338 MAN AS THE COTEMPORARY OP THE MAMMOTH 



harpoons pointed wtli fisli-bone, more rarely with iron, successfiilly attack the 

 formidable polar bear ; and the Indian of the Rocky mountains shrinks not from 

 an encounter with the fearful i^rizzly bear, and proudly wears its captured claws as 

 a trophy around his neck. With no less impunity docs the Hottentot engage 

 in combat with the lion, the rhinoceros, &c. ; for artifice and perseverance every- 

 where secure to man a superiority over the beasts of the desert and forest. 



Before those wdiom we call savages had come into contact with the European, 

 they bore as weapons, with the exception of the North Americans, who were 

 already in possession of copper hatchets and knives, only the simple bow and 

 arrow, the lance and javelin. The oldest inhabitants of Europe had similar 

 weapons pointed with flint, stone hatchets, such as are now in use in Australia, 

 poinards of bone and buck-horn, lances, clubs, &c. ; and hence weapons of 

 such a kind as are now effectually managed by the wilder tribes of men. No 

 doubt the aborigines of old had not less skill in the handling of their weapons 

 than is now witnessed among the savages of Africa, America, and Australia ; 

 and thus is to be explained the possibility of resistance against the strongest 

 animals, though, of course, the conflict of man with the latter must often have 

 resulted disastrously to himself. 



The expertness of the uncivilized races in the use of their weapons is, if the 

 reports of travellers may be believed, something truly wonderful. Thus, for 

 example, the Indian of North America transfixes with his arrows, at surprising 

 distances, a horse or 'even buffalo; and a like skill was displayed by those 

 natives of Cape York, in Australia, who were brought to England in ] 853. 

 They were able, without taking deliberate aim, to strike with their javelins, at 

 a distance of 20 paces and with invariable success, a small object fastened to a 

 •stick. Captain Gay relates that the Australians generally are secure of killing 

 •a bird at the same distance, and Starbridge informs us that the natives of Vic- 

 toria dive, with spear in hand, into the river Mun-ay, and never return without 

 having transfixed a fish. Certain tribes of Patagonians live almost solely on fish 

 :AvhLch, in diving, they sometimes take with the hands, or capture from the sho^e 

 by means of wooden spears, like the Indians of California. The dexterity of the 

 r South Sea islanders in the water is such that, descending among the coral reefs, 

 they thrust the fore finger into the eyes of any fish they have marked for pi'ey, 

 and thus bring it to land. The natives of Tierra del Fuego display singular 

 ;i;kill in hurling stones, and not le'ss the Hottentot in the use of his rakum- 

 stick, a missile wdth which he dispatches the feebler species of animals at a dis- 

 tance of from 30 to 50 yards. The address of the semi-barbarous Guachos of 

 South America in the use of the lasso is well known ; nor is the Patagonian 

 less adroit with his bolas, l)y means of which he throttles the puma or American 

 lion before dispatching him. The Esquimaux also avail themselves, for the 

 capture of birds, of a thong contrived on the principle of the bolas ; it is a thin 

 strap of leather, loaded at the end with a bone-knob, as the bolas is with a 

 stone-weight, to facilitate its being wound around the neck of the bird at which 

 it is cast. 



The boomerang of the Australians is an instrument for hurling, which was 

 long ago in use by the ancient fowlers of Egypt. Many of the peculiarly 

 formed stone implements of the oldest stone period may well be supposed to 

 have served chiefly as missiles, just as similar ones, made of iron, are employed 

 in Africa ; for instance, the lissam or crooked club of the negroes of central 

 Africa, and the anah)gous hungamunga of the Tibboos, in the southeastern part 

 • of the Sahara. It cannot be doubted that the effectiveness of a skilfully thrown 

 club or stone is little less than that of one of iron. It is therefore by no means 

 necessary to assume that the aborigines of the earliest times must have wielded 

 very heavy weapons, for it would appear, from what has been said, that those 

 already found would have (pialified their possessors to cope even with the colos- 

 Bal beasts of that remote era. Besides that the more ponderous animals would 



