CHAP. VIII. SCARCITY OF HUMAN BONES. 149 



committing the bodies of tlieir dead or dying to its waters — 

 even had such funeral rites prevailed, it by no means follows 

 that the bones of many individuals would have been preserved 

 to our time. 



A coi'pse cast into the stream first sinks, and must then be 

 almost immediately oversj)read with sediment of a certain 

 weight, or it will rise again when distended with gases, and 

 float perhaps to the sea before it sinks again. It may then 

 be attacked b}^ fish of marine siDecies, some of which are 

 capable of digesting bones. If, before being carried into the 

 sea and devoured, it is enveloped with fluviatile mud and 

 sand, the next flood, if it lie in mid-channel, may tear it out 

 again, scatter all the bones, roll some of them into pebbles, 

 and leave others exposed to destroying agencies; and this 

 may be repeated annually, till all vestiges of the skeleton 

 may disappear. On the other hand, a bone Avashed through a 

 rent into a subterranean cavity, even though a rarer con- 

 tingency, may have a greater chance of escaping destruction, 

 especially if there be stalactite dropping from the roof of the 

 cave or walls of a rent, and if the cave be not constantly 

 traversed by too strong a current of engulfed water. 



