138 RELIQUIAE AQUITANICJE. 



such attached bands as Scheffer describes as being very frequently used for orna- 

 ment by the women of Lapland. 



As for the thread used in sewing or in embroidery by the aborigines of Peri- 

 gord, we have on several occasions* had to notice on certain Reindeer bones 

 particular marks indicative of the tendons of this animal having been used for 

 some purpose; and what we know of the use made of them among the Lap- 

 landers, the Esquimaux, and other modern nations authorizes us to conclude 

 that the old Pe"rigord people, living under like circumstances, employed them in 

 a similar way. 



In fig. 2 of B. Plate XVII., showing the posterior face of the lower end of a 

 metacarpal bone of the Eeindeer, there are above the left condyle, at a, two 

 marks, or little notches, which can be explained only as having been made by the 

 sharp edge of the instrument used at this point in cutting away the flexor tendon. 

 In fig. 4 also of the same Plate, representing a cubo-scaphoid of the hock of the 

 Reindeer, we notice some similar notches that have been made on the front face 

 of the bone, on the course of the tendons. It is not rare to find these bones of 

 the Reindeer bearing the same significative marks though, as it is easy to under- 

 stand, they could only have been produced when the pressure of the instrument 

 cutting the tendon has been sufficiently great to penetrate even to the bone. We 

 may remark, however, that up to the present time we have not observed such 

 notches or analogous marks on the metacarpals or metatarsals either of the 

 Aurochs or of the Horse. 



All tends to make us admit that, like the Laplanders and Esquimaux of the 

 present day, the ancient Cave-folk of Pe"rigord must have used the tendons of the 

 Reindeer in sewing their clothes that were made of skins ; and, as the needles of 

 those primitive times vary considerably in form and dimensions, it may well be 

 assumed that they also knew at that time how to split the tendons and make them 

 into threads of different degrees of fineness, so that they could be used for different 

 kinds of needle-work. 



Scheffer t tells us that, in his time, the Lapland women did not spin flax (which, 

 indeed, as Olaus Magnus remarks J, could not grow in so cold a climate), but 

 they knew how to make thread with the wool of their Sheep, and also with Hare's 

 fur ; and with the latter they knitted caps, as soft as the down of the Swan's neck, 

 and wonderfully warm. 



* ' Comptes Eendus,' vol. Iviii. p. 407 ; " Cavernes du Perigord," p. 33, in the ' Revue Archeologique,' 

 March 1864 &c. f Op. cit. J Op. cit. 



Pliny also refers to garments having been made of hare (and rabbit ?) fur, ' Nat. Hist.' lib. viii. 81 (55). 



