396 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP.X. 



propelled by broad paddles ; in one the men are keep- 

 ing stroke, and the master in the prow of the boat is 

 directing them. Sometimes, though rarely, they carry 

 one mast with sails, as in the slab at Jarrestad, figured 

 by M. Bruzelius. Long galleys similar to those en- 

 graved on the rocks, with prows and sterns lifted high 

 up above the water, like those above described, frequently 

 adorn the blades of razors and other articles of the 

 Bronze age in Scandinavia. 



From these figures we may conclude that the Scandi- 

 navian peoples in the Bronze age were possessed of boats, 

 very different from the rude Neolithic canoes, and cap- 

 able of taking long voyages. It is very likely that 

 these boats are to be looked upon as the precursors of 

 the long ships, snakes, and sea- dragons, which carried 

 the terror of the northern pirates into almost every por- 

 tion of the seaboard of Europe. They imply a con- 

 siderable amount of intercourse by sea between Scandi- 

 navia and the adjoining countries. 



General Conclusions. 



From the facts recorded in this chapter it is obvious 

 that the civilisation of Britain in the Bronze age was 

 closely related to that of the Continent, and that it was 

 far higher than that which it succeeded. It was, how- 

 ever, of a lower order than that either of Scandinavia or 

 of France, which is a fact due to the Bronze age of the 

 former having lasted as late as the Christian era, while 

 the latter country was tie first to receive advantage 

 from intercourse with the civilised peoples south of 

 the Alps. The origin of bronze, and of the bronze 

 civilisation, will be treated in the following chapter. 



