FISHING DUBING THE EEINDEEE-PEEIOD. 



219 



XXII. 



ON FISHING DUEING THE EEINDEER-PERIOD. 

 By Dr. H. E. SAUVAGE, Museum of Natural History, Jardin des Plantes, <fec. 



THE Ethnographic History of existing Savages shows that all nomadic races are 

 strongly addicted to both fishing and the chase. 



To hunt the wild beasts of the forest, to capture the birds of the thickets and 

 plains, and to seek for the inhabitants of the waters must necessarily be the 

 continuous and urgent occupation of people living from hand to mouth and 

 getting their food day by day. 



Their migrations have followed the courses of the rivers, partially or altogether, 

 whether by hordes or families these being the most convenient lines of commu- 

 nication, affording food easily and abundantly, and thus leading the nations along 

 tracks marked out by nature. 



We easily see how, under such conditions of life, Fish must must have entered 

 largely into the food-supply of primitive peoples, and that the prehistoric savage 

 must have employed every means in his power to obtain such an article of food 

 always at hand. Thus we may regard the early inhabitants of Europe as occu- 

 pied in fishing as well as hunting from the beginning. 



It is true that we have no positive evidence of Fishing in the " Mammoth- 

 Period." It has, however, been pointed out that the large, roughly chipped 

 flint implements, lanceolate or ovoid in shape, and known as " langues de chat," 

 may have served to make holes in the ice during winter whereat to catch fish or 

 amphibious animals frequenting the great rivers at that time* (see Prestwich 

 " On the Geology of the Deposits containing Flint Implements " &c., ' Phil. 

 Trans.' vol. cliv. p. 286). 



The Esquimaux, contemporary with our civilization, partly remain in the 

 " Stone Age," employing analogous implements of stone for similar purposes ; 

 and it is known that throughout the Arctic Regions the natives make holes in 

 the ice and patiently wait for hours at the aperture until the Seals, coming to the 

 surface to breathe, can be struck and secured for food. Amphibious Mammals 

 probably ascended the Quaternary Seine and Somme under the rigorous climate 



* [Some roughly dressed flints found in the Quaternary Gravels may have been " sinkers " and imitation 

 baits, such as the Esquimaux use in fishing and angling. EDITOR.] 



