Cave People

“ Many men and women of the tribe had closed their eyes in the long sleep, but when the Cave People slumbered, the dead came back again, to journey and hunt the forests with their brothers and sisters. And so, in time, the Cave People came to believe that their friends, who had deserted the body, still lived. That they had, themselves, 71fought and hunted while their bodies slept, the Cave People well knew, and that the dead come back again, they knew also, for they had seen and spoken with them in their dream journeyings. ”

“ The Shell People had gathered together upon the sward fronting their line of shallow caves and one of them, the story-teller and singer, was chanting aloud of the river-horse and the great spoil which was theirs, when there was a hungry roar and the yell or shriek of all, men or women not too stricken by fear to be unable to utter sound, and then the leap into their midst of the cave tiger! ”

“ And that night the spirit of Strong Arm again appeared to One Ear in a dream and his voice was fierce with anger against Big Foot and, in the dream, he counselled One Ear to tell the Cave People to push Big Foot from the tallest crag along the mountain gorge so that his body would be crushed upon the sharp stones below. ”

“ The trunk of the tree made a kind of boat the Cave People had never seen, for only the burned out portion at the end lay open and dipped into the waters. In the hollow they lay for a long time, till their strength returned and their fears fell. Then they sat up and looked about.
The rains had ceased and the sun made his way high in the heavens, and they were borne swiftly along in the great log. Often they crashed into the branches of trees that rose just above the water. But always Strong Arm, Quack Quack and Laughing Boy clung tightly. ”

“ Then, amid the great tumult, was heard the voice of Light Foot and the sounds of Big Nose, her man, also. And when the Cave People looked about, they discovered a flood of huge logs and dead trees that had been jammed before the entrance of the cave wherein dwelt these two, barring the way out. ”

“ After that, when the young men of the tribe came home with blood upon their bodies, the strong men shook their heads and refused to believe tales of their adventures, unless they brought back something to prove their words. So it came to be a custom among the Cave People that the men or women who had killed a savage beast carried home with him the tail, or the hide or teeth of that animal. These they wore always as tokens of their bravery. Thus the Cave People first adorned their bodies. ”

“ When the men of the Hairy Folk, who dwelt far up the river, descended upon the Cave People and sought to take away their women and their daughters, the Cave People gave them blow for blow and, in the end, drove the intruders back into the wood. ”

“ So men, women, and children of this time were called Cave People.
They spent their days hunting some animals and running and hiding from others. They caught animals by trapping them in a pit covered over with bushes, or they killed them with a club or a rock if they had a chance, or with stone-headed arrows or hatchets. They even drew pictures of these animals on the walls of their caves, scratching the picture with a pointed stone, and some of these pictures we can still see to-day. ”

“ The surviving Hairy Folk were thrown with members of the tribe of Cave People—and learned the use of fire. The Tree Dwellers were forced to walk upon the 111ground and learned new methods of fishing and hunting from the Cave People, the fashioning of rafts made of bamboo poles bound together with tough grasses and wild vines, which one could propel in the water by paddling with the hands.
The Tall People, who contributed a meagre knowledge of flint, gained the use of the bow and arrow from their old enemies, the Dart Throwers. It was a time when men learned much. ”

“ Lesson I. The inexperienced child may think of a cave as a dark, damp place, fit only for the habitation of wild animals. The cave as a habitation for man is a new idea and cannot be understood unless it is related to the natural and social conditions which prevailed during the earliest stages of culture. The child who has read The Tree-Dwellers knows that before people learned to use fire, the caves were inhabited by the cave-bear, the cave-lion, the sabre-toothed felis, and by packs of spotted hyenas. He is prepared to understand why people were glad to live in caves. ”

“ So the Cave People traveled wearily and furtively, ever farther North, where the fruit grows only in one season and the cold descends over the earth for a long period of the year, and where men are only able to survive by learning new things and new methods of keeping food against the barren days. ”

“ It was in the early morning, and we were surprised in our caves. In the chill gray light we awoke from sleep, most of us, to encounter death. The Swift One and I were aroused by a pandemonium of screeching and gibbering. Our cave was the highest of all on the cliff, and we crept to the mouth and peered down. The open space was filled with the Fire People. ”

“ But when the tribe went forth great deeds were possible, even the sabre-toothed tiger had been destroyed by the thrusts of many. It was the strength of all the Cave People that made safe the lives of every one. ”

“ And while they proceeded 114with caution, as men going into a strange land, the brush before them parted and they beheld the grinning features of Big Nose and Light Foot and behind them others of the Cave People, and a fuzzy woman from among the Hairy Folk and strange people and former enemies from the other clans, all of whom had escaped the flood and wandered back toward the dwelling places of their tribes. ”

“ For many hours he traveled, only pausing at the edge of the river and dipping his palms, cupwise, to drink.
44And when he grew hungry Run Fast skirted the edge of the forest for nuts. Then he resumed his journey, for he remembered the word of Strong Arm, and his gesture toward the sun, when Strong Arm spoke of the homes of the Hairy Folk. This meant that it would take one of the Cave Men a day of hard walking to reach their dwelling places.
When the Western sky was covered with the gold of the setting sun Run Fast found a raft tied to a tree with a piece of bark. ”

“ By and by there came other dreamers of dreams who spoke with the great spirits and also brought messages to the people. Strong arms of the tribe clashed and there were great battles among the Cave People, till the Pretenders were slain, when once more peace and harmony reigned within the valley upon the shores of the great lake.
162 QUESTIONS For Those Holding Classes in Sociology for Children.
I
THE FIRE BEAST 1 In what sort of a climate may we expect to find prehistoric man during the period of Lower Savagery, when he was without tools or weapons except of the most primitive kind? ”

“ But the Cave People clung tenaciously, while the great mass of logs strained and tore each other, or were flung away in the current. At last the great hollow tree, in which Strong Arm had kept the Fire alive, was borne down, for its trunk was old with fire and with rot. As it was tossed 90onward in the mighty current, Strong Arm, with Laughing Boy and Quack Quack close at his side, made their way toward it with a great effort. ”

“ All the Cave People were often afraid, for death sometimes lurked in the shadows, and their ignorance was so great that they were unable to explain very common occurrences. But Run Fast 36was more fearful than the old women and the little children. ”

“ We are thus justified in concluding that the Cave-men are associated with the Arctic group of animals.16
We must now turn our attention to the culture of the Cave-men. We must reflect that long ages, with great changes of climate and life, both animal and vegetable, have rolled away since the remains of these early races were sealed by the stalagmite formation in caves. The relics at their best are but scanty memorials of a people long since passed, and we can not expect, can not hope, to recover more than a general outline. ”

“ Strong Arm, Quack Quack and little Laughing Boy were among these. With the Foolish One and the Hairy Man they lived in the great banyan until the river crept back into its old channel. Then they descended upon the earth once more and began their long journey toward the Hollow, 96where they had lived with a small group of Cave Dwellers, the people of their own tribe.
All the face of the world seemed covered with a layer of rich mud, deposited by the river. The sun grew warmer with every day and a hot steam arose continually from the earth. ”

“ The notion of a cave or caves from which [Pg 30] the parents of the human race and of the animal kinds issue to people the world is ubiquitous in America; so, too, is the notion of an age of transformations, in which beings were altered from their first forms. Peter Martyr, who tells the same stories in résumé, as he says, of Pane's manuscript, adds a number of interesting details ”

“ If a cave or cleft can be found in the rocks, of sufficient capacity to admit his own body and those of his family—never 95a very large one—he builds no house. The cave contents him, be it ever so tight a squeeze. ”

“ Our old men can tell of a time when we were many as the days from one spring season till the next; but for every two that walked in our cave then, there is only one that walks in it now. And you know, O chief, where the rest are—how many are sleeping with their women and babes in the burial grotto at the cavern's end—and how many have left their bones to the cave-bear and the hyena. You know, O chief, so why should I try to tell you? A few more ice-cold winters, and the wolves will be crunching the ribs of the last of our tribe! ”

“ Very different, in a moment, was the condition when the hunters entered the forest and, extended in line, began their advance toward the huge objects of their search. The cave man, almost a wild beast himself in some of his ways, had, on occasion, a footfall as light as that of any animal of the time. The twig scarcely crackled and the leaf scarcely rustled beneath his tread, and when the long line entered the wood the silence of death fell there, for the hunters made no sound, and what slight sound the woodland had before--the clatter of the woodpeckers and jays--was hushed by their advance. ”

“ Sometimes, as I sit on the settle at the door of the farmhouse, when the sun has gone down and twilight is coming on, I dream those days all over again. I see the buccaneers in the cave. I experience again the suffocation of the cage in which they left me for dead. I see before me as plainly as if I held it in my hand, with those wondrous eyes intact, and shining like two living balls of fire, that symbol of mysticism, the serpent ring. ”

“ Flying hopelessly up the valley, the remnant, only some twenty, of the Eastern cave men ran into the vacant big cave for refuge and there, barricaded, could keep their pursuers at bay for the time at least. ”

“ The cave man, accustomed to run like the deer along the forest ways, or to avoid sudden danger by swift upward clambering and swinging along among treetops, was leaner and more muscular than the Shell man, and had in his countenance a more daring and confident expression. ”

“ How blightingly the hand of warfare lay upon the town! even in the softening light of the moon—the closed and desolate houses—the gardens, with gates half open, and cattle standing amid the loveliest flowers and verdure! This carelessness of appearance and evident haste of departure was visible everywhere—the inhabitants, in this perilous time, feeling only anxiety for personal safety and the strength of their cave homes. ”

“ He was nearer the eastern set of cliffs; on the occasion of his first vision the sun was rising over them, and black against the sunlight and pale against their shadow appeared a multitude of soaring forms that Mr Cave regarded as birds. A vast range of buildings spread below him; he seemed to be looking down upon them; and as they approached the blurred and refracted edge of the picture they became indistinct. There were also trees curious in shape, and in colouring a deep mossy green and an exquisite gray, beside a wide and shining canal. ”

“ Historic, Prehistoric, Pleistocene.—History of Cave Exploration in Europe: Germany, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Southern Europe.
Caves have excited the awe and wonder of mankind in all ages, and have figured largely in many legends and superstitions. In the Roman Mythology, they were the abode of the Sibyls, and of the nymphs, and in Greece they were the places where Pan, Bacchus, Pluto, and the Moon were worshipped, and where the oracles were delivered, as at Delphi, Corinth, and Mount Cithæron ”

“ Hungry and cold, they slew the fierce beasts which were scarcely more savage than they, and were fed and clothed by their flesh and fur. In the caves of the earth the cave men and their families were safely sheltered. ”

“ The boa's skin we hung up at the door of the Cave, over which Ernest wrote the words, "No ass to be found here," which we all thought to be a good joke.
One day late in the spring I went with my three sons a long way from the Cave. My wife and Frank were left at our Half Way House, to wait till we came back, but the dogs went with us. Our route lay far up the course of a small stream, which had its source some miles north of the Farm House. The ground was new to us, but we could not well lose our way, for on the right stood a hill from which we could see the whole of the plain. ”

“ Each of these regions has a peculiar geological history not repeated in any other portions of the earth's surface: each is blessed with its own peculiar style of beautiful scenery: and each vies with the other and all the world besides for the supremacy of its truly wonderful caves. Yet it should be well understood that the claims are not based on an unworthy spirit of rivalry, nor any desire to deny the greatness and beauty of already famous members of the Cave family. ”