BOATS. 67 



it had foundered.* It is made of the trunk of an oak, scarcely less than fifty 

 feet long, by three and a half to four feet in width.f "According to M. Desor," 

 saj^s M. de INIortillet, " the lake-dwellers of the stone age, in order to consolidate 

 the piles designed to support their habitations, wedged them up {les calaient) 

 with stones which they gathered in boats on the shore, the bottom of the lake 

 being totally free of them. The pirogue of Saint Peter's Island, therefore, 

 would appear to be a vessel sunk with its load of stones at a date reaching as 

 far back as the epoch of polished stone. "| As it is well known that maritime 

 tribes have hollowed out very large canoes without metallic tools, M. de Mor- 

 tillet's view may be correct ; but it is equally possible that the boat in question 

 belongs to a later time. 



Fig. 87. — Boat. Moiicgen. 



Fig. 87 illustrates the form of one of several dug-outs found at the station 

 of Moringen, Lake of Bienne.§ It certainly has a very primitive appearance, 

 and may belong to the stone age ; but, considering that the Moringen set- 

 tlement has furnished objects of stone, bronze, and iron, it is impossible to 

 assign to it a definite place in lacustrine chronology. Strangely enough, the 

 dimensions of this boat are not indicated in the translation of Dr. Keller's 

 reports, and I would not even know that it consists of oak-wood, if the fact were 

 not mentioned in M. Troyon's " Habitations Lacustres " (page 165). 



Mention is made, and a figure given, of a toy-boat of fir-wood, nine inches 

 long and one and a half wide, found at the settlement of Gerolfingen (Gerofin), 

 in the Lake of Bienne, and characterized as " merely a reproduction of the 

 lacustrine canoes of the stone period. "|| But having been found associated with 

 objects of metal, its antiquity is uncertain. 



I am not aware that any contrivances for propelling boats (paddles, etc.) 

 have been discovered among the lacustrine remains of Switzerland or other 

 countries. An anchor-stone from Nidau is described and figured in Lee's trans- 

 lation. Its origin, 'however, is of comparatively recent date, and therefore 



* Desor: Palafittes; p. 353. 



f Troyon : Habitations Lacustres ; p. 166. 



X De Mortillet: Origine de la Navigation et de la Peche ; Materiaux, Vol. Ill, 1867; p. 47. 



§ Keller: Lake Dwellings; Vol. II, Plate XL, Fig. 4. 



II Ibid. ; Vol. I, p. 452. 



