DESCBIPTIONS OF THE PLATES BONE IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 53 



worked with great intelligence and good success. It is formed of Reindeer-horn, 

 as are most of those belonging to the " Reindeer- Age." Its upper point is short, 

 as in that from Denmark. The side-row of barbs does not reach so far down; 

 and there are only nine ; they are more detached from the stem, more regularly 

 spaced apart ; and all are hollowed on both their faces with that middle furrow or 

 groove characteristic of the Arrows and Harpoons belonging to that period. It has 

 been thought that the grooves cut on these barbs of the weapons of the Reindeer- 

 Age have been made to carry poison (see page 10). "Without insisting on the 

 value of this hypothesis, we may repeat that this practice of smearing arrow-heads 

 with a substance intended to increase their destructive power has existed at all 

 times and in all countries. To the instances cited elsewhere, we will add that 

 related by Gmelin, in his 'Travels in Siberia'*. He says that the Tongouses of 

 Nijnaia Tongouska attribute an analogous quality to the burnt flesh of the Wood- 

 pecker. " They roast this bird, pound it, mix it with fat of any sort except Bears' 

 fat (because that decomposes readily); and with this mixture they smear the 

 arrows they use in hunting. An animal struck with one of these always falls 

 with the wound." In this Harpoon from Bruniquel there is only one knob near 

 its lower end ; it is on the same side with the barbs, as is frequently the case in 

 the Harpoons with barbs on one side only. 



The Harpoon, fig. 10, page 50, is engraved two-thirds of its real size. It is 

 made of a very compact bone of some Herbivore. There are five barbs, on one 

 side only, wide-set, and formed by simple oblique grooving. This Harpoon, the age 

 of which has not been determined, was found near Isherque (department of Pas- 

 de-Calais), at a depth of three metres, in the alluvium of the little River Lacque. 

 For the original drawing we are indebted to Mademoiselle E. Watelet, by whose 

 talent the great work of her father Professor Watelet, of Soissons, on the ' Tertiary 

 Flora of the Paris Basin,' has been enriched with many plates. 



Another Harpoon (fig. 11, of actual size, page 51) has but a single barb, and 

 appears to consist of Stag's horn. It was discovered, together with many others, 

 by Dr. Clement, at St. Aubin, one of the Swiss Lake-Stations referred to the 

 Stone-Age, a fact giving us a relative age for this specimen. It forms part of 

 M. Mortillet's Collection, who has kindly permitted us to have it drawn. 



Another specimen, with large oblique barbs very far apart, is shown by fig. 12, 

 page 51, two-thirds its real size. It is made of the bone of a Herbivore; its 

 upper end is obtuse ; its other extremity is cut square and bored with a hole for 

 attachment or suspension. This Harpoon, said to have been found in the " Drift " 



* Gmelin, ' Voyage en Siberie.' Traduction frangaise. 12mo. Paris, 1767, vol. xi. p. 113. 



