The Later Cave-Men Part 25

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A flint comb used in rounding and polishing needles._]

The first needles had no eyes. They were more like awls and pins, than needles. Perhaps the first eyes were made in needles to keep them from getting lost.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A flint saw used in making needles of bone taken from the leg of a horse._]

It was hard work to saw the bone rods and to round and polish them. No wonder the women did not want to lose them. No wonder they bored little holes in the thin flat end and hung them about their necks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A short needle of bone._]

It may have been Willow-grouse who first discovered that the eye of the needle could carry the thread. She may have discovered it when she was playing with a needle she carried on a cord. At any rate, the women soon learned to sew with the thread through the needle's eye.

And then they began to make finer needles with very small eyes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A flint comb used in shredding fibers._]

These fine needles were used at first in sewing the softest skins.

They were used, too, in sewing tr.i.m.m.i.n.g on beautiful garments. But when the women sewed the hard skins, instead of a needle they used a bone awl.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A long fine needle of bone._]

At the meeting of the clans in the salmon season, the Cave-men wore their most beautiful garments. And soon the clans began to vie with one another in wearing the most beautiful skins. And the women hunted for the choicest sands to use in polishing their needles. They still gave the first polish with a piece of sandstone or a gritty pebble.

But when they gave the last polish the women used a powder of the finest sand.

Instead of beeswax, the women used marrow which they kept in little bags. Instead of a thimble, they used a small piece of leather. And instead of pressing the seams with a hot iron, they made them smooth with a rounded stone.

From the tough sinews of the large animals, every Cave-man made his own thread. All the children learned to prepare sinew and to shred the fibers with a jagged flint comb.

#THINGS TO DO#

_Find bones which you can make into needles. See if you can find a piece of flint for a saw._

_Find a piece of sandstone with which you can polish your needle._

_Make a collection of the different kinds of sand in your neighborhood and tell what they can be used for._

_Make a collection of needles and find out how they were made._

x.x.xVIII

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

If the animals went away in search of shelter from the storms, do you think the Cave-men would know where they went? What do you think they would say when they noticed that the animals had gone?

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Two views of a curved bone tool used by the Cave-men in polishing skins._]

How did the Cave-men learn what they knew? Why did they make more mistakes than people do to-day?

What changes did the Cave-men see take place in the buds? in seeds?

in eggs?

When they found sh.e.l.ls in the hard rocks instead of in the water, what do you suppose they would think?

Have you ever heard any one say "It rained angleworms?"

Have you ever heard any one say that cheese or meat had "changed to maggots?"

Can you tell what really happened in each of these cases?

Can you see how stories of animals that turned into men could be started? Is there anything that we can learn from these stories?

_How Flaker Became a Priest and a Medicine Man_

The winter was long and stormy. Wild animals found little food. Herds of horses and reindeer went to the lowland forests. Game was scarce on the wooded hills. Few horses or reindeer were seen near the caves. The trails were filled with snow and everything seemed to tell of the coming of a famine.

The people ate the frozen meat that was left near the caves, and when they found they could get no more they began to pray to their G.o.ds.

"O, Big Bear," they prayed, "send us thine aid. Help us now or we die.

Drive the horses and reindeer out of thy caverns. Send them back to our hunting grounds."

When the first rumor of famine came, Fleetfoot took down his drum. And he set out over the hills to call a meeting of the brotherhood.

At the first sound of the drumbeat, the people knew what it meant.

Everybody felt a gleam of hope. The young men pa.s.sed the signal along and fresh courage came to the hearts of the people in the neighboring clans.

Buckling their hunger-straps around them, the young men started at Fleetfoot's call. They met near the Bison clan's cave. There they told of the heavy snowstorms and the disappearance of the herds. They told of the beginnings of famine and considered ways of finding food.

Some said, "Let us leave the old hunting grounds for our elders. Let us take wives and go to far away lands."

Others said, "No, let us dwell together and let each clan keep its own hunting ground."

"But how can we dwell together," said one, "when there is not food enough for all?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Cave-man's engraving of two herds of wild horses._]

The silence which followed the young man's question showed that no one could reply. It was then that Fleetfoot turned to Flaker and asked him to speak what was in his mind. And Flaker arose, and turning his eyes toward the heavens, he raised his baton, whereupon all the young men were silent. Then he turned to the young men and said, "The G.o.ds will surely provide food for the hungry Cave-men."

"But the people need food and game is scarce," said one of the brave young men. "How can we prevent the famine? How can we make the G.o.ds understand?"

"Remember the Big Bear," said Flaker. "He heard our prayer when we made his likeness on stone. Let us make likenesses of the animals. The G.o.ds will then understand our prayers and send many herds to our hunting grounds."

Saying this, Flaker picked up a flint point and a flat piece of stone and quickly engraved two herds of wild horses. The young men believed in the power of magic. And when they saw Flaker engraving the herds, they believed the wild horses would come. And so they all tried to make the likeness of an animal they wished to hunt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _A Cave-man's carving of horses' heads._]

When they had made offerings to the G.o.ds, the young men were ready to go out to hunt. Flaker stayed at the cave, but it was he who directed them in the right way. He remembered all that the Cave-men had said about the reindeer and the wild horses. And so when they started Flaker said, "Follow the trail to the dense forests."