THE TIME MACHINE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22509, 17 September 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE TIME MACHINE

To the Days of the Cavemen

■ I stepped inside the machine that •would take me back to the'.", past j hoW far back I. did not know^ With my eyes shut, I wished V^ry hard to be taken back 40,000 years! The next moment I stood in the glare of a blazing fire round which; were the huddled forms of men and women. Were they really human?Yes, they were the. first true/ men to Inhabit the earth. ' Their/hair; 'was unkempt and they wore, skihd slung across their shoulders. Their. foreheads were scarcely discernible;

their eyes were smaller than ours and set farther back under beetling brows, and their lips were very thick V-but they were men all the. saiftev. •

A" woman made room for me beside her and I sat down, not a little afraid of these queer people among whom I found myself. I began to wonder if it had been a wise thing after all to wish myself sj far back into the dark ages scarcely penetrated by the dawning light of history. I',- looked about me. We were seated near. the mouth of a long cave: I glanced back fearfully into the darkness behind me where I thought I heard a sound, but it Was just a little child who crept closer to his mother.. A huge fire had been 'built outside the cave. The light of the flames threw . grotesque shadows on a pile of branches and rotted tree-trunks "lying near. It was evidently fuel-gathered by the , younger boys and girls. Someone was speaking in a > low monotone. The rest were silent, several/ of the men nodding in agreement to what was said. The man who was speaking seemed to be one • of • importance. He wore a finer skin than any- of the others.-

Later, one of the children whispered to .me- that hj& was her father. He had killed one of the last of the sabre-tooth, tigers a year ago,and" that'-was :the skin which he "wore. Now; he was accounted the chief of the tribe because lie was the-.3tronirest.'r ' . Two or three women near me Were sewing some skins together. They, had thick bone needles sharpened to a point, and with these they made big rough stitche& One was scraping a skin in front of her

with a small stone, scraper. She wore an ugly necklace of animals' teeth. I supposed she was very proud, of it, f6r she looked at it often. She had also two bands of hide strapped on her arm. The baby girl, sprawling on her knee* had a string of tiny shells and bright red and green berries round her neck, and one on her chubby little forearm! •

Against the damp rock walls of the cave were piled some halfdried skins, which had been brought in for the night. Another man was -talking now. Every 10 minutes or bo a boy Would leave the circle and bring an armful of dry sticks to throw on the fire. There was a large piece of meat stuck on a pointed stick above the flames. After a while, a woman came forward and removed the meat. It was not nearly cooked, Indeed, the outside was merely scorched and parts had been burnt black where they had caught alight, but the men tore greedily at the pieces of meat with their teeth and fingers, and flung smaller pieces to the waiting women and children. I refused a share in the meal. It was part of a cave4H.ar someone had found dead that day.

Another woman "TrtoUght tome nuts and tiny frtttfv. crab-apples from the interior of the "cave. The Apples were very,: yerjf •.•our, but everyone teemed to enjoy them. Some children behind'me, were searching in the rushes and leaves which were x strewn dver the floor of.. the" cave. "Suddenly, one chuckled and lifted up a lump of white chalk and a piece of reddish rock. The others went on fumbling on the floor,: and soon all were provided with chalk.; Then they crept -behind-the women, and in the firelight,: began to scribble on the rocky wall. One of:the women spoke to them, but they were N ailowed to. io on drawing. I came nearer to watch. A little chap-placed his tiny left hand on the wall, and outlined it in chalk, the rest standing Tqund to admire. Then an older boy began, to draw a cave4lon. He drew well and the lion was so ferocious in aspect that the little ones moved back in fear. Just then there was a movement among the adults. All got up and stepped back towards the walls.' A youth of 17 or 18 had risen and' armed himself with a murderous* looking flint knife. He was going to dance, and what a queer dance it was! It seemed to consist of lunging backwards and forwards, waving the knife dangerously near other people's eyes, and then careering . madly . round and. round the fire till everyone was giddy, and the boy sank, down in an exhausted heap. - The .. audience: stolidly grunted their approval. '■• There was a queer coughing noise out in the darkness. It came again and everyone sat Very still and tense. It was a low menacing cough. Two eyes gleamed and vanished. A tiger! ; .... AH the men leaped to their feet and seized sharp weapons of. flint, rough axes without handles, spearheads, knives, or harpoons of reindeer horn. Some grabbed branches and after lighting them at ,;the, fire, waved them.on high and.stepped out into the shadows. The flaming torches, however, revealed. no , marauding animal, t noticed that hone of the men; not even he • who had killed Old Sabre' Tooth, ventured morethan 10 or 12-yards away. I. did not blame them. All round loomed the massive forms ;of trees. We I were .in the ; midst of a forest in which anything, might lie hidden. Strange, wild beasts, evil spirits, all manner of dangerous things might be lurking, in .wait for these cave people!- ,•".'•' " , The men came back again and built up a smaller fife within the cave itself. Then several rolled a great stohe across the Jmouth so that it was almost closed' up. Two men posted themselves near, the entrance with knives and- torches readv. The women- and "children craw'led to Vthe very back,, of the cave and heaped together piles of rushes to ..sleep On., As the green stuff was kicked aside;! saw the footprint of a-large animal, a cavelion. Who had been, a former inhabitant of the cave. . . ... There -.was a .low growl in the distance and I heard two wolves howl to each other somewhere in the depths of the. forest. I wished hard and wished myself Safely back in 1938! ! -'MATE TARAWERA j (aged 16), i