THE UNITY dF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 555 



. reports that the South Americans ate the bodies of warriors killed in 

 combat and afterwards carried their bones in the guise of standards. 

 This is also the custom among- the Indians of ISTorth America. In their 

 frequent migrations they transport with them the bones of their fathers 

 who bave thus perished.^ At the present time the Banis, Chams, and 

 Musulmen of Annam bury the bodies of their dead in a ditch or grave 

 without a coffin. One or two years afterwards they gather the bones, 

 which are placed on a small bier and carried to the common cemetery.^ 



M. Petrie believes that he has discovered the existence of a new race 

 in Egypt. This race lived on the west bank of the Nile to the south of 

 Abydos, and about 30 miles north of Thebes. The tombs contained, 

 instead of mummies, skeletons in a crouching position. These, accord- 

 ing to the learned Englishman, were the Lybians who invaded Egypt 

 near the end of the ancient empire about three thousand years before 

 our era. The Lybians are said to have eaten the flesh of their dead, 

 partially at least. But the facts on which this saying is based may 

 also be explained by the removal of the flesh in the open air prior to the 

 definite burial.^ 



We will not pursue this lugubrious enumeration. We have said 

 enough to show that this strange funeral rite is encountered in all parts 

 of the globe. The identity of these conceptions of man, difficult to 

 separate from the identity of its origin, is perhaps still more marked 

 when we find that from the most ancient times the human bones were 

 colored red before being deposited in their last resting place. The 

 examples are numerous, and it is necessary to go into details. 



The first discovery by which the curious fact was made known is due 

 to M. Eiviere."* In 1872 he discovered in the grotto of Baousse-Eousse, 

 near Mentone, the skeleton of an adult, the skull of which was covered 

 with red patine due to a thin coat of sanguine. The skeleton had upon 

 the head a string of small shells (nerites). By its side was a poniard 

 made from the radius of one of the deer kind, about twenty canine 

 teeth, also from the deer tribe, and other arms and ornaments precious 

 and destined, without doubt, for the use of the dead in the new world 

 into which he was about to enter. Among the animal bones scattered 

 through the cavern were those of the cave tiger {Felis spelwus), the 

 cave bear ( Ursus spelceus), rhinoceros, and the hog {Susscrofa), and still 

 others belonging to the Quaternary epoch. Three other skeletons were 

 found in the same cavern, or those adjoining. The bones of the adults 

 were covered with peroxide of iron, which gave them a strong red color. 

 Three skeletons of children were also brought to light, none of which 

 bore any traces of color. We are, therefore, in i)resence of a rite per- 

 fectly characterized as being applied only to adults. M. Cartailhac has 



• Heckwelder, Indian Nations, pages 90 and 93. 

 mev. des Quest. Scieut., 1897, t. I., page 684. 

 ^S. Eeinach, Chron. d'Orient, Eevue Arch., 1895. 



■•L'Antiquitd de I'liomme dans les Alpes maritimes. Acad, des Sciences, April, 

 1872. Congres de Bruxelles, 1872. 



