PILE-DWELLINGS IN OTHER PARTS OF EUROPE. 183 



MM. B. Gastaldi,* P. Strobel and L. Pigorini, for a description 

 of ruins of a similar nature which have been found in Northern 

 Italy. Dr. Lisch has described several Pile-dwellings in 

 Mecklenburg, and M. Boucher de Perthes, in his celebrated 



o' ' 



work, "Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes," mentions 

 certain remains found in the peat near Abbeville, which 

 appear to have been the ruins of Lake-dwellings ; an observa- 

 tion which is of special interest, as an additional argument 

 for referring the Swiss Lake-dwellings to the period of the 

 peat in the Somme valley, and therefore to an epoch long 

 subsequent to that of the drift-hatchets. This inference is 

 entirely in accordance with the conclusions derived from the 

 study of the stone implements themselves. 



But it is not necessary to go back to pre-historic times ; 

 nor need we appeal to doubtful history or ancient remains 

 for evidence of the curious habit of water-dwelling. Many 

 savage or semi-savage tribes live in the same manner, even at 



O O * 



the present day. I have been informed by a friend who lives 

 at Salonica that the fishermen of Lake Prasias still inhabit 

 wooden cottages built over the water, as in the time of Hero- 

 dotus. The city of Tcherkask also is partly built over the Don. 

 Some "of the Garos and Bogshas of Upper India, the Kanikars 

 of Southern India, the pastoral tribes in parts of Sinde, dwell 

 in habitations elevated eight or ten feet from the ground, to 

 avoid the damp and the insects occasioned by it.-(- Similar 

 dwellings are extensively used in the northern parts of South 

 America; Venezuela, indeed, having been so called because 

 the houses resemble those of Venice in being constructed 

 over water. But it is in the East Indies that this habit pre- 



* Nuovi Cenni sugli oggetti cli Lombardia. Atti della Soc. Italian! 



alt a Antichita trovati nelle Tor- cli Scienze Natural!, 1863, vol. v 



biere e nelle Marniere dell' Italia. p. 154. 



See also Stoppani, Prima ricerca t Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, 



di Abita/ioni lacustri nei Laghi di vol. iii. p. 90. 



