ETHNOLOGY. 409 



tlie animal lias his head lowerecl, and the elongated trunk extends down to 

 between tlie two front feet. Tlie mouth is distinctly defined ; the tusks only are 

 not exactly in their right position, since, for their support, it was found necessary 

 to lay them out against the blade of the poniard, causing them to be placed higher 

 than they should be, and consequently locating the eyes in a somewhat abnor- 

 mal relation. This elephant, so well characterized by his large, flat feet, his 

 trunk and tusks, is certainly the mammoth. In fact, the sculptor has given an 

 elevation or turning up to his tail, which having been broken off, as may easily 

 bo seen, the artist has drilled a hole from one side of the palnuited antler to the 

 other, and has inserted in the hole another similar caudal appendage. Existing 

 elephants having but little or no hair, have no fouct, and do not turn the tail 

 up. With tlie mammoth, however, it was far otherwise, having a felt thickly 

 compounded of wool and hair. The elevation of the tail may also be noticed 

 in the carved mammoth on an ivory tablet of M. Lartet. Very probably it was 

 the accidental fracture of the tail of the mammoth which induced the artist of 

 Bruniquel to arrange the tusks a little out of their normal position in order to 

 give them a more solid support against the blade of the poniard. 



The reindeer. — A curious, unfinished attempt to make a dagger of a horn of 

 reindeer, coming to its from Langerie-Basse, exhiliited by MM. Lartet and Christy, 

 explains perfectly the preceding specimen. The handle is formed of a reindeer 

 carved with his nose projecting towards the antlers flattened on his back, the 

 front legs bent under his body so as not to wound the hand ; the hind legs are 

 stretched out so as to connect the animal forming the handle to the blade of the 

 dagger, which is inserted in the posterior part. 



This specimen is entire, but the carving is unfinished. This much cannot be 

 said for two other poniard handles likewise representing the reindeer. They 

 were also found under shelter of the rock at Bruniquel, as the mammoth just 

 described ; they belong to M. Peccadeau de I'Isle, and are of ivory. They are 

 admiralily sculptured, nicely finished, and executed altogether wiih n)uch art. 

 Undoubtedly this is superior to any specimen hitherto discovered. The two 

 reindeer handles have the nose of the beast extended forward, a position into 

 which it is forced by laying the antlers along the back. The blades of these 

 daggers are broken. In one of them the blade passed out of the upper part of 

 the body, and the hind legs were supported against it, the front legs being folded 

 under the bodv. In the other, on the contrary, the blade passes out of the 

 anterior part, from between the head and the fore legs. The hind legs, being 

 projected beyond the body, unite again at a certain distance, leaving an open 

 space between them, which in all probability answered the purpose of a ring, by 

 means of which the poniard could be hung up. In the mammoth the space 

 which was between the legs, closed at the feet, answered the same purpose. 



Below these two handles for poniards will be found a fiat piece of schistose 

 rock, on which is engraved a sketch of an amorous combat of the reindeer. M. 

 de Vibraye is the collector of this specimen, this true jiicture, at Langerie-Basse. 

 A male animal is seen in fierce attitude, which, after having made his rival bite 

 the dust, approaches the female in an amorous manner, of which nothing is seen 

 l)Ut the liind quarter. This composition of qvute a complicated character, ren- 

 dered with a true feeling for the situation, is executed with remarkable sprightli- 

 ness. Each of the animals is drawn as if none other was present. Thus the 

 legs of the defeated reindeer, which ought to be concealed by the body of the 

 female, are, notwithstanding, fully and neatly represented. 



In one of the angles of this case many other carvings of the reindeer may be 

 seen ; among which one may be cited, a very handsomely sculptured head, from 

 Langerie-Basse, belonging to M. de Vibraye, and a fragment of a staff of office, 

 on which is carved a fawn of this deer with spotted skin, acconqtaiiied by its 

 dam. This nwrceau, of the collection of MM. Lartet and Christy, comes from 

 Madeline. . For the sake of the locality mention may be made of a fragment of 



