852 The A?icient Man of Calaveras. [November, 



And shall we now compare them in age with the others which 

 are absolutely prehistoric, and which have disturbed the scientific 

 world by their venerable antiquity. Fierce have been the*conflicts 

 waged over the Neanderthal skull, the Engis skull, the men of 

 Cro-Magnon and the various other relics gathered from the 

 gravels and bone-breccias of Europe. But their record is dwarfed 

 to comparative insignificance when laid by the side of that to 

 which we have been looking. The days of Table mountain had 

 passed off into the dark realm of the forgotten past, ages before 

 the drift of the valley of the Somme was deposited or the man of 

 the Neanderthal lived. Those European relics have by none been 

 counted older than the Post-pliocene ; these of the Sierra Nevada 

 go back to the Pliocene, and as the " new world " of modern 

 style was the very oldest in showing itself above the waste of 

 waters, so perhaps it was also the first to feel the step of man. 

 It is possible that the discoveries of Ribiero in Portugal, and of 

 the English Geological Survey in India may be found to carry us 

 as far back as the times we have been discussing, but they have 

 thus far been strangely ignored. 



What manner of man then was this Ancient Man of Calaveras ? 

 Let him speak for himself. All notice of the skull described by 

 Professor Whitney has been purposely omitted till this moment, 

 because it is by far the most important " find " yet made, and it is 

 worthy of being considered by itself and in the present connec- 

 tion. The chief point in estimating its value, is its genuineness. 

 It has been the subject of much criticism, and in the minds of 

 very many, its mention barely recalls Bret Harte's ridiculous 

 doggerel, 



Falling down a shaft in Calaveras county," 



and the request to send the pieces back to old Mazzoura, has rele- 

 gated the whole matter to the domain of joke. In the belief that 

 Professor Whitney was the victim of a sell, the question is often 

 asked whether there is any evidence that the skull was actually 

 taken from the shaft to which its discovery is credited. 



Now with all due submission to previous judgment (or mis- 

 judgment), I maintain that that question is of only secondary 

 importance. The skull speaks for itself, and notwithstanding that 

 its lower jaw is gone, it talks good English, whatever its vernacu- 

 lar may have been in the days of the flesh. 



