452 DIFFERENCES IN HABITS. 



where the same properties. The obsidian flakes of the 

 Aztecs resemble the flint flakes of our ancestors, not so much 

 because the ancient Briton resembled the Aztec, as because 

 the fracture of flint is like that of obsidian. So also the 

 pointed bones used as awls are necessarily similar all over the 

 world. Similarity exists, in fact, rather in the raw material 

 than in the manufactured article, and some even of the simplest 

 implements of stone are very different among different races. 

 The adze-like hatchets of the South Sea Islanders are unlike 

 those of the Australians or ancient Britons ; the latter again 

 differ very much from the type which is characteristic of the 

 drift or archaeolithic period. 



]STor are the habits and customs of savages in reality very 

 similar. Many, indeed, of those differences which must have 

 struck any one in reading the preceding part of the chapter, 

 follow evidently and directly from the external conditions in 

 which different races are placed. The habits of an Esqui- 

 maux and a Hottentot could not possibly be similar. But 

 let us take some act which is common to many races, and is 

 susceptible of being accomplished in many ways. For in- 

 stance, most savages live in part on the flesh of birds ; how is 

 this obtained ? Generally with bows and arrows ; but while 

 the Australians catch birds with the hand, or 'kill them with 

 the simple spear or the boomerang, the Fuegians have both 

 the sling and the bow, while the Esquimaux use a complex 

 spear, or a projectile which consists of a number of walrus 

 teeth fastened together by short pieces of string, and thus 

 forming a kind of bolas. The northern tribes visited by 

 Kane used a different method. They caught large numbers 

 of birds especially little auks in small nets, resembling 

 landing nets, with long ivory handles. Yet this very people 

 were entirely ignorant of fishing.* 



Take, again, the use made of the dog. At first, probably, 

 * Kane. Arctic Explorations, vol. ii., pp. 203, 243. 



