THE ART OF PREHISTORIC MEN
The works of art produced by the cave-men are, as we have already
seen, of five kinds or classes–(1) All-round small statuettes, or
"high-relief" carvings, in ivory, bone, or stone (examples of which are
shown in Figs. 14, 25, 26, 27, 28 of the present chapter); (2) small
engravings on bits of ivory, deer's antler, bone, or stone (examples
are shown in Figs. 15, 16, 20, and 24); (3) large statues, hewn in
rock, and left in place; (4) drawings of large size–two to five feet in
diameter (partly engraved and partly coloured) on the rocky walls and
vaults of limestone caverns (shown in Figs. 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 23,
as well as in the figures of mammoths in the last chapter); (5) models
(high relief) worked in clay. I give reproductions in the present
chapter of several samples of this art, showing how skilfully these men
of 50,000 years ago could portray a variety of animals.
Who were these men, and why did they make these remarkable carvings
and drawings? First, as to their age. We now know of a long succession
of human inhabitants of this part of the world, namely, Western
Europe. The earliest reach back to an antiquity never dreamed of fifty
years ago. We cannot fix with any certainty the number of thousands,
or hundreds of thousands, of years which is represented by this
succession, but we can place the different periods in order, one later
than the other, each distinguished chiefly by the character of the
workmanship belonging to it, though in a few instances we have also
the actual limb-bones, skulls, and jaw-bones of the men themselves,
which differ in different periods. It is practically certain that these
prehistoric successive periods of humanity do not represent the steps
of growth and change of one single race belonging to this part of the
world, but that successive races have arrived on the scene of Western
Europe from other parts, and it is usually very difficult even to guess
where they came from and where they went to!
It is convenient to divide the human epoch, the time which has elapsed
since man definitely took shape as man–characterized by his large
brain, small teeth, upright carriage, and large opposable thumb and
still larger and more peculiar non-opposable great toe–into the
historic and the prehistoric sections. In this part of the world
(Europe) the first use of metals (first of all copper, then bronze,
and then iron), as the material for the fabrication of implements and
tools of all kinds, occurs just on the line between the historic and
the prehistoric sections; that is to say, between those times of which
we know something by tradition and writing, and those earlier times
of which we have no record and no tradition, but concerning which we
have to make out what we can by searching the refuse heaps and ruins
of man's dwelling-places and carefully collecting such of his "works"
as have not utterly perished, whilst noting which lie deeper in the
ground, which above and which below the others.
Practically the men of the prehistoric ages in Europe had not the use
of metals (though our quasi-historical records go back to a less remote
time in many parts of Europe than they do in Greece, Assyria, and
Egypt). The prehistoric peoples are spoken of as the men of the Stone
Age, because they used stone, chiefly flint, as many savage races do
to-day, as the material from which they fabricated by means of deftly
struck blows all sorts of implements. Undoubtedly they also, by aid of
stone knives, saws and planes, made weapons and other implements of
wood and of the horns, bones, and teeth of animals. But these latter
substances are perishable, and have only been preserved from decay
under special circumstances, such as their inclusion in the deposits on
the floors of caverns.
The Stone Age is itself readily and obviously divisible into two
periods. The latter is a comparatively very short and recent period,
when great skill in chipping flints and other stones was attained,
and the implements so shaped were often rubbed on large stones of
very hard material (siliceous grit), so as to polish their surfaces.
This is the "Neolithic," or later Stone, period, and extends back
in Europe certainly to 7000 B.C., and probably a few thousand years
further. Passing further back than this, we leave what are called
"recent" deposits, and come to those associated with great changes
of the earth's surface. We enter upon "geological" time, and vastly
changed climatic and geographical conditions. We are in the older Stone
period, called the "Palæolithic period." It is not really comparable
to the "Neolithic," since it comprises many successive ages of man,
and, although called the "Palæolithic" or "ancient Stone" period, has
no unity, but, whilst readily divisible into several sub-periods or
epochs of comparatively late date, stretches back into immense geologic
antiquity indicated by flint implements of special and diverse types,
which are found in definitely ascertained geologic horizons.
The Pleistocene strata–the latest of the geologists' list–are the
river gravels of existing river valleys, the deposits in many caves,
and the sands and clays piled up by ice action during the repeated
glacial extensions or epochs of glaciation which alternated with milder
climate for many thousands of years over north and middle Europe. It
is identical with the Palæolithic period, which, however, probably
extends beyond it into the Pliocene and even further back. In the
later deposits of the Pleistocene, which necessarily have been less
frequently disturbed and re-deposited than the older ones, we find
more numerous remains of man's handwork, and in less disturbed order
of succession, than in the older deposits. Lately we have obtained in
East Anglia beautifully-worked flint implements–the rostro-carinate, or
eagle's beaks–from below shelly marine deposits–the Red Crag of Suffolk
and the Norwich Crag–the oldest beds of the Pleistocene. They were made
by men who _lived_ in the Pliocene period, and carry the ancient Stone
period of man back to a much earlier period than was admitted nine
years ago.
The Pleistocene series or "system" of strata–also called the
"Quaternary" to mark its distinction from the underlying long series
of "Tertiary" strata–does not comprise the actual surface-deposits
in which the remains of Neolithic man are found. It is usual, though
perhaps not altogether logical, to separate these as "Recent" and
to begin the long enumeration of "geologic" strata after a certain
interval when the relative levels of land and sea and the depth of
river-valleys were not precisely what they are to-day, and the human
inhabitants of Western Europe were hunters using rough unpolished flint
implements–in fact, when the "Palæolithic" period of human culture had
not given place to the "Neolithic," which was after some ten thousand
years itself to be superseded by the age of metals. "Prehistorians,"
the students of prehistoric man–divide the Pleistocene series of
deposits with a view to a systematic conception of the successive
changes of man and his surroundings during the period occupied by
their deposition, into an upper, a middle and a lower group–and
further have distinguished certain successive "horizons" in these
groups–characterized by the remains of man and animals which they
contain. They are exhibited in the tabular statement here given in
the ascertained order of their succession, and are represented in the
southern part of Britain as well as in France.
HORIZONS OR EPOCHS OF THE PLEISTOCENE OR QUATERNARY SYSTEM
_A._ UPPER PLEISTOCENE (post-glacial; also called epoch of the
Reindeer).
1. _The Azilian:_ (Elapho-Tarandian of Piette) nearest to
the Neolithic section of the Recent Period and more or less
transitional to that period; named after the cavern of the
Mas d'Azil in the department of the Ariège. The Reindeer had
largely given place to the great Red Deer (Cervus elephus).
2. _The Magdelenian:_ named after the cave of La Madeleine in the
Dordogne.
3. _The Solutrian:_ after Solutré near Macon.
4. _The Aurignacian:_ after the grotto of Aurignac in the Haute
Garonne.
_B._ MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE (period of the last great extension of
glaciers).
1. _The Moustierian:_ so named after the cave of Le Moustier in
Dordogne; the epoch of the Neander men. Also called the
"epoch of the Mammoth," whilst the upper Pleistocene is
called the epoch of the Reindeer, though the Mammoth still
survived then in reduced numbers.
_C._ LOWER PLEISTOCENE (inter-glacial and early glacial, also
called period of the Hippopotamus and of Elephas antiquus
and Rhinoceros Merckii).
1. _The Chellian:_ named after Chelles on the upper Seine, river
gravels and sands earlier than the Moustierian. Large
tongue-shaped flint implements, flaked on both surfaces–the
later and better-finished classed as "Acheulæan," after St.
Acheul, near Amiens.
2, 3, 4 ... various fluviatile and lacustrine gravels, sands and
clays divisible into separate successive horizons, as well
as marine deposits, some of glacial origin–including the
mid-glacial gravel, the boulder clays and shelly Red Crag
and Norwich Crag (but _not_ the underlying "Coralline" Crag,
which must be classed with the Pliocene). The relations of
the marine deposits to the older river-gravels and
fresh-water deposits, and to the earlier periods of glacial
extension indicated by the glacial moraines of central
Europe, have not been, as yet, satisfactorily determined.
The amount of the sedimentary deposits of the earth's crust belonging
to the Pleistocene or Quaternary Period–about 250 feet in thickness–is
exceedingly small, and represents a surprisingly short space of time
as compared with that indicated by the vast thickness of underlying
deposits. It has nevertheless been possible to study and classify
the "horizons" of this latest very short period minutely because the
deposits are easily excavated, and having been more recently "laid
down" have not suffered so much subsequent breaking up and destruction
as have the older strata; and further, because they embed at certain
levels and in favourable situations an abundance of well-preserved
bones and teeth of animals and the implements and carvings in stone and
bone made by man. It is worth while to look at this matter a little
more exactly.
The total thickness of sedimentary deposits–that is, deposit laid down
by the action of water on the earth's surface, and now estimated by
the measurement of strata lying one over the other in various parts of
the globe–tilted and exposed to view so that we can trace out their
order of super-position–is about 130,000 feet. The lower half of this
huge deposit contains no fossilized remains of the living things
which were present in the waters which laid it down; they were soft,
probably shell-less and boneless, and so no fossilized trace of them
is preserved. Thus we divide the sedimentary crust into 65,000 feet of
"archaic" non-fossiliferous deposit, and an overlying 65,000 feet of
fossil-containing deposits.
The earliest remains of living things known are not very different
from marine creatures of to-day; they are the strange shrimp-like
Trilobites and the Lingula-shells found in the lower Cambrian rocks of
Wales. Over them lie 65,000 feet of sedimentary deposit teaming with
fossils–the petrified remains of animals and plants. The Trilobites
and the Lingulas must have had a long series of ancestors leading up to
them from the simplest beginnings of life–for they are highly organized
creatures. But no trace of those ancestors is preserved in the 65,000
feet of sedimentary rock underlying the earliest fossils.
This great basal mass of non-fossiliferous deposit is called "the
Archæan series." The 65,000 feet of deposit _above_ it are divided by
geologists into three very unequal series. The first and lowest is the
Primary or Palæozoic series, occupying the enormous thickness of 52,000
feet; above these we have the Secondary or Mesozoic series of 10,000
feet, and lastly, bringing us to recent time, we have the Tertiary or
Cainozoic of only 3000 feet. These three series amount in all to 65,000
feet. The Palæozoic series is more than five times as thick as the
Mesozoic, and these two taken together are twenty times the thickness
of the Tertiary. Each series is divided by geologists into a series
of systems, distinguished by the fossils they contain, which, on the
whole, indicate animals of a higher degree of evolution as we ascend
the series.
The Palæozoic series include the vast thicknesses of the Cambrian, the
Ordovician, the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian systems.
The first "trilobite" is found in the lowest Cambrian rocks, and the
last or most recent existed in the Permian period–after 50,000 feet
of rock had been deposited. None are known of later age. The first
fossil remains of a vertebrate are found in the uppermost beds of
the Silurian–in "beds" (that is to say, stratified rocks) which are
just _half-way_ in position so far as the measurable thickness of the
deposits are concerned, between the earliest Cambrian fossils and the
sediments of the present day. To put it another way, 34,000 feet of
fossiliferous rock precede the stratum (upper Silurian) in which the
earliest remains of vertebrates are found. These first vertebrates to
appear (others soft and destructible preceded them) are fishes–a group
which, apart from this fact, are shown by their structure to present
the ancestral form of all the vertebrate classes. In later Palæozoic
beds we find the remains of four-legged creatures like our living newts
and salamanders. The Secondary or Mesozoic series is divided into the
Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous systems. It ends with the familiar
chalk deposit of this part of the world, and is often called the age
of Reptiles, because large reptiles abounded in this period. The
Tertiary or Cainozoic series are divided into the Eocene, Oligocene,
Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene systems. The huge reptiles disappear
and their place is taken by an endless variety of warm-blooded, hairy
animals–the Mammals–small at first, but in later beds often of great
size. As we pass upwards from the Eocene we can trace the ancestry of
our living Mammals such as the horse, rhinoceros, pig and elephant in
successive forms. Complete skeletons are preserved in the rocks and
show a gradual transition from the more primitive Eocene kinds–through
Miocene and Pliocene modifications–until in the Pleistocene strata
many of the species now inhabiting the earth's surface are found. A
number of horizons, characterized by the special mammalian and other
animal remains preserved in them, are distinguished by geologists in
each of the "systems" of sands, clays and harder beds known as Eocene,
Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene. At last we arrive at the latest
or most recent 250 feet of deposit, consisting of sand, clay and
gravel. This is called "Pleistocene." It is only a very small fraction
(¹/₂₆₀th) of the thickness of the whole fossil-bearing sedimentary
crust of the earth–about the proportion of the thickness of a common
paving-stone to the whole height of Shakespeare's cliff at Dover. This
Pleistocene or post-glacial Tertiary–often now called Quaternary–has
been so carefully examined that we divide it as shown on page 39 into
upper, middle and lower, and each of these divisions into successive
horizons (only a few feet thick) characterized by the remains of
different species of animals and often by the differing implements and
carvings as well as the bones of successive races of men.
When we are concerned with written history, ancient Egypt seems to
be of vast and almost appalling antiquity; on the other hand, if we
study the cave-men, ancient Egypt becomes relatively modern, and the
first cold period and extension of glaciers, which 500,000 years ago
marked the passage from Pliocene to Pleistocene, becomes our familiar
example of something belonging to the remote past–beyond or below
which we rarely let our thoughts wander. That is a natural result of
concentration on a special study. But it has had the curious result,
in many cases, of making students of ancient man unwilling to admit
the discovery of evidences of the existence of man at an earlier date
than that which belongs to the deposits and remains to which their
life-long studies have been confined and upon which their thought is
concentrated. The last 500,000 years of the earth's vicissitudes, which
resulted in the 250 feet of "Pleistocene" deposit and the marvellous
treasures of early humanity embedded in them, form but a trivial
postscript to the great geological record which precedes it.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.–Horse (wall engraving), cave of Marsoulas,
Haute Garonne. The drawing suggests the Southern less heavy breed as
compared with Figs. 12 and 13.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.–Horse (wall engraving) outlined in black, cave
of Niaux (Ariège).]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.–Horses: _A_, wall engraving (cave of Hornos de
la Péna). _B_, wall engraving from cavern of Combarelles. _C_, engraved
on reindeer antler (Mas d'Azil). Note the halter in _A_ and in _C_;
also note the heavy head and face of _B_ like that of Prejalvski's
horse.]
No estimate can be made of the time represented by the 65,000 feet
of fossiliferous strata known to us and the same thickness of
non-fossiliferous deposit which precedes them. There are no facts known
upon which a calculation of the related lapse of time can be based.
But most geologists would agree that whilst we have good ground for
assigning half a million years to the formation of the Pleistocene
strata, it is not an unreasonable supposition that the period required
for the formation of the fossiliferous rocks which precede them in
time, is not less and probably more than five hundred million years.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.–Drawing (of the actual size of the original)
of a flat carving in shoulder-bone of a horse's head, showing twisted
rope-bridle and trappings. _a_ appears to represent a flat ornamented
band of wood or skin connecting the muzzling rope _b_ with other pieces
_c_ and _d_. This specimen is from the cave of St. Michel d'Arudy, and
is of the Reindeer period. This, and others like it are in the same
museum of St. Germain.]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.–Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of
a fully rounded carving in reindeer's antler of the head of a neighing
horse. The head resembles that of the Mongolian horse. This is one of
the most artistic of the cave-men's carvings yet discovered. It is of
the Palæolithic age (early Reindeer period), probably not less than
50,000 years old. It was found in the cavern of Mas d'Azil, Ariège,
France, and is now in the museum of St. Germain.]
The pictures and carvings with which we are for the moment concerned
all belong to the _later_ Pleistocene or Reindeer epoch. None have been
found in the middle and earlier Pleistocene, though finely-chipped
flints of several successive types are found in those earlier beds.
So that it is clear that many successive ages of man had elapsed
in Western Europe before these pictures–immensely ancient as they
are–were executed. The men who made these works of art had ages of
humanity, tradition, and culture (of a kind) behind them. Yet they
were themselves tens of thousands of years earlier than the ancient
Egyptians!
[Illustration: FIG. 16.–Reindeer engraving on schist, small size
(cavern of Laugerie basse).]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.–Rhinoceros in red outline (2½ feet long),
drawn on the wall of the cavern of Font de Gaume.]
Our illustrations show a variety of drawings and carvings. It appears
probable that the primitive intention of ancient man in depicting
animals was "to work magic" on those which he hunted. This is the case
at the present day among many "savage" races. The drawings of bisons
in Fig. 19 are from the walls of the cavern of Font de Gaume, in the
Dordogne, and are about 5 ft. long, partly engraved and scraped, partly
outlined in black, and coloured. The body is often coloured in red,
white and black, so as to give a true representation of the masses
of hair and surface contours. A specially well preserved painting of
this kind–from the cavern of Altamira–is shown in Fig. 18, where the
colours of the original–black, red, and brown, and white are indicated
by the varied shading. These drawings, like those of the mammoths
figured in the last chapter, are found in the recesses of caverns where
no daylight reaches them, and must have been executed and viewed by
aid of torch or lamp-light. They probably were exhibited as part of a
ceremony connected with witchcraft and magic. These, like the mammoths
and all the specimens figured here, were executed in the Reindeer,
or later Pleistocene period. The exact "horizon" of each is, as a
rule, well ascertained, but there is uncertainty as to whether some
specimens should be attributed to the Aurignacian or to the Magdalenian
horizon–and as to whether work by men of the Magdalenian race is not
in some cases associated in the cave deposits with that by the earlier
negroid Aurignacians.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.–Bison from the roof of the cavern of Altamira:
engraved, and also painted in three colours (5 feet long).]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.–Bison: wall engravings (5 feet long) filled in
with colour (Font de Gaume).]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.–Bear: engraved on stalagmite, from the cave of
Teyjat near Eyzies. (Small size.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.–Bear, engraved on stone, Massol (Ariège).]
[Illustration: FIG. 22.–Wolf, engraved on wall of the cave of
Combarelles.]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.–Wall engraving of a Cave Lion (Combarelles).]
The horses shown are from various caves. Fig. 12 is drawn in black on
the wall of a cave at Niaux (Ariège), and Fig. 11 is a similar drawing
from a cave in the Haute Garonne. Both are remarkable for the exact
representation of natural poses of the horse. Figs. 13, A and B, are
also from the walls of caves. The latter is remarkable for the large
head, short mane, and thick muzzle, which closely correspond with the
same parts in the existing wild horse of the Gobi desert in Tartary (to
be seen alive in the Zoological Gardens in London). The horse drawn in
Fig. 11 seems to belong to a distinct race, suggesting the Southern
"Arab" horse rather than the heavier and more clumsy horse of the Gobi
desert. Fig. 13, C, is engraved of the size here given, on a piece of
reindeer's antler. It is remarkable for the halter-like ring around the
muzzle. A similar cord or rope is seen in Fig. 12 and in Fig. 13, A.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.–Goose: small engraving on reindeer antler
(Gourdan).]
The most remarkable horses' heads obtained are those drawn (of the
actual size of the carvings) in Figs. 14 and 15. Fig. 14 is from the
cave of St. Michael d'Arudy, engraved on a flat piece of shoulder-bone.
It shows what can only be interpreted as some kind of "halter," made
apparently of twisted rope (_b_, _c_, _d_), disposed about the animal's
head, whilst a broad, flat piece ornamented with angular marks is
attached at the regions marked "_a_." This and other drawings similar
to Fig. 13, C (of which there are many), go far to prove that these
early men had mastered the horse and put a kind of bridle on his head.
Fig. 15 is a solid all-round carving in reindeer's antler from the
cave of Mas d'Azil, Ariège (France). The original is of this size, and
is supposed to be one of the oldest and yet is the most artistic yet
discovered, and worthy to compare with the horses of the Parthenon.
In Fig. 20 we have a wonderful outline of a bear engraved on a piece
of stone, from the cave of Teyjat, in the Dordogne; Fig. 22, the head
of a wolf on the wall of the cave of Combarelles, Dordogne; Fig.
23, lion (mane-less), engraved on the wall of the same cave; Fig.
21, small bear, engraved on a pebble; Fig. 24, a duck engraved on a
piece of reindeer's antler (Gourdan, Haute Garonne); Fig. 17, the
square-mouthed, two-horned rhinoceros, drawn in red (ochre) outline on
the wall of the cavern of the Font de Gaume. This drawing is 2½ ft.
long. In successful characterization the bear (Fig. 20), the wolf (Fig.
22), and the feline (Fig. 23) far surpass any of the attempts at animal
drawing made by modern savages, such as the Bushmen of South Africa,
Californian Indians, and Australian black fellows.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.–Female figure carved in oolitic limestone from
Willendorf near Krems, Lower Austria (1908). Half the size (linear) of
the original.]
Fig. 27 is an outline sketch of a rock-carved statue, 18 in. high,
proved by the kind of flint implements found with it to be of
Aurignacian age. It was discovered on a rubble-covered face of a
rock-cliff at Laussel, in the Dordogne, by M. Lalanne. The woman
holds a bovine horn in her right hand. The face is obliterated by
"weathering." Four other human statues were found in the same place,
one a male, much broken, but obviously standing in the position taken
by (Fig. 28) a man throwing a spear or drawing a bow.[3] Near these
were found a frieze of life-sized horses carved in high relief on the
rock. These are the only statues of any size, executed by the Reindeer
men, yet discovered.
The representations of men are rare among these earliest works of art,
and less successfully carried out than those of animals. But several
small statuettes of women in bone, ivory, and stone of the early
Aurignacian horizon are known. They suggest, by their form of body,
affinity with the Bushmen race of to-day (Fig. 25). The all-round
carving of a female head (Fig. 26) also suggests Ethiopian affinities
in the dressing of the hair. Some regard this hair-like head-dress as
a cap. Here and there badly executed outline engravings of men, some
apparently wearing masks, have been discovered.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.–Drawing (of the actual size of the original)
of an ivory carving (fully rounded) of a female head. The specimen
was found in the cavern of Brassempouy, in the Landes. It is of the
earliest Reindeer period, and the arrangement of the hair or cap is
remarkable.]
The fact that the "Reindeer men" were skilful in devising decorative
design–not representing actual natural objects–is shown by the carving
drawn in Fig. 29 and in many others like it.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.–Seated figure of a woman holding a bovine horn
in the right hand; high relief carved on a limestone rock; about 18
inches high. Discovered at Laussel (Dordogne) in a rock-shelter in
1911, by M. Lalanne.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.–Male figure represented in the act of drawing
a bow or throwing a spear. Carved on limestone rock; about 16 inches
high. Discovered by M. Lalanne with that drawn in Fig. 27.]
The later horizons of the Reindeer period or Upper Pleistocene yield
some beautiful outline engravings of red deer and reindeer (Fig. 16)
on antler-bone, as well as of other animals. One celebrated carving I
have described in the first chapter of this book. It is now regarded
as probable that whilst the art of the Aurignacians persisted and
developed in the South of France and North-West of Spain until and
during the time of the Magdalenian horizon, yet a distinct race,
with a different style of art, spread through South-East Spain
and also from Italy into that region, and affected injuriously the
"naturalistic" Aurignacian art, and superseded it in Azilian and
Neolithic times. We find late drawings (Azilian age?) in some of the
east Spanish caves of a very much simplified character, small human
figures armed with bow and arrow, and others reduced to geometric or
mere symbolic lines derived from human and animal form (see Fig. 52, p.
206). The latest studies of Breuil on this subject tend to throw light
by aid of these simplified inartistic and symbolic drawings on the
migrations of very early races in the south and south-east of Europe,
and to connect them perhaps with North African contemporary races. The
subject is as difficult as it is fascinating. Those who wish to get to
the original sources of information should consult the last ten years'
issues of the invaluable French periodical called "L'Anthropologie,"
edited by Professor Marcelin Boule.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.–A piece of mammoth ivory carved with spirals
and scrolls from the cave of Arudy (Hautes Pyrénées). Same size as the
object.]
FOOTNOTE:
[3] M. Reinach relates ("Repertoire de l'Art Quatermaire") that two of
these statues were in 1912 deliberately stolen by the German Verworn
professor of Physiology in Bonn, who repaid the hospitality of M.
Lalanne by bribing his workman and secretly carrying off these valuable
specimens to Germany, where (it is stated) they were sold to the museum
of Berlin for a large sum.