ETHNOLOGY. 399 



And as for fabrics of clay, are there anywhere found vases of this 

 epoch which show more finish, more elaborate ornamentation and 

 stranger shapes than those of ancient Pannonia ? Or are there in other 

 parts such quantities of those cones and pyramids of clay, hitherto 

 considered as weights used in weaving ? They probably also served as 

 supports for cooking- vessels, considering that they are often blackened 

 by smoke, and, moreover, have been met amid ashes and charcoal. 

 Some of our vessels exhibit forms so singular and extraordinary that 

 their application thus far has not been explained. The small vases and 

 other diminutive objects in the rich collection of my friend, Baron 

 Eugene Nydri, deserve our special attention, the more so since nearly 

 all of them have been obtained from the same place, namely, his fam- 

 ily estate at Pilin. Who can decide whether these miniatures consti- 

 tuted toys for children or were symbolic in character ? Perhaps they 

 represent on a small scale objects too costly to be abandoned forever. 



The almost unique clay stamps, showing a variety of tasteful pat- 

 terns,* and the small terra-cottas, representing animals, mostly sheep, 

 oxen, and hogs, leave much room for speculation concerning their uses, 

 especially when found with the remains of repasts. 



Among the articles indubitably made in the country, we often meet 

 products of the industry and art of remote regions, as, for instance, 

 pearls from the Indian Ocean, beads of unwrought or polished amber 

 from the Baltic Sea, and others of cut glass, which must have been de- 

 rived from more civilized nations. These last-named relics betoken a 

 commerce with the coasts of far-distant countries, and the character of 

 their occurrence proves that they were family hoards brought together 

 during a long lapse of time. 



Those pagan monuments, the gigantic embankments and ditches dis- 

 posed in two or even three parallel lines, which are met throughout the 

 kingdom, inform us that it was once inhabited by warlike and quite 

 numerous tribes, or by valiant proprietors who kept their large herds 

 within immense and inaccessible inclosures. The power of these ancient 



hence he concludes that an age of copper, forming the transition from polished stone 

 to bronze, must be claimed for Hungary. 



This view, however, was not shared by Mr. John Evans. He observed that among 

 the two hundred objects thought to consist of copper, only nine or ten had been ana- 

 lyzed. Yet if they were all composed of copper, there would be no snfi&cient ground for 

 establishing a copper age. If such an age had existed, its types would resemble more 

 the forms of the stone age than those of the bronze period. The pierced cojjper imple- 

 ments of Hungary certainly bear an analogy to a certain class of drilled stone articles ; 

 but the latter, Mr. Evans thinks, are referable to the bronze age rather than to the 

 times during which stone was exclusively used. He concludes that the Hungarian 

 copper tools belong to the bronze age, but were made in moments when tin — a metal 

 not found in Hungary— could not be obtained. — ITranslator.^ 



* To judge from wood-engravings, kindly sent by Professor Romer, these relics resem- 

 ble the stamps which the Mexicans used for impressing ornamental marks on their 

 cotton cloth. They also employed stamps in decorating their vases before they were 

 baked. — [ TransIator.Ji 



