Primeval Man in the Valley of the Lea. 139 
boxes, and probably no cupboards or pockets, so they were 
obliged to put them on the ground, but this was not throwing 
them away. When the implements were once put on the 
ground it no doubt often happened that the owners could not 
find them again, and so they were forced to make new ones. 
I have not the slightest doubt that I have often picked im¬ 
plements off the “ Palaeolithic Floor” from the very spot 
where they were originally laid down by their makers. 
I find implements wherever the Lea-gravel is dug, some¬ 
times in the gravel-pits, sometimes on the heaps of ballast 
outside the pits, but more frequently in newly-gravelled roads. 
It requires a sharp and experienced eye to find even Palae¬ 
olithic implements. A good time for an excursion is after 
heavy rains, when the stones are clean, for in dry summer 
weather the stones are often so thickly smeared with tenacious 
clay that it is no easy matter to recognise an implement. 
Again, when the implements are in the roads they are not 
always fully exposed to view, inviting the passer-by to pick 
them up; they are generally so involved with the other 
stones that only part of a butt-end or side, or possibly a 
point, is visible; and as all these parts sometimes show a 
considerable amount of natural bark, to say nothing of dirt, 
it follows that the seeker after Palaeolithic implements should 
be perfectly familiar with all the forms. In Palaeolithic 
localities flakes are a hundred times more common than 
perfect implements, therefore these objects are the more 
likely to be met with ; in new positions I always keep a keen 
outlook for flakes, and if I light on one flake it is a certain 
proof to me that implements will be found after sufficient 
searching. 
Before I leave the subject of the implements and say a few 
concluding words regarding the men who made them, I will 
quote the remark of Sir John Lubbock, who says the imple¬ 
ments “ speak for themselves.” They do indeed speak, and 
with an unerring voice to those who hear aright. There is not 
a single implement or flake, but can tell us something of 
itself, its use, or its maker. What a tale the large implement 
tells, broken as it was in Palaeolithic times, and mended only 
