which the«e were intended; but there can be no doubt that the teeth had been thus disjointed purposely, for in the rubbish above the ashes we found the basal portions or two molars of the Elephant from which it was dear that the upper portion, in which the laminæ are longer and wider, had been detached. Particles of charcoal are still adherent to one of these fragments. This is all that we discovered of Elephant's remains.[1]
The portion of the ossiferous rubbish B, comprised between the fireplace, or inferior layer of ashes and charcoal, and the rubbly mass of vegetable earth above, which, before Bonnemaison's discovery, concealed the entrance of the cave, was nearly a metre in thickness. In it were found, as in the ash-layer, many bones of Herbivora, always broken and comminuted in the same manner, and some also gnawed by Hyænas. In the same situation, likewise, we met with scattered particles of charcoal; the bones of the Carnivora were tolerably abundant. These were often entire, and, when broken, the fracture did not present the uniform character so remarkable in the herbivorous bone; and none of the carnivorous remains were gnawed, or exhibited any marks of the teeth of the Hyæna.[2] Nor on these bones could any of the scratches or incisions made with cutting instruments be perceived, which are bo often noticed in the herbivorous bones.[3] In explanation also of the presence in this situation of a considerable quantity of the remains of Camivora of different sizes, it may be suggested that these animals served principally to furnish skins and furs for clothing and the protection of man against the weather. Nevertheless it should not do forgotten that in the interior of the cave, among the human skeletons and in the soil beneath them, the
- ↑ It may be asked, why, if Elephants existed at that period at the foot of the Pyrenees, arrows or other implements made of the ivory of their tasks are not met with. "The Ethiopians in the army of Xerxes," says Herodotos, "used long arrows made of cane, pointed, instead of iron, with a sharp stone. They had also javelins armed with the horns of the Roe-deer (?) pointed and fashioned like the head of a lance." Elephants nevertheless existed in Ethiopia, as is proved by the circumstance that certain nations in that country were termed Elephantophagi. The Phœnicians, moreover, fetched ivory from Ethiopia, with which they traded amongst other nations. But the Ethiopians, like the sub-pyrenean people, had the common sense to perceive that ivory was more difficult to work, more brittle, and less durable than the horns of the various species of Cervus.
- ↑ This circumstance, made me think that in the wild state the Hyena might have a repugnance to feeding on the flesh of Carnivora; but M. Jules Verreaux who, when at the Cape of Good Hope, fed domesticated Hyænas with the flesh of the dog, has assured me that Hyænas when retiring in troops into caverns, sometimes devour that of their comrades who may fall sick. Mr. Brown, in his journey to Darfour, relates that when an individual in a troop of Hyænas is wounded, the rest fall upon and devour him. Dr. Buckland also was of opinion that in the ossiferous caverns in England, even the bones of the Hyæna nad been gnawed by their congeners.
- ↑ In this respect, however, an exception must be made in the case of two fragments of a young Ursus spelæus, on one of which more especially (part of the pelvis) may be seen numerous streaks, which it might be supposed had been produced by the repeated action of a tool employed to remove the flesh.
