Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/165

] some superstitious motive. This form, the simplest for cutting purposes, is also the earliest trace of man in this country, as it is the latest survival from the Palæolithic age. From its distribution almost over the whole earth, wherever the ancient remains of man have been explored—in Europe, Africa, India, Japan, and the Americas—it might have been inferred to be one of the oldest implements invented by mankind. Its discovery in two separate spots establishes the fact that man was living in the valley of the lower Thames before the arctic mammalia had taken full possession of the valley of the Thames, and before the big-nosed rhinoceros had become extinct. In no other locality have the traces of man been discovered, up to this time, in association with the remains of this animal.

The primeval hunter, who followed the chase in the lower valley of the Thames, armed with his rude implements of flint, must have found abundance of food and have had great difficulty in guarding himself against the wild animals. Innumerable horses, large herds of stags, uri, and bison, were to be seen in the open country; while the Irish elk and the roe were comparatively rare. Three kinds of rhinoceros and two kinds of elephant lived in the forests. The hippopotamus haunted the banks of the Thames, as well as the beaver, the water-rat, and the otter. There were wolves, also, and foxes, brown bears and grisly bears, wild cats and lions of enormous size. Wild boars lived in the thickets: and as the night came on, the hyænas assembled in packs to hunt down the young, the wounded, and the infirm.