dotted with abounding remains of an ancient people, whose habitations were built in the water, and who passed away without leaving a tradition. Further research found similar remains in Germany and the lakes of Northern Italy. The traces of one such settlement were found adjoining Pliny's villa. Yet Pliny seems to have had no suspicion of their existence-to have heard no tradition of its builders.

The few years that have passed since the discovery of the winter of 1853-4, have been so busily used in the study of these remains, that a new chapter of history has been sketched, the lake dwellers have become a familiar name, and their epoch has become an established starting point for reaching still further back into the past.

Their villages were built in shoal water, in a few cases within twenty feet-sometimes several hundred yards-from the shore. Piles, sometimes whole trunks, sometimes split, were driven within a few feet of each other, and cut off at top so as to make a level surface. In many cases they were filled in between, with stones, for firmness. A boat has been found lying on the bottom, still holding its load of stones, just where it capsized some thousands of years ago. In other cases, the piles were strengthened with cross-pieces. On the outer edge, toward the lake, a wattling of wicker-work prevented waves from washing in.

Over the surface was laid a floor of cross-timbers and saplings; and this being covered with clay and pebbles, made the groundwork of the settlement. Huts were built in rows. All the huts appear to have been square, and their main timbers to be long piles projecting above

the general surface. A weather-boarding of a single plank surrounded each hut at the bottom, keeping out wet. So far no indications have been found of more than a single row of boards being so used. Apparently, each hut contained but one room; each contained one fire-place of stone slabs. Some had trunks of trees with branches lopped short, as if used for hanging up articles to keep them from the floor. Nearly all had clay weights used in weaving. The sides of the huts were made by weaving small wythes among the upright supports and covering the walls so made with a thick coating of clay. Where the villages were burnt, large fragments are found of the clay with the impression of the burnt wicker-work on the inner side.

The inhabitants kept their domestic animals out in these villages. The researches have already brought up whole museums full of implements of stone, bone, bronze, and iron; arrow-heads, lance-heads, swords, hatchets, hammers, chisels, knives, needles, pins, hairpins, brooches, necklaces, and other ornaments; pottery, linen stuffs, and wearing apparel, and even charred fragments of bread, and seeds of berries and fruits.

We do not yet know certainly the race, language, government, or religion of these people. The pile villages only indicate a certain stage-an early one-of development. Hippocrates mentions villages of this sort in the river Phasis, in Colchis. Herodotus relates that the inhabitants of a similar village in Lake Prasias, in Thrace, escaped unharmed during the invasion of Xerxes. Abulfeda described one such in the Apamean lake, in Syria, in the thirteenth century. The crannogs of Ireland-analogous structures, though used

only as strongholds to withdraw to in times of dangercontinued in use to a later day. A village precisely similar, inhabited by the Indians on the northern coast of South America, was discovered by Ojeda, before 1500, and named by him Venezuela. It is mentioned in Navarrete's account of the voyage, and described more fully in the letters ascribed to Vespucius. The natives of New Guinea, when discovered, dwelt in villages precisely like those of the Swiss lakes. These habitations, therefore, have no ethnological value, but are resorted to by nations in early and rude states, in lake countries, just as steep hills and battlemented castles are resorted to in other ages and situations.

But these people, though rude, were not entirely barbarous. If they navigated the lakes in canoes, each scooped from a single trunk, they fished with hooks that might be used now, and with nets. Their attention to agriculture is indicated by the manure which seemed to have been heaped up and saved, and by their sickles. Though they depended, particularly in the most ancient settlements, largely upon hunting as well as fishing, yet they kept domestic animals-cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Their mechanical skill ranged from rudely chipping stone implements to casting and working bronze and iron with some skill. Their pottery, though made by the hand, not with the lathe, and baked in open fires, was sometimes wrought in shapes not without elegance, and ornamented with taste. Fragments of linen cloth have been found, some of which must have been made upon a simple species of loom, and one, embroidered with regular designs in needle-work.

They had some communication with other nations. They had quartz from Gaul; some bits of amber, which must have come from the Baltic; and nephrite, from Asia. A small bar of pure tin has been found, and some vases have thin strips of tin pressed into the surface for ornament. This, with the glass beads found at some of the older settlements, must have been brought to their maritime neighbors by the Phoenicians. It was taken for granted, at first, that their bronze came from the same source; but crucibles have been found with dross yet adhering to the edge, and a well-constructed bronze mold has been discovered. Besides, it has been noticed that the bronze implements which appear most ancient, are modeled after the stone implements that were in use before the introduction of metal; while those made when metal became more common, appear to have been gradually fashioned in shapes better suited to metal. Finally, chemical analysis, by Professor Von Fellenberg, of Berne, has shown that much of the bronze used contains nickel, which is not the case with bronze found elsewhere. Now, in Switzerland, in the vale of Anniviers, mines of copper and nickel are found close together. Hence these early people seem to have been, to some extent, miners.

The remains of food indicate that the villages were inhabited throughout the year. Seeds of fruits and berries mark all the months of summer; beech-nuts and hazel-nuts point to autumn; and the bones of the swan, which visits the Swiss lakes only in December and January, mark the winter. The stores of grain found. in one village destroyed by fire, show they laid up food; and the quantity of loose flax and thread indicate that

use.

they had occupation for the indoor season. They found leisure to fabricate ornaments, as well as implements for Bracelets, necklaces, brooches, are not rare, and the abundance of hair-pins, ornamented as well as plain, suggests that the ladies of the lakes had ample tresses, and took pride in them. The identity of the grain cultivated, and the weed of southern origin mingled with it, indicate intercourse with southern Europe.

The duration of these settlements must have covered a considerable lapse of time. The amount of remains and refuse could only accumulate in centuries. The settlement of Robenhausen presents proof of a different sort. Here are found the ruins of three settlements, one above the other; the first two apparently destroyed by fire, the last abandoned. The growth of several feet of peat, upon each bed of debris, between it and the next succeeding, shows that a long interval elapsed between the destruction of the successive villages. Moreover, the villages belong to three different stages of civilization-the ages of stone, of bronze, and of iron. In all parts of the world stone implements appear to have been used first. Then the soft metals, copper and tin, were brought into use. And, finally, when the less obvious iron was detected in its ore, and contrivance for blast heat to smelt it was invented, civilization took another advance. These three stages are represented in the lake dwellings. It is possible, indeed, that three different types of civilization might exist side by side, even in the narrow compass of Switzerland. But they appear, in fact, to have been successive. In the villages where metal is not found, the bones of wild animals predominate; while those belonging to the