OF THE LAKE OF NEUCHATEL. 363 



are tlien covered with a tufiiceous incrustation formed by the perennial deposit 

 of the lake.* Most of the objects, however, are buried in the soil, and to ob- 

 tain tliein it is necessary to dig and dredge in the teneviere. It is thus that 

 Dr. Clement proceeds, in order to collect the varied objects with which he every 

 day enriches his admirable collection. 



These objects are not dispersed at hazard in the interior of the teneviere. 

 They are found preferably at a depth of from 1 J to 2 feet, intermingled with 

 fragments of cut wood, bits of charcoal and bones of animals, which constitute 

 a kind of repository, like those of fossils in geological formations. This is the 

 archie ological stratum. It is not unusual to encounter several of these strata or 

 repositories in the same teneviere. Dr. Clement has recognized two very dis- 

 tinct ones in the teneviere of St. Aubin, while it appears that M. Messikom- 

 mer has distinguished even three at Kobenhausen, (See 6th Report of M. 

 Keller, p. 247, for a profile of this station.) 



Stones for grinding, (commonly known as mills,) which occur in considerable 

 numbers in the tenevieies, many having a diameter of 60 centimetres, indicate 

 that the grain was triturated with the help of rounded pestles. These last, as 

 well as the mill-stones, were of granite or grit, never of limestone. It was 

 scarcely to have been expected that we should have discovered the products of 

 this primitive contrivance ; nor have the stations of our lake furnished anything 

 of the kind. But it is otherwise in eastern Switzerland, where have been 

 found the remains of the bread eaten by our predecessors, and which have 

 been preserved by carbonization. 



In all likelihood some traffic was carried on with the neighboring countries, 

 especially with those situated on the borders of Jura, whence doujbtless the 

 Bilex was derived. In the stations of eastern Switzerland it is usual to cite, as 

 proof of a local commerce, the presence at Kobenhausen of micaceous, schists, 

 of parti-colored grit of Rheinfelden, of crystals of the Alps, of asphaltum of 

 Valde Travers, of white marble of Splligen, &c. M. Keller even describes and 

 delineates a small vase of asphaltum found at Kobenhausen. (6th Report, p. 

 251.) But we cannot share the opinion which attributes extensive commercial 

 i-elations to the tribes of the age of stone. In support of this opinion are cited 

 the hatchets of nephrite, of which numbers are found at Concise and other 

 stations of that epoch ; and as this stone now comes to us from the east, it has 

 been inferred that the tribes of the remote period in question trafficked with 

 Asia. But it should be remembered that the greater part of the hatchets which 

 ai'e assumed to be nephrite may very well be only varieties of indigenous rocks, 

 proceeding from siliceous veins in the serpentine, and whose depository might 

 be found, according to M. de Mortillet, in the higher Maurienne.f It seems to 

 us very difficult to admit that so distant a commerce should have been restricted 

 to the exchange of certkin stones which, after all, are not very superior to com- 

 mon silex, while the east might have furnished objects of far greater utility, 

 particularly metals. 



It is proper, however, to mention here a recent communication of M. de Fel- 

 leuberg to the Society of Natural Sciences of Berne-I in which that accom- 

 plished chemist gives an account of a series of analyses which he has made of 

 five fragments of nephrite from the lakes of Switzerland, three of which are 



* Tlic-ie is some iuterest in regard to authenticity in not removing this crust, even where 

 it impairs the beauty of the object. 



t Matcriauz pour I'/ustoire positive et philosopJiiqite de Vhommc, 1865, p. 231. — M. Nau- 

 man (Elements de Mineralogie, p. oOC>) mentions nephrite as occurring among the erratic 

 blocks of Saxony, (Schwemsal near Duben,) which are known to have proceedfcl from Scan- 

 dinavia. 



+ Mitteilungen der Bern, mturforschendcii Gescllschaft, 1865. 



