CHAP, vin.] NAVIGATION. 281 



various European articles penetrate into the heart of 

 Africa. 



This kind of traffic is proved to have extended over 

 enormous distances in the Neolithic age, by the distribu- 

 tion of the axes made of nephrite or jade, a material as 

 yet unknown in its native state in Britain or on the 

 Continent. The only places where it is known to exist 

 in the old world are Turkestan and China, where from 

 time immemorial it has furnished supplies to the Chinese 

 and Tartars. It is very probable that jade was worked 

 in this district in the Neolithic age, and transported 

 through Asia, by the steady westerly drifting of the 

 tribes; passing from hand to hand, and in the course 

 of many ages arriving in Britain. Its value consisted 

 not merely in its rarity, hardness, and beautiful green 

 colour, but in the superstitious virtues attached to 

 it in all ages and among all peoples ; equally among the 

 Chinese and the New Zealanders at the present time, 

 and the ancient inhabitants of Europe. In the Neolithic 

 age the axes made of it were put to no common 

 use, but were frequently suspended as charms or orna- 

 ments, and this was the case also in the succeeding 

 Bronze age. 



Navigation. 



The intercourse between the Neolithic tribes was 

 greatly facilitated by the use of canoes, formed of the 

 trunk of large trees, hollowed partly by the action of 

 fire and partly by the use of the axe, and propelled by 

 means of a broad paddle. There is no evidence of sails 

 having been then known. It was probably in canoes of 

 this kind, some of which are forty feet long, that the 

 Neolithic peoples with their cattle and household stuff 



