VI THE ARYAN QUESTION 309 



ness and toughness of their metal were immensely 

 improved by alloying it with a small quantity of 

 tin, they forsook copper for bronze, and gradually 

 attained a wonderful skill in bronze -work. Finally, 

 some of the European people became acquainted 

 with iron, and its superior qualities drove out 

 bronze, as bronze had driven out stone, from use 

 in the manufacture of implements and weapons of 

 the best class. But the process of substitution of 

 copper and bronze for stone was gradual, and, for 

 common purposes, stone remained in use long 

 after the introduction of metals. 



The pile-dwellings of Switzerland have yielded 

 an unbroken archaeological record of these changes. 

 Those of eastern Switzerland ceased, to exist soon 

 after the appearance of metals, but in those of the 

 Lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne the history is 

 continued through the stage of bronze to the 

 beginning of that of iron. And in all this long 

 series of remains, which lay bare the minutest 

 details of the life of the pile-dwellers, from the 

 neolithic to the perfected bronze stage, there is 

 no indication of any disturbance such as must 

 have been caused by foreign invasion ; and such 

 as was produced by intruders, shortly after the iron 

 stage was reached. Undoubtedly the constructors 

 of the pile-dwellings must have received foreign 

 influences through the channel of trade, and may 

 have received them by the slow immigration of 

 other races. Their amber, their jade, and their 



