214 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
solution of the question, which seems to present no difficulties. 
That it was hunted by the primitive folk of the “ Reindeer 
period” in France, is proved by its remains in the caves where 
men dwelt, and by a drawing cut by a hunter of the older Stone 
Age on one of its own tusks! A cast of this most interesting relic 
may be seen in the prehistoric collection at the British Museum, and 
shows that the men of that time were not devoid of artistic power 
(see Fig. 53). Some of the lines in this illustration represent cracks 
in the original, so that the actual outline is not easily made out. 
But here we see the head particularly well drawn, the tusks and 
downward lines indicating the hairy mane. Reindeer and other 
Fic. 53.—Figure of the Mammoth, engraved on Mammoth ivory by cave- 
men, La Madelaine, France. In the Lartet Collection, Paris. 
animals were also engraved on horn, etc., by the men who were 
contemporary with the Mammoth. 
We know that man has exterminated a great many noble animals 
in his time, and, alas! continues to do so at the present time in 
Africa, and in North and South America. The giraffe and the 
bison, once so plentiful, are now almost extinct. Primitive man 
was a hunter, and, as he multiplied, his wants became greater, 
and more animals were therefore destroyed. Probably the same 
explanation applies to the great Moa bird of New Zealand, and 
possibly even to the Megatherium of South America. 
