Part 5
They were about to give it up when Firekeeper found a large stem whose layers of wood peeled easily.
So they all tried to find such stems.
It was not long before they found that the stems that peeled the most easily were the ones that the children had pounded.
So they all picked up hammer stones and pounded the large stems.
At first each hammered to suit herself, but soon they learned to strike together.
It was easier for them all when they worked in the same time.
People who have made splints for baskets since then have worked in the same time.
Sometimes they keep time by calls and sometimes they use rhymes.
Perhaps you have heard a bark-beater’s rhyme, or have a rhyme yourself.
This rhyme is used by children nowadays when they try to beat in the same time:
“Sip, sap, say; sip, sap, say; Lig in a nettle bed, while Mayday.”
THINGS TO DO
_Gather tough branches of trees or shrubs that you have a right to use._
_See if you can make them into splints for baskets._
_Find a way of making brittle wood more tough._
_Beat the stems with hammer stones so as to loosen the layers of wood._
_Keep track of a tree or a shrub in your neighborhood during the year, and find out the best time of the year to gather its branches for baskets._
XXIX
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
What do you think would be the easiest way for the women to weave the splints into baskets?
What kind of baskets did they need? Would they be apt to make them all in the same way?
Have you ever seen a basket that will hold water?
If a basket was almost water-tight, how could you make it water-tight?
_How the Women Wove Splints_
When the splints were made, the women began to weave them into baskets.
Some of the splints were wide and some of them were narrow.
Some of them were thin, and some of them were thick.
But the women did not mind this.
At first they wove them by interlacing, as Sharptooth had woven the basket of rushes.
But since the strands were not all the same width, the weaving did not look the same.
After a while they began to sort the splints.
They put the wide splints into one pile and the narrow ones into another.
Then they wove the wide splints in open work and made baskets for carrying roots and leaves.
They wanted smaller baskets for carrying berries, so they used the narrow splints.
They wove these splints in close work so that the berries would not drop out.
Some of the women wanted still closer weaving, so they pressed the splints down with their fingers.
When their fingers became sore from pressing hard, they used a long bone.
By driving the splints with a long bone, the weaving was made firm and strong.
Some of the baskets they made in this way were found to be water-tight.
So they sometimes used them for carrying water.
When the baskets became very dry, the wood shrank and this made little holes in the baskets.
But the women soon learned to stop the leak by mending the baskets with pitch.
THINGS TO DO
_Find baskets that are woven in open work._
_Find baskets that are woven in close work._
_See if you can find a water-tight basket._
_Draw a picture of the women weaving baskets._
_Weave a basket or a mat in close work._
_Use a stick and drive the woof strands close together._
XXX
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Look at all the uncolored baskets that you have a chance to see and select the basket that you think is the best. Why do you think it is the best? What is it used for? How is it woven?
Look at the baskets that are made of two or more colors and select the one that you think is best. Why do you think it is best? How do you think the colors were made? Can you tell how the pattern is woven in this basket?
Can you think of any colors that the Cave-men could use in their weaving before they learned to color reeds and splints?
Can you think how they might have found a way to stain their baskets? Do you ever get stains in your clothing? What stains will wash out most easily? What stains do not come out easily? Which ones would you like to use to stain a basket? Do we have anything in our houses that we stain on purpose? What do we use to stain with?
Have you ever seen colored earth? Can you think what it is used for? Why do you think the Cave-men liked to find colored earth?
Where do you put water to boil it? Why did the Cave-men learn to roast food before they learned to boil it?
Did you ever see anybody make dyes? Do you think people could make dyes before they learned to boil water?
Can you think of ways in which the Cave-men might have changed the color of grasses, splints, and reeds before they learned how to boil water and to make such dyes as we use to-day? Why do you think they would wish to color them?
_How the Women Colored Their Baskets_
The women took a great deal of pains in weaving baskets.
They wove the ends in carefully so they would not pull out.
They bound the rims on neatly, so as to make the baskets strong.
But for a long time they did not try to ornament their baskets.
They wove their baskets so carefully that they were beautiful without ornaments.
At first they wove each woof strand under and over each strand of the warp.
Then they began to weave each woof strand over one and under two.
This made such a pretty pattern that they tried other ways of weaving.
They soon learned to use strands of different sizes, and after a while they learned how to color them.
But they could not make such dyes as we have until they learned to boil water.
Sometimes they found bright-colored leaves and feathers and wove them with the splints and reeds.
Sometimes they stained the finished basket with the juices of fruits and berries.
Sometimes they painted patterns on it with paint that they made of colored earth.
Then they learned to dye the splints and reeds in a very simple way.
They soaked them in water before they used them, so as to make them pliable.
They found that willow stems that were soaked in water were colored light brown by the bark of the stem.
Splints buried in the leaf-mold of the brooks and marshes were colored a dark brown.
When charcoal was mixed with the rich leaf-mold the splints were colored black.
Green grass became white when soaked in water, and yellow if soaked for a longer time.
The women used these and other ways of getting pretty colors.
Then they worked the colors into pretty patterns, many of which we use to-day.
THINGS TO DO
_Weave uncolored splints or reeds so as to make different patterns._
_Find a fruit that will make a durable stain, and stain some splints for a basket, or make a pattern by staining an uncolored basket._
_See if you can find how to take fruit stains out of clothing._
_If you can find colored earth, see if you can make some paint to use in ornamenting your baskets._
_Try different ways of changing the color of grasses, splints, and reeds, by soaking them in water or burying them in different kinds of soil._
XXXI
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
How do you carry the things that you bring to school?
How is the food that you eat brought to you?
How is your clothing carried to you?
Do you know how the material that your house is made of was brought to the spot?
How does the farmer carry oats to his horses? How does he carry milk to the calves? How does he carry hay from the field to the barn? How does he carry hay from the mow to the manger?
What things do you carry in your hands? What do you carry in baskets? What do you carry in trays? What other things do you use in carrying?
How do you think the Cave-men would carry an animal that they had killed to the cave? Do you think they would try to bring the whole carcass home?
What things would they carry in baskets? Why did they need handles for their baskets? Think of as many ways as you can that the Cave-men might have carried things.
_How the Cave-men Carried Their Burdens_
The Cave-men used the baskets they made for carrying roots and berries.
It was easier to carry them in baskets than to carry them in their hands.
But it took one hand to hold the basket, and they often needed to have both hands free.
So they learned to carry baskets on their heads and shoulders.
When the Cave-men jumped in time of danger, they were apt to lose their load.
So they learned to make handles for their baskets and to carry them with strong straps.
When they rested the strap upon the forehead, it was a head strap.
When the basket was heavy, the head strap pressed hard against the forehead and cut through the skin.
So they made little pads to protect their foreheads.
At first these pads were bunches of grass or pieces of soft skin.
But the women soon braided carrying straps that had pads for the forehead.
Sometimes they let the strap rest on the shoulders.
Then it was a shoulder strap.
When they let it rest upon the breast, it was a breast strap.
All the Cave-men learned to use straps so, and many people still carry things in that way.
THINGS TO DO
_Play carrying something on the head. The one who can carry the longest without dropping his burden wins the game._
_Look at the handles of all the baskets you can find and see if you can tell how they are used. Can you think of any better way of carrying these baskets?_
_Make a handle for a basket._
_Make a carrying strap and show how to use it for a head strap. Show how to use it for a shoulder strap and a breast strap._
_Draw a picture of a woman carrying a basket._
_Model in clay a Cave-man who is carrying a wild pig on his back._
XXXII
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Why would the Cave-men not be so likely to attack a mammoth as a cave-bear?
Why would they want to kill a mammoth?
Do you think the mammoth would be afraid of the Cave-men’s weapons? What was the mammoth afraid of?
_A Mammoth Hunt_
One day Strongarm saw a herd of mammoths grazing near the edge of a cliff.
He had often wished to capture a mammoth, but had never had such a chance before.
He blew his bone whistle.
All who heard it called to others farther away.
Soon all the men from the wooded hills came running to the spot.
They wanted to attack the mammoths, but Strongarm would not let them.
He knew that their weapons were not strong enough, so he showed them what to do.
Then they all hunted for good sticks to make into torches.
When the torches were made, the Cave-men formed a line from one edge of the cliff to the other.
They crept up through the low bushes until they were only a few steps from the herd.
The mammoths did not see the men until Strongarm gave the signal to charge.
Then they started to run.
But the Cave-men chased them, waving their torches in the air.
The Cave-men pressed close after the mammoths until they came to the edge of the cliff.
They filled the air with their loud cries.
When the mammoths saw the trap they were in, they turned and faced the men.
One mammoth was crowded over the edge of the cliff.
When the Cave-men saw the mammoth fall, they broke the line and let the herd escape.
Then they hurried down by a well-known path to the spot where the mammoth lay.
He had been killed by the fall.
The Cave-men seldom got such a large creature as the mammoth.
Everybody was glad, so Strongarm sent messengers to all the caves to call the women and children to a feast.
THINGS TO DO
_Show how the Cave-men hunted the mammoth._
_Model a mammoth in clay._
_When you go to a museum, inquire if there is a skeleton of a mammoth there._
XXXIII
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
How do you think the mammoth will be divided?
How will the meat that is left after the feast be carried?
Do you know what kind of a coat the mammoth has?
How long do you think its tusks are?
Can you think how we have learned about this animal that lived such a long time ago?
_How the Cave-men Divided the Mammoth_
When the women heard what the men had done, they danced and shouted their praises.
Then they all prepared for the feast.
You know how the Cave-men acted at a feast.
They all ate as much as they could.
Then the older men and women began to tell stories.
All gathered around to hear the stories, and then they joined in a hunting dance.
They feasted and danced for several days.
Even then there was plenty of meat.
There were trophies, too, for the bravest men.
All the Cave-men admired the mammoth’s tusks, and they tried to loosen them with their hammers.
The tusks belonged to Strongarm, but others shared in the meat and the bones.
When the feast was over, Firekeeper divided the meat.
The women loaded it upon their backs, or dragged it on the ground.
They carried the tusks with strong straps which hung down from their shoulders.
The women and children carried the burdens while the men protected them on the way.
All the Cave-men divided their work in this way.
They all knew they were safest when the men were ready to fight.
If the men had carried the burdens, all the people might have been killed.
THINGS TO DO
_Show how the women and children danced and shouted the praises of the Cave-men. Draw a picture of them._
_Name animals that have tusks. What do they use their tusks for?_
_Show how the long line of Cave-men looked when they were traveling on their way home. Draw a picture of them._
XXXIV
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Do you think Strongarm will ever tell any one how he got fire?
Why do you think people used to be so careful of the fire?
Do you know of any people who make fire by twirling sticks?
Do you think that you can make fire by using a fire drill?
Can you think of a name for the wood that is ground up as the spindle of the fire drill is twirled?
Do you ever gather kindling to start a fire? Have you ever seen or heard of tinder?
_Strongarm Tells Firekeeper His Secret_
Several years had passed by since Strongarm made fire.
The Cave-men had never prospered so before.
Strongarm was their wisest man, and they all obeyed him in time of danger.
Cave-men came from far and near to see him and to hear what he said.
He had kept his secret all these years, but now he knew that it was time to tell it.
He knew that he was growing old, and that some one else must share the secret.
So one day he called Firekeeper to a fallen tree that had lain near the cave for many years.
Its wood had become very dry, and parts of it were beginning to decay.
It was by this log that he told his secret.
It was here that he showed Firekeeper how to make fire.
He took a dry stick for a spindle and twirled it on the dry log.
As he twirled he prayed to the fire god.
He worked until he got fire.
Then he let Firekeeper twirl the sticks until she got a spark.
The first time she tried it, she could not get fire.
So Strongarm showed her how to make a groove in the log where the wood meal could collect.
Soon the wood meal began to glow, and she gently fanned it with her hand.
She placed dry tinder close beside it and fanned it into a blaze.
Then Strongarm told her to teach her daughters how to make fire.
He and Firekeeper were growing old, but he knew their clan would always need fire.
Firekeeper remembered what Strongarm said, and she taught her daughters to make fire.
A few years after all the clans on the hills had some one who knew how to make fire.
In some clans a woman did this work.
In others young girls did it.
In some clans this work was done by men.
Everywhere people had some one to make and take care of the fire.
THINGS TO DO
_Show how Strongarm taught Firekeeper to make fire._
_Examine the sticks that you selected some time ago for a fire drill._
_If you choose a hard piece for a spindle, your drill will work better if you choose soft wood for the hearth._
_Round the ends of the spindle and make a shallow hole with a groove beside it in the hearth._
_Make a shallow hole in a flat piece of wood to hold the upper end of the spindle._
_After you learn to work the drill with your hands, try a strap._
_When you can use the strap easily, try a bow._
_If you keep on trying you will be able to get fire with your fire drill._
XXXV
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Have you ever read stories not written in books?
Can you think how large pieces of rock get broken off from the cliffs?
Can you think how they become smooth and rounded?
How do you think that the pebbles you find along the stream got there?
See if you can track a pebble up the valley of the stream in which you found it.
What does the river take with it as it journeys toward the sea?
What part of its load drops first?
_How People Know What the Cave-men Did_
Perhaps you have wondered if these stories are true.
Let us see if we can find out how we got them.
You know that the Cave-men lived long ago.
You know that they could not read or write.
You know that they did not write any stories.
But they told their children the brave deeds of their people.
They told them of combats with wild beasts.
They told them stories about their gods.
Their children told these stories again.
These stories were told a great many times.
Sometimes parts of the stories were left out and other parts put in.
Only part of the Cave-men’s story is left, and it tells only a few things that the Cave-men did.
But there are other ways of learning about them.
We have learned something from the weapons that have been found.
Perhaps you have done something like this yourself.
Perhaps you have found an Indian arrow.
Perhaps you can read what it tells of the Indians.
That will help you to learn more about the Cave-men.
You remember the time that the caves were flooded and the tools and weapons washed away.
They were dropped on the flooded plains and buried in the sands and gravels.
There have been many floods since then, and each time the river has dropped part of its load.
So the weapons have been buried very deep.
Sometimes people have dug deep down into the earth, and sometimes they have found the Cave-men’s weapons.
There are pictures of some of them in this book.
Can you see that they tell what the Cave-men did?
Bones, too, have helped to tell something of the Cave-men.
A great many bones have been found in the caves.
Most of the marrow bones were split.
Animals do not know how to split bones, so we know that they must have been split by men.
These bones have been taken to great museums, where wise men have studied them carefully.
The wise men have learned to read their story.
The bones tell that the Cave-men ate animal food.
They tell what animals lived at that time.
They tell that people were living then, too.
Perhaps you have seen fossil plants in rocks.
Some of them tell what plants were living then.
Many people have studied all these things.
They have tried to read all the stories they tell.
We have tried to learn what they have found and to write it in a story for you.
Can you understand now how these stories are true?
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
The best results will come from the use of this book if the teacher will give as careful attention to carrying out the suggestions under “Things to Think About” and “Things to Do” as she does to the study of the book itself. In this way she can help the child make vital relations between the study of nature on the one hand, and man and his works on the other.
_References_: Teachers and parents who wish to read books written by specialists who have devoted years to the study of the period under consideration, will find the following list of value:
_1. Books._
Clodd, Edward, _The Story of Primitive Man_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Dawkins, W. Boyd, _Early Man in Britain_. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Dawkins, W. Boyd, _Cave-Hunting_. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Evans, Sir John, _Ancient Stone Implements in Great Britain and Ireland_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Figuier, Guillaume Louis, _Primitive Man_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Geikie, Archibald, _Prehistoric Europe_. London: Edward Stanford.
Girod et Massénat, _Les Stations L’Age du Renne_. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Ballière et Fils. (This deals with the later cave-men.)
Gummere, Francis Barton, _Germanic Origins_. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Hutchinson, H. N., _Prehistoric Man and Beast_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Hutchinson, H. N., _Extinct Monsters_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Joly, Nicholas, _Man Before Metals_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Lartet and Christy, _Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ_. London: Williams & Norgate.
Lubbock, Sir John, _Prehistoric Times_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Mason, Otis Tufton, _Origins of Invention_. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Nadaillac, Marquis de, _Prehistoric Peoples_, pp. 79-112, 127-132. New York: Putnam’s Sons.
Smith, Worthington G., _Man, the Primeval Savage_. London: Edward Stanford.
Starr, Frederick, _Some First Steps in Human Progress_. Springfield, Ohio: Chautauqua Press, 1901.
Stoddard, James, _The Seven Sagas of Prehistoric Man_. London: Chatto & Windus.
Taylor, Isaac, _Origin of the Aryans_. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Tylor, E. B., _Anthropology_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Waterloo, Stanley, _The Story of Ab_. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.
Wilson, Sir Daniel, _Prehistoric Man_. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Wright, G. F., _Man and the Glacial Period_. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Worsæ, J. J. A., _Industrial Arts of Denmark_. London: Chapman & Hall.
_2. Magazine Articles._
Barton, Julien, and Sheppard, W. L., “Eighty Miles in Indiana Caves,” _Scribner’s Magazine_, Vol. XIX., pp. 875-888.
Broca, Paul, “The Troglodytes or Cave-Dwellers of France,” _Popular Science Monthly_, Vol. II., pp. 699-708.
Larrabee, W. H., “Cave-Dwellings of Men,” _Popular Science Monthly_, Vol. XLI., pp. 27-45.
Oswald, Felix L., “Modern Troglodytes,” _Popular Science Monthly_, Vol. XII., pp. 37-46.
Rau, Charles, “The Stone Age in Europe,” _Harper’s Magazine_, Vol. L., pp. 681-690.
_3. Government Reports._
Broca, Paul, “The Troglodytes or Cave-Dwellers of the Valley of the Vézère,” _Smithsonian Report_, 1872, pp. 310-347.