An immense number of these carvings are now known. I have before me one of the most recent publications on the subject—a series of plates showing the carvings collected from caves in the Pyrenees, the Dordogne, and the Landes by M. Piette, who recently died. I have examined his collection and others of the same kind in the great Museum of St. Germain, near Paris. We have in London some of the earlier collections, and especially that of the Vicomte de Lastic, to purchase which my old friend Sir Richard Owen journeyed to the Dordogne in the winter of 1864. Many animals, as well as some human beings (Fig. 7), are represented in these carvings—the mammoth itself, carved on a piece of its own ivory, is among them, and a good many represent the horse (Fig. 8). Now it is a fact that the carvings of the horses of that period undoubtedly represent a horse which is identical in proportions, shape of head, mane, and tail, with the wild Mongolian horse, and is unlike in those points to modern European horses, or to the Arabian horse. [Illustration: FIG. 7.—Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of an ivory carving (fully rounded) of a female head. The specimen was found in the cavern of Brassempouy, in the Landes. It is of the earliest reindeer period, and the arrangement of the hair or cap is remarkable.] [Illustration: FIG. 8.—Drawing (of the actual size of the original) of a fully rounded carving in reindeer’s antler of the head of a neighing horse. The head resembles that of the Mongolian horse. This is one of the most artistic of the cave-men’s carvings yet discovered. It is of the Palæolithic age (early reindeer period), probably not less than fifty thousand years old. It was found in the cavern of Mas d’Azil, Ariège, France, and is now in the museum of St. Germain.] It was, until the discoveries of M. Piette, held that though the cave-men killed, ate, and made pictures of the horse of those remote days, yet that they did not tame it, put a halter or a bridle on it, and make use of it. Some of the carvings figured by M. Piette leave, however, no room for doubt that the cave-men fitted a bridle to the head and muzzle of the horse. These carvings (Fig. 9) show a twisted thong placed round the nose and passing near the angle of the mouth where it is possible, though not certain, that a “bit” was inserted. Connected to this main encircling thong are four twisted cords (on each side of the head), which run horizontally backwards, and the two lower of these are joined by a flat, plate-like piece, which is ornamented. The whole apparatus is further connected to a twisted cord on each side, which runs towards the back of the head, but it is not shown in the carving what becomes of it. Thus it seems clear not only that the cave-men of these remote ages were wonderful artists, but that they mastered and muzzled the horse.