ee eee ee hae 
Cae ae 3 ; 
Mar.. 13, 1873] 
After fishing and hunting, they returned to the cave for 
their meals. ‘ 
In the whole extent of the floor of the caves, at every 
level, the stratum which encloses broken bones contains 
likewise an enormous amount of particles of coal. This 
mixture is so universal, so uniform, that it is difficult to 
NATURE 
367 
believe that the Troglodytes only made fires for warming 
themselves. They must have lit their fires every day, 
and in all seasons ; and hence it is more probable that 
they used them for cooking their food. 
We do not know how they produced fire, whether they 
drew it from flint or from wood heated from friction. 
Fic. 13.—Bone harpoon of the Terra del Fuegans. 
Neither do we know how they cooked their food. They 
had no earthenware, and could not boil their meat on 
the fire. They did not roast it, for hardly a solitary cal- 
cined bone has been found, and thenit has evidently been 
accidentally reduced to this state. Perhaps they boiled 
it in wooden vessels, in which water can be brought to 
the boiling point by putting into it pebbles made red hot in 
the fire. But it seems to me more probable that they 
cooked it under the ashes, as many uncivilised nations do 
to this day. 
BECKET, 
Fic, 17. Fics. 15, 16. 
Figs. 15 and 16.—Needles. 
Fic. 18. 
- Fic. 14. 
Fig. 14 —The marrow spoon. 
with a single hole (reduced a third). 
Esquimaux (reduced a fourth). 
z The Troglodytes, after their meals, left the bones.spread 
about the floors of their caves. In a warm climate, these 
remnants would have exhaled an insufferable odour, but 
_ stick which appzars broken when plunged obliquely in the water. In con- 
Sequence of the refraction of the rays of light, the image of the fish is dis- 
placed, and in aiming straight at that image, one would miss one’s aim. 
_ Here, then, are two causes oferror. Now it is clear that, if they act in- 
versely, they may compensate each other; and M. Lecoq de Boisbeaudrau 
demonstrates that when the unilateral barb is turned upwards, it brings back 
‘the harpoon towards the object ‘I'hi; arrangement inthe harpoon would 
then be intended to rectify the aim, and this would credit our Troglodytes 
with a great power of observation 
The inhabitants of Terra del Fuego “still use a harpoonjwith unilateral 
barbs (see Fig. 13). 
= Fig. 17. —Hunting tablet. 
Fig. 20.—Baton of command with four holes (reduced a third). 
They enjoyed the brains of animals and the marrow in 
the long bones, for all the heads are broken, and all the 
medullary bones (to the exclusion of all others) are metho- 
dically divided. The marrow in bones is a dish relished 
by all savage nations. They break the long bone in a 
particular manner, and the chief sucks the marrow first. _ 
Our Troglodytes had little flint maces with cuneiform 
edge ; these were a kind of hatchet for breaking the 
bones. There is, besides, another utensil in deer-horn, 
which was probablyused for extracting the marrow (Fig. 14) 
Bechendel, 
Fic, 20, 
Fig. 19.—Baton ot command 
Fig. 21.—The pogamagan of the 
Fic. 19. 
Fig. 13.—Account tablet. 
Fic, 2t. 
we must not forget that the temperature was then lower 
than it is now, and we must likewise confess that cleanli- 
ness was not the predominant feature of the men of those 
days. ; 
Thanks to this uncleanly habit, the floor of their caves 
furnishes us with complete information as to their food. 
The flesh of the reindeer was their principal nourish- 
ment ; they ate besides horses, aurochs, several kinds of 
oxen, chamois, wild goats, and even some carnivora ; 
their predecessors did the same; but these had fish in 
addition, and the improvement in their bows and arrows 
' enabled them to bring down game on the wing. Among 
