Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/28

8 first to trade and then to stay. It seems strange that the forest-clad island, with its damp, chilly climate and gloomy skies, should have proved such an irresistible attraction to the strangers from Gaul, but so it was. Forthwith he set himself to conquer the existing New Stone Man in order to possess the land.

His triumph was due to the fact that he brought with him a superior, bronze weapon for killing his enemies, for which even the polished and well-sharpened stone implement of the New Stone Man was no match.

So the tall, fair, grey-eyed Celt prevailed over he short, dark, swarthy Iberian, and the New Stone Age gave way to what is known as the Bronze Age in the British Isles.

A new stage in civilisation was now reached. For it is obvious that the treasures of the earth were closed to those whose only weapons were of stone. It was only when the hard, sharp-edged metal tool was placed in his hands that man could hew his way to the mineral wealth and open up new possibilities of civilisation. The new-comers had made considerable progress already before ever they reached these shores. Amongst other accomplishments, they could plough, they could shear