TltAXSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 



901 



jeoli^ifal period finrlinf>- on the Pampas the body of a glyptodon, fcoopiiip out itsi 

 tie.<h, scttiiij? up its carapace on the ground like a monstrous dish-cover, and digfiinjf 

 liimseh' a burrow to live in underneath this animal roof; but geuloj^ists have not 

 accepted the account. Even in tlie case of so well-known an explorer as the late 

 Dr. liUnd, opinions are still divided as to whetiier iiis luimun skulls from the 

 caves of 15razil are really contemporary with the ))one9 of meiratherium and fossil 

 hoRe. One of the latest juil<:;meiit3 has been favourable; (^uatrefaj^es not only 

 looks upon the cave-skulls as uf hifrh antiquity, but rejrards tlieir owners as repre- 

 -ntinfr the ancestors of the livin'r Indians. The hij^h and narrow dimensions (jf 

 he ancient and moilern skulls are f:iven in the ' ( 'rania Kthnica,' and whatever a 

 ■irailai'ity of proportions between thein may prove, it certainly exists. Dr. Koch's 

 lyltbrated tlint arrow-lieatl, recorded to have beei. found under the leg-bones of a 

 aia.«iodon in Missouri, is still to be seen, and has all tlie ap])earance of a modern 

 Imliiiu weapon, whifli raises (loul)t of its being- really of the mastodon period. 

 IliL- antecedent improbability of reniot(» geological age is felt still more strongly to 

 ;!iacli to the stone pestles aiid mortars, Sec, brought forward by Mr. J. I). 

 Whitney, of the California Geological Survey, as found by miners in tlie goM- 

 kiing gravels. On the one hand, these elaborate articles of stone-work are the 

 '.nry characteristic objects of the Indian graves of tlie di.strict, and on the other tlu- 

 tiieciy that the auriferous gravels capped by lava-tlows are of tertiary age is 

 absolutely denied by g-eologists such as M. .lules Marcou in his article on ' The 

 lieolofry of ( 'alifornia ' {Bull. Soc. Gvol. dr Fi-uncc, l8H'-i). It is to be hoped 

 ttat the Section may have the opportunity of discu.'^sing Dr. C C. Abbott's imple- 

 ments from Trenton, New Jersey. The turtle-l)ack celts, as they are called from 

 :!ieir flat and convex sides, a''e rudely chi])ped I'rom pebbles of the hard argillit.- 

 iitof the boulder-)jed, but the question is as to tlie position of the sand and gravel 

 .".which they are found in the bluHs high above tlu' pre.-^ent Delaware Kiver. 

 liietiret opinion come to, that the makers of the implements inhabited America 

 !.it merely after but during the great Ice Age, has been modified l)y further 

 ■•Xiimination, especially by the report of Mr. II. Carvill Lewis, who considers the 

 ;3iplement-bearn]g Ijed not to have been deposited by a river which flowed 

 iver the top of the boulder-bed, but that at a later period than this wouM 

 iivolve, the Delaware had cut a channel through the boulder-bed, and that a sub- 

 •■^luent glacier-flood threw down sand and gravel in this cutting at a considerable 

 •teht above the existing river, burying therein <be rude stone implements of an 

 ^uimaux race hen inhabiting the country. Belt, Wilson, and Putnam have 

 written on this question, which I will not ])ur8ue further, except by pointhig out 

 :liat the evidence from the bluffs of the Delaware must not be talcen by itself, but 

 iiicnnection with that from the terraces high above the .lames lliver, near Ilich- 

 wil, where INIr. V. M. Wallace has likewise reported th»' finding of rude stone 

 isjtruments, to which must be added other finds from Guanajuato, Ilio .Jucbipila, 

 sr.d other Mexican localities. 



This leads at once into the intere.xting argument bow far any exi.-ting people 

 sre the descendants and representatives of man of the po.st-Glacial piTiod. Ibe 

 1 Koblem whether the present Esquimaux are such a remnant of an early race is 

 ae which I'rofessiu- Boyd Dawkins has long worked at, and will, I trust, bring 

 Jward with full detail in this ap])ropriate place. Since he stateil this view in 

 work on ' Oave-llunting ' it has continually been cited, whether by way of 

 •frmation or denial, but always with that gain to the subject which arises from a 

 I 'bry based on distinct facts. May I take occasion here to mention as preliminary 

 'if ([upstion. Were the natives met with by tlie Scandinavian .seafarers of the 

 ^I'venth ceutiuT Iv^quimaux, and whereabouts on the coast where they actually 

 '"ril'r It maybe to Canadians a curious subject of contemplation how about 



It tira(> of history Scandinavia stretched out its hands at once to their old and 

 their new home. '"VN'hen the race of bold sea-rovers who ruled Normandy nnd 

 invaded I'higbuid turned their prows into the northern and western sea, they passed 

 from Iceland to y»'t more inclement (ireenland, and thence, according to Icelandic 

 '■tonls, wliicli are too couM.stent to be ref'u,-ed belief as to main facts, they sailed 

 some wav d<»\vn the .Vmerican coast. But where are we to look for the most 



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