Page:The Rise of the Swiss Republic (1892).djvu/24

16 eties: The crannogs of Ireland and Scotland, the terp-mounds of Holland, and the palafittes and terramare of Italy, all bearing witness to the extent to which this curious manner of building obtained at one period of man’s development.

The only references to these lake dwellings which have come down to us in literature are contained in two passing notices of Herodotus and Author:Hippocrates. Says Herodotus: «And they likewise who inhabited Lake Prasias [near the mouth of the Struma in Macedonia] were not conquered by Megabazus. He sought indeed to subdue the dwellers upon the lake but could not effect his purpose. Their manner of living is the following: Platforms supported upon tall piles stand in the middle of the lake, which are approached from the land by a single narrow bridge. Each has his own hut, wherein he dwells, upon one of the platforms, and each has also a trapdoor giving access to the lake beneath; and their wont is to tie their baby children by the foot with a string to save them from rolling into the water.”

Hippocrates’ account is confined to a few lines and refers to settlements along the river Phasis, to the east of the Black Sea.

Fortunately, however, for the cause of science the deposits, which had gathered under the dwellings in the course of centuries, have been preserved for the inspection of antiquarians by the mud in which they were imbedded. It has, therefore, been possible to examine these layers or Kulturschichten, as the Germans so aptly call them, and to reconstruct a certain amount of the history of these ancient Lake Dwellers.

The writer does not intend to present a complete and finished picture of this early civilization, especially as the whole subject has recently been exhaustively treated by an archeologist of note, Mr. Robert Munro, in “The Lake Dwellings of Europe.” But for the sake of those who do not care to enter so deeply into the matter, let me sum up the principal discov-