NORTH-AMERICAN IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 55 



of the Dugong which is employed as a talisman. That of the Manatee (Lamantin) is sought 

 after for the same purpose by the Indians of the Amazon, and by the people inhabiting the 

 eastern coast of South America. In the more ancient caverns of France (those in which 

 Man is found contemporary with the great Bear, the great Lion, the Hyena, Mammoth, and 

 Rhinoceros) it is the "os petrosum" of the Horse and the Ox which occurs prepared and 

 worked in many ways for ornaments or amulets. The caverns of Aurignac, of la Chaise 

 (Charente), des Fees (Allier), of Vergisson (Saone et Loire), have yielded numbers of these 

 specimens. Up to the present time, however, we have not observed them in any caves of 

 more recent date, where the remains of Reindeer predominate, with objects of arts and of 

 more advanced industry. E. L. 



7 This reading of Csesar is not found in every edition. That the common article of dress, 

 here alluded to, should have been made of the skins of young Reindeers, it would be necessary 

 for the animal to have been very common in the countries inhabited by the " Germani." How, 

 then, could Csesar, who had called it by its name " Rheno," describe it, a few lines after, as a 

 sort of deer-shaped Ox (" est bos cervi figura," &c.) without recalling its name or the use made 

 of its skin. Sallust, who wrote after the death of Caesar, speaks of the "Rheno" as if 

 it were a garment and not an animal " intectum rhenonibus corpus tegunt." Isidore of 

 Seville gives the same interpretation "rhenones sunt velamina humerorum atque pectoris 

 usque ad umbilicum, atque intortis villis adeo hispida ut imbrem respuant." This also is 

 the opinion adopted by other scholars. M. Quicherat (' Diet. Latin- Fran9/) remarks on the 

 word " Rheno," that it was a simple waistcoat (gilet) made of sheep-skin. At our Universal 

 Exposition of 1867 I observed this same "Rheno" or tunic of sheep-skin, with the wool 

 turned inwards, on the life-sized models showing Swedish costumes, exhibited in the Swedish 

 Section. E. L. 



8 The following observations written lately by Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., quite independently 

 of the remarks on the subject communicated in Mr. Anderson's Letter, are here appended as adding 

 considerably to the interest of this portion of the ' Reliquiae Aquitanicae.' T. R. J. 



" If we turn to History, we shall see that the animal [the Reindeer] has been retreating north- 

 wards at least during the last two thousand years. In Caesar's time it dwelt in the great Hercynian 

 Forest that overshadowed Germany. He describes it as* ' an ox in the shape of a stag,' and as 

 ' having one antler springing from the middle of its forehead, between the ears, loftier and more 

 directed forwards than any known to the Romans. From its palm-like top branches spread widely. 

 In both male and female there is the same nature, the same form and magnitude of antlers.' This 

 description has been considered by many of no value at all, and as the pure invention of Caesar's 

 brain. It seems to me, however, a very natural explanation of the difficulties of the passage, if 

 we suppose that Caesar described the animal partly from hearsay and partly from a rude sketch 

 and profile. In the latter case, unless the drawing were in correct perspective, the animal would 



* " De Bellico Gallico, lib. vi. cap. xxvi. ' Est bos cervi flgura, cujus a media fronte inter aures unura 

 cornu existit, excelsius, magisque directum his quse nobis nota sunt cornibus. Ab ejus summo, sicut 

 palmae, rami quam late diffunduntur. Eadem est fceminse marisque natura, eadem forma magnitudoque 

 cornuum.' " 



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