336 MAN AS THE COTEMPORARY OF THE MAMMOTH 



the Carpatliian inouiitaiiis, the Balkan, the Pyrenees, and the Apennines, were 

 filled to tlie snmniit witli iee. From tlie i)eaks of the Alps, which lose them- 

 selves in dense elonds, descended enormous odaciers which, towards the sonth, 

 stretched into the plains of IMedmont anil Londtardy, as yet covered by the sea, 

 while, towards the north, another glacier, 7r20 sipiare miles in extent and 36 

 miles in len<i-th, reached to the Jura. The European continent, however, was, 

 at that remote period, of nmch less extent than at })resent. The more depressed 

 jiarts forme.l then the l)ed of the sea, and what was not covered with water lay 

 liiddeii, durinij the long winter, under the enveloping snow. 



In the wastes of ice towards the north pole men ctmtrivc to live, l)ut we 

 find no trace of them in p]urope at the time we are speaking of. But centuries 

 elapsed, the snow gradually decreased, the glaciers retreated by degrees, as did 

 also the sea, and ii strange fauna occuj)ied Europe : an elephant covered with 

 crisjied hair and having a long mane, a rhinoceros similarly protected, a hippo- 

 potamus which must have innnigrated from the south through the mouths of the 

 rivers, gigantic bears, a large kind of tiger, nndtitudes of hyenas of still existing 

 species, a huge ox, (Sec. These animals subsisted together under a still rude, 

 but less austere climate. At this time, also, man existed in Eurojie. in the midst 

 of this not precisely idyllic fellowshij)! 



Kow, the questiiui is this: In western Eurojie was man indigenous or had he 

 migrated from Asia, together with the mannnoth and rhinoceros ? It would seem 

 l)rol);ibk' that, before entering Europe, he had inhal»ited Asia. During the great 

 glacier jn'riod, the climate in v^outhern Asia was less severe than in Europe, and 

 therefore better fitted for the sustenance of man, whose dental system more nearly 

 approaches that of the granivorous than that of the carnivorous tribes. It is, 

 indeed, believed that, during the glacier period, Euro]ie was dividi'd from Asia, 

 and that the two C(Uitinents first became tniited after the retreat of the sea. At 

 that time also, the first migration of mankind to the west must have taken place, 

 induced by the desire of occuiiying the lands which had newly emerged from the 

 waters. 



In what light shall we picture to ourselves the condition of these men 7 

 The oldest implements of theirs which we possess, the traces of the hearths 

 \\ Inch served them to cook their food, certainly do not reach back to the earliest 

 times of the existence of man upon the earth, lltiwever our pride may revolt 

 at the fact, we are forced to acknowledge that man. as he stepped at first upon this 

 part of the earth, bore, in his instincts, his passions and his wants, no small 

 resemblance to the brutes. Eire was still unknown to him ; his teeth show 

 that he drew his nourishment from roots and other growths of the soil, and when 

 he began to use flesh for food he nuist have devoured it raw. His unsettled life 

 was exclusively devoted to satisfying his material wants; no idea had he of any 

 exalted endowments ; his speech would consist naturally of only a small number 

 of words, in which, as is the case with the bushmen and other barbarous tribes, 

 the vowels jdayed a in'ounni'ut part. A ^^kin, stripjuxl from the beasts he had 

 slain, formed the clothing of the primeval Eurojiean ; his limbs were exposed to tho 

 inch'meucies of the weather, and when he would seek rest or protection from tho 

 cold or froni wild animals, his necessary resort was to the forest or to dark cavi- 

 ties in the earth. Yet, in spite of the humble stage at which man stood in this 

 early jieriod of his mundane existence, he was still the paragon of creation. 

 He was gifted with reason, and this invested him with supremacy over the beasts 

 of the wilderness. 



In time, by means of the lightning and volcano, man would become ac(piainted 

 with fire, and soon recognizing itj? beneficial activities would learn to preserve it 

 as his greatest treasure. jSince he knew not as yet how to jirodnee it, he would 

 carefully maintain it V)y day and night. Hence, in the earliest times, fire would 

 naturally become the object of peculiar veneration. It umst also have exerted 

 a powerful inllueuce on the conditions of human existence. To the roots and 



