336 MODERN SAVAGES. 



I do not mean to say that tradition would never preserve 

 for a long period the memory of any remarkable event ; the 

 above-mentioned facts prove only that it will not always do 

 so : but it is unnecessary for us to discuss this question, as 

 there is in Europe no tradition of the Stone Age, and when 

 arrow-heads are found, the ignorant peasantry refer them to 

 the elves or fairies ; stone axes are regarded as thunderbolts, 

 and are used, not only in Europe but also in various other 

 parts of the world, for magical purposes. 



Deprived then, as regards the Stone Age, of any assistance 

 from history, but relieved at the same time from the em- 

 barrassing interference of tradition, the archaeologist can only 

 follow the methods which have been so successfully pursued 

 in geology the rude bone- and stone-implements of bygone 

 ages being to the one, what the remains of extinct animals 

 arq to the other. The analogy may be pursued even further 

 than this. Many mammalia which are extinct in Europe 

 have representatives still living in other countries. Our 

 fossil pachyderms, for instance, would be almost unintelligible 

 but for the species which still inhabit some parts of Asia and 

 Africa; the secondary marsupials are illustrated by^their 

 existing representatives in Australia and South America ; 

 and in the same manner if we wish clearly to understand the 

 antiquities of Europe, we must compare them with the rude 

 implements and weapons still, or until lately, used by 

 savage races in other parts of the world. In fact, the Van 

 Diemaner and South American are ta the antiquary, what 

 the opossum and the sloth are to the geologist. 



A chapter, therefore, devoted to the consideration of 

 modern savages will certainly not be out of place; and 

 though it would require volumes to do justice to the subject, 

 still it may be possible, even in a few pages, to bring together 

 a certain number of facts, which will throw light on the 

 ancient remains found in Europe, and on the condition of 



