454 Cumhy — Relative Age of Stone and Metallic Weapons. 



frequent), and tliis weapon is of extreme antiquity and represents a 

 very early kind of fish-spear (H. fx. 27, Od. g. 506, e. 292, ApoUod. 

 Bibl. i. 2, 1, ^sch. Septheb. 132, Phumut. de Nat. Deor. 22, p. 194). 



IV. For the use of metals among the Gaulish, German, and British 

 tribes of the Eoman period. See Caes. B. G. v, 12, 42, and iv. 33 

 Tac. Germ. 6 ; Agric. 12 (of. Cic. Ep. ad Att. iv. 15), 36 ; Ann. i. 64 

 ii. 14; Liv. vii. 10, xxxviii. 21 ; Solin. 22 ; Luc. Phars. vi. 259 

 Polyb. ii. 29, 30, 33, iii. 115 (of. Liv. xxii. 46) ; Plut. Vit. Mar. 420 

 Strab. iv. 190, 196, 197, 199, 200; Diod. Sic. v. 20-22, 27, 30, 38 

 Dio Cass, xxxviii. 49, 50, Ivi. 21. 



Similar places might be multiplied, but the above are sufficient to 

 show (1) that these nations used arms of their own fashion, and 

 therefore of their own manufacture ; (2) that the contradictory state- 

 ments of the writers above cited may be reconciled on the supposition 

 that the scarcity and high value of iron and brass caused great dif- 

 ference between the armature of the chiefs and wealthy men and 

 that of their poorer followers, and also between that of the earlier 

 period and that of the time subsequent to Csesar and Agricola ; (3) 

 that originally neither Gauls nor Germans used any defensive armour 

 except the shield; and that the principal weapon of the Germans was 

 the spear, while the Gauls and Britons used a long sword. 



A steel helmet, perhaps such as those described by Plutarch and 

 Diodorus, is engraved by Spon. Miscel. p. 254, it had been gilt, and 

 to this probably owed its preseivation. 



To the above we may add that stone weapons are found in the 

 tombs of ancient Germany, and that bronze implements and armour 

 were used very generally till the end of the Eoman period ; see the 

 Eibchester helmet, the Brough caldron, etc., etc. 



V. We may observe that in the places above cited the bow is 

 scarcely mentioned as a mihtary weapon, but they are said to have 

 been fond of hunting and fowling, and would probably use it for this 

 purpose. Flint arrowheads have been always foimd in great numbers 

 in England and Scotland, and hence the superstition respecting elf- 

 arrows. (See the Gentle Shepherd, Act iii. Sc. 3, " When Brawny 

 elf-shot never mair came hame," and a few lines lower he speaks of 

 "■ Bawsey shot to dead upon the green." Here Brawney is a man and 

 perhaps misprinted for Sawney : Bawsey is a bassened {i.e. brindled) 

 cow, see Jamieson's Dictionary, s.v. Baicsand, Elf-sJiot, see also Captain 

 Grose's Popular Superstitions, p. 31, "Fairies sometimes shoot at 

 cattle with arrows headed with flint stones, these are often found and 

 are called EJf-shots. In order to effect the cure of an animal so in- 

 jured, it is to be touched with one of these elf-shots, or to be made 

 to drink the water in which one has been dipped.") It would seem 

 therefore that flint arrowheads have been found and admired as 

 curiosities, from perhaps the Saxon invasion to the present time, so 

 that the number of them must have been «-ery considerable. 



These flint arrowheads are often (perhaps most commonly) barbed ; 

 sometimes the barbs may have been broken off : now, in such an 

 implement, the vertical angle must not be too slender— perhaps not 

 less than 30° — and, in this case, the wide span of the barbs would 



