66 



PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



Boats. — Lacustrine life would hardly have been possible without the means 

 of locomotion on the water, and hence we may assume that there was no lack of 

 boats among the lake-men. Many boats, indeed, have been found imbedded in 

 the mud on or near the sites of former lake-settlements. Excepting a few, these 

 ancient boats are made of a single tree, and hollowed out by means of stone or 

 metallic implements, according to the period in which they originated. In times 

 anteceding the introduction of bronze, fii'e doubtless was an efficient aid in the 

 manufacture of these boats. Such primitive vessels, corresponding to the dug- 

 outs in this country, are still in use on some of the Swiss lakes, as, for instance, 

 on those of Lucerne, Zug, and Aegeri, in the Canton of Zug, in which district 

 they are manufactured to the present day. A boat of this description is called 

 Einhatim (one-tree) in Switzerland. 



2^ 



Fig. 86. — Boat. Robenhausen. 



An ancient boat, found at Robenhausen by Mr. Messikommer, and, I 

 believe, still in existence — notwithstanding th© difficulty of presierving such 

 objects when out of the water — is represented in Fig. 86.'^' It is twelve feet 

 long, two feet and a half wide, and five inches deep.f I find no statement 

 concerning the kind of wood of which it is made. The illustration (upper view, 

 side-view, and cross-section) renders any further descrijition unnecessary. As 

 Robenhausen is a station of the stone age, this boat can with safety be attributed 

 to that period. 



Professor Desor speaks of a number of such pirogues in the Lake of Bienne, 

 one of which can be seen near Saint Peter's Island [lie de Saint-Pierre), projec- 

 ting fi'om the mud of the lake, and still holding the cargo of stones with which 



* Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate X, Fig. 8. 

 t Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 53. 



