PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY. 523 



tmtli the liver finally jecedod to its jneseiit IxmI, Icaviug" sometimes 

 three terraces, eacli one hiiilier, (lee})er, and more distant from tlie river 

 than the other. These terraces may not exist on the rapid mountain 

 streams of the Atlantic slope, but they are plainly to be seen upon the 

 longer rivers of the western slope of the Alleghenies. They are ]>laiuly 

 manifest in the Mississippi river and it^^ tributaries. One who luis had 

 the opportunity for inspection of these gravelly terraces, can see at 

 once how the material was brought down by the water and here de- 

 posited* It is dependent upon amount and velocity of the water and 

 the size of the pebble whether the deposit is of the finer debris or made 

 up of pebbles only. Its layers or strata are plainly marked, and 

 the volume aiid rapidity of the current can easily be surmised if not 

 actually calculated. In France and England l)ones of animals belong- 

 ing to that period, animals extinct in modern times, the mannnoth, 

 even its ancestor elephas antiquus, the rhinoceros merlcii, the lii])popot- 

 amus, the cave bear, the saber-tootlied tiger, had been caught in the 

 whirls of water, carried doAvn and de]»ositpd with the pebbles. In 

 these gravels, and associated Avitli tliese animals, luxve been found 

 these chipped stone implements called chellean. If these implements 

 liad been found as isolated S]>ecimens, only a few in number, they 

 would not be nearly so convincing as when found as they have 

 l)een in almost every river valley of Western Euro])e by the thou- 

 sands if not the tens of thousands. They are there usually of flint, 

 probably because flint was the material easiest procured and best 

 suited to the i)urpose. In localities where flint was not indigenous, 

 quartzite has been used, and there are in the U. S. ]!«J"ational Museum 

 specimens of this material from Ijugland, France, and Asia. Tlu'y 

 were made altogether by chipping, tliat is, by being struck with the 

 hammer; it may have been another ])ebble; and so flakes knocked off", 

 first from one side and then from the other, until the implement was 

 reduced to an irregular but sharj) edge and point. They are made 

 sometimes of a bowlder, whether of flint or of quartzite, and the crust 

 of the original pebble is sliown and part left for the grip. They are of 

 a size to be held in the hand and us(;d as tools or weapons. There is 

 no evidence that they were ever hafted, but on the contrary, their 

 form is such as to render them most difiticult for satisfactory handling. 

 An envelo])e of hide, grass, leaves, moss, or something similar ijrol)ably 

 served to ] >rotect the hand. They have two or three peculiarities, which 

 it is proper to notice, other than being chii)ped and having a grij). 

 They are always of approiu'iafe size for use; they are thicker in pro- 

 portion to their width than any other stone-cutting implement; they 

 are usually alm()n(l-sha])ed, and their cutting-edge is at the [)oint. 

 The (conclusion that the implements were of human manufacture, and 

 are evidence of the antiquity of man, was not admitted until after much 

 discussion and investigation. The first of them was found in 1830. 

 M. Boucher de Perthes soon after published his belief that they were 



