FAUNA, FLOEA, AND INHABITANTS. 395 



the rhinoceros, the lion, the bear, and the hyena. A lower series of caverns only 

 contains the bones of reindeer, chamois, and wild goats — animals still found in 

 Europe, though no longer in Belgium. In the lowest series of caverns only the 

 bones of domesticated animals, or of beasts which continue to inhabit the country, 

 are met with. 



These latter belong to the age of polished stone, in the course of which 

 Belgium was first invaded by men of another race. The famous sculptures of 

 the so-called "Frontal Hole," thus named because a human frontal bone was 

 turned up Avith the first blow of the pickaxe, undoubtedly date back to that age. 

 That cavern aj^pears to have been used as a place of sejoulchre, for sixteen human 

 skeletons were found in it, together with numerous objects buried with the dead. 



At that time the inhabitants had become much mixed, and three types caii 

 be distinguished, the prevailing one having an elongated skull with prominent 

 brows, features common to the present day. The men of that age tilled the 

 soil, kept domestic animals, manufactured earthenware and weapons, and carried on 

 commerce. At Spiennes, near Mons, an extensive tract of land is covered with 

 flints partly worked, and procured from beds underhang the chalk. Most of 

 the flint implements picked up in Flanders can be traced to this huge workshop 

 of Hainaut. It was probably about this time that Teutonic tribes first invaded 

 the country. There are few cromlechs in Belgium, but grave-hills were formerly 

 numerous on the height of land between Tirlemont, Tongres, and Maastricht. 

 The raised stones which during the Teutonic epoch were perhaps dedicated to 

 Brynhild, the warlike Walkyrie, are now pojjularly known as "stones of Brune- 

 hilde, or Brunehaut," the Queen of Austrasia. 



The contrast existing between the hillj^ region of South-eastern Belgium and 

 the plains of the north and west is reflected in the Wallons and Flemings who 

 at present inhabit the country. A line drawn across the centre of Belgium, from 

 St. Omer to Maastricht, marks the north-western limit of the Wallons, whilst 

 another line drawn from Maastricht in the direction of Metz marks their eastern 

 limit. Outside these two lines Teutonic dialects are spoken. 



The Wallons are popularly supposed to be of Gallic origin, whilst the 

 Flemings are credited with a Teutonic descent, and this in a large measure is 

 no doubt true. In a country, however, which has so frequently been invaded, a 

 considerable intermixture of races must have taken place, nor can we suppose 

 the aboriginal inhabitants of Belgium to have been wholly exterminated. Anthro- 

 pologists have drawn attention to families and entire populations diflering 

 essentially from the Gallic and Germanic types. In the valley of the Meuse and 

 in Hainaut we frequently meet with women whose tawny complexion, narrow 

 and prominent forehead, and small stature mark them ofl" very distinctly from the 

 people among whom they dwell. The poor broom-makers in several villages 

 of Western Flanders, to the south of Dixmunde, live in underground dwellings. 

 In Eastern Flanders these " Men of the Woods," or BoscJikerlen, are still more 

 numerous. At Zele they are known as Burjonge, or " Peasant Youths." They are 

 for the most part pedlars, and speak a jargon very diflerent from the local dialect. 



