118 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



world show that representatives of the Paleolithic 

 and of the Neolithic periods have reached our time, 

 just as the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, 

 and a few other thick-skinned animals, have come 

 down to us from the Miocene period of the earth's 

 geological history. These animals became extinct on 

 tle Western continent, but recent upheavals in the 

 Eastern world, near the Equator, in passing through 

 their phases of terrestrial evolution, were in a state 

 favorable to the continuance of Miocene productions. 

 It is not easy to conjecture what may have been 

 the uses of many of the stone manufactures of the 

 pre-historic races. Most of them bear evidence of 

 having been used extensively, as they are worn away 

 or polished by contact with the hand. The flint arrow 

 and spear-heads are easily recognized, and so are the 

 stone axes, but other forms are not so readily distin- 

 guished. The pipes for smoking " soothing weeds " 

 are correctly pronounced upon at once ; and so, per- 

 haps, are the jars, vases, and water jugs, but when we 

 come to amulets, ornaments, badges of distinction, or 

 signs of office, much guess-work has to be done. 

 Flint utensils chipped to the form of a spade may have 

 been used as such, and as hoes and plows. Flints 

 broken into semi-lunar forms, with a sharp edge on 

 the concave arc, were probably used as knives and 

 scrapers. Slender flints brought to a point at one 

 end may have been employed as drills ; others brought 

 to a sharp edge at one end may have served as gouges 

 and chisels, or as cutting tools for various purposes. 

 Bone awls and needles, generally fashioned from the 

 leg bones of a deer, are met quite often. Perforated 

 shells and the grooved teeth of the bear seem to have 

 been employed as beads or money. Double concave 



