A FRAGMENT OF HISTORY 169 



haps, in order to extend the area of the straggling 

 village as the population increased, the furnishing of 

 a new pile was required of each adult male inhabit- 

 ant. It was the extraordinary contribution, the sa- 

 cred debt, that he was obliged to pay once in his life- 

 time. 



"The piles, pointed and hardened in the fire at one 

 end, were dragged to the edge of the lake, where 

 canoes of plaited wicker towed them to the chosen 

 spot. There they were stood on end and driven into 

 the soft mud until the tops were on a level with the 

 water. Finally the spaces between the multitude of 

 piles were filled with stones. The whole formed an 

 artificial islet of great solidity, or rather a shoal sub- 

 merged and covered with several feet of water. On 

 the tops of the piles, just above the general level, 

 cross-beams were laid, then boughs of trees, and on 

 top of these beaten earth. Finally, on this artificial 

 soil, beneath which circulated the waters of the lake, 

 dwellings were erected. 



"They were round or oval huts, made of a frame- 

 work of interlacing branches and a layer of rich 

 earth. A single opening, very low, through which 

 one had to crawl, gave access to an interior, not un- 

 like our baker 's oven. 



"The furnishing corresponded with the rudeness 

 of the dwelling. Big tun-bellied pots of black clay 

 variegated with grains of white sand held the 

 provisions, which consisted of aurochs-flesh dried 

 in the sun, beech-nuts, and hazel-nuts. These pots 

 were rudely made by hand without any potter's 



