192 FOSSIL MEN. 



The skulls of these people have been compared to 

 those of the modern Esthonians or Lithuanians, but 

 on the authority of M. Quatrefages, it is stated that 

 while this applies to the probably later race of small 

 men found in some of the Belgian caves, it does not 

 apply so well to the people of Cro-magnon. Are, 

 then, these people the types of any ancient, or of the 

 most ancient, European race? We have already 

 noticed the remarkable skeleton of Mentone, in the 

 south of France, found under circumstances equally 

 suggestive of great antiquity. Dr. Riviere, in a 

 memoir on this skeleton, illustrated by two beautiful 

 photographs, shows that the characters of the skull 

 and of the bones of the limbs are precisely similar 

 to those of the Cro-magnon skeleton, indicating a 

 perfect identity of race, while the objects found with 

 the skeleton are identical in character. 



The ornaments of Cro-magnon were perforated 

 shells from the Atlantic, and pieces of ivory. Those 

 at Mentone were perforated Neritinse from the Medi- 

 terranean, and canine teeth of the deer. In both cases 

 there was evidence that these ancient people painted 

 themselves with red oxide of iron ; and as if to corn- 

 comparison, however, of all the cases of their discovery in 

 France and Belgium fully vindicates the opinions entertained 

 on this point by Continental geologists ; and some of the more 

 recent discoveries in the French caves, and especially in that 

 of Laugerie Basse, where traces of the mammoth also occur, 

 place this beyond doubt. The comparison by Dawkins of these 

 people with the Esquimaux applies to some of their imple- 

 ments and weapons, but not to their physical characteristics. 



