254 A BOOK-LOVER S HOLIDAYS 



paratively fresh bones, with bits of sinew, but 

 dried dung almost as large as that of an 

 elephant -- and some big pieces of skin. The 

 skin was clothed with long, coarse hair, and 

 small ossicles were set into it, making minute 

 bony plates. Doctor Moreno gave me a frag 

 ment of the skin, and also bones and dung; 

 they are now in the American Museum of Nat 

 ural History. The discovery gave rise to much 

 fanciful conjecture; it was even said that the 

 mylodon had been domesticated and kept tame 

 in the caves; but Doctor Moreno laughed at 

 the supposition and said that it lacked any 

 foundation in fact. He also said that, con 

 trary to what has sometimes been asserted, 

 the age of the remains must be estimated in 

 thousands, possibly ten thousands, and cer 

 tainly not hundreds, of years. 



There is no need of fanciful guesswork in 

 order to enhance the startling character of the 

 discovery. It seems to show beyond question 

 that the early hunting savages of southernmost 

 South America lived among the representatives 

 of a huge fauna, now wholly extinct, just as 

 was true of the earlier, and far more primitive, 

 hunting savages of Europe. 



Save in tropical Africa and in portions of 

 hither and farther India this giant fauna has 



