AND THE REINDEER I^r MIDDLE EUROPE. 355 



gimlets wliicli were employed to bore larger or smaller holes in bone or horn. 

 When teeth and bones were first found, now presenting needles pierced with a 

 small eye, and again containing holes as much as an inch in diameter, and these 

 quite round and thoroughly perforated, explorers attempted to produce similar 

 holes with the usual stone im]:)lements; but in vain : the points splintered, and 

 no sucli hole could l)e wrought. There were English philosophers who asserted, 

 especially in view of these failures, that perforations of this sort could not be 

 made without metal. Now, M. Lartet has discovered certain implements of 

 flint, large as well as small, whose points, instead of being made sharp, are 

 roughly cut, so as to form angles not unlike those of a crystal. It occurred to 

 him that these had served for drilling the holes in question. He therefore fixed 

 one of these pieces in the cleft of a stick split for the purpose, and by dint of 

 turning it between both hands to and fro, found that it performed the work of 

 boring with great success. The communication of this fact has satisfied scepticism 

 as to the destination of these instruments, which are found in considerable quan- 

 tities and of diflPerent sizes. 



At Tayac and Eizies have been foi;nd pieces of quartz, either round or quad- 

 rangular, which have been hollowed out in the middle. ]M. de Vibraye con- 

 jectures that they were used for grinding grain, but most of them are too small to 

 have served for this purpose. jM. Lartet is of opinion that they were made use 

 of in kindling dry wood by rapid attrition. 



The people of the reindeer era manufactured by hand, and without the help 

 of the potter's wheel, a sort of rude earthenware of a black, gray, and yellow 

 color, al.l tinged more or less with red. The clay was commonly mixed with 

 quartzose sand, the better to withstand the action of fire. A circular mark 

 formed the sole ornament. These imperfectly baked vessels, of which only 

 fragments have been found, are not, however, the oldest specimens of the fictile 

 art in existence. Traces of it have already been discovered in three grottoes of 

 the age of the cave-bears. In the earliest times man would feel the necessity 

 of providing a supply of water in his cavernous dwelling. A cavity in a mass 

 of clay would l)e the receptacle of the water brought in skins from the brook. 

 To render the utensil lighter, superfluous parts would be removed, and it would 

 be dried in the sun, in order to harden it. Still later, man learned to mould rude 

 vessels, which he exposed to the heat of the hearth to procure a degree of hard- 

 ness greater than that produced by the sun's raj'S. Such were the humble begin- 

 nings of an art whose finished performances sm*prise and delight us in the fabrics 

 of Dresden and Sevres. 



III. It is now known that the populations of the reindeer era were not wholly 

 destitute of a certain plastic culture and of the art of delineation. If the forms 

 of most of the instruments of horn which have been found are susceptible of 

 explanation from the necessities of common life, and from the instruments which 

 have been used at later periods, such is not the case with a class of objects 

 whose signification and use had not heretofore been imriddled. These consist 

 for the most part of the entire stem of a reindeer's antler, frequently with one or 

 more prongs, especially that next the root, alwaj^s smoothly polished, and at 

 times charged with a simple linear ornamentation. But in the generality of 

 cases these stems, more than a foot in length, arc furnished with holes, which, 

 to the number sometimes of four, are seen ranged one after the other, while 

 the whole length of the stem is ornamented with curiously carved lines and 

 figures, among which horses and reindeers are particularly numerous. In the 

 International Exposition of 1861, among the olijects sent by the savages of 

 Vancouver, figured just such a staff", jiolished and bearing engraved lines ; pro- 

 bably an ensign of command or rank. ]\Iight we not assign to the ancient staff 

 the same signification, and consider the holes and figures as bearing, in their 

 number and size, some relation to the circumstances of the owner ? 



We have thus arrived at the most striking of these relics of a remote antiqoity, 



