220 SCARCITY OF HUMAN REMAINS. 



basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, 

 and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, 

 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine," it will 

 be observed that neither oats nor rye are mentioned. Flax 

 also is alluded to nine times in the Old Testament, and linen 

 thirteen times, but hemp not once. 



To what, race of men the Swiss Lake-dwellings are ascrib- 

 able we have as yet no direct evidence. Human bones are 

 very rare in the Pile-works, and may probably be referred to 

 accidents, especially as we find that those of children are 

 most numerous. M. Desor, indeed, states that not a single 

 human skeleton has yet been found in any of the stations 

 belonging to the Stone Age; and Dr. Keller, in his fifth 

 report, informs us that all the Lake villages taken together 

 have not yet produced more than half-a-dozen. One mature 

 skull from Meilen has been described by Professor His, who 

 considers that it does not differ much from the present 

 Swiss type. While his work was in the press, Prof. Kliti- 

 meyer received from Col. Schwab four more skulls, two of 

 which were obtained at Nidau, one at Sutz, and one at Biel. 

 Another skull shown to me by Professor Desor, and found at 

 Auvernier, completes the number mentioned by Dr. Keller. 

 All these settlements, however, appear to have belonged to 

 the Bronze Age, nor has it yet been possible certainly to 

 refer any of the ancient tumuli found in Switzerland to the 

 earlier period. 



Passing now to the Lake -habitations belonging to the 

 Bronze Age, we find that they are less generally distributed 

 than those of the earlier period. They have as yet been found 

 principally on the Lakes of Geneva, Luissel, Neufchatel, Morat, 

 Bienne, and Sempach ; scarcely any in eastern Switzerland. 

 It has been supposed from this that the Age of Stone lasted 

 longer in the east than in the west, and that flint and serpen- 

 tine were in use on Lake Constance long after bronze had 



