OF THE LAKE OF NEUCHATEL. 403 



at tliat date, (seventy-nine years after Christ,) but that they had even perished 

 from the memory of men. At the same time, the fact that we find the same 

 constructions and the same utensils in the Milanese and Venetia sufhcieutly 

 proclaims to us that the inhabitants of the lakes of Lombardy did not live in 

 isolation at the foot of the Alps. 



The same civilization could not be simultaneously spread over so wide a space 

 as the plain of the Po and the steppes of the Alps, without also penetrating even 

 to the coasts. The advantages of the sea are too numerous and obvious not to 

 attract mankind when arrived at a certain degree of culture. This single fact 

 would suffice at need to justify the opinion that the bays and havens of the 

 Italian coast must have been inhabited at the epoch of bronze. And as the 

 utensils and ornaments of that epoch attest a maritime commerce, we hazard 

 nothing in supposing that this commerce was conducted through the ports of 

 Liguria and Umbria. It was from these, among others, that the inhabitants 

 of the stations of Lombardy derived the tin which entered into the composition 

 of their arms and utensils of bronze, and Avhich could scarcely have come ex- 

 cept from the Cassiterides.* Once discharged on the coasts of Italy, the imported 

 metal must have been spread abroad, especially among populations having the 

 same manners and usages, as was the case on the lakes of the two slopes of the 

 Alps. The Alpine chain could be no obstacle to these communications. There 

 is no reason for supposing that the passages of the Alps, St. Bernard, and St. 

 Gothard, were at that epoch more impracticable than in our day, at least for 

 transport on the backs of men and horses, which was probably the only mode 

 in use. Between this hypothesis and that which derives the bronze of the 

 Swiss lakes from the shores of the Baltic, we do not think there is room for 

 hesitation. In favor of these relations between Switzerland and Italy, iuay be 

 further alleged the perfect identity of composition of the bronzes, which are 

 composed only of copper and tin, the latter metal varying, as has been shown 

 above, from four to twenty per cent. 



It has been asked if the preparation of bronze was not an indigenous inven- 

 tion which had originated on the slopes of the Alps, suggested by the presence 

 of the ore of copper, which is quite abundant on the south flank of the Pied- 

 montese chain. In this idea we acquiesced for a moment. But we are met by 

 the objection that, if this were so, the natives, like the ancient tribes of America, 

 would have commenced by manufacturing utensils of copper. Yet thus far no 

 utensils of this metal have been found except a few in the strand of Lake 

 Garda. The great majority of metallic objects is of bronze, which necessitated 

 the employment of tin, and this could not be obtained except by commerce, 

 inasmuch as it is a stranger to the Alps. It would appear, therefore, more nat- 

 ural to admit that the art of combining tin with copper, in other words that 

 the manuficture of bronze, was of foreign importation. On this hypothesis it 

 would still remain to determine whether the principal element, the copper, was 

 derived, like the tin, from abroad, or whether, as M. Wibel maintains,! the ores 

 of the country were employed. The first analyses of M. de Fellenberg had 

 flattered us with an interesting solution by means of the nickel contained in the 

 bronzes of the Swiss and Italian palafittes, and which characterizes especially 

 the ores of the Alpine copper. But it has been seen above that, from the later 

 researches of this learned chemist, the nickel has not the importance which he 

 was at first disposed to ascribe to it, seeing that is found also in the bronzes of 

 the north. It may consequently well be that the copper also was of foreign 



* See on this point the supplementi to the work of Nilsson, which has lately made its ap- 

 pearance, 1866, p. 7; also "The Cassiterides: an inquiry into the commercial operations of 

 the Phenicians in western Europe, with particular reference to the British tin trade," by G. 

 Smith, London, 1863. 



i Dk Cidtur der Bro7ize-Zeit, 1861, p. 33 and following. 



