REV. D. GATH WHITLEY, PRIMEVAL MAN IN BELGIUM. 29 
to prove the great age of the human race, by assuming the slow 
formation of these deposits, is not to be depended on. 
M. Dupont’s work,* although lengthy, is divided into only 
seven chapters. It is well illustrated with maps and tinted 
engravings, one of which represents the almost perfect skeleton 
of a Mammoth, found in the province of Anvers in 1860, and 
now in the museum at Brussels. 
The first two chapters are merely introductory, but the third 
introduces the reader to the subject, because in it M. Dupont 
discusses the nature of the Quaternary climate, in which 
geological era, Mau first appeared on the earth. At that time 
M. Dupont thinks that the greater portion of the desert of the 
Sahara was submerged beneath the sea, which gave rise to 
moisture-laden winds, and, at the same time, in the North, the 
sea rolled over Northern Germany, Denmark, and Holland. 
Thus Western Europe was surrounded by vast expanses of 
water, which made its climate far more humid than it is now. 
The summers were mild, the winters warm, and there were no 
extremes of heat and cold. The rains were tropical in their 
violence and duration. The rivers were of immense size, 
rolling along an enormous volume of water, and constantly 
swollen by tumultuous floods. A luxuriant vegetation clothed 
the hill-sides and covered the lowlands, mantling the slopes 
with great forests, and filling the valleys with dense jungles. 
Ahum the banks of the rivers and amidst the waters, lived the 
wild boar, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, whilst the 
tyrants of the woods were the lion, the leopard, and the hyaena. 
The elephant roamed amongst the forests, the bear, elk, and 
musk-ox wandered over the uplands, and troops of wild horses, 
buffaloes, and reindeer, grazed on the grassy plains. Such was 
the aspect of Belgium in the Quaternary Period, when Man 
made his dwelling in the caverns in the limestone cliffs which 
overhung the waters of the Lesse and the Meuse. 
M. Dupont begins his account of Primeval Man in Belgium, 
by describing the caverns of the Mammoth Age, which he 
considers to be the earliest part of the Quaternary Period 
The caves he first notices are near Montaigle in the valley of 
the Molignee, and are called Trou de l’ livable, Trou du Chhie 
and Trou du Sureau. They are filled with fluviatile loam, and 
contain the bones of the horse, bear, reindeer, rhinoceros, and 
elephant. In the midst of these are cinders of fires, and human 
weapons of bone and flint. These last are formed from a Hint 
* Id Homme 'pendant les Ages de la Pierre. 
