360 ]\[AN AS THE COTEMPORARY OF THE MAMMOTH 



spar, wliose colors beguile their fixncy witli a sliow of Inxuiy, and there the wide 

 plate of sandstone destined for paving around the hearth. 



But there come days of disaster, and truly disaster is not spared them. A con- . 

 cussion, a sudden downfall drives them from their rocky dwelling. The objects 

 of their veneration, their utensils, are aUko shattered, and they are cast forth to 

 seek lor some other shelter. Or death invades them with its desolations, and 

 "what pious cares do they then consecrate to those whom they have lost ! We see 

 that the}- lay the body away in a cave; an urn, weapons, amulets, constitute the 

 equipment for the vault. A broad plate of stone guards against tlie entrance 

 of wild beasts. Then begins the funeral feast in the immediate vicinity of the 

 sepulchre ; fire is kindled on the hearth, large animals are dismembered, and the 

 roasted flesh is distributed among the guests. There are no doubt other strange 

 ceremonies practised, as is now the custom with the rude tribes of America and 

 Africa, but these we can only conjecture. Analogy would point to songs, dances, 

 adjurations, but science can alford ns here not the slightest information. Again 

 and often will this vault open, and small children, as well as men of full stature, 

 take, one after another, their place in the cavern amidst the same ceremonies. 



But the end of this oldest of known epochs is at hand. Floods overwhelm the 

 region. The dwellers, driven from their caves, seek refuge in vain on the hills. 

 Death overtakes them ; a dark grotto becomes the grave of those hapless fugi- 

 tives who, as at Furfooz, were witnesses of this great catastrophe. Nothing is 

 spared by the fearful element. The sepulchral caverns, the objects of a touch- 

 ing solicitude on tlie part of these poor people, are forced open by toiTcnts 

 of water, and the bones of the dead are generally scattered abroad. Only the 

 dwelling-place of Chaleux is exempt from the ruin; it is protected by an earlier 

 catastrophe. This consisted in the downfall of the roof of the cavern. 



Lucky and mnltifaiious discoveries have conducted us to these results. The 

 usages and industry of these tribes, which reach back to so distant an antiquity, 

 can be pictured with some exactness. But much yet lies in darkness. We know 

 nothing of their relations to the people of earlier times. Had they predecessors 

 in the laud? The important discoveries which Schmerling and Prof. Malaise 

 have made at Engihoul seem to show that the men whose remains were found 

 on the Lys were not the aboriginal inhabitants of Belgium, but only successors 

 of an older population. At Chaleux also were found substantial indications of 

 that primeval ancestry, but the traces were scarcely discerned when they were 

 again lost. 



Besides the three stations above named, a large number of caves have been 

 discovered in France and Belgium, which everywhere contained the bones of the 

 same animals. Among these, the reindeer plays tlie principal part, and is always 

 accompanied by the horse, the steinbock, the chamois, and the bison. The remains 

 of the mammoth, rliinoceros, wolf, brown bear, l3'nx, glutton, sheep, marmot, 

 and common deer, are seldom found ; still more seldom those of the hyena, the 

 tiger, the porcupine ; while the bones of birds and fresh-water fishes, which we 

 need not enumerate, occur in abundance. 



In the cavern of Bruniquel were found, by its owner, 1,500 different objects, 

 which were all purchased by Professor Owen for the British ]Museum. Here were 

 also discovered human remains, especially ajaw bone. The cavern of Chaleux, 

 in the valley of the Lys and neighborhood of Dinant, presents a remarkable 

 peculiarity, an analogue, so to sa}', of Pompeii and Ilerculaneum, cities which 

 Vesuvius did not destro}', but has preserved for us. All the objects contained 

 in the cavern, just as it was occupied at the time, have, as already menticaied, 

 been kept entire by the downfall of its roof. The rubbish, under which the 

 various articles lay buried, has prevented the destructive eitects of the diluviiil 

 currents. After the removal of eight feet of compact detritus, the proper floor 

 of the cavern, upon which man had resided, was reached. Probably the inhabi- 

 tants were absent on the chase at the occurrence of the catastrophe, for no human 



