220 EELIQUI^l AQUITANKLE. 



then existing; and the natives had then possibly the same habits as existing 

 savages now have : and as some support to this hypothesis, we know that the 

 above-mentioned flint implements are always found in aqueous deposits, and often 

 accumulated in certain quantities and at one point, having been of little value, 

 and easily lost by falling through into the water. 



After the age of the extinct animals follows that of the retreating animals : of 

 this latter age we know numerous Stations, where we discover also Man, with 

 indications of his manners and customs. This " Reindeer Age," with which the 

 patient and conscientious researches of Edouard Lartet and Henry Christy have 

 made us acquainted, has chiefly furnished us with information respecting the 

 modes and results of Eishing in the Quaternary Period. 



The ethnography of the present natives of the North, among whom the Eein- 

 deer is still a principal source of food, gives valuable suggestions as to the 

 probable habits of the Quaternary people of the Reindeer Age. 



The same wants must have given rise to the same habits and the same indus- 

 tries. Nilsson* says : 



" Indeed, it is hardly possible to explain the close resemblance between the fishing-tools and hunting- 

 weapons of savage nations the most distinct as to time, place, and origin, without assuming that all of them, 

 in one and the same low degree of civilization, contrived these hunting-weapons instinctively, and in 

 consequence of a sort of natural necessity." 



So also the North-American Indians, on the Pacific coast especially, employing 

 weapons and tools similar to those used in the " Reindeer Age " in Dordognef, 

 use the same implements in the same or nearly the same kind of fishing. 



Throughout the breccia with worked flints and the debris with bones in the 

 caves and shelters of the South of France, both in Dordogne and the neigh- 

 bouring regions, the remains of the Salmon are met with in great abundance ; 

 and it is probable that this Fish served largely for food among the people of the 

 " Reindeer Age," just as in our day it is a valuable article of food among 

 northern savages. The manners of these peoples supply us, without doubt, with 

 many data in forming a notion of the habits of the prehistoric people under 

 similar conditions of life. 



Every traveller Vancouver, Mackenzie, Eranklin, Bogg, Lord, and others 

 tells us of the enormous resources which the Salmon-fishery furnishes to the 

 natives. Vancouver informs us that the natives of Cook River eat dried Salmon. 

 According to Mackenzie, Salmon constitutes almost exclusively the food of the 



* 'The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia,' by Sven Nilsson, 3rd edit, (edited by Sir J. Lubbock, 

 Bart.), 8vo, 1868, p. 104. t See above, pp. 43 &c. 



