150 NATURE HISTORY OP 



REMAINS OF OTHER ABNORMAL TRIBES. 



FROM the occasional destruction of whole tribes and 

 races, which is sometimes caused, even in modern ages, 

 by the sword, by contagious diseases, or by new modes 

 of life, and the introduction of vices before unknown, 

 it is evident, that numerous populations of the human 

 family have disappeared, without leaving a record of 

 their ancient existence. We may instance savages in 

 the British Islands, who had flint knives, a kind of 

 earthen pottery, and dwelt in caves. They were con- 

 temporaneous with hyaenas and lost species, for their 

 bones are found in the same deposits; consequently, 

 they are older than the Cynetae, who preceded the other 

 Celtic colonies in this island. 



Continental Europe affords instances of several more 

 whose history is a blank, although there remain scat- 

 tered families, with peculiar marks of distinction, in 

 evidence of the anterior existence of communities of 

 the same kind. Some, still extant, seem to have been 

 objects of slander and persecution, under several suc- 

 cessive social systems, denied the rights of common 

 humanity, without a comprehensible cause, and even in 

 defiance of the kindness which Christian pastors evinced 

 for them. Others are still said to be untractable, not- 

 withstanding the government endeavours to make them 

 adopt the manners and duties of civilized life. The 

 caves, with human bones, in Quercy, already mention- 



