The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-18
AN ORIGINAL FISHING TACKLE.
Prehistoric Boys Needed Skill to he
come Successful Anglers.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.

From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
His home was a cave, and he ate what
ever he could catch and kill. If the pre-
historic man wore garments of any kind,
there Is no evidence to show 1t. In cav
ems in Southern Europe his bones have
been found with those of the cave bear,
the cave tiger, the aurock and smaller
animals. That the cave was his home is
shown by rude implements of stone and
bone found with his remains. That he
lived largely by the chase is evident and
his diet no doubt was varied by edible
roots and by wild fruits and plants in
their season. And two of the small va
riety of implements that he possessed re-
veal also the fact that he had a taste for
sea food and went fishing.
In the Smithsonian Institute collection
of Indian weapons and utensils are speci-
mems of the hook with which the Eskimos
of the Norten Island, Alaska, catch birds
the gulls and INJURIES, which are a part
of their food, the same kind of a hook
they formerly used in catching fish. This
hook, which, in fact, is not a "hook" at
all, but a straight. slender piece of bone
is the thickest in the middle and pointed
sharply at each end Round the middle
is a groove to which the Eskimo fastens a
hook with a small fish put on lengthwise,
and ties the line to his trawl. When a
fish or bird swallows the minnow the bone
turning crOSswise in the throat, cannot be
dsgorged, and the creature is captured.
In a cave in Southern France, with other
prehistoric relics, have been found several
bone hooks of this pattern, though less
perfect in shape than those of the EskI-
mo. At Madelaine, France, and Zurich
Switzerland, there have been discovered
harpoons of reindeer horn Of similar shape
and size to those used by the Eskimo in
spearing fish to-day.
There is another bit of evidence that
clinches that Of the hook and harpoon as
to prehis toric fishermen. The cave-dweI-
Ter had an artistic trait considerably in
advance of his general -.7ental and moral
development He had a fancy for making
drawings of things that interested him. en-
craving them with a pointed flint. or a
boar's tusk, upon an aurock 5 skull or
piece of scraped reindeer horn In the
caves which he frequented are pictures of
carp and salmon, and one picture great
deal "out of drawing" il must be said
represents a man Selling a great fish, a
porpoise or whale, by the lower posterior
fin.
There is reason for thinking that salmon.
which in early days came into the French
tide rivers We're the fHVoTite fish of the
prehistoric cave man, and nat he timed his
own migrations to fit with their running
up and down the streams. There is no
evidence that he had nets or boats and he
must have speared and hooked his fish
from the shore and rocks or waded about
for them Shell fish were a favorite food
with prehistoric man. With his family and
tribesmen he camped for long periods on
the edge of tide water in places where the
vast she'll heaps. known 10 ethnologists as
kitchen mddens, are found to-day. In
these heaps. among the shells are found
bones Of quadrupe0s, large and small. In
Guiding those of the dos, and various i'm
plements found being the flakes or fiat
sharpened stones used by early man for
all cutting purposes.