8 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



red hematite. Such pieces, with the marks of scraping, have been found in the 

 caves. They also employed, for ornamental purposes, shells, which they pierced 

 with holes, in order to string them together. In the cave of Cro-Magnon* were 

 found about three hundred pierced shells (mostly Littorina littorea] , all belong- 

 ing to still existing marine species, and probably obtained from the shores of the 

 Atlantic Ocean. At other stations pierced fossil marine shells, doubtless derived 

 from the Faluns or shell-marls of Touraine, have occurred. They further wore 

 small oval plates of ivory, pierced for suspension, and, perhaps, as trophies of 

 the chase or as amulets, perforated teeth of the wolf, urus, ibex, reindeer, horse, 

 and other animals. 



Strange as it appears, these people evinced, notwithstanding their otherwise 

 low condition, a decided taste for drawing, and even for carving. Their delinea- 

 tions, traced with a pointed flint on horn, bone, ivory, or slate, consist occasion- 

 ally of geometrical figures composed of parallel lines, rows of dots, lozenges, etc., 

 but mostly of outlines of fishes or of quadrupeds, such as the horse, reindeer, 

 stag, ibex, aurochs, mammoth, and others. These animals appear either singly 

 or in groups, and often exhibit their characteristic features in a degree to render 

 them recognizable almost at the first glance. Sometimes, however, the drawings 

 resemble the first attempts of children at delineating animals. Such represen- 

 tations have chiefly been found at the stations of Les Eyzies, Laugerie Basse, 

 and La Madelaine. Of special interest are those of the mammoth, of which 

 several have been discovered, engraved as well as carved, and showing the 

 characteristics of the extinct proboscidian so faithfully, that no one could have 

 executed them who had not seen the living original. 



The figures of animals are often traced on the stems or beams of reindeer- 

 antlers, which are in such cases carefully worked, and pierced at the broader 

 extremity with round holes, varying in number from one to four. These remark- 

 able objects cannot have served as weapons, being too light for such an applica- 

 tion ; yet their frequent occurrence and uniformity of type show that they pos- 

 sessed a conventional significance, and therefore have been regarded as badges 

 of authority or distinction worn by the chiefs or prominent men of the tribe, like 

 the batons which in our day indicate the dignity of a marshal. The number of 

 holes in these decorated reindeer-horns is thought by some to have been propor- 

 tionate to the position occupied by the wearer. Supposing this interpretation to 

 be correct, it would follow that the troglodytes already were sufficiently numerous 

 to form a society in which the distinctions of rank were recognized. 



Before concluding this short general account of the troglodytes who once 



* This cavo, discovered in 1868 in the course of railroad-labors, was, to judge from the different layers, first 

 merely resorted to at different times by hunters, but afterward used as a habitation, until the accumulated rubbish 

 gradually raised the floor so as to leave but little room between it and the roof. The cave was then abandoned by 

 the living, but still served them as a burial-place for their dead. The remains of five individuals were found in it. 



