Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-01-10
Prehistoric Man.

These earliest human Inhabitants of HacOnby
M nr nave let nhe h paae weapons among @
ward caves in which they dwelt, were black
skinned savages, lower in development than the
lowest races of mankind now in existence.
Their features probably resembled those of the
Australian black-fellows; but they had larger
and coarser Jaws, in which their great canine
teeth were widely placed, so as to allow room
the opposite set. Their foreheads. too, were ap-
parently low and brutal-looking, while they
planted their feet less firmly, and stood less
erect than even the naked Andaman islanders
OF co!onists than those who first took possession
Of Haconby you could hardly wish to see.
Entering the peninsula of Britain at its broad
southeastern tsthmus, the primitive black men
pushed their way along the coast of the German
Ocean, then a gulf like the Baltic in our own
cay, and fed themselves as they went with
flesh OF animals which they killed
with their simple weapons. They had
no implements Of iron or copper; nothing
but rude knives and spear-heads OF flint Even
beautifully finished greensboro hatchets from
the West Indies, which may be seen in any OF
OF flint, Clipped by few dexterous side-blows
into the rude Semblance Of knife. Anything
more simple in the way of mans handicrafJ
can scarcely be conceived, so much SO that
many inexperienced people who see for the first
time the weapons from the Haconby caverns re-
fuse to believe that they are really the products
OF human art. But those who have compared
them with others found in like situations else
where cannot doubt for a moment that they do
veritably bear the genuine impress of the hand
OF man. The black-fellows crept cautiously
along the Shore we may be sure: for the forests
of the interior were thickly stocked with savage
wild beastS-liOnS, bears, wolverines, and other
natural enemies OF our race But generation after
generation, as their numbers Increased. fresh
colonies must have set out northWard and west
ward, family of two at time, In search of the
caves in which they found safety from the at
acks OF their fOrestlne foes. Crossing the low
ytng tertiary jungle-lan:s, where Essex and the
through the like country of the Fen district and
the Humber Valley, they reached at length the
Yorkshire Wolds and the mouth of the Line.
The CaverGS Of the West Cliff, which they dug
out by means Of horn splinters, offered CAPT
tai shelter for little knot Of families, and the
blackfellows settled down quietly at Haconby
as their home. The wooded valley Of the little
stream and the open mOorland in the rear sup,
Piled them with game in abundance-elk, uruS
vast and unknown number OF centuries, chip
ping the t1ints of the Cliff for their spears and
arrows, gnawing the bones Of animals and
flinging away the remnants on the floor of their
caves, decorating themselves with drilled am
monfteS and fossil Sea-urchinS from the neigh
boring shore, and fishing in the Line with rude
hooks OF bone, almost too obvious, one would
say, to deceive even the most unsophisticated of
prfIneval trout On the floor Of their rock-shel-
tiers one may find to the present day these
relics OF their industry matted together by earth
and water. but still testtfying clearly to the
mode OF life led by the earliest colonists. ]
have spent many pleasant summer day in
digging out the remains and examining their
cOntents.-[1he ColnhiU MAGAZINE.