7 o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tary officer's shoulder-straps. Thus the bdton without a hole would 

 indicate the lowest grade of dignity, those with one or more holes 

 indicating a higher and higher office, until we reach the fourth grade, 

 indicated by four holes. The ornamentation commonly surrounds 

 these holes, and this circumstance would seem to show that the baton 

 was made for some personage already clothed with official rank. But 

 sometimes the hole is seen to have been pierced afterward, breaking 

 up the lines and disfiguring the design. Thus we have a bdton bearing 

 the figure of a horse, which is found broken in two by one of these 

 perforations. The happy owner of the truncheon had gained promo- 

 tion ! 



This ascending scale of degrees and ranks (which is the sure evidence 

 of a numerous society) may, no doubt, have been of service in war, 

 but it is very likely that its chief object was the organization of hunt- 

 ing expeditions, as the chase was the great employment of the tribe. 

 In a climate colder than ours, the game would keep for a considerable 

 time, in winter especially. Hence the caves held a more or less abun- 

 dant supply of victuals, and a manager in chief was needed, to prevent 

 waste and to make equitable distribution of the store. We find rods 

 of reindeer-horn with a number of notches cut in regular series, which 

 would appear to have been the managers' day-books. These rods, 

 commonly known as marques de chasse (tallies of the chase), much 

 resemble the marques used by bakers in small country villages in 

 France at the present day. There has been also found in one of the 

 caves a broad plate of ivory, having on its sharp edges a series of 

 notches, and on its flat sides several rows of points, which would also 

 appear to have been tallies. 



Owing to this social organization and administration of affairs, 

 Troglodytic society, though it embraced a numerous membership, lived 

 comfortably enough. They had such an abundance of food that they 

 could choose the best pieces, rejecting what was of inferior quality. 

 Thus, they threw away the feet of animals, though these contain a 

 considerable amount of nutritive substance. Hence we see that they 

 had plenty to eat : and, as thus the whole time of the tribe need not 

 have been taken up with the business of making provision for the body's 

 wants, they could enjoy repose now and then could enjoy leisure 

 and leisure, when improved intelligently, gives rise to the arts. 



2. The Arts among the Troglodytes. 



To Egypt no longer pertains the glory of having been the originator 

 of the arts. It was with profound astonishment that the world learned, 

 some years since, that long, long before the artists of Egypt, the men 

 of the Age of the Reindeer had cultivated design, engraving, and even 

 sculpture. At first, their works were greeted only with plaudits of 

 admiration ; but now, recovered as we are from this first impression, 



