NEEDLES. 443 



"On the Primaeval Antiquities of Denmark"* even goes so 

 far as to say : "Against birds and other small creatures these 

 stone arrows might prove effectual, but against larger animals? 

 such as the aurochs, the elk, the reindeer, the stag, and the 

 wild boar, they were evidently insufficient ; particularly since 

 these animals often become furious as soon as they are struck." 

 It is evident that Professor Worsaae is quite mistaken in this 

 supposition. 



Mr. Galton informs me that the dexterity with which the 

 savages of Southern Africa butcher and cut up large beasts 

 with the poorest of knives is really extraordinary. The 

 Dammaras had usually nothing but bits of flattened iron 

 lashed to handles, or failing these, the edges of their flat 

 spears. Yet with these miserable implements they would 

 cut up giraffes and rhinoceroses, on which, even with ex- 

 cellent knives of European manufacture, Mr. Galton had 

 much difficulty in making any impression. Other savage 

 tribes readily cut flesh with pieces of shell or of hard wood. 



The neatness with which the Hottentots, Esquimaux, North 

 American Indians, etc., are able to sew is very remarkable, 

 although awls and sinews would in our hands be but poor 

 substitutes for needles and thread. As already mentioned in 

 p. 253, some cautious archaeologists hesitated to refer the rein- 

 deer caves of the Dordogne to the Stone age, on account of the 

 bone needles and the works of art which are found in them. 

 The eyes of the needles especially, they thought, could only 

 be made with metallic implements. Professor Lartet ingeni- 

 ously removed these doubts by making a similar needle for 

 himself with the help of flint ; but he might have referred to 

 the fact stated by Cook f in his first voyage, that the New 

 Zealanders succeeded in drilling a hole through a piece of 

 glass which he had given them, using for this purpose, as he 

 supposed, a piece of jasper. 



* Page 18. f Vol. iii., p. 464. 



