THE ICE AGE 



Further explorations were made in the cavern by Dr. 

 Moreno, of La Plata, and other naturalists, and an im- 

 mense quantity of bones was obtained, and more por- 

 tions of the skin of Mylodon with the hair on. The 

 cavern had been inhabited probably several centuries 

 ago by Indians, for human Bones and weapons were 

 obtained. 



The remains of as many as twenty Mylodons have 

 been obtained from the cavern, and many of the bones 

 are cut or broken hi a way which leads us to suspect 

 that the human inhabitants of the cave cut up the dead 

 Mylodons for food, and split their bones to obtain the 

 marrow ! 



Some of the Mylodon bones, skulls, jaw-bones, leg- 

 bones, etc., are smeared with blood and have pieces of 

 cartilage and tendon attached. There are other evi- 

 dences which go to show that the Indians may have 

 kept the Mylodons alive in the cave and fed them with 

 hay brought from the outside. Anybody who would care 

 to see the last of the great extinct animals can inspect 

 some of these remains at the museum in Cromwell Road, 

 London. 



Besides the relics of the Mylodon and of Man 

 the cavern has yielded bones and teeth, and many 

 horny hoofs belonging to a kind of extinct horses ; and 

 this constitutes one of the puzzling things about this 

 cave treasure. The cave is in a part of the country very 

 difficult to reach, and though Sir Thomas Holdich and 

 Mr. Hesketh Prichard made efforts to reach it again 

 and explore it systematically and scientifically, there is 



277 



