AND THE REINDEER IN MIDDLE EUROPE. 353 



boats for the passage of water-courses. Unwieldy rafts were seemingly the only 

 means of conveyance when inundation or other exigencnes stimulated the earliest 

 attempts at navigation. To travel in nnknovvn regions, standing thick with 

 woods, where no trace marked out the way, was itself a circumstance Avell calcu- 

 lated to repress adventure; yet not the less did these Belgians hohl communica- 

 tion witli what is now known as Touraine, a fact which is satisfactorily proved 

 to US by discoveries made in the cavern of Chaleux. 



Human food was chiefly animal ; the horse and reindeer furnished its principal 

 staple. But the bison, the great ox, the goat, the chamois, were also eaten, and 

 even the rhinoceros, when he could be mastered. The marrow and brain of 

 animals were coveted as luxuries by a race, which did not, however, disdain the 

 water rat, if tlie chase had been rewarded by nothing more acceptable. In the 

 cave of Chaleux, Dupont found in the vicinity of the hearth more tlian 20 pounds 

 weight of bones of the above animals, some of which had evidently undergone 

 the action of &e. Yet, as the organization of the human frame is shown, even 

 by its dental system, rather more adapted to a diet of fruits than of flesh, it may 

 readily be supposed that this primitive people laid the forest under contribution 

 for something more than its contingent of animals. Acorns and chestnuts at least 

 must have entered into their dietary with the horse and reindeer, and while it 

 would be vain to challenge any proof of this, it must be considered that such 

 articles could not fail totally to disappear in the lapse of so many ages. It would 

 l»e difficult, in the midst of our civilization, to form a conception of the imcleanly 

 customs of this reindeer e[)och, and, indeed, even of times still later. The bones 

 left from their meals were carelessly thrown into the corners of the cave, filling 

 it, of course, with putrescent miasmas. To find at present an analogous condition 

 of things, we must go to the Esquimaux, who live towards the north pole. Like 

 the latter, the people of whom we have been treating cared little for the accumu- 

 lation of filth in their habitations, but here, at least, the winds had free access, 

 and would, to some extent, expel the gases of decaying animal remains. 



All caves in Belgium, France, England, &cc., which were easily accessible, 

 and provided with a sufficient opening, were inhabited. In the middle was the 

 hearth, paved with sandstone or slate, and around this the fomily gathered during 

 the season of intense cold. There were caves also, which being too much exposed 

 to the weather, served only as a dwelling in summer. Such occur in the south 

 of France, and are destitute of any traces of a hearth, though otherwise affording 

 the clearest evidence of having been inhabited by men. Are we justified in 

 concluding from this, as Professor Owen has done in regard to the inliabitants 

 of the cave of Bruniquel, that mankind in the reindeer era devoured the flesh of 

 animals raw ? It is not, however, in caves alone that we find traces of the habi- 

 tation of men. Numerous dwelling-places have been recognized, especially in 

 Perigord, which were established under the open sky, in the neigliborhood of 

 water-courses, and sheltered by a sloping bank or overhanging rock. Here have 

 been detected layers of ashes, bones which have been crushed, weapons, imple- 

 ments, and even the crude essays of a primitive art. 



For clothing, at this era, man had recourse to the skins of animals. That 

 these were stripped off for this purpose there is, singularly enough, adequate evidence 

 still in existence. Incisions made in certain bones, and particularly in the skulls 

 of reindeers close to the antlers, can only be supposed to have proceeded 

 from the act of flaying. Kumerous instruments everywhere collected, and which 

 could have served for nothing else bat scraping, show that the hair ^^•as in some 

 cases removed fronr the skin. Means were probably known for making the hide 

 pliable, so that it might serve for clothing in summer, while for winter vesture 

 the fur would be preserved. We can of course know nothing as to the fashion 

 in which the man of the reindeer age shaped this clothing, but we are at least 

 certain that sewing was employed in preparing it. Bodkins or awls for making 

 holes in the hides are not of rare occurrence, and needles fui'nished with an eve 

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