THE PEOPLE OF OUR TIME WHO WERE MOST LIKE THE CAVE MEN
Up to a short time ago, on the island of Tasmania, near Australia,
there lived a people more nearly like the cave men than any people we
know about. Their weapons were made of limestone and were without
handles, because they did not know how to fix handles to them. Their
boat was a raft of bark bundles and was pushed by a pole. They lived
under shelters made of boughs, and made fire by twirling a stick on a
piece of soft wood. They drew rude pictures on bark; and they were
quick and cunning about hunting, but knew little more. They believed
that the shadow of a thing was its other self--the self that traveled
in dreams and that lived after the body died; and that the echo was the
talking shadow. Like the cave men these people were hunters, without
any tamed animal to help them.
[Illustration: A flint knife; found in Australia]
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
The teacher who wishes to make the most of this work will take her
class to visit a museum, if a museum is available; or, if not, she will
do what she can to show her class actual specimens of the things
described in the story.
In a museum primitive implements should be observed, and specimens of
animals and birds. Pictures of caves, pieces of stalactites,
stalagmites, of limestone, quartz, and flint would be of value, either
seen in the museum or, better still, looked at and handled in the
classroom as the story is read. A tendon procured from the butcher and
dried for a few weeks and then pulled to pieces would show primitive
thread.
Out of doors a limestone cliff showing stratification would be the best
kind of illustration to explain both the formation of caves and the
gradual burying and preservation of animal bones and other primitive
relics.
In the schoolroom, again, on a large stand might be made a model of a
hilly country. A cave could be shown, shaped of two upright stones and
a crosspiece, the whole covered with sods and earth; and animals and
men might be made of paper or of clay.
Various scenes from the story are adapted to dramatization; for
instance, the visit of the cave bear, the making of fire, work in the
stone yard, or the feast of mammoth's meat.
For those who wish to read further in a subject so suggestive along the
lines, not only of social life, but of history, geography, and nature
study, the following books will be full of interest:
The Story of Primitive Man. _Clodd_. _D. Appleton & Company_, 50
cents. (If only one book on the subject is purchased, this is the most
valuable for the price.)
Early Man in Britain. _Dawkins_.
Cave Hunting. _Dawkins_.
Ancient Stone Implements. _Evans_.
Primitive Man. _Figuier_.
The Origin of Inventions. _Mason_.
Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. _Mason_.
Some First Steps in Primitive Culture. _Starr_.
Myths and Dreams. _Clodd_.
Primitive Culture. _Tylor_.
Prehistoric Times. _Lubbock_.
Animals of the Past. _Lucas_.
The Beginnings of Art. _Grosse_.
Prehistoric Europe. _Geikie_.
Materiaux. _Massenet_.
Phases of Animal Life, Past and Present. _Lyddecker_.
Royal Natural History. _Lyddecker_.
Ancient Quarry Sites. _Holmes_.
The Language of Paleolithic Man. _Brinton_.
Ancient Society. _Morgan_.
The Descent of Man. _Darwin_.
The Voyage of the Vega. _Nordenskjöld_.
The History of America, Vol. I. _Payne_.
The Story of Ab. _Waterloo_.
THE AUTHOR