226 ANTIQUITY" OF LAKE VILLAGES. 



have seen evidences of a gradual progress in civilization, 

 and improvement in the arts, an increase in the number of 

 domestic animals, and proofs at last of the existence of an 

 extended commerce. We found the country inhabited only 

 by rude savages, and we leave it the seat of a powerful nation. 

 Changes so important as these are not effected in a day ; the 

 progress of the human mind is but slow; and the gradual 

 additions to human knowledge and power, like the rings in 

 trees, enable us to form some idea how distant must be the 

 date of their commencement. So varied, however, are the 

 conditions of the human mind, so much are all nations 

 affected by the influence of others, that when we attempt to 

 express our impressions, so to say, in terms of years, we are 

 baffled by the complexity of the problem. 



Some attempts have, indeed, been made to obtain a more 

 definite chronology, and they will be alluded to in a later 

 chapter. Though we must not conceal from ourselves the 

 imperfection of the archaeological record, still we need not 

 despair of eventually obtaining some approximate chronology. 

 Our knowlege of primitive antiquity has made an enormous 

 stride in the last ten years, and we may fairly look forward 

 with hope to the future. 



The Swiss archaeologists are continuing their labours, and 

 they may rest assured that we in England watch with interest 

 the result of their investigations. Few things, indeed, can be 

 more interesting than the spectacle of an ancient and long- 

 forgotten people thus rising, as it were, from the waters of 

 oblivion, to take that place which properly belongs to it in 

 the history of the human race. 



