160 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



tipped with fish-bones or a sharp piece of flint. Fas- 

 tened to the left arm, they carried for defense a long 

 and narrow wooden shield ; with the right hand they 

 brandished, as an offensive weapon, sometimes a 

 stake hardened in the fire, sometimes a heavy bludg- 

 eon or club. For the perilous passage of rivers and 

 of ocean inlets they had fragile little boats made of 

 wicker, plaited as in our baskets, but covered on the 

 outside with the hide of a wild ox to exclude the 

 water. " 



"But those are the weapons and boats of sav- 

 ages!" interposed Emile. 



"Without doubt, my friend; and, equally with- 

 out doubt, the first Gaels, ancestors of ours though 

 they were, were veritable savages, differing hardly 

 at all from those of our own day. They lived mainly 

 by the chase, herds and agriculture being for ages 



unknown to them. 

 In their gloomy 

 forests, damp and 

 cold, using only 

 their poor weap- 

 ons of stone and 

 pointed sticks, 

 they attacked a 

 Aurochs terrible wild ox, 



the aurochs or urus, which is now almost extinct. 

 This ox, nearly as large as the elephant, had enor- 

 mous horns, a mane of curly wool on its head and 

 neck, beard under its throat, a deep, hoarse bellow, 

 and a ferocious look. Its extraordinary strength 



