G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 295 



and the whole body was enveloped in a woolen cloak. 

 Upon the head was a fillet of hair with a bronze diadem, 

 the arm was ornamented with bracelets, and a band was 

 around tlie neck, all of bronze. In the middle of the coffin 

 was a beautiful clay vase, and a bronze dagger with a horn 

 handle. 



The skeleton of a young man was found in another coffin 

 covered with a cloak fastened together with a pin. By the 

 side was the scabbard of a lonsj sword, in which was inserted 



CD 7 



a small bronze dagger. A box made of bark was near the 

 head. 



The third coffin contained the skeleton of an adult female 

 covered with a cloak. Around the loins was fastened a short 

 skirt of woolen tissue, with a cincture formed with twisted 

 woolen threads, and on the head was a woolen hood. 



In the same tumulus was a large square cavity inclosed 

 by numerous stones, in which were several swords and dag- 

 gers in bronze, and a double bronze button covered with 

 gold. Under the sod which covered this tumulus was found 

 a pile of small stones, a knife, and various other articles. 20 

 ^, VI., 509. 



JADE AND NEPHRITE. 



An interesting volume of four hundred pages has been re- 

 cently published by Professor Fischer, of Freiburg, upon the 

 minerals jade and neplirite. These species have in them- 

 selves comparatively little of interest, and it seems at first a 

 matter of surprise that so large a book should have been de- 

 voted to them. Their importance lies entirely in their rela- 

 tion to archaeological matters ; since the earliest times they 

 have furnished a large part of the material employed for the 

 carvinsf of ornaments and idols. No localities are known for 

 these minerals in Europe, and yet the exploration of the an- 

 cient buildings of the lake-dwellers and of similar prehistoric 

 remains has brought to light hundreds of stone implements, 

 both weapons and ornaments, made from these materials. It 

 is supposed that the source was originally Siberia and Tur- 

 kestan, and that they were introduced into Europe through 

 the connections of trade. Professor Fischer describes in de- 

 tail a large number of curiously carved idols, ornaments, 

 charms, and amulets which have been obtained in part from 



