128 PKEADAMITE MAN. 



exactly like the flint-tools found in Danish shell-mounds and 

 peat-mosses. The most recent of lacustrine dwellings, though 

 very ancient, are not prehistorical. Thus Herodotus adverts 

 to a Thracian tribe who, in the year 520 B.C., dwelt in Pra- 

 sias, a small mountain lake of Pseonia, now part of modern 

 Roumelia. He describes the lacustrine dwellings as having 

 been built on platforms above the lake, resting upon piles. 

 Between them and the shore communication was established 

 by a narrow bridge similarly formed. According to Herodo- 

 tus, the Paeonians lived on these pile constructions, together 

 with their families and horses ; hence they mast have been of 

 considerable extent. The Paeonians are stated to have lived 

 upon fish, with which the lake abundantly supplied them. 



Still following the testimony of Herodotus, the Paeonians 

 maintained their independence during the Persian invasion, 

 bidding defiance to Xerxes by the position of their dwellings. 

 ' But,' remarks Mr. Wylie, in a valuable paper on lacustrine 

 dwellings, ' their safety was probably owing to their living in 

 the middle of the lake, t v juso-rj ry \tfivg ; whereas the an- 

 cient Swiss settlers were compelled by the rapidly-increasing 

 depth of the water near the margins of their lakes to con- 

 struct their habitations at a short distance from the shore, 

 within easy bow-shot of the land, and therefore not out of 

 reach of fiery projectiles, against which thatched roofs and 

 wooden walls could present but a poor defence.' To these 

 circumstances, Sir C. Lyell surmises, we are indebted for the 

 frequent preservation of the most precious tools and works of 

 art, such as would never have been thrown into the Danish 

 shell-mounds, which have been aptly compared to a modern 

 dust-hole. 



Lacustrine dwellings, similar as to position at least with 

 those discovered in Switzerland, are found in New Guinea ; 

 and a sketch of them has been published by M. Dumont 

 d'Urville. Availing himself of this groundwork, Dr. Ferdi- 

 nand Keller of Zurich has drawn up a series of illustrated 



