ETHNOLOGY. 347 



We entered au immense cave, as lai'iJie as a great theater, dimly lij;lited 

 by snch rays of the setting snn as found tlieir way tUrougli the Ibliago 

 of a thicket of trees which shaded the entrance. It was empty. Most 

 of the fossil bones it once contained had been used to enrich the fields 

 it overlooked, and the remainder had been carefully removed by M. 

 Lartet. They were especially valuable, for this locality is more ancient 

 than that of Lower Laugerie and others of a siuiilar age. 



We had now seen all the prehistoric localities of the Eyzies, with the 

 exception of the Moustier cave, which is a type of the most ancient 

 deposits made by men in the caves when the valley was only partially 

 formed ; but this excursion could not be made on foot, and our time was 

 too limited for its accomplishment. 



Thanks to the exertions of M. Laganne, from the Eyzies, head work- 

 man of MM. Christy and Lartet, the arrangements for the comfort of 

 the excursionists throughout the day were unexceptionable, and as we 

 descended tlie Yezere in order to reach the ferry near the railroad 

 bridge, we found some ladders i)laced against the declivity, which en- 

 abled us to climb into an artifleial cave of several interior stories. In 

 these chambers were niches, mangers for the animals, rings, «&c., cut in 

 the rather soft rock. These caves are not rare in this neighborhood. In 

 Correze, about Brives, at Lamourou an entire hill is cut into five 

 stories of stalls, large and small, and very irrregular in form. Similar 

 excavations are found all over France, and in certain regions, Aisne, for 

 example, are still inhabited. In Dordogne and Correze they must be of 

 very ancient date. 



At 5 o'clock we retook the train, and our regret, as we rapidly left 

 the valley of the Vezere, was tempered by the pleasant memory of what 

 we had seen and heard. Our locomotive saluted the declivities of Lau- 

 gerie in passing, and we thought there could not be a more striking 

 demonstration of the law of progress than to speed, with the full power of 

 steam, under the brows of the mountain which had served our savage 

 ancestors as a rendezvous for the chase. See the people of Moustier, 

 hunting the mammoth, the rhinoceros, the bear, and the lion with rude 

 stone implements, held in the hand or imbedded in a heavy spear. 

 Again, long after, when the river had deepened its bed 30 meters, be- 

 hold their descendants of Upper Laugerie, the gorge d'Enfer, Cromag- 

 non, armed with the bow and arrow. Then civilization commenced ; at 

 the Madelaine, the Eyzies, Lower Laugerie, bone was worked into va- 

 rious forms and art was generated. Then appeared a new people, with 

 pottery, domestic animals, and the polished ax ; w^e know the rest. Upon 

 such facts may be based the most happy ansi)ices for the future; a future, 

 it is true, not of nations nor of races, but of humanity. 



At Perigueux we dined at the railroad-station, and entered Bordeaux 

 at half past 11 o'clock. 



