668 ON THE THEEE PERIODS KNOWN AS 



the shipwreck of the vessel laden for them. On the other hand, 

 masses of bronze in the rough, pigs, that is, or even ingots, have 

 also been found in this country, together with smelting apparatus 

 and moulds ; so that bronze must also have been worked up here, 

 as there is abundant evidence (see Klemm, ' German. Alterthums- 

 kunde,' 1836, p. 151) to show it 'was also in Germany. Every 

 nation, the most refined, perhaps, not more than the most bar- 

 barous, has its own fancies as to the patterns of its own weapons, 

 as much as its own clothes, its own architecture, and its own 

 ceremonials ; and this feeling of independence would shortly evoke 

 a demand for the raw material and a production of moulding 

 apparatus. A very instructive story, bearing upon the possible 

 working of this desire for variation, is told by Major-General Lane 

 Fox, F.E/.S., in a paper on ' Primitive Warfare,' read by him June 

 5, 1868, at the Royal United Service Institution. As the paper 

 in question was printed only and not published, it may be allowable 

 here to reproduce it. It runs thus : — 



• The next principle which we shall have to consider is that of variation. Amongst 

 all the products of the most primitive races of man, we find endless variations in the 

 forms of their implements, all of the most ti'ivial characters. A Sheffield manufacturer 

 informed me that he had lately received a wooden model of a dagger-blade from 

 Mogadore, made by an Arab who desired to have one of steel made exactly like it ; 

 accordingly my informant, thinking he had found a convenient market for the sale of 

 such weapons, constructed some hundreds of blades of exactly the same pattern ; on 

 arriving at their destination, however, they were found to be unsaleable. Although 

 precisely of the same type as those in general use about Mogadore, all of which to the 

 European eye would be considered alike, their uniformity rendered them unsuited to 

 the requirements of the inhabitants, each of whom prided himself upon possessing his 

 own particular pattern, the peculiarity of which consisted in having some almost im- 

 perceptible difference in the curve or breadth of the blade.' 



Persons who, like myself, incline to the belief that the regions 

 round the Bay of Bengal were probably the seat, not only of the 

 discovery of the stream-works oxide 'of tin, but also of that of its 

 alloy with copper, will be tempted to assign more weight than is due 

 to the fact, or supposed fact, of the bronze-swords having such small 

 handles, as it may be thought Hindoos or people like them would 

 have. I am not quite clear that this bronze sword, leaf-shaped or 

 other, has always a very small hilt ; certainly in some cases, if we 

 imagine the hilt to be wrapped round with leather or other material 

 suitable for the purpose, it will not turn out to be at all too small for 

 the grip of an ordinary English hand of the present day. At any 



