Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/431

] in the mountains of Saxony and Bohemia, and, from the great number and variety of the bronze articles found in the adjacent regions, it is very probable that it was known in those districts in the Bronze age. On this point, however, we must await the accumulation of new evidence. It has been worked in Cornwall before the history of Britain began, and, according to tradition, by the Phœnicians. Cornwall was certainly known to the Phœnician sailors, as we shall see presently, and from it a brisk trade was carried on with the great Greek mart of Massilia. It is considered by some high authorities, including Sir John Lubbock, to have been the chief source from which the ancients obtained a necessary element in the manufacture of bronze. This question will be dealt with subsequently. Tin has also been worked in ancient times in the south of Ireland, where it is found in the stream-works of the mountains of Wicklow, along with gold. (See Fig. 168, T.)

Tin is met with in Brittany, close to Ploermel (Morbihan), and is proved to have been worked in the Bronze age by the discovery of a bronze palstave (Fig. 155), along with a polished stone celt, in the old stream-works near Villeder. It was also known in ancient times in the Upper Vienne, and old stream-works are to be seen in La Creuse and La Corrèze, and as far as Lizolle in the department of the Allier. (See Fig.