of human knowledge, has, in all ages, been reckoned

the most dignified and happy of human occupations No

man until he has studied philosophy, can have a just idea of

the great things for which Providence has fitted his under-

* Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science, p. 39.

600 THE FUTURE.

standing; the extraordinary disproportion which there is
between his natural strength and the powers of his mind, and
the force he derives from them." Finally, he concludes that
science would not only " make our lives more agreeable, but
better ; and that a rational being is bound by every motive of
interest and duty, to direct his mind towards pursuits which
are found to be the sure path of virtue as well as of happi-

ness."

We are in reality but on the threshold of civilization. Far
from showing any indication of having come to an end, the
tendency to improvement seems latterly to have proceeded
with augmented impetus and accelerated rapidity. Why,
then, should we suppose that it must now cease ? Man has
surely not reached the limits of his intellectual development,
and it is certain that he has not exhausted the infinite capa-
bilities of nature. There are many things which are not as
yet dreamt of in our philosophy ; many discoveries which
will immortalize those who make them, and confer upon the
human race advantages which as yet, perhaps, we are not in a
condition to appreciate. We may still say with our great
countryman, Sir Isaac Newton, that we have been but like

J *

children playing on the sea-shore, and picking up here and
there a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,
while the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before us.

Thus, then, the most sanguine hopes for the future are
justified by the whole experience of the past. It is surely
unreasonable to suppose that a process which has been going
on for so many thousand years, should have now suddenly
ceased ; and he must be blind indeed who imagines that our
civilization is unsusceptible of improvement, or that we our-
selves are in the highest state attainable by man.

If we turn from experience to theory, the same conclusion
forces itself upon us. The great principle of natural selection,

THE FUTURE. 601

which in animals affects the body and seems to have little
influence on the mind, in man affects the mind and has little
influence on the body. In the first, it tends mainly to the
preservation of life ; in the second, to the improvement of the
mind, and consequently to the increase of happiness. It
ensures, in the words of Mr. Herbert Spencer, aa constant
progress towards a higher degree of skill, intelligence, and
self-regulation — a better co-ordination of actions — a more
complete life."* Even those, however, who are dissatisfied
with the reasoning of Mr. Darwin, and believe that neither
our mental nor our material organization is susceptible of any
considerable change, may still look forward to the future with
hope. The tendency of recent improvements and discoveries
is less to effect any rapid change in man himself, than to
bring him into harmony with nature ; less to confer upon him
new powers, than to teach him how to apply the old.

It will, I think, be admitted that of the evils under which
we suffer, nearly all may be attributed either to ignorance or
sin. That ignorance will be diminished by the progress of
science is of course self-evident; that the same will be the
case with sin, seems little less so. Thus, then, both theory
and experience point to the same conclusion. The future
happiness of our race, which poets hardly ventured to hope
for, science boldly predicts. Utopia, which we have long
looked upon as synonymous with an evident impossibility,
which we have ungratefully regarded as " too good to be true,"
turns out, on the contrary, to be the necessary consequence of
natural laws, and once more we find that the simple truth
exceeds the most brilliant flights of the imagination.

Even in our own time we may hope to see some improve-
ment : but the unselfish mind will find its highest eratifica-

' O O

* Herbert Spencer, A Theory of Population deduced from the General
Law of Animal Fertility, p. 34.

602 THE FUTUKE.

tion in the belief that, whatever may be the case with ourselves,
our descendants will understand many things which are hidden
from us now, will better appreciate the beautiful world in
which we live, avoid much of that suffering to which we are
subject, enjoy many blessings of which we are not yet worthy,
and escape many of those temptations which we deplore, but
cannot wholly resist.

APPENDIX.

Page 12.

WE do not yet know at what time the use of Kunes commenced.
The examples found at Thorsbjerg and Nydani carry them back to
the second or third century, but they may have begun much earlier.
They remained partially in use in out-of-the-way districts of Scan-
dinavia down to the close of the last century. Runic monuments
occur in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, and, though rarely,
in Ireland ; but are more abundant in Sweden than anywhere else.
Prof. Stephens* states that there are three times as many in Sweden
as in all other northern countries together, and he estimates the
total number in Sweden at not less than two thousand.

The Runic Alphabet, or Futhorc, is as folloM's :

h. I). £. fc. Y. *. K. I. A. i. 4. fc. K Y.

F U th 0 R K H N I A S T B L M (GE, T)

There are, however, several varieties ; thus %m sometimes stands
for o, 1§ for n, lj. for s, f . for t, 4. for d, and f . for e. There is
also a class of letters known as tree-runes, which are entirely unlike
the rest. The letters given above are those generally used in the
engravings on stones in the great tumulus known as Maeshowe,
near the Stones of Stennis, in the Orkneys, t and are supposed to
have been the work of a party of Northmen who broke into the
Howe in the ninth century. The numerous variations in the forms
of the letters, and the fact that they are sometimes read from left
to right, sometimes from right to left, make them, at times some-
what difficult to decipher ; but it fortunately happens that we
possess no less than 61 Runic Futhorcs, so that any inscription
which is at all perfect, and not too much abbreviated, can be read
with tolerable certainty.

* The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia, p. 134.
t Mae?liowe. By .T. Farrar, Esq., M.P.

604

APPENDIX.

OGHAMS.

The origin of the Ogham alphabet is as uncertain as that of the
Runic. While, however, the Runes occur principally in Scandi-
navia, and but rarely in Great Britain, Ogharns, on the other hand,
have their head-quarters in Ireland, though some few have been
discovered in Scotland, and even in Shetland. They are generally

FIG. 227.

=K !

«=?;',!•

FIG. 228.

' ^Ilir'E'w'

ifflr

JNiiHr

% \

?ifii
j

jn'llH'K - - • /

^Jnir-/
2;:t^l b

Jf •,

-»«! N
*» '

^|K

t
*

V: A

i?5^!

wflK11-

^ f ^\

» i ;
i

Ogham Stones found in Kerry.

intended to be read from below upwards, and the letters consist of
mere straight strokes, arranged in groups along a line. This line

APPENDIX. 605

is very often the edge of the stone, but sometimes a line is cut.
In other cases, an imaginary line is supposed to run through the
inscription. Short lines, or notches, stand for the vowels, a, o, u,
e, i, one notch denoting a, two 0, three u, and so on. Lines on the
left of the base line stand for b, I, /, s, and n, according as they are
1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 in number; lines on the right of the base line stand
in the same manner for h, d, t, c, and q ; while those crossing the
line denote m, g, ng, st, or z, and r. There are some few other
characters, which, however, seldom occur.

Almost all the Ogham inscriptions which have yet been read are
mere patronymics, containing the name of the person in whose
honour the stone was erected. Thus the above figure (fig. 227)
of an Ogham stone found in Kerry reads thus : Nocati maqi maqi
ret(ti), i.e. (The Stone) of Nocat, the son of Macreith ; the inscrip-
tion on fig. 228 is, Maqi Mucoi Uddami, i.e. (The Stone) of Uddam
Mac Mucoi.

Page 59.

Staigue Fort, in the county of Kerry, is " an enclosure, nearly
circular, 114 feet in diameter, 88 feet from east to west, and 87
from north to south. The stones are put together without any
description of mortar or cement; the wall is 13 feet thick at the
bottom, and 5 feet 2 inches broad at top at the highest part, where
some of the old coping-stones still remain, and which is there
17 feet 6 inches high upon the inside. It has one square doorway
in the s.s.w. side, 5 feet 9 inches high, with sloping sides, 4 feet
2 inches wide at top, and 5 feet at bottom. In the substance of
this massive wall, and opening inwards, are two small chambers ;
the one on the west side is 12 feet long, 4 feet 7 inches wade, and
6 feet 6 inches high ; the northern chamber is 7 feet 4 inches long,
4 feet 9 inches wide, and 7 feet high. They formed a part of the
original plan, and were not, like other apertures in some similar
structures, filled-up gateways. Around the interior of the wall are
arranged ten sets of stairs, .... the highest reaching very nearly to
the full height of the wall, and the secondary flights being about
half that much ; each step is 2 feet wide ; and the lower flights
project within the circle of the higher. They lead to narrow plat-
forms, from 8 to 43 feet in length, on which its wardens or defenders
stood." (Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 120.)

606 APPENDIX.

Page 60.

On this subject I append four letters, one from Dr. Percy, F.E.S.,
two from Messrs. Jenkin and Lefeaux, the highly experienced
assayers to Messrs. P. Grenfell and Sons, and one from Mr. (now

Sir) H. H. Vivian :

November 11, 1868.

MY DEAR SIR JOHN LUBBOCK,

I have paid considerable attention to the subject of ancient
bronze, and all the information I have gathered respecting it is
directly opposed to Mr. Wibel's view. The remarkable uniformity
in the composition of ancient bronze is in itself sufficient to refute
that view. When I speak of uniformity, I should add that there
is some variation in the composition according to the uses for which
bronze implements were intended. Thus, where greater hardness
was needed, more tin was added. It is impossible to conceive that
anything approximating to uniformity in the composition of ancient
bronze could have been produced from the smelting of accidental
mixtures of copper and tin ore. Moreover, in remains of ancient
bronze foundries, blocks of copper have been found which were,
doubtless, used in making the alloy by the direct fusion of the t\vo
metals together. I could enter at greater length into the subject if
necessary. Mr. W.'s views have, so far as my knowledge extends,
nothing to stand upon. Yours very faithfully,

Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S. JOHN PERCY.

DEAR SlR London, 23rd December.

In answer to Sir John Lubbock's inquiry, I beg to say
that I do not think bronze can ever have been produced for com-
mercial purposes by fusing a mixture of copper ore and tin ore.
I have not much doubt that this could be accomplished in the
laboratory, but not, I think, in the usual mode of smelting on a
large scale. Ores containing naturally both copper and tin are
extremely unusual. Yours truly,

C. S. Grenfell, Esq. JOHN LEFEAUX.

EESPECTED FRIEND, Redruth, nth Month, 14, 1868.

I have received thy favour of the 12th inst., and in reply
I beg to inform thee that I do not think there are any Cornish
ores which can be so smelted as to produce a mixed metal consist-
ing only of copper and tin, and in such proportions as to form

APPENDIX. 607

bronze ; and for this reason, that, although the ores may contain a
sufficient proportion of tin, yet, as they also contain other metallic
ingredients, it would, I think, be impossible to get rid of all such
ingredients without at the same time getting rid of the tin also.
I have, however, directed our assay er to make some experiments

with reference to this subject.

I am, respectfully, thy friend,

C. Seymour Grenfell, ALFRED JENKIN.

Copper Office,
27, Upper Thames Street, London, E.G.

In a subsequent letter, Mr. Jenkin states that the experiments
made by the assay er confirmed him in the opinion above expressed.

MY DEAR LUBBOCK, September 21, 1875.

I have no hesitation in saying that it is most improbable,
I would almost say impossible, that the bronze of any early age
could have been made from the direct fusion of ores containing

copper and tin. I make this assertion on the following grounds :

1st. It would be extremely difficult to devise any method of
smelting which would reduce both these metals at once into a
metallic state ; and if they were so reduced they would be impure,
so that a refining would be necessary, during which the tin would
inevitably pass into the slag. No doubt, if both metals existed in
an ore in an oxidized condition, and free from earthy matter (which
is almost inconceivable, to any extent at least), they might be re-
duced into their metallic conditions by the action of a blast-furnace,
or in a closed vessel with carbon : if much earthy matter were
present, the loss in slags would be excessive, anything up to the
whole metallic contents, dependent on the relative proportions ; but
it is almost idle to argue on such a supposition, because I am not
aware that any such ore has ever existed. Then, again, it would be
possible if the ore were a sulphide, or, what is more probable, an
arsenical sulphide, to reduce it first to a regulus, or speiss, then to
calcine "dead," and to reduce the resulting oxides to a metallic
condition ; but the ancient smelters were, I am quite convinced,
unable to calcine dead, even if they burnt their regulus in heaps,
which I much doubt : if they burnt in heaps, the calcining would
be very imperfect, and the tin in the subsequent smelting would
for the most part pass into the slag. We have pretty good

608 APPENDIX.

evidence to prove that even the Romans were unable to deal
with their slag : I imagine their copper was produced in very low
blast-furnaces, or more probably " hearths," by continuous blow-
ing and working with tools ; some impure tin might in that case
separate as a "speiss" or "bottom" metal, but the bulk would go
into the slag. However, in Cornwall, where, if anywhere, such
mixed ores might be supposed to have been found, I am not aware
that there is any evidence of such smelting, but, on the contrary,
sulphide and arsenical ores seem to have been neglected, while
stream tin was eagerly sought for. The evidences of old stream
works exist throughout Cornwall and Devon very extensively, and
it is certain that pure tin ore alone was extracted from them ; in
fact, I believe that no other tin mining existed in early times, and
therefore that no mixed ores of tin and copper could have been
obtained. Believe me, my dear Lubbock,

Yours very truly,

H. HUSSEY VIVIAN.

Since writing the foregoing, I have read it to Mr. Morgan, the
manager of our copper works, a man of very great smelting expe-
rience and much scientific knowledge, and Mr. Hartmann, the
manager of our silver works, and a first-rate chemist : both confirm
everything I have stated.

Page 66.
The passage from Avienus is as follows :

Quae Himilco Pcenus mensibus vix quatuor,
Ut ipse semet re probasse retulit
Enavigantem, posse transmitti adserit :
Sic nulla late flabra propellunt ratern,
Sic segnis humor cequoris pigri stupet.
Adjicit et illud, plurimum inter gurgites
Extare fucum, et saepe virgulti vice
Retinere puppim dicit hie nihilominus
Non in profvmdum terga demitti maris,
Parvoque aquarum vix supertexti solum :
Obire semper hue et hue ponti feras,
Navigia lenta et languide repentia
Internatare belluas.

APPENDIX. 609

Page 73.

Rougemont, in L'Age du Bronze, concludes that, though tin was
in ancient times obtained from Spain, the quantity was always
inconsiderable. Don G. Schulz, the director of the Spanish School
of Mines, has, on the contrary, in his Descripcion Geognostica de
Gallicia, expressed the opposite opinion. It is much to be wished
that we had more information with reference to this interesting
question.

Page 83.

With reference to the possible European origin of nephrite,
Mr. Fletcher, Keeper of the Mineralogical Collection in the British
Museum, has favoured me with the following particulars.

DEAR Sm JOHN, British Museum, IQth July, 1889.

Till 1884 no European locality of nephrite or jade was
known, though various bits and lumps of the unworked material
had been picked up in several places : it was possible that these,
like the worked articles, might have been brought by human agency
to the places where they were met with. Meyer thinks that some
of them were brought by icebergs from Scandinavia, but this seems
pure speculation.

In 1884, Traube announced the discovery of nephrite at Jordans-
rniihl, Silesia, in situ [Kais. Leop. Carol, deutsch. Ak. d. Naturf. :
Halle, 1884, p. 76]. Kenngott, arguing from Traube' s data, doubted
the actual identity of the mineral with nephrite (Xeues Jahrb. f.
Min. 1885, band i. p. 238) : Traube re-asserted identity (N. J. f.
Min. 1885, band ii. p. 92), stating that the mineral possesses dis-
tinct peculiarities.

Later still, Traube announced the discovery of jade in situ near
Eeichenstein, Silesia (JSTeues Jahrb. f. Min. 1887, vol. ii. p. 27")).
During the present year, the discovery of jadeite in situ at Piz
Longhin, Bergell, has been announced (Neues J. f. Min. 1889,
band i. p. 103) by Fellenberg, but a chemical examination by
Rammelsberg (Neues Jahrb. f. Min. 1889, band i. p. 229) proves
the mineral to be idocrase, not jadeite.

This is all that is known, as far as I can gather, of the discovery
of jade in situ in Europe.. Yours faithfully,

Sir /. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S. L. FLETCHER.

2 Ii

610 APPENDIX.

Page 579.

Perhaps the lowest form of religion may be considered to be that
presented by the Australians, which consists of a mere unreasoning
belief in the existence of mysterious beings. The native who has
a nightmare, or a dream, does not doubt the reality of that which
passes, and as the beings by whom he is visited in his sleep are
unseen by his friends and relations, he regards them as invisible.

In Fetichism this feeling is more methodized. The Negro en-
deavours to make a slave of his deity. Thus Fetichism is almost
the opposite of Religion ; it stands towards it in the same relation
as Alchemy to Chemistry, or Astrology to Astronomy.

A further stage is that in which the superiority of the higher
deities is more fully recognized. Everything is worshipped in-
discriminately— animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. In
endeavouring to account for the worship of animals, we must
remember that names are very frequently taken from them. The
children and followers of a man called the Bear or the Lion would
make that a tribal name. Hence the animal itself would be first
respected, at last worshipped

" The Totem," says Schoolcraft, " is a symbol of the name of the
progenitor, — generally some quadruped or bird, or other object in
the animal kingdom, which stands, if we may so express it, as the
surname of the family. Its significant importance is derived from
the fact that individuals unhesitatingly trace their lineage from it."
Totemism, however, is by no means confined to America, but occurs
also in India, Africa, and in fact almost everywhere,* often in con-
nection with marriage prohibitions.

Mr. Fergussou has recently attempted to show the special pre-
valence of Tree and Serpent worship. He might, I believe, have
made out as strong a case for many other objects. It must be
remembered that the savage accounts for all action and movement
by life ; inanimate objects, therefore, have spirits as well as men ;
hence when the wives and slaves are slain, the weapons also are
broken in the grave, so that the spirits of the latter, as well as of
the former, may accompany their master to the other world.

The gradually increasing power of chiefs and priests led to

* Trans. Ethnol. Soc., N. S. vol. vi. p. 36. Lafitau, Mceurs des Sauv.
Amer. vol. i. p. 464.

APPENDIX. Gil

Anthropomorphism and idolatry, which must by no means be
regarded as the lowest state of religion. Solomon,* indeed, long
ago pointed out its connection with Monarchical power.

It is important to observe that each stage of religion is super-
imposed on the preceding, and that bygone beliefs linger on among
the children and the ignorant. Thus witchcraft is still believed in
by the ignorant, and fairy tales nourish in the nursery.

* Wisd. xiv. 17.

2 ii 2

INDEX.

Aarhuus, coast-find at, III.
Abbeville, primitive remains at, 183,

341, etc.

Abbot's Langley, flint from, 346.
Abipones, notices of, 560, 572, etc.
Absalom, stone heap raised over him,

1 20.
Abury, ancient monument at, 117,

123, 127.
Abyssinian notions of missionary

power, 427.
Acerotherium, 423.
Achan, stone heap raised over him,

1 20.

Acheul, St., antiquities at, 363.
Adams County animal mound, 276.
Adams, Dr., on Hagiar Kem, 75.
Adams, Mr., on mammoth, 293.
Adhemar, M., on climate, 310, 403.
„ on changes of sea level,

413- '
Adze of New Zealanders, 102.

Aeppli, M., his observations, 181.
African axe, 29, 30.

„ dolmens, 115, 136.
,, ornaments, 44.
Agassiz, opinion of, 286.
Age of barrows, difficulty of deciding,

158.

Agriculture, early American, 281, 284.
„ of American Indians, 526.

,, of Fijians, 456.

,, of Lakemen, 217.

Ai, king of, buried under stone heap,

1 20.

Albano, hut-urns found near, 54.
Albertus Magnus refers to the elk,

212.

Aldus McGaldus, 98.
Algeria, tumuli and stone circles in,

131-.

„ stone implements found in,

112.

Algonquins had no word for love,

520.

Alphabets, peculiarities of, 561.
„ alleged American, 278.

Alphabets, Runic, 603.

„ Ogham, 604.
Altar mounds, American, 271.
Alyattes, tomb of, 1 21.
Amazon Indians, funeral rites of, 140.
Amber found at Hallstadt, 24.
,, found at Meilen, 197.
„ found at Moen, 164, 165, 166.
„ found in the Treenhoie, 52.
„ its source and value, 74.
American antiquities classified, 255.
American (North) Archaeology, 253,

284.

„ Bibliography of, 253.
„ Indian funeral rites, 135.
„ Indians, 328, 515, etc.
„ stone implements, 108, 346.
„ Indians, their use of cop-
per, 4.

„ pottery, 260.
„ tribes, religious ideas of,

575-
Amiens, primitive remains at, 342.

Amravati, stone circles there, 130.
Andaman Islanders, 431, 438.
Anderson, Mr., 303.
Anderson's Sumatra, 195, note.
Angas, G. F., quoted, 447.
Anglesea, hut circles in, 56.
Anglo-Saxon interments, 161, 162.
Anholt, coast-find at, no.
Animal mounds of Wisconsin ; gigantic

representations of animals, 273.
Animal remains at Lake-villages, 200-

216.
Animal remains in drift, 365, 366, 374.

„ „ in tumuli, 175.

Animals, consumption of, in savage
nations, 356.

„ of primceval England, 308.

„ „ France, 308.

„ domestic, of lake-men, 207.

„ wild and domestic, 209, 210.

„ sacrificed, 177.

„ ingenuity of, 583.

„ wild, their perils, 594.
Annals of the Four Masters,

614

INDEX.

Anson, on buildings of Ladrone Is-
landers, 548.
Antiquity of American remains, 282.

„ of man, 383, etc.
Apples found in Lake-dwellings, 217.
Arabia, stone monuments in, 1 1 8.
Arab phrases and Old Testament

style, 428.

„ race, early traces of, 586.
Arbor Low, pottery from, 171.
„ stone circle at, 117.

„ tumulus at, 149.

Arcelin, M. A., his researches, 35.
Archiac, M. d', quoted on Oise Valley,

365, note.

„ on quaternary climate, 309.
Archaeolithic, or Palaeolithic Period,

2, 79, 412.
Archaeological evidence, its nature,

13, 429.

Archaeology, pre- historic, its four
ages — the Drift, or Palaeolithic,
the Newer Stone, or Neolithic, the
Bronze, and the Iron, 2, 3.
Archaeology and savage tribes, 430.
Architecture of Bronze Age, 54.
Arctic character of quaternary mam-
malia, 288.
Ardoch, bronze sword said to have

been found there, 20.
Aristotle, 66.

Arreoy, a society in Tahiti, 488.
Arrow-heads, American, 255, 256.

„ of five kinds — triangular,

indented, stemmed,
barbed, and leaf-
shaped, 1 06.
Arrow-heads, similarity of, in different

countries, 107.
Arrows, bronze, 33.

„ Esquimaux, II, 12.
Arrow-makers among Snake Indians,

Articles buried with the dead not

always for actual use, 146, 158, 159.

Arts and objects peculiar to certain

races, 552.

Aschersleben, hut-urn found near, 55.
Ass, 320.

„ remains of, recent in Lake-
dwelling, 206.
Assyria, stone implements found in,

112, 346.
Atlantis, probable origin of the belief

in, 67, note.

Atwater, Mr., his researches, 253, 270.
„ on Grave-creek mound,

270.

Aubrey quoted, 123.
Audierne, M., 322, note.
Aurelius Ambrosius, 125.
Aurignac, bone cave at, 319.
Aurillac, relics from, 424.
Aurochs. 212, 214, 238, 288, 304, 320
Australian flint flake, 92.
Australians, notices of, 431, 439.
Auvernier, relics from, 46.
Ava, what, 481.
Avienus noticed, 66, 608.
Awls of flint, 104.

„ of bone, 108.
Axes, American, in stone, 255.

„ stone, 96-99.

„ Swiss, in stone, 195.

„ of ceremony, 473.
Azara on Indians of Paraguay, 529.
Aztalan in Wisconsin, remains at, 266.
Aztecs, 93, 555.

B.
Baal, symbols of, 75.

„ worship in Norway, 75.
Baal worship, evidence of, 76.
Bachapins, 430, 483.
Badger, 213, 326.

Baegert on Californian Indians, 575.
Baer, Von, on the Aurochs, 304.
Bailey on Veddahs, 437.
Baillon, M., on rhinoceros remains at

Menchecourt, 359.
Baines, Mr., his sketch of Australians

making flint flakes, 92.
Baker on Arab phraseology, 427.
Bakie's voyage referred to, 358, note.
Baldersbal, 76.
Bark cloth, 474.

Barley found in Lake- villages, 216.
Barrow. See Mound, Tumulus.
Bate, Mr. Spence, researches of, 233.
Bateman, Mr., his labours, 250.

„ statistics from, 150-153, 1 60,

176.
„ his classification of pottery,

170.
„ opinions of "drinking cups,"

172.

„ on interments, 53, 142, 177.
Bates on tribes of Upper Amazons, 575.
Beaches, raised, examples of, 380.
Beads, 52, 150, 165, 168.
Bear, 214, 215.

„ theCave, 288,290,316,319, 374.
Beaver, 214, 215.
Beckhampton, 124.
Beckwith, Lieut., on manufacture of
stone weapons by Indians, 95.

INDEX.

615

Bedford, relics from, 346.
Beechey, referred to, 293, 508, 543.
Beech-trees in Denmark, 251, 387.
Beehive houses of Scotland, 57.
Belcher on manufacture of stone im-
plements by the Esqui-
maux, 94.
„ on Esquimaux winter store,

496.

„ on Andamaners, 438.
Belgium, bone-caves in, 312.
Beneden, M. Van, 314.
Benjamite slingers, 545-
Bertrand, M., referred to, 123.

,, on human remains at

Clichy, 359.

Beyer, Dr., discovers a hut-urn, 55.
Bible references to flax, 220.

to the ass, 206. .
to the horse, 206.
to corn, etc., 220.
testimony to early use of bronze,

72.
for "brass" in our version, we

should read " bronze," 72.
Bienne, animal remains, 203.
Bilidt, shell-mound at, 230, 234.
Birds in shell-mounds, 237, 238.

„ of Swiss Lake-dwellings, 204.
Bison or aurochs, 304. See Aurochs.
Blackmore, Dr., finds the lemming

near Salisbury, 306.
Blandford, Mr., his opinion of Silbury

Hill, 125, note.
Bleek, Dr., on Bushmen, 436.
Blumenbach and fossil rhinoceros, 296.
Boar, the, 208, 237, 320.
Boat, ancient, 9, 21, iSS.
Boats of Esquimaux, etc., 5°6.
Bohemia, forts in, 117.
Boiling stones, 480.
Bolas, 534.
Bone implements in Copenhagen

Museum, So.

„ caves, evidence from, 82, 308.
„ „ in France and Belgium,

308, 3I9-

„ „ in Devon, 314.
„ in Sicily, 317.
„ ,, in Gibraltar, 318.
„ „ in Spain, 318.
„ ,, near Wells, 321.
„ „ in Italy, 339.
„ implements, 108, 167, 243.
„ „ of America like those

of other countries,

255-
„ „ from caves, 330.

Bone-pits in North America. 271.
Bones consumed by African tribes and

other peoples, 326.
„ from drift, 356.
„ fossil, 239.

„ pounded by Australians, 441.
„ ,, Esquimaux, 497.

„ of animals in tumuli, 176.
„ found in shell -mounds, etc.,

236, 282, 283.

Bonstetten, M., referred to, 118, note.
Boomerang, 443, 445.
Borlase referred to, 6.
Bornou, funerals in, 140.
Borreby tumulus, 145,
Bos primigenius. See Urus.
Boscawen, stone circles at, 117.
Boucher de Perthes, M., his labours,

211, 341, etc.
„ on Lake - habitations in

Somme Valley, 376.
„ on remains in Somme

Valley, 183.

„ on cataclysms, 369.
„ on Palaeolithic stone axe,

341.
Bourgeois, Abbe, discoveries of, 422.

Bourguignet, M., 339.
Bourneville, fortification at, 262.
Bowl of wood from Jutland, 52.
Bows, Indian, 522.
Boyd Dawkins on descent of oxen,

211.

„ account of Wokey

Hole, 321, 330.
„ on cave-bear in river

drift, 290.

„ on cave-lion, 292.

„ on fossil rhinoceros,

296.

Boye, M., on a Danish tumulus, 163.
Bracelet of bronze, 52.
Brandon, flint implements at, 85.
Brandt on cave-bear, 291.
on bison, 305.

fossil rhinoceros in Scandi-
navia, 296.
„ on wild horse, 300, note.
„ on reindeer, 302.
Brantome, rock chapel at, 323.
Brass in English Bible should be

bronze, 72.

Bread found in Lake-villages, 217.
Brennus, his soldiers had iron swords,

7-
Briart, M., 87.

Brighton, 362.

British coinage, how early, 8.

j;
JJ

616

INDEX.

British tumuli, their general plan, 142.
„ Association, its exploration of

Kent's cavern, 315.
„ Museum contains stone weapon
found with elephant's. tooth,
343.

Brittany tumuli, 123, 129, 167.
Britons did not eat hare, 204.
Brixham cave, remains from, 290, 316.
Broch. See Burgh.
Bronze Age, 3, 75, 172, 251.
„ „ dwellings of, 54.
,, „ theories concerning, 60.
„ ,, and Phoenician com-
merce, 64.

„ „ metallurgy of, 40-43, 60.
„ ,, burial in, 53, 158.
„ „ clothing in, 48.
„ ,, pottery of, 222-224.
„ ,, architecture, 54.
„ articles, their general resem-
blances and differences, 63.
„ articles, cast in various coun-
tries, 64.

„ „ inventory of, 46.

„ celt at Rome, with inscription

not decipherable, 47.
„ „ found in Kent, 40.
„ different composition of, 22.
„ in Central America, 256, 431.
„ opinionsupon its original manu-
facture, 606.

„ bracelets, 36, 52, 223.
„ brooches, 37, 52, 53.
„ arrows, daggers, etc., 31-35,

52, 56.

„ celts, 27, 30.
„ spears, 33.
„ fish-hooks, 34.
„ hammers, 39.
„ pins, 36, 163.
„ ornaments, 35.
„ weapons, their geographical

distribution, 21.

„ found in Denmark, Ireland,
and Italy, 21, 22.
„ Norway, 75.
celts not found at Pompeii, 22.
„ „ not of Roman times, 19,

23-
„ „ but earlier, before iron,

23-
„ how introduced, 4, 64.

„ probably not discovered in

Europe, 62.

„ moulds for casting, 64.
„ and stone implements found

together, 82.

»»

Bronze pin from Scotch shell-mound,

233-
„ remains at pile works, 221.

„ weapons, when discontinued
in the North, 13.

„ ,, not found with relics of
Roman origin, 13, 19,

22.

,, ,, not found with iron, 8-13.
Bronze, alleged examples of, discussed,

20.

Brooch, anciently mended, 42.
Brooches of bronze, 37.
Brooke referred to, 138.
Brougham, Lord, quoted, 599.
Brown, Mr., on New Zealand inherit-
ance, 560.

,, his discoveries, 287.
Buch, L. von, on midsummer night

fires of Norway, 76.
Buckland, Dr., remark of, 298.
Buffon on reindeer in France, 302.
Bunbury, Sir C., on remains near

Thetford, 182.

Bunsen on antiquity of man, 384.
Burchell on custom of Bachapins, 430,

483, note.

on Bushman tribe, 571.
Burckhardt, 543.
Burdett Coutts, Baroness, 316.
Burghs, dwellings so called, 58, 303.
Burial, ancient modes of, 136, et seq.
,, „ „ during the Bronze

Age, 53, 158.

,, „ ,, in America, 270.
„ forms of, among savages, 458,

466, 484, 511, 559.
Burnes, Travels quoted, 183.
Burnet on Comanches, 519.
Burning of Lake-villages, 224.
Burton on Arab prejudice against

hare, 204.

Bushmen noticed, 436, 571.
Busk, Dr., visits Denmark, 230.
„ referred to, 146, 342.
„ on cave-bear, 290, 291.
„ on Neanderthal skull, 338.
„ visit to Somme Valley, 342.
„ on hyaena, 318.
„ his flint-finds at the Cape

of Good Hope, ill.
Buttons or studs of bronze, 39, 52.

» „ of tin, 52.

Byron on Fuegians, 536.
their dogs, 539.
anecdote of Indian cruelty,
571.

>•

INDEX.

617

Caesar referred to. 212, 304, 305.
Caillie, M., 577. '
Caithness "burghs," 59.
Caledonian swords of iron, 8.

„ wall, 127.

Cahokia, gigantic mound at, 272, 280.
Callais, beads in Brittany, 84, 168.
Calvert, Mr., 460, 463.
Campagna, bronze celt found in the,

48.

Candolle, M. de, cited, 216.
Caneto, M. de, 90.
Cannibalism of Fijians, 461.
„ „ Fuegians, 540.
„ „ Maories, 469.
Canoe Indians, 531.
Canoes, 431, 442, 455, 466, 477, 524,

etc.
Cape of Good Hope flint flake, 93.

„ „ flint-finds at, ill,

112.

Carnac, temple of, 128.

„ tumulus at, 167.
Carthage, when built, 71.

„ voyage from, to North-
western Europe, 65.
Carpenter, Dr., 396.
Carvings on bones, 331, 510.

„ on stones, 123, 277, 441.
Cat not found in Lake-dwellings, 205.

„ „ Danish shell-mounds,

205.

„ wild, 213, 319.

„ when brought into Europe, 238.
Cataclysms would not account for

river-drift, 370, etc.
Catlin, anecdote of, 528.

„ on defence of Mandan Village,
264.

,, remark of, 197.
Cave-men, 311, 340.

„ bear, 288, 291.

„ hyaena, 288, 291.

„ lion, 288, 291.

Celtic Lake-dwellers, supposed, 224.
Celts, 27, 195.

„ of various forms and materials
_ figured, 27-30.

„ kinds of stone used for, 82.

„ felstone, 83.

„ basalt, 83.

„ jade, 83, 168.

„ flint, 84.
Ceylon, 68.
Chaillu, M. du, 566.
Chambered tumuli, 136; rare in En-
gland and France, 141.

Chamois, 325.

Changes of human type, 587.

Chantre, M., 17.

Charlemagne, a regulation of, 170.

Chai'levoix on etymology of Esqui-
maux, 496.

Chavannes, remains of ass at, 206.

Cheek-studs, Esquimaux, 508.

Cheney on ancient monuments, 281,
note.

Chert, how fashioned by the Esqui-
maux, 94.

Childbirth, curious customs at, 560.

Chillingham wild cattle, 306.

Chimpanzee, dwellings of, 584.

China, its pre-historic archaeology not

yet known, 3.
„ burial custom, 158.

Chisels of flint, 102, 164, 165.

Chonos Indians, 531.

Christol, M. de, on rhinoceros relic,

295-
„ referred to, 312.

Christy, Mr., on ancient climate of
south of France, 334, 342.
„ his collection, 507.
„ and Lartet, MM., their re-
searches in the
Dordogne,322,etc.
on cave - men of
south France, 548.
Chronological data, 280.

,, problems, 226, 246,

251, 383, etc.

Chronology of the Tiniere cone, 388.
„ „ _Thiele Valley, 391.

Chunkyards described, 269.
Cicero, 222.

Circleville, Ohio, remains at, 265.
Circumcision in Australia, 449.
Civilization gradual in Lake-villages,

224.

„ its advantages, 593.

„ in its infancy, 600.

Clark's Work, Ohio, fortification at,

262.

Clichy, human remains at, 359.
Climate and astronomical changes,

403-
„ „ geographical features,

401.

,, of quaternary period, various
opinions entertained, 309.
„ of reindeer period, 334.
„ of Western Europe, dates

indicated by, 399, 420.
" Cloghauns," 82.
Cloth found in Lake-dwellings, 200.

„

618

INDEX.

Cloth found at Aztalan, 268.

„ manufactured in Tahiti, 474.
Clothing of Bronze Age, 48.
Coast-finds in Denmark described,

109.

Cochet, the Abbe, quoted, 342.
Codex Diplomaticus, 121.
Codrington, Mr., finds flint implement

on Foreland Cliff, 349.
Coffins of wood found in Jutland, 49.
,, their contents, 49-53.
„ at St. Acheul, 374.
„ not used in Stone Age, 136.
„ of stone, 98.

„ given by the Chinese as pre-
sents, 561.

Coin found at Vimose, 12.
Coins absent from bronze-finds, 12, 17.

„ found in Roman towns, 19.

„ miscellaneous, 225.

,, found at Piquigny, 21.

., „ Heilly, 20.

„ „ Tiniere, 389.

„ „ Nydam, 9, 10.

,, ,, Thorsbjerg, 10.

„ „ Tiefenau, 8, 225.

„ „ La Tene, 8.

Coinage, early British and Gaulish, 8.
Colden on Canadian Indians, 99, 519,

575-
Comb from Jutland, 49, 51.

Concise, relics from, 96, 195, 203, 205.
Confolens, cromlech at, 130.
Congreve, reference to, 130, note.
Conwell, his discoveries in Meath, 175.
Cook, Capt., on Australian notions

of trade, 447.
„ „ on Esquimaux repast,

497-

on Nootka Sound In-
dians, 525.

„ „ on Fuegians, 542.

„ „ on houses at Botany

Bay, 439.

„ „ examples of New Zea-

land skill, 331, 547.

„ „ on a Kamskatchaclale
"yourt," 493.

„ „ on Tahitians, 430, 472,

481, etc.

„ „ on Tasmanians, 452.

,, „ on Maories, 466.

„ „ on temporary marriages

in New Zealand, 567.

„ „ on winter habitations in

North-east Asia, 137.

,, ,, worshipped, 566.

Cookery among Esquimaux, 496.

Copenhagen Museum, 227, 229, 230.
„ „ stone implements

in, 79, 99.

„ „ bronze implements

in, 29, 33, 34, 45.

„ Academy of Sciences,

230.

Copper Age in Ireland doubtful, 61.
Copper, its early use, 3, 64.

„ implements, 30 ; rare in

Europe, 6l.
„ in North America, 256, 431,

522.

„ mines, American, 258.
Coppersmiths, American, 259.
Coral found at Concise, 197.
Corcelettes, 14, 15, 46.
Corn not found in neolithic barrows,

178.

„ not found in shell-mounds, 235.
,, of Lake-men, 216, 235.
Corn-crushers, 196.
Cornet, M., 87.
Corn-hills, 281.
Cornwall a tin-producing district in

early times, 64, 74.
,, shell-mounds, 233.
Cortaillod, 14, 15, 46.
Crannoges in Ireland, 184.
Crantz on Esquimaux repast, 20 1,

note, 498.

,, on Esquimaux religious no-
tions, 511.

„ on the hare among Green-
landers, 204.
Crawfurd on Australian numerals,

450- 573-
„ on changes of type, 587.

„ on Malay language, 572.
Cremation in the Bronze Age, 53, 160.
Crescents of earthenware, 223.
Crofts, Professor, 259.
Croll, Mr., on trade winds, 401.

„ on excentricity of earth's orbit,
409.

„ on change of sea-level, 417.

„ on change of climate, 310.
Cromagnon, skulls found at, 338.
Cromlech at Confolens, 130.

„ sense and etymology of the

word, 113, note.
Cromlechs, 117.
Cronkstone Hill, 148.
Cruelty of savages, 527, 565.
Crustacea in shell-mounds, 236.
Cumberland tumuli, contents of, 157.
Cunningham, Mr., on Australian

sketches, 441.

INDEX.

619

Cup markings in Hindustan, 175.
Customs of mound-builders, 240, 243.
„ and habits apparently simi-
lar, but yet different, 555.
,, of savages, 435.
Cuvier, M., names Rhinoceros lepto-

rhinus, 295.
„ on reindeer, 302.

Dacotahs, 519, 522, 525.
Daggers, bronze, 34.

„ of flint, 104, 105.
Dale, Mr., his flint-finds at Cape of

Good Hope, in.

Dale County, animal mounds, 275.
Dalton, Col., on Kols, 427.
Dam pier, reference to, 184, 440, 443.

„ shell-mounds, 233.
Dana, Professor, 258.
Danish coast-finds described, 109.

„ flint implements, 242.

„ museums, stone implements in,
227, 229.

„ Sagas mention tumuli, 122.

„ tumuli, 35, 227.
Dartmoor, remains on, 56.
Darwin's theory referred to, 307.
Darwin, Mr., on descent of oxen, 211.

„ remark on glaciers, 309.

„ observations of, 233, 245,

570-

Dasent, Sir G. W., 40, 302.
David, Lucas, refers to wild horse, 299.
Davey on Veddahs, 437.
Dawkins and Sandford, opinions of,

292.
Dawkins and the ]\Iachairodus lati-

dens, 306.

„ on wild oxen, 211.
„ on reindeer, 302.
Deerhorn picks, etc., 86, 87.
Degradation of savage tribes denied,

584.

Delacourt, M., discovery at Precy, 343.
Delaunay, M., 424.
Denmark, its antiquities, 9, IO, 227.

„ its vegetation, 387.

„ not entered by the Romans,

22.

,, See Kjokkenmoddings,

shell-mounds, etc.
Derbyshire tumuli, contents of, 143,

150, 1 60.

Dercennus, mound of, 121.
Desnoyers, M., on bone-caves, 311.
„ on marks upon bones,

422.

Desor, Prof., on bronze objects, 221.
,, true nature of Lake-villages,

221.

,, on human remains not found
in the Stone Age, 220.

„ on Swiss Lake-dwellings, 225.
De Soto, 426, 518.
Devil's Dyke, 117.
Devon, shell-mounds, 233.
Dickeson, Dr., finds together bones of

mastodon and man, 286.
Differences among contemporary sa-
vages, 550.

Diffusion of the human race, 586.
Dighton Rock carvings, 277.
Dille, Mr., on American tumuli, 270.
Dinotherium, 424.
Diodorus Siculus cited, 120, 561.
Dobritzhoffer on religious ideas of

Abipones, 578.

Dog, first domestic animal, 585.
Dogs of shell-mounds, 238.

„ trained to help in fishing, 539.

„ used for different purposes, 505,

556.
Dolmen, sense and etymology of the

word, 113, note, 130, etc.
Domestic animals, remains of, not

found in French
bone-caves, 325.
„ ,, of Lake-men, 209.

,, ,, none in earliest

times, 585.

„ „ of early ages, 179.

D'Orbigny, quotation from, 370.
Dordogne, bone-caves in, 322, 331.
Douler, Dr., human relics found by,

286.

Dove, Mr., on Tasmanians, 452, 571.
Drawings of Esquimaux, 510.
Dress in the Bronze Age, 48.

„ of savages, 433, 437, 439, 44§,
458, 464, 516, etc.

„ of Tahitians, 476.

,, of Esquimaux, 508.

„ of the Lake-men, 200.

„ of Patagonians, 533.
Drift Age, what, 2, 79, 341.

„ beds, characteristics of, 265, etc.

,, „ how formed, 365.
Drift, scarcity of human remains in,

355-
„ „ vegetable remains

in, 365-
„ „ animal remains in,

365..
„ implements considered, 350,

354-

620

INDEX.

Drinking-cups, 173.
Dmidical monuments, so-called, 123.
Dublin Museum, bronze implements,
etc., in, 22, 29, 30, 31, 34, 40, 61.
Dun of Dornadilla, 59.
Dupont, Dr., on Belgian caves, 313.
Diirnten, interglacial coal-beds at, 413,

422.

Dwellings of American Indians, 525.
„ ancient Gauls, 186.

„ the Lake-men, 181-187.

„ Bronze Age, 54.

„ Esquimaux, 492.

„ Paraguay, 530.

„ Patagonians, 532.

„ Fuegians, 536.

Dyaks, dwellings of, 184.
Dykes, 117.

E.
Earle, Mr., observation of, 233.

„ on New Zealand cruelty, 469.
Earthenware spindle-whorls, 196.
Earth's axis, alteration of, 399.
Easter Island statues, 548.
Eccard referred to, 6.
Education and crime, 599.
Edinburgh, bronze implements at, 29.
Egypt, early civilization of, 586.

,, formation of, 392.
Egyptian bronzes, 35.
„ tombs, 158.
„ knowledge of the horse, 206.
„ barley, 216.
Ekkehard quoted, 299.
Elephant, 288, 294, 374.
Elephants use boughs as fans, 583.
Elfin arrows, 429.
Elk, 213.

,, Irish fossil, 288, 298, 320.
,, Norway, 306.

Ellis, on opinions in Tahiti, 469, 487.
,, on dress of queen, 476.
„ on Tahitian slingstones, 478.
„ „ surgery, 483.

,, „ morals, 489.

„ on Maories, 469.
,, on feats of Polynesians, 544.
Enclosures in America, 262.
Engelhardt, on discoveries in Slesvick,

9, 122, note.

Engis, skull from, 336, 338, 588.
England, shell-mounds in, 233.
English Channel once narrower, 361.
Engraving by Esquimaux, 510.

„ by cave-men, 332.
Equinoxes, precession of, 403.
Erman on "Yurt," 136.
Erskine, Capt., on Pljian gods, 455.

Erskine, Capt., on Fijian character, 462.
Esquimaux funeral rite, 177.
,, burial-places, 158.

„ sometimes eat foxes, 201.

„ notions of Englishmen, 427.

„ notices of, 326, 328, 492,

etc.

„ skill with the arrow, 543.

„ stone monuments among,

118.
„ stone implements, 94, 100,

101, 104.

„ without pottery, 495.

„ without religious ideas, 511.

„ engravings on bone, 510.

Estavayer, 13-15, 35, 36, 46, 48.
Ethnological problems, 385.
Etiquette, Fijian, 462.

_ savage, 563, 565.
Etowah river-mound, 280.
Etruscan jewellery, 158.
Europe, time of man's first appearance

in, unknown, I.
„ whether truly described by

Pytheas, 67.

Evans, Mr., on early British coinage, 8.
„ on drift implements, 342.

„ notes on flint implements,

344, 351-
„ researches of, 233, 315.

„ finds hatchet near Abbot's

Langley, 346.

„ reference to, 349, 351.

Excentricity of earth's orbit, 408-410.
Exploration of shell-mounds, 227.
Eyre, on Australian dwellings and
customs, 440, 443, 451.

Fables, or myths, widespread, 67.
Fakaafo, whether its natives were

ignorant of fire, 558.
Falconer, Dr., on bone-cave in Sicily,

3I7-

„ „ at Gibraltar,

„ on the mammoth period,

294.

„ on the species of rhino-

ceros, 295.

„ on Brixham cave, 316.

„ visits Abbeville, 342.

„ finds lagomys among

bones from Brixham
cave, 306.

„ on cave-bear, 290.

Fancies of uncivilized peoples, 427.
Fannerup, shell-mound at, 230, 232.

INDEX.

621

Fnnnerup, flint-flake from, 89, 248.
Fauna affected by change of climate,

415.
„ of bone-caves, 310.

„ of Lake-dwellings, 200-216.
„ of Stone Age, 200, 216.
„ of drift period, 374.
„ of the shell-mounds, 235.
Felstone used for celts, 83.
Fergusson on Stonehenge and Abury,

124.

„ on Silbury Hill, 124.
„ on Buddhist Topes, 130.
„ on ancient Indian notions

of decency, 563.

Ferrum (iron), synonym for sword, 22.
Festival of the Dead, 271.
Filhol, M., 339.
Fijian funerals, 177.
Fijians, notice of, 223, 453.
Finns, skulls of, 145.
Fire, whether known to all races, 558.
„ used in felling and shaping tim-
ber, 96.

„ how obtained in Tahiti, 480.
„ „ in Australia, 447.

.„ „ by Indians, 524.

„ „ by savages, 557.

„ among Tasmanians, 452.
,, „ Maories, 464.
„ how used by the Esquimaux,

498-500.
Fish in shell-mounds, 235, 236.

„ at Isthmus of Panama, 400.
Fish-hooks, bronze, 34.
Fish- spears, 523.
Fishing, peculiar modes of, 75, 523,

..527.
Fitzroy on Fuegians, 537.

„ on Patagonian huts, 533.

„ on Tahitian cruelty, 489.
Fitz-Stephen refers to wild bulls, 305.
Flax mentioned in the Pentateuch and
Homer, 219.

„ known to Lake-men, 218.
Flaxdale Barrow, urn from, 171.
Flensborg, implements at, 35, 80.
Flinders, 447.
Flint implement manufactories, 84, 87.

„ „ how formed, 350.

„ „ antiquity, 352.

„ „ characteristics, 353.

„ „ from drift, 354.

„ from various sources,

355-
forged, 352.

used for celts, 84.

how manufactured, 84, 88, 94.

jj
>»

Flint flakes, North American, 92, 255.
Australian, 92.
from Cape of Good Hope,

93, in-
New Caledonian, 93.
Mexican, 93.
Kertch, 159.
Long Barrow, 1 66.
Moen, 165.
Swiss, 196.
„ implements of Denmark, 89, 90,

95- .
of Switzerland, 95,

»
»

„ „ of bone-caves, 326.

„ „ in shell - mounds,

231, 241, 243.

,, „ of tumuli compared

with those of shell-
mounds, 247.

Flint-finds, in, 341, 350.
Floating dwellings, 194.
Flora of Lake-dwellings, 216.

„ of shell-mounds, 235.
Florence, in Alabama, earthwork at,
. 279.

Florida Indians' buildings, 272.
Flourens, Mr., 239.
Flower, Mr., 342, 349.

„ on drift gravels, 349.

„ on Grime's Graves, 84.

Fodisch, Dr., cited, 117.
Food of the mound-builders, 244.
„ of savages, 433, 441, 454, 463,
480, 497, 527, 534, 537, 540.
„ stores in Arctic regions, 496.
Foote, Mr., on Indian stone imple-
ments, 347.

Forchhammer, Prof., 229, 235.
Forel, M., discoveries at Morges, 14.
Forests in Wisconsin, 280, 283.
Forged flint implements, 352.
Forks of Fijians, 456.
Forskey, M., 396.
Forster on Fuegians, 536.

„ on Tahitians, 474, note, 487.
Fort-hill, Ohio, fortification at, 262.
Fortifications of earth, 117, 261.

„ of Maories, 465.

Forts, ancient, 117.
Foster, Mr., 259.
Fowl, domestic, not found in Swiss

and Danish ancient remains, 205.
Fox, 213, 319.

„ eaten by Esquimaux, and in the

stone period, 201.
France, bone-caves in, 312.
„ shell-mounds in, 233.

622

INDEX.

France, primaeval, 377.

Franks, Mr., on Etruscan jewellery,

158.
„ on a bronze pin from

shell-mound, 233.
„ referred to, 443.

Frankland, Prof., on glacial epoch,

398.

Franklin, opinion of fox as food, 20 1.
Frere, Mr., his finds at Hoxne, 344.
Freshwater origin of gravels, 365.
Freycinet, M., on buildings of Ladrone

Islanders, 548.

„ referred to, 557, 562.

Friendly Islanders, 490.
Froelund, coast-find at, in.
Fruit of Lake-men, 217.
Fuegians, account of, 536.

„ habits of, 244.
Funeral feasts, 176.

„ rites in Australia, 450.
„ „ Fiji, 458.

„ of American Indians, 528.
„ rites among savages, 559.
Funerals in Tahiti, 484.
„ of Esquimaux, 511.
,, of Maori, 467.
„ of Patagonians, 535.
See also Burial, Interment.
Furse, M., 75, note.

Gades, when founded, 71.
Galeed of Jacob and Laban, 120, 135.
Galena in American mounds, 256.
Galles, M., referred to, 168, 169.
Gallon, Mr., on African customs, 326.
„ on perils of wild animals,

594-
„ referred to, 342.

Game obtained in various ways, 556.
Games of Australians, 449.

„ of Esquimaux, 509.

,, of Fijians, 456.

„ of Maories, 467.

„ of Tahitians, 478.
Ganggraben, 136, 141, 166.
Garden-beds of Wisconsin, 282, 284.
Garrigou, M., 339.
Gastaldi, M., on early Italian remains,

183-

Gaston de Foix and reindeer in France,
, 301.

Gaulish coinage, how early, 8.
Gebelin, Count de, on Dighton Rock,

Geminus cited, 70.
Genista cave, 318.
Geographical distribution of weapons,

etc., 551.
Geological changes in quaternary

period, 418.
Geology and time, 419.

„ and zoology, parallel processes

in, 422.

„ its principles, 2.
„ of Dordogne, 322.
Gervais, M., and remains of urns,

305-

Gesner's reference to the elk, 212.
Giant's Dance, what, 125.
Gibraltar, relics from the Genista cave,

318.
Gigantic figures of animals, 273.

„ earthworks, 279.
Gilgal, stones of, 120.
Gillieron, M., on lake -habitation at
Pont de Thiele, 200, 391.
,, pottery found by, 200.
Gillingham, penpits at, 56.
Giraldus Cambrensis, his story about

Stonehenge, 125.

Glacial epoch, astronomically ac-
counted for, 310, 412.
„ „ dates for, 411.

„ „ its phenomena ex-

plained, 418.

Glaciers and moraines, 386.
Glass found at Hallstadt, 24.

„ beads in Bronze Age, 39.
Glutton or wolverine, 288, 304.
Gobien on ignorance of fire in La-
drones, 557.
God, no name for, among Abipones,

578.

„ nations who know not, 439.
Godalming, flint from, 345.
Godwin- Austen, 314, 342.
Goguet referred to, 6.
Gold, probably first metal noticed by
man, 3.

,, ornaments at Kouloba, 159.

„ „ from Ireland, 43, 44.

Goldhavn tumulus, 136.
Gordon, Dr., on Scotch shell-mounds,
^233.
Gordon, Lady Duff, on African morals,

Geikie, Mr., on denudation in pro-
gress, 411.

Gorm tumulus, 121.

Gosse, M., discovery in valley of Seine,

343-
Gouges of bronze, 39.

' Grant, Captain, 577.
Granville, animal mound, 276.

INDEX.

623

Grave Creek mound, 261, 262, 270,
^278.

Gravel. See Drift.
Gray, Dr., referred to, 210.
Gray, Mr., on customs in Hebrides,

135-

Gray's Thurrock, 290.

Greek and Roman writers refer to
burials under mounds of stone or of
earth, 120.
Greenlanders, skulls of, 145.

„ object to eat hare, 204.

Greenstone axe, 98.
Greenwell, Mr., referred to, 250.

statistics of funeral rites
from, 53, 144,154-158.
,, finds traces of wood in

tumuli, 136.
„ his account of Grime's

Graves, 84-86.

Gregory of Tours quoted, 12 1, 222.
Grenelle, discoveries at, 343.
Grey, Capt., on Australian shell-
mounds, etc , 440, 444, 451.
„ on Australian skill with spear,

543-
Grime's Graves, 84, 97.

Gulf Stream, influence of, 401.
Giinther, Dr., observation of, 401.

Habits of Cave-dwellers, 334.

Haeckel on Bushmen, 436.

Hagiar Kem, 75.

Haigh on Runic inscription, 12.

Hains, Dr., and the cave-lion, 292.

Hairpins, bronze, 38.

Hale on Fakaafo language, 558.

Haligenes, where found, 402.

Halitherium fossile, 424.

Hall on Esquimaux, 326, note, 51 1,514.

Hallstadt, cemetery at, 25.

„ table of discoveries at, 24.
Hammers of bronze, 39.

,, of flint, 108.
Hamy, M., 424.

Handles of stone implements, 95, 108.
Happiness on the increase, 592, etc.
Harald, burial of, 122.
Hare seldom traceable, 204.

„ opinions concerning, 204.
Harpoons of flint, 108.
Harrison, Pres., on growth of forests,

283.

Haughton, Rev. S., 83.
Havelse, shell-mound at, 230.
Haven on antiquities of the United

States, 253, 254, 272.

Hazlewood on Fijian gods, 455.
Hearne's Journey to Coppermine River,

258.
„ on North American Indians,

519, 575-
Hecateus referred to, 127.

Hector's barrow, 120.

Heer, Prof, reference to, 218.

„ statistics from, 219.
Heilly, alleged example of bronze

Roman sword found there, 20,
Hemp, 219.

Henslow, Prof., 342, 351.
Herberstein on the urus, 212, 305.

„ refers to wild horse, 299.

Herbst, K., 230.

„ on Jutland tumuli, 49.
„ his list of stone implements
in Copenhagen Museum,

79-

Herne Bay, 346.
Herodotus on Paeonian custom, 182,

183.

„ cited, 66, 292.
Herschel, SirJ., on change of climate,

407.
Hesiod, date of, 72.

,, says iron was discovered after

copper and tin, 5.
steel known in his time, 5.
reference to, 205.
Hibbert, Dr., 302.
Hill Tribes, traditions of, 427.
Himilco, voyage of, 65.

„ criticism of Sir G. C. Lewis

upon, 65.

Hints to explorers, 179.
Hippopotamus, fossil, 288, 297, 374.
His, Prof., on skull from Meilen,

220.

Hisely, M., 392.
Hoare, Sir R. C., on position of ditch

in earthworks, 263.
„ tumuli examined by him, 127.
„ on the blue stones of Stone-

henge, 127.

,, on incense cups, 171-
„ referred to, 6, 37, 158, 250.
„ statistics from, 53, 161.
Hog, domestic, 207, 215, 238, 374.
Homer, date of, 72.

„ refers to flax, 219.

„ on decoration of shields, 77.

„ on use of iron, etc., 5.

„ referred to, 119, 122, 205,

564-
Hooker, Sir J. D., his sketch of Carnac,

129.

624

INDEX.

Hooker, Sir J. D., on funeral rites of

the Khasias, 131.
„ on Fuegian hardiness, 542.
„ on Indian dolmens, 132.
Hopkins on changes of climate in

Europe, 397.

Horn from shell-mounds, 242.
Horner, Mr., Researches in Egypt,

392.

Horse, fossil, 206, 288, 316, 319, 374.
„ wild, 299.
„ found in Lake-dwellings, 206.

215-
„ sacrificed, 176.

„ Indians, 531.
„ remains of, very rare in En-
glish barrows, 176.
Hospitality among savages, 567.
Hottentots, 431.

„ prejudice against hare,

204.

„ skill, 545.

„ without religion, 578.

Houses of Fijians, 455.
„ of Maories, 465.
„ of Tahitians, 477-
Houzeau, M., 87.
Hoxne, relics from, 344, 365.
Hudson's Bay Company, skins re-
ceived by, 357.

„ „ its protection of the

native Indians, 529.

„ „ territory, population

of, 357-

Hughes, Mr., his finds in Kent, 346.
Human bones not found in shell-
mounds, 243.
„ remains rare in pileworks,

219.
very rare in drift,

„

„ ,, of Denmark, 244.

„ sacrifices, 176, 460, 468.
„ ,, of Fijians, 459.

„ „ of Maories, 468.

1 lumphrey and Abbott on Mississippi

drift, 397.

Hungary, copper implements, 61.
Hunt, Mr., on Fijian custom, 459.
Hunting among the Esquimaux, 502.
„ and fishing of Indians, 527.
Hut-urns, 54.

„ found in Italy, Germany,

and Denmark, 54, 55.
Hut-circles, 82.

Huxley, Prof., on geographical distri-
bution of man, 385.
„ on Engis skull, 338, note.

Huxley, on Neanderthal skull, 338.
Hyaena, the cave, 288, 290, 316, 319,

374-
Hyer, Mr., discovers Aztalan, 266.

Ibex, 213, 325.
Ice at the South Pole, 405.
,, boulders in, 369.
„ sludge, 69.

Icklingham, flint from, 346.
Ignorance and crime, 599.
Ilford, 290.

Implements of Esquimaux, 500.
„ made of flint, 95.

„ of stone, various, 79, etc.

„ of bone and wood, 195.

„ Indian, 522.

,, in bone-beds, 346.

Incense cup, 171.
Independent inventions, 555.
India, Megalithic remains in, 129.
„ stone implements found in, 1 12,

347-

,, suttee, 177.
Indian corn-hills, 281.

„ customs in America, 271.
,, dolmens, 129.
Indians of North America, 515.
,, diminution of, 529.
„ of Paraguay, 529.
Infanticide in ancient Britain, 177.
,, among Esquimaux, 177,

512.

,, of American Indians, 521.

,, of Hottentots, 436.

„ in Paraguay, 531.

,, of Maories, 467.

„ Polynesian, 467.

,, in Tahiti, 488.

Inhabitants of Lake-villages, 223.
Inheritance and succession, 560.
Inscriptions, Runic, 9.

„ not found in Bronze Age,

12.

,, Roman, 12.

„ on celt at Rome, 47.

„ doubtful, in America, 277.

Intellectual estimate of savages, 571-
Interment. See Burial, Funeral.
Inventions sometimes independent and

sometimes borrowed, 583.
Ireland, celts from, 27.

,, copper implements in, 6l.
,, not certain that Romans en-
tered it, 21.
Irish elk, 304, 320.
„ gold ornaments, 43.

INDEX.

625

Iron Age, 3.

,, ,, burials in, 162.

„ „ finds belonging to, in Sles-

vick, 9.

„ its early use, 4, 6, 7, 77.
„ among the Gauls and Caledo-

nians, 8.

„ epithets applied to, by poets, 5.
„ use of, general in Northern

Europe before invasion of

Julius Caesar, 25.
,, use of, in Mexico, 82.
„ weapons not found with bronze,

IS-

„ unknown to early Americans,

255-
„ how smelted by Hottentots, 434.

„ relics at Tiefenau, 8, 225.
Isolation of savages, 553.
Italy, bone-caves in, 339.
Ivory found at Hallstadt, 24.
Kouloba, 159.

„

J-

Jade used for celts, 83, 168, 195.
„ not found in Europe, 83.

Jahn on discoveries at Tiefenau, 8.

James, expedition to Rocky Moun-
tains, 97, note.
„ on American tumuli, 135.

Japan, stone implements found in, 112.
,, burial custom, 158.
„ its pre-historic archaeology not
yet known, 3.

Javelins, bronze, 33.

Jefferson, Mr., on skeletons in a tumu-
lus in Virginia, 271.

Jeffreys, Mr., on mollusca of Somme
Valley, 365.

Jelalabad tumuli, 115.

Jellinge, 121.

Jenkin, A., letter to the author, 606.

Jensen, Mr., 163.

Jewellery in Etruscan tombs, 158.
„ at Kouloba, 159.

Jews refused to eat hare, 204.

Joass, Mr., 303.

Jobson, his map of 1591, 185.

Tones, Mr. T. R., 342.

Jukes, 442, 576.

Justin, 222.

Jutland, contents of coffins found in,

49-52.
„ shell-mounds of, 231.

Kajak and umiak, 506.
Kamskatchadale yourt, 493.

Kandyans, 438, 567.
Kane on Cree Indian swearing. 521.
„ on Redskins and portraits, 528,

580.

Kattegat, tides of, 234.
Keller, Dr., on ancient pottery, 199.

,, on primitive Swiss, 224.

„ on human remains in Lake-
villages, 220.

„ discovery of Lake-dwellings,

181.

Kemble referred to, 122, note.
Kennet, 124.

Kent, flint implements from, 40, 346.
Kent's Hole, a bone-cave, 314.
Kertch, tumulus near, 159.
Keston, its etymology, 126.
Khasias, funeral rites of, 131.
Kiel, stone implements at, 80.
Kimmeridge, shale bead, 167.
King, M., referred to, 347, 442.
Kingsley, Mr., 297.
Kircudbrightshire, cairn in, 98.
Kissing not universal, 562.
Kistvaen, 142.

Kit's Coty House, view of, 1 16.
Kjokkenmoddings or shell -mounds,

82, 100, 227, etc.
Knapp, Mr., 258.
Knives, bronze, 35.

,, found at Thebes, 35.
flint, 92.

„ stone, 196.

Knox's "Ceylon" quoted, 68, 437.
Koch, Dr., account of mastodon, 285.
Kohen on stone circles in Arabia, 1 18.
Kolben on Hottentots, 432.
Kols, modern tradition among, 427.
Korsor, coast-find at, 1 10.
Kotzebue, 293, 489, note, 580.
Kouloba tumulus, contents of, 159.

Ladrone Islanders, whether once igno-
rant of fire, 557.

Ladrones, houses in, 54^.

Lafitau, M., cited, 119.

Lagomys, or tailless hare, 306, 316.

Lamg, Mr., 303, 543.

Laius, cairn of, 120.

Lake-hamlet, ancient model of, at
Munich, 55.

Lake-habitations of Switzerland, 14,

181, 185-226.

„ „ mentioned by Hero-

dotus, 182.

,, „ in England, 182.

„ „ in Mecklenburg, 183.

626

INDEX.

f»

J»

9>
Jl

Lake-habitations in Scotland, 182.
„ „ in Italy, 183.

„ „ in France, 183.

modern, 183.
literature of, 182, 183,

185.
their age, 186, 214,

226.
structure, 186, 188,

191.

fauna of, 200.
flora of, 217.
statistics, 1 86.
position, 1 88.
indications, 189.
relics of, 188, 190,

191.

„ „ of Bronze Age, 220.

Lake Superior, antiquities near, 272.
Lake villages decreased gradually in

number, 224.
„ worshippers, 222.
Lake-men, their food, etc., 197, 200,

217, 219.

„ ,, remains, 220.

„ „ character, 224, 225.

Lamanon, M. de, on Columbian

Indian alphabet, 561.
Land, level of, affected by rivers, 411.
Lang, Mr., on Australian customs,

452-
Language of Australians, etc., 450,

453> 454-
,, and sounds, 385, 561, 572.

Lapham discovers and describes ani-
mal mounds, 275.
on Wisconsin antiquities, 253,

254, 258, 266.
on Wisconsin forests, 280,

284.

„ on corn-hills, 281.
„ on Wisconsin garden-beds,

284.

Lapland "gamme," 138.
„ skulls, 145.
„ customs, 326, 577.
Laplanders retreating from civilization,

300.
Lartet, M., on bone-cave at Aurignac,

318-321.
onPalceontological chronology,

289.

on caves in Dordogne, 322, etc.
finds no traces of reindeer in

Spanish caves, 300.
opinion of, 304, 590, note,
discovery among bones from
cave near Madrid, 318.

„

Lartet, M., experiment made by, 331.
„ on drawings in cave of Savigne,

„ on Rhinoceros leptorhimts, 295.
,, on quaternary climate, 309.
,, on marked rhinoceros bones,

360.

„ makes flint needle, 547.
„ reference to, 359.
Lastic, Vicomte de, his collection from

Bruniquel, 325.
La Tene, metal implements found at,

Lead not found in Bronze Age, 22, 39.
„ used in Iron Age, 17.
„ perhaps known to ancient

Americans, 256.
Leech, Mr., finds flint implements near

Herne Bay, 346.

Leems on custom of Danish Lap-
landers, 326, note.

Lefeaux, Mr., letter to the author, 606.
Lefebvre, M., 169, note.
Lefroy, M., quoted, 568.
Leidy, Dr., and Felis atrox, 292.
Lemming, 306, 375.
Leopard, fossil, where found, 292.
Lepsius, M., 393.
Leslie, Col., 133, note.
Letourneux, M., 131, note.
Letters on American antiquities of

doubtful character, 278, 279.
Le Vaillant on Hottentots, 577.
Leveille, Dr., on a flint-find at Pres-

signy, 87.
Lewis, Sir G. C., on the transport of

tin to the East, 64.
„ on the voyage of Himilco,

65.
,, on the voyage of Pytheas,

67.
„ on ancient supply of tin,

64, 74.

Lichtenstein, 436.
Liege, bone-caves near, 68, note.
Life, indifference to, 459, 561.
Linen used for dress in Bronze Age, 48.
Lion, the cave, 288, 291, 316, 319, 374.
Lipari, what Pytheas says of it, 67.
Lisch, Dr., on hut-urns, 55, 56.

„ on pile-dwellings in Meck-
lenburg, 183.

Livingstone, Dr., 115, note, 577.
"Livresdebeurre,"88.
Loch Resort, beehive houses near, 57.
Loch Spynie, shell-mounds at, 233.
Locke, Prof., describes animal mounds,
273-

INDEX.

02'

Loess, 335.

Lohle, M., on piles used at Wangen,

192.

„ on find at Wangen, 14.

London, flint weapon found in, 343.
Long Barrow, tumulus at, 1 66.
Long Island, remains at, 57.
Longlow, 143.
Los Jardines, islands, 557.
Lovaine, Lord, on lake -dwelling in

south of Scotland, 182.
Lubbock, Sir J. W., on alteration of

earth's axis, 399.
Lucretius mentions the Stone, Bronze,

and Iron Ages, 6.
Lukis on sepulchral tumuli, 169,

note.

Lycus, mound of, 120.
Lyell, Sir C., 286, 342.

„ on changes of river courses, 379,

„ on ancient site of Brighton, 361.

„ on chronological problems, 421,

„ on antiquity of man, 424.

„ on changes of climate, 407.

„ table of excentricity of earth's
orbit, 410.

„ on duration of glacial epoch,
417.

„ on age of Mississippi delta, 395.

„ mentioned, 315, 394.
Lynx, fossil, found in England, 292.
Lyon, Capt, on Esquimaux, 509.

„ „ „ sledges, 505.

„ opinion of foxes as food, 201.

,, on formation of ice, 69.

Maccagnone cave, 317.
MacEnery, Mr., 306.

„ his researches in Kent's

cavern, 314.

Machairodus latidens^ 306.
Mackenzie on Esquimaux opinions

about Englishmen, 427.
Madrid, relics from, 360.
Magellan on stature of Patagonian

tribes, 532.

„ referred to, 557.
Madagascar, custom in, 129.
Maize grown in North America, 526.
Malay language, 572.
Mallet, Mr., his discovery of tin in a

so-called copper celt, 61.
Malta, ruin in, 75.

„ its ornaments, 175.
Mammalia of drift, 374.

in shell-mounds, 237.
in Lake-dwellings, 201.

11
11

Mammoth, 288, 293, 316, 319, 359,

374-

„ near Madrid, 360.

Man, his antiquity, I, 286, 287, 359,

377, 383, etc.
„ ancient races of, 339.
„ earliest remains of, 335.
„ his primitive condition, 583.
„ his diffusion, 586.
Mandan wigwams, 279.
Manne-er-H'roek tumulus, 168.
Maories, notices of, 463, 467, 567,

See New Zealanders.
Marco Polo, 158.
Mare di Sargasso, 66.
Marmots, 306, 325.
Marriage among Maories, 467.

„ customs of American Indians,

520.
„ customs of other nations, 438,

439, 451, 457, 467, 567.
Marrow, ancient love of, illustrated,

240, 244.

Marsden, Mr., 468, 564.
Marseilles, when founded, 71.
Masson quoted, 115.
Mastodon in Missouri, 285.
„ in Mississippi, 285.
„ in France, 424.
Materials preferred for stone imple-
ments, 82.

Mather, Prof., quoted, 259.
Matthews, Mr., on Fuegians. 579.
Maurice, Mr., alludes to stone monu-
ments in India, 129.
McGillivray on Australian canoes, 431.

„ referred to, 140, note.

Meath, sculptured stones in, 175.
Mecklenburg, 63.

„ brooch, 42.

Megalithic monuments, 113.

how decorated,

173-

remains in In-
dia, 129, 130,
131, etc.

Meilen, remains at, 203.
Meilgaard, shell-mound at, 231, 232.
Mela, Pomponius, on founders of

Gades, 71.
Men, which most barbarous, 549.

„ early varieties of, 244.
Menchecourt, 341.

Menclip Hills, Felis spelua from, 292.
Menhirs, 113, 131.
Mental powers of savages, 571.
Merlin, 126.
Merry, Mr., on use of boomerang, 446.

s 2

628

INDEX.

Metal, where not used till recently, 431.
„ unknown in Tahiti, 471.
„ unknown to cave-men, 334.
„ not found in certain tumuli, 165.

167, 169.

„ not found in shell-mounds, 244.
Mexican flint implements, 88, 93.
„ paintings referred to, 256.
„ temple, 430.
Michaelis, 383.

Michel, Mont St., tumulus, 167.
Migration, facts connected with, 586.
Millet found in Lake- villages, 217.
Milwaukie animal mounds, 277.
Mincopies, 438.
Mind and its influences, 590.
Mineralogy of drift, 359.
Mines, ancient American, 258.
Miocene man, 422.

Mississippi, man and mastodon in, 285.
„ delta, age of, 396.
„ valley, relics from, 84, 356,

note.

Missouri, mastodon found in, 285.
Moab, stone monuments in, 129.
Model of Lake-hamlet at Munich, 55.
Models buried with the dead, 158.
Modern earthworks in America, 270.
Moen, tumulus at, 162.
Mcerigen bronze relics, 46.
Mollusca in drift, 307, 375.
Monaghan, stone axe from, 96.
Mongez, M., on sword found at Heilly,

20.

Monkeys crack nuts with stones, 583.
Mont St. Michel tumulus, 167.
Montperieux, reference to, 133.
Monzie, in Perthshire, " weem" at, 56.
Moore, Mr., 408.
Moosseedorf, 14, 15, 195, 201, 202,

203, 204.
Morai, 484, 548.

Moral estimate of savages, 565-571.
Merges, finds at, 14, 15, 34, 35, 48,

187, 206.
Morlot, M., on age of the cone of

Tiniere, 389.

,, on shell-mounds, 230.
,. observations of, 26, 41.
„ on glacial periods, 310.
„ on two-fold character of gla-
cial epochs, 413.

Mortillet, M. de, referred to, 123.
Mouatt on Andamaners, 438, 576.
Moulds for casting celts found at

Merges, etc., 48, 64.
Mound-builders of America, 279.
„ burial, its early prevalence, 1 20.

Mounds among the Esquimaux, 512.

See also Tumulus.
Mouse not traced in Lake-dwellings,

205.

Moussa, Burgh of, 58, 59.
Munich, model of Lake-hamlet in the

Museum there, 55.
Murchison, Sir R., 342, 372, note.
Muscoda, animal-mound, 274.
Museum of Royal Irish Academy, 80.
Music, 456, 467, 478, 597.

„ Esquimaux, 509.
Musk-ox, or musk-sheep, fossil, 288,

296, 374.
Mylne, Mr., 342.
Myths, their uses, 429.

Nails of tin, 52.
Natchez, Indian houses, 272.
Natural selection among men, 589.
Navigators, ancient, 64.
Neanderthal skull, 337.
Needles of bronze, 39.
Negro, ancient origin of, 384.
Neolithic Age, 2, 79.

„ „ burial in, 158, 162.

,, „ few interments of,

known, 170.
Nephrite, 83.

New Caledonian flint flake, 93.
New Orleans, ancient relics from, 286.
New York State, archeeology of, 253.
New Zealand adze, 102, 103.
New Zealanders, 331, 426. See

Maories.
„ funeral rites, 140,

466.
Newark in America, earthworks at,

264, 279.
Newton, Mr., on remains near Thet-

ford, 182.
„ on zoology of ancient Europe,

292, note.

Newton, Sir Isaac, reference to, 600.
Niam Niam, iron crescent of, 553.
Nicobar Islanders' religion, 580.
Nidau, 13-16, 34-36, 46-
Niebelungen Lied, quoted, 212, 298,

305-
Niederwyl, pile-dwellings, 192.

Nile Valley, elevation of, 392.
Nilsson, Prof., his services in archae-
ological science, 6.
„ his theory of the Bronze Age,

64.

„ his remarks on voyage of
Pytheas, 69-71.

INDEX.

629

Nilsson, his arguments for Phoenician
connections with Norway
analyzed and estimated,

74-77-

„ on descent of oxen, 21 1.
„ on "Ganggraben," 141.
„ referred to, 53, 141, 305,

427.

Nind, Mr. S., 450, 574.
Ninus buried under mound of earth,

120.

Nonville, M. de, 280.
Nordmann on the aurochs, 304.
Norman, Mr. H. J., discovery of flint

implements in Kent, 346.
Northumberland tumuli, contents of,

157-

Norway, supposed traces of Phoeni-
cians in, 75.

Nott, Mr., 489.

,, and Gliddon, 286, note.

Noville, remains of ass at, 206.

Nudity not always thought indecent,

Numbers and numerals, 574.
Numeration of Australians, 450.

,, of the Esquimaux, 513.

„ of the Paraguayans, 531.

Nurhags, 59.
Nydam, discoveries at, 9, 10.

Oak-tree in Denmark, 251.
Oats known in Bronze Age, 217.
Oberea's mound in Tahiti, 169, 484.
Objects buried with the dead, 146, 165.
Obsidian weapons and implements of
Snake Indians, 522. See
Flint flake.
„ in Mexico, 93.
Offa'sDyke, 117.
Ogham alphabet, 604.
Ohio, ancient works in, 261, etc.
Old Testament style and Arab speech,

428.
Oldfield, Mr., quoted, 441, 446.

„ on native population of Aus-
tralia, 594.
Oliver, Lieut., on Madagascar custom,

129.
Olsen, M., his care of the Meilgaard

shell-mound, 231.
,, collections, 250.
" Ooloo" of Esquimaux, 104.

,, Danish counterpart of, 104.
Ordnance map referred to, 124.
Orkney, stone circles in, 119.
"burghs "in, 58, 59.

Ornamental devices in bronze, 43.
Ornamentation of bronze produced in

the casting, 43, 48.
„ later by hammering,

43-
Ornaments of ancient Americans, 261.

„ of bronze, 35.

,, of Esquimaux, 508.

„ of savages, 448, 465, 476,

5I7-
Ossuaries of American Indians, 269.

Otaheite, mound in, 169.
Otter, 213.

Owen, Prof., finds the lagomys among
bones from Kent's Cavern,
306.

„ on fossil horse, 207, 299.
,, rhinoceros from Clacton, 295.
„ Irish elk, 298.
,, on Andamaners, 438, 549.
Owl, snowy, 306.

Ox used for different purposes, 556.
Oxen of the Lake-dwellings, 209.
„ Chillingham and Lyme Park,

210.
Oysters in Denmark, 235, 236.

Paalstab or Paalstave, 31.
Pacific Islanders, religion of, 576.
Pceonians, their Lake-dwellings, 182.
Palaeolithic or Archreolithic Age, 2,

79, 412.

,, Age, its interments un-

known, 158.
Palceontological chronology of Lartet,

289.

Palestine, stone circles, etc., in, 118.
„ stone implements found in,

112.

Palgrave on antiquity of man, I.
" Palheta," or throwing-stick, 554.
Pallas refers to reindeer in Eastern

Europe, 300.

Paraguay Indians, account of, 529.
Parchim, hut-urn found near, 55.
Parkyns on Abyssinian notions, 427.
Parricide of Hottentots, 435.

of Fijians, 459.
„ in Tahiti, 489.
Parry, Capt., on Esquimaux dwellings,

494-
„ on Esquimaux, 495, 498, etc.

Passage graves. See Ganggraben.
Patagonians, notices of, 531.
Paterculus, Veil., on founders of Gades,

7i.

Patroclus, his tomb, 121, 122.

630

INDEX.

Pauilhaic, large flint flakes found at,

90.

Pausanias cited, 120.
Peas found in Lake-dwellings, 218.
Peat-bogs, antiquities in, 228.
Peat of Somme Valley, 375.
Peck, Captain, relics found by him

near Ontonagon river, 283.
Pengelly, Mr., his researches, 233,

3r5> 3*6.

Penn's treaty with Indians, 279.

Penpits, 56, 82.

Pentateuch, its mention of bronze and

iron, 5.

Percy, Dr., letter to the author, 606.
Perils of wild animals and men,

594-
Periods of American history, 284.

Peru, stone circles in, 119.

Petavius, 384.

Petrie, Mr., on early references to

Orkney circles, 119.
Pewaukee animal mounds, 275.
Pfahlbauten or Lake-villages, 16, 181.
Phillips, Prof., 315.
Phoenician art imperfectly represented

in our museums, 77-
„ colonies and commerce, 71.
„ commerce and Bronze Age,

64.
„ trade with Britain and

Spain, 74.
„ supposed knowledge of

America, 277.
,. supposed knowledge of

Norway, 74.
Physical geography and ethnology,

385.
Picts' houses described, 57, 141.

Picture-writing, 278.

Pigorini, Prof., 54.

„ on early Italian remains, 183.

Piles for Lake-dwellings, 96.

Pileworks, chronological place of, 214.

Pillows of earthenware, 223.

Tine-tree in Denmark, 237, 251.

Pins of bronze, 36-39, 233.

Piquigny, finds at, 21 ; alleged ex-
ample of bronze Roman sword
found there, 21.

Plants of Lake-men, 217.

Plato, 66.

Pliny on foundation of Utica, 71.
„ on bison, 304.
„ mentions sacred lakes, 222.

Pliocene period, man supposed to have
lived in, 424.

Polecat, 319.

Polybius on voyage of Pytheas, 67.
Polygamy of Australians, 452.
Polynesian infanticide, 467.
Pompeii, no bronze swords or celts

found at, 22.

Pond-barrows, 139, note.
Pont de Thiele, find at, 16, 391.
Pontlevoy, find at, 423.
Ponzi, and remains of reindeer from

Campagna, 300.
Poole, Mr., quoted, 586.
Population of hunting countries, 357.
„ increases with the civiliza-

tion of peoples, 592.
„ scanty in primitive times,

355-.

„ scanty in barbarous coun-

tries, 357.

Portraits, odd notions about, 528.
Pottery from shell-mounds, 233, 234,

. 243.

„ from Moen, 162-165.
„ from \V. Kennet, 166-169.
„ sepulchral, 170.
„ in ancient times, 260.
„ general occurrence of, 260.
„ of Bronze Age, 198, 222.
„ of Americans, 260, 261.
„ of different ages, 17.
„ of Fijians, 456.
„ of the Stone Age, 198.
„ rudimental, 584.
„ hut-urns of, 54, 55.
„ from Wauwyl, 195.
„ substitute for, among Esqui-
maux, 495.
„ unknown to cave-men, 331,

334, 549-

„ „ the Veddahs, 437.

„ „ Andamaners, 439.

„ „ Australians, 442.

„ „ Maories, 463.

„ „ in Tahiti, 478.

„ unused by Patagonians, 533.

„ Fuegians, 541.

Pourtalis, Count, finds human bones in

calcareous conglomerate, 286.
Prado, M. de, discovery near Madrid,

360.

Precy, discovery at, 343.
Precession of equinoxes, 403.
Pre-historic races of men, 175.

„ times, Palgrave on, I.

Pressigny le Grand, flint implements

made there, 87.
Prestwich, Mr., researches of, 233,

.316, 351, 359.
„ visits Abbeville, 342.

INDEX.

631

Prestwich, Mr., on geology of Somme

Valley, 361.
„ on action of ice, 369.

table of mammalia from
Bedford, Abbeville,
Amiens, and Paris, 374.
on relation of loess to

gravel, 378.
on hippopotamus, 309.
on flint implement seen in

situ, 351.

„ on English river-beds, 367.

„ on composition of marl,

373-
Prichard, Dr., on common chronology,

55
JJ

.
Primitive condition of man, 588.

Problems to be solved, 350.
Progress of happiness of men, 592.
Property, descent of, 560.
Pyramidal structures in Wisconsin,

267, 280.

Pyramids of Egypt, 115.
Pytheas, voyage of, 350 B.C., 67.

„ criticism of Sir G. C. Lewis
upon, 67.

Quaternary mammalia, 288.

„ period, geological changes

in, 417.
Qutrefages, M. de, on descent of oxen,

211.

Races of men, 586.
Rae, Dr., on Esquimaux, 497, 515.

,, referred to, 358.
Ramorino, Prof., on marked bones,

423-
Ramsauer, cemetery discovered by,

25-
Ramsey, Prof., referred to, 316, 342,

350.
Ransom, Dr., finds lynx in Derbyshire,

292.

Rat not found in Lake-dwellings, 205.
Razor-knives of bronze, 35, 37, 51.
Reaping, peculiar mode of, 75.
Red deer, 213, 303.
Regnard on the Lapps, 567.
Regnoli, M., 290, 306, 339.
Reindeer, 288, 307, 309, 320, 384.

„ not found with Neolithic

remains, 211.
Relics in American tumuli, 270.

„ in bone-caves, 311, 339.
Religion among Patagonians, 535.

Religion among Fuegians, 541.

„ ,, Greenland Esqui-

maux, 511.
„ „ Northern Indians,

5I9-
„ and science, 591.

„ nations without, 574-

„ none among the Andamaners,

439-
„ aone among the Australians,

449;

„ of Fijians, 455, 460.

„ of Hottentots, 435.

„ of Lake-men, 222.

„ of Maories, 468.

„ of Tahiti, 486.

„ lowest forms of, 579.
Religious ideas among savages, 574.
Responsibility of savages, 564.
Rhinoceros at Abbeville, 360.

fossil, 288, 294, 316, 319,

374-
Ribe, tumuli near, 49.

Richardson, on peculiar form of ice,

69.

„ on Dogrib Indians, 569.

„ cheek-studs, 508.

Richborough, coins found at, 19.
Riddle, Dr., his experiments, 396.
Rigollot, M., his researches, 342.
Rivers, action of, on land, 362, etc.
River-courses changing, 3/9.
„ drift gravel-beds, 341, etc.
„ levels, alteration of, 363, etc.
Robenhausen, tissue found at, 49.

,, animal remains, 201-

205.

Robinson, Mr., 453.
Rochebrune, M., on cromlech at Con-

folens, 131.
Rock carvings, 174.

„ ,, in Australia, 441.

„ „ in England, Scotland,

Ireland, and Brit-
tany, 173, 174, 175.
„ „ in Scandinavia, 175.

Roe, 316, 320.
Roedeer, 213.
Rogers, Prof., 342.
Rogers, \V., on Californian Indians'

skill, 544.

Rollrich stones, 117.
Roman and other coins at Tiefenau,

225.

„ inscriptions, 12.
,, swords, 20.

Ross, Sir J., on Esquimaux, 493, 496,
502, 505, etc.

632

INDEX.

Rougemont, M., on date of round

towers, 54.
„ sources of tin, 609.

Royal Irish Academy, stone imple-
ments at, 80.

Runes, note on the invention, and the
characters employed, 604.

Runic inscriptions, 9, 12.
„ alphabet, 604.

Rutherford on feat of New Zealanders,

544-
Rlitimeyer, his researches, 175.

„ on fauna of Lake-dwell-

ings, 200, 202, 203, 204,
209, 215, 356, note.

„ on connecting - links be-

tween certain species,
308.

„ on human remains from

Lake-dwellings, 220.

„ summary of bones from

Veyrier cave, 325.

„ on the bison, 305.

„ on Szts pahistris, 207.

,, on fossil oxen, 209.

„ bones of wild and tame

animals, 207.

Saavedra, on ignorance of fire among
inhabitants of " Los Jardines," 557.
Sacred enclosures of America, 264.
Sacrifices at funerals, 176.
Sacrificial mounds described, 271.
Sagas, tumulus mentioned in, 122.
Sahara, 386, 402.
Salmon abundant in Boothia Felix,

5°4- .
Salutations, diversity of, 562.

Samoans, 455, 576.

Sanchee, monument at, 130.

Sandstone in river gravel, 368.

Sandwich Islanders, 485, note, 490.

Sanford, Mr., 292.

Sarcens, 126.

Sardinian "nurhags," 59.

Sargasso, Mare di, 66.

Saulcy, M. de, on Moabite monu-
ments, 129.

Savage nations, comparative table of
implements, weapons, etc., 552.
„ tribes, comparison between, 547.
„ „ their exclusiveness, 553.

Savages and children compared, 566,

569, 570.

„ of modern times, 426.
„ knowledge of, important to

archaeologists, 430.

Savages not degenerate, 430, 584.
„ their perils, 594.
„ their self-inflicted sufferings,

595-
„ their skill, 543.

,, their weapons, 551.
„ intellectual power, 571.
Saws of bronze, 39.
Saxon weapons of iron, 23.
Scandinavian tumuli, 136.
Schlegel on Chinese prejudice against

hare, 204.
Schmerling, Dr., finds human relics in

caves at Liege, 312.
„ on the Engis skull, 336,

338.
„ " Ossements fossiles "

quoted, 68, note.
Schoolcraft on American funerals, 134,

135-
„ on American Indians, 516,

521-
„ on Dighton Rock, 277.

„ on Sandstone relic, 278.
„ statistical calculations, 592.
„ history of Indian tribes,

253, 255, 426, note.
Schulz, Don G., on sources of tin, 609.
Schiitz, M., on Sus palustris, 207.
Schwab, Col., his collection from

Nidau, 16.

„ finds pottery at Nidau, 223.
„ on lake-villages burned, 224.
„ his collections, 220, 221.
Schwendener, Prof., on the inter-glacial

coal-beds at Durnten, 423.
Science and virtue, 599.
Scientific inventions, their utility, 598.
Scioto river embankment, 280.
Scotland, shell-mounds in, 233.
„ Lake-dwellings in, 182.
„ reindeer in, 301.
Scrapers, what, and where found, 99,

Sculptured stones, 174, 175.

Scylax, 66.

Sea-level in Denmark, 234.

„ change of, 380.
Secondary interments, 148, 169.
Seeds of Lake-men, 217.
Selserstown mound, 280.
Semi-lunar implements, 103.
Semitic ornamentation, 76.
Seneca on ancient oxen, 304.
Sepulchral mounds in America, '269.

„ pottery classified, 170.

„ urns of British tumuli, 170.

„ incense-cups of ,, 171.

INDEX.

Sepulchral food -vases of British tumuli,

172.

„ drinking-cups of ,, 172.

„ feasts, 176.

Sewing, savage skill in, 547.
Shell-fish, 211, 306.
Shell-mound axes, 101.
Shell-mounds in Australia, 440.

„ in New Zealand, 464.

„ of Denmark, 227-232.

„ of other countries, 233,

234-
„ how related to tumuli,

246.
„ their antiquity, 233, 250-

252.

Shetland isles, "burghs" in, 58.
Ship or boat found in Slesvick, 9.
Shirley quoted, 184.
vShoshonees, or Snake Indians, 523,

„

Shortland quoted, 562.

Shortt, Dr., 576.

Shrub Hill gravel, remains in, 349.

Siberia, axe used in, 29.

Siberian yurts, 136.

Sickles, bronze, 34.

Silbury Hill, 116, 124.

Silesia, jade found in, 84.

Silver abundant in Denmark, 12.

among ancient Americans, 256.

not found in Bronze Age, 3, 22,

39-
used in Iron Age, 17.

when first noticed, 3.
Similarities and differences of weapons

and other objects, 555-
Simpson, Sir G., statistical calculations,

592-
Simpson, Sir J. Y., on rock carvings,

123, 174. >

Simpson's discoveries quoted, 499.
Sin, why committed, 598.
Skin-scrapers, 99, 100, 198, 507.
Skins of animals used for dress in

Bronze Age, 48.
Skulls from Scandinavia, 142, 244.

„ „ English tumuli, 143.

„ classified, 143.

„ various, 144, 335, etc.

„ moulded in ancient and modern
times, 518.

„ from Switzerland, 220.
Skyring on Fuegian skill, 545.
Sledges of Esquimaux, 505, 506.
Slesvick, finds in, of Iron Age, 9.
Slingstones, 195, 197, 478.
„ of flint, 105.

Smith, Dr., of Camborne, on the Cas-

siterides, 71 ; on tin mines, 73.
Smith, Rev. A. C., reference to, 1 25, note.
Smith, J. A., on reindeer, 302, 303.
Snake Indians, 522, 527.
Society Islands, 483.
Society of Antiquaries, flint imple-
ments possessed by, 343.
Solar radiation, variation of, 397.
Soldering unknown in Bronze and

early Iron Age, 45.
Solomon, 72.
Somme river-bed gradually formed,

371, etc.
Somme valley alluvium, age of, 183,

380.

„ „ section of, 361.

„ „ visited, 342.

Sottais, 68, note.
South Sea tumuli, 123.
Spain, tin from, 73, 74.

„ rock carvings in, 174, note.
Sparrman, M., 435.
Spear-heads of flint, 104.
Spears, bronze, 33.
Species, succession of, in Europe, 289.

,, transitions of, 307.
Speke on East African custom, 562.
„ on opinions of African tribes,

427.

Spencer, Herbert, on progress, 60 1.
Spindle- whorl, 196.
Spix and Martins, reference to, 563,

568, 572.

Squier and Davis, on varied contents
of Mississippi tumuli, 84.
„ on Mississippi valley monu-
ments, 253, 280.
„ on early American art, 256,

261.

,, Indian population, 280.
„ on Bourneville Enclosure,

262.

„ on Fort Hill, 262.
„ opinion on earthworks, 263.
„ on animal mounds, 273.
,, on sacrificial mounds, 271.
„ on temple mounds, 272.
„ on Aztalan, 266.
Squier, Mr., on bone-pits, 268.

„ on stone circles in Peru,

119.
„ references to, 195, 253,

258, 266.

Staffordshire tumuli, 1 60.
Stag, 320, 374.

Stanbridge, illustration of Australian
skill, 544.

634

INDEX.

Stanley, Dr., on stone circle near Tyre,

118.

Stanley, Hon. W. O., 56.
vStanton Drew, remains at, 117.
St. Acheul, 342, 363.
Staigue Fort, Kerry, 59, 605.
Statistics of archaeological evidence,

1 6, 17.

„ skulls, 142-144.

„ interments, 159-161.

„ bronze objects, 46.

Steel unknown to bronze-workers, 42.

„ known to Greeks, 5.
Steele on kissing, 562.
Steenstrup, Prof., his researches, 175,

228, 387.
„ discoveries at Froelund,

in.
„ on bone fragments from

shell-mounds, 236.
„ his opinions on small flint

axes, 101.

on slingstones, 105.
on peculiar fracture of

skulls, 422.
„ opinions, 228.

,, on shell-mounds, 247.

Steinbergs, 188.

Stennis, stone circle at, 117, 126.
St. John, Lieut., 439.
Stockholm, stone implements at, 80.
Stephens, Prof., on Runic alphabets,

603.
Stiles, Rev. Dr., on Dighton Rock,

277.

Stoliczka, Dr., observation of, 234.
Stone Age civilization considered, 549.
„ sources of our knowledge

of it, 82.

its divisions, 246.
its recent continuance in

some places, 3.
doubts of Mr. Wright, 81.
,, tumuli of, 145.
Stone and bronze in use at same time

in Europe and in America, 12, Si.
Stone axes with holes for handles, 99.
,, axes, how re-sharpened, 97.
„ circles, their size, 116.
„ in India, 115.
„ in Algeria, 131.
coffin, 98.

hammers, American, 259.
implements of America and of
other countries,

255-
„ in Danish museums,

So.

V
J5

5»

Stone implements at Flensborg, Kiel,

and Museum of
Royal Irish Aca-
demy, 80.

„ „ in Stockholm, 79.

„ „ in Copenhagen Mu-

seum, 80.
similar in different

countries, 63.
„ where found, 109.
,, work of savages, 536.
Stonehenge, 118, 125-128.

,, tumuli near, 127, 161.

Strabo on ancient supply of tin, 74.
„ on voyage of Pytheas, 67.
„ on foundation of Utica, 71.
„ on Lake near Toulouse, 222.
„ on Iberian custom, 560.
Strobel, M., on early Italian remains,

183-
Stuart, Mr., monuments described by

him, 117, 173, note.
„ on Australian knowledge of

fire, 447.

Studs or buttons of bronze, 39.
Stukeley on Silbury Hill and Abury,

124.

Sufferings, voluntary, 596.
" Sumpitan," or blow-pipe, 553.
Superstition of savages, 580.
Surgery, wonderful, in Tahiti, 483.
Suter on the Lake-villages of Wauwyl,

193-
Suttee in ancient Britain, 177.

Switzerland, antiquities in, 8.

„ chronology of, 388.

„ Lake-habitations, 13, 35,

181, 186.
Swords, bronze, 31-33, 52, 53.

T.
Tables of interments, 160, 161.

„ of animal remains, 202-206,

2155 374-
„ of vegetable remains, 219.

„ of statistics, 15, 24, 46.

„ illustrative of savage life, 552.

,, of earth's excentricity, 409.
Tacitus on Caledonian swords of iron,
8.

„ refers to sacred lakes, 222.

„ allusion to, 298.
Tahiti, notices of, 430, 470, etc.

„ tumulus in, 169.
Tankerville Park wild cattle, 212.
Tardy, M., discovery by, 424.
Tasmanians, notices of, 452, 573.
Tasman's visit to New Zealand, 426.

INDEX.

635

Tate on rock carvings, 174.
Tattooing a title to heaven, 565.

„ in Australia, 448.

„ in Fiji, 458.

„ in New Zealand, 465.

„ in Tahiti, 477.
Taylor, Meadows, on Indian dolmens,

133-

Taylor, R. C., describes animal mounds,

273-
Taylor, S., describes animal mounds,

273-
„ on Maori opinions of Deity,

468.

„ on New Zealand funeral cus-
tom, 140, 466.
„ on Aztalan, 266.
Taylor, Mr., his "Anahuac," 93.
Temple mounds in America, 272.
Temples of the Fijians, 455.
Tennent's, Sir J. E., "Ceylon," 68,

437-

Ten thousand, mound of the, 135.
Teocallis of Mexico, 272.
Tertre on Carib skill, 544.
Thebes, bronze knife from, 35.
Thetford, ancient remains at, 182.
Thiele, valley of, 16.
Thomas, Capt., on Beehive houses,

referred to, 57, note.
Thomsen, his services in archaeological

science, 6, 228 230.
Thorsbjerg, find at, 10.
Throwing-stick, 443.
Thule, 69.

Thunberg on Hottentots, 433, 435.
Thunderbolt, 429.

Thurnam on Megalithic circles, ilS.
„ on types of skull, 143.
„ on West Kennet tumulus,

1 66.

Thyra, tumulus of, 121.
Tides of Danish coast, 234.
Tiefenau, coins found at, 8.

„ relics from, 8, 225.
Tierra del Fuego, customs in, 244.
Tilhuggersteens, 106.
Time, its influence on physical features

of man, 587.

„ slow among savages, 566.
„ and geology, 418.
Tin button, 52.
„ sources of, 48, 64, 73.
„ quantity produced in Spain limited,

73-
,, nails, 52.

,, chiefly from Cornwall, 73.
„ its early use, 4.

Tin in Hallstadt bronze, 25.
,, bar of, found at Estavayer, 48.
„ implements not found in Europe,

60.

Tinder from Lake- villages, 198.
Tiniere, cone of, 388.
Tinne language has no word for be-
loved, 521.
Tobacco pipes of ancient Americans,

260.
Tomakawk, one use of, 97.

„ as a weapon, 97.

Tonga Islanders, 490.
Tools of Tahitians, 471.
Tool-stones, 106.
Torfceus, his mention of Moussa, 59.

„ quoted, 302.
Tprquemada quoted, 93.
Torres Straits, dead houses, 140.
Tournal and Christol, MM., their dis-
covery of human relics among those
of extinct animals, 312.
Trade winds, 401.
Tradition imperfect, 426.
„ important, 429.
Transition period from bronze to iron,

25-

Traube has found jade in Silesia, 84.

Travel, its pleasures, 597.
Treenhoi, 49.

Tristram. Dr., on the Sahara, 402.
Trojan war, when it occurred, 5.
Troyon, on Bronze Age, 184.

„ census of Lake-villages, 187.

„ on ancient pottery, 199, 223.

„ on population of Pfahlbauten,

355-
Truth and fiction combined, 65.

Tschutski, winter dwellings of, 137.
Tumuli, abundance of, in Britain, 1 14

„ in Algeria, 131.

„ in America, 84, 115, 269.

,, in Brittany, 167.

„ in Denmark, 49, 1 14, 1 78, 227.

„ in United States, 269.

„ in the Orkneys, 1 14.

,, in India, 1 15, 129.

„ in other countries, 115, 173.

„ mostly pre-historic, 121.

,, of various periods, 158.

,, should be preserved, 179.

„ how related to shell-mounds,
248.

„ of the Stone Age, 123.

„ near Stonehenge, 127.

„ chambered, 139.

„ long, 142.
See also Barrow, Mound.

636

IXDEX.

Turner's Polynesia, 581.

Twine found, 218.

Tydeus, mound of, 120.

Tylor, Mr., on recent formations,

380.
„ on supposed degeneracy of

savages, 584.
„ on Tahitian boiling -stones,

480.

„ references to, 558.
Tyndall, Prof., visits Silbury Hill, 124.
,, on formation of glaciers, 397.
Tyrian mechanical arts in time of
Solomon, 72.

Uhlmann, M., 390.
Uig, remains at, 58.
Ulloa on Brazilian ideas of chastity,

564-
Umiak and kajak, 506.

United States archaeology, 253.
Unity of human race, 586-589.
Urn-burial in America, 270.
Ursus spelcMis^ or cave-bear, 288.
Urus, or Bos primigenius, 214, 288,

3°5> 374-.
,, how far extinct, 210.

Urville, Dumont d', on city of Ton-

dano, 184.
„ dress in New South Wales,

448.

„ music of Maories, 467.
„ on mausoleum in the Friendly

Islands, 485, note.
Usher, Dr., 286.

,, Archbishop, his chronology in-
adequate, 383.
Utica, when built, 71.

Vaillant, M. le, referred to, 204, note.
Yallency, Colonel, on Dighton Rock,

277.

Vancouver's Island, 516.
Varieties of men, of very ancient origin,

586.

Veddahs, notices of, 68, 436.
Vega, G. de la, quoted, 272.
Vegetable remains in drift, 364.
Vegetables of Lake-men, 217.
\ erstegan referred to, 361.
Vibraye, Marquis de, 339.
Vimose, discoveries at the, 12.
Virchow referred to, 117, 145.
Virgil cited, 121, 222.
Virginia, temple in, 119.
Virtue, various notions of, 564.

Visconti, Signor, work by him referred

to, 54, note.
Vitrified walls, 267.
Vivian, Mr., 314, 315, 608.
Vocabularies of savages, 561.
Vogt on cave -bear, 291.

„ referred to, 146, 223.
Von Sacken's "Leitfaden" referred

to, 170, note.

Wace quoted, 126.
Wallace on Brazilian skill, 544, 547.
„ varieties of the human races,

588.
Wallis on Tahitian ideas of cookery,

480.

„ on Fuegians, 536.
Wampum, 278.
Wangen, finds at, 14-16, 198.

„ Lake-dwellings at, 186, 192,

195-
„ animal remains from, 203,

205.

Wansdyke, pre-historic, 117.
Waukesha animal mounds, 275.
Warren, Mr., finds flint hatchet near

Icklingham, 346.
Wrater held sacred, 222.
Wauwyl, find at, 14, 203.

„ Lake-dwellings at, 194.
Wayland Smith, his myth, 67.

„ similar myth in Ceylon, 68 .
„ „ Lipari, 67.

,, „ Belgium, 68,

note.

Wealden formation, 420.
Weapons of savages, 433, 444, 454,

466, 479, 500, etc.
Weasel, 213.

Weaving in the Stone Age, 196.
Weems, 56, 82.
West Kennet tumulus, 166.
Westmoreland tumuli, contents of,

157-
Wheat found in Lake-villages, 217,

235-
Whetstone from West Kennet, 167.

„ Switzerland, 195, 197.

Whitaker, Mr., finds implements, 346.

Whitburn, Mr., his finds near Guild-
ford, 345.

White men worshipped, 566.

Whittesley, Mr. C, 259.

Whittlesey, Col., on mound-builders,
263.

Wibel on Bronze Age, 60.

Wiberg, theory of, 64.

INDEX.

C37

Wigs of Fijians, 458.

Wilde, Sir W. R., on rarity of copper

in Bronze Age, 61.
,, his classification of flint arrow-
heads, 1 06.

„ on stone celts of Dublin Mu-
seum, 83.

,, on "Crannoges," 184.
Wilkes, Capt., on Australian funeral,

449-
_ „ ^ quoted, 458, 469, 557.

Wilkinson, Sir G., 35.
Williams on Fijian towns, 454, note.
„ „ agricultural imple-

ments, 456.
„ customs, 177, 454,

462.

Wilson, Dr., on early allusions to the
Caledonian Wall and Abury,
127.

,, on bones from earthworks, 282.
„ on early American metal-
lurgy, 259.

„ on sandstone relic, 277.
„ plan of Scioto valley earth-
works, 264.
„ on American sepulchral

mounds, 270.
„ remains of man, 288.
„ on sacrificial mounds, 271.
„ on Dighton Rock inscription,

277.

„ on Kumbecephalic skulls, 142.
„ on ancient belief in a future

state, 146.
„ quoted, 119.
„ referred to, 99, note, 258, 263,

479, note, 518.

Wiltshire tumuli, 127, 160, 166.
Wisconsin, ancient remains in, 254.
Witchcraft among savages, 580, 581.
Wokey Hole, 321.
Wolf, 213, 319, 325.
W7olverine, or glutton, 304.
Women, condition of, in Australia, 451.
,» » » Fiji, 457.

Women, Maori, 467.

„ North American, 519.
„ Tahitian, 488.
„ treatment of, 566, etc.
Wood, Colonel, his discoveries of rein-
deer horns, 301.

Wooden relics in North America, 259.
Woollen garments found in Jutland, 50.
Worsaae, Prof., his division of the

Stone Age, 246.

„ various opinions and re-
marks on shell-mounds,
229, 246-250.

„ on Jutland tumuli, 49.
„ on efficiency of ancient

weapons, 546.

Wright, Mr., on similarity of bronze
weapons in different coun-
tries, 63.

„ his opinions considered, 19.
„ his doubts of the Stone Age,

Si.
Writing, art of, in ancient America,

278.

Wyatt on flint implements near Bed-
ford, 346.

„ referred to, 342, 351.
Wyeth, M., on Indian implements,

etc., 522, 523, 527.
Wylie on Lake-dwellings, 222.
"Wummera," 444.

Xenophon, allusions to, 121, 560.

Yorkshire tumuli, contents of, 154-157.
Young, Dr.. on hieroglyphics, 65, note.
Yourt, or yurt, described, 136, 493.
Yule, Colonel, referred to, 129, 132,
579-

Zealanders. See New Zealanders.
Zinc unknown in Bronze Age, 39.
Zippe, Prof., 117.

Printed by C. Green & Son, 178, Strand, London.

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