Reviews — Keller'' 8 Lake-DicelUngs. 229 



survived among modern savages in their original simplicity in such 

 varied localities as the Lake-district of Central Africa ; New- 

 Guinea ; Venezuela ; on the Gulf of Maracaibo ; on the Orinoco ; 

 and the Amazons in South America? In Singapore and Japan 

 this form of pile-dwelling over the water is still in vogue. It is the 

 best possible proof that in the construction of these primitive habi- 

 tations, as in the fabi'ication of his weapons, early man, under 

 similar circumstances, and impelled by like necessities, has always 

 acted in a similar manner independent of time and space. We do 

 not therefore attach any special importance to the fact of the early 

 Swiss Lake-Dwellers using this form of habitation ; we believe it 

 "was a necessity of their existence which caused them so to build. 

 Dr. Keller himself observes : — " As no national distinction can be 

 proved between the dwellers on land and the dwellers on the lakes, 

 so in like manner no serious doubt can arise as to the identity of the 

 people who first made use of stone celts, then made implements of 

 bronze of admirable quality, and, lastly, forged its weapons and 

 tools out of iron. The dijfference of material used for the various 

 implements marks the epochs which follow each other in the de- 

 velopment of one and the same race, not the degree of civilization 

 of different peoples." (p. 493.) 



The researches of Professors Heer, Eutimeyer, and others, into the 

 plant- and animal-remains discovered on the sites of these amphibian 

 habitations show that even the older pile-dwellers attempted the cul- 

 tivation of some cereals to he stored together with dried fruits for 

 winter use ; and although in the earliest dwellings the larger 

 proportion of animal-remains are made up of the bones of wild 

 beasts, such as the red deer, the wild boar, roebuck, etc., yet they 

 seem at that period already to have possessed the cow and the goat. 

 At first these were no doulDt kept simply for the sake of their milk ; 

 but oxen were employed from a very early period to draw loads ; the 

 discovery af the pig as a source of excellent food, and probably as 

 a substitute for cannibal repasts, belongs also to an advanced period 

 of primitive life. From the eai'liest times man appears to have 

 been accompanied by the dog, which, in his hunter state, and also 

 afterwards as a shepherd or swineherd, would prove a most valuable 

 companion, worthy to share in his repasts and to enjoy the warmth 

 and shelter of his hut or cave. 



The process of Evolution can clearly be traced in the relics of 

 these eaidy abodes of man ; for with advancing civilization we find 

 not only the diminution of wild animals eaten as food, and the 

 obvious greater consumption of domesticated breeds of pig, ox and 

 sheep, but his weapons increase in quality of workmanship and 

 materials, and the horse, and probably also the ass, were added to 

 his other domesticated animals. 



One interesting geological feature connected with these early 

 habitations in. Switzerland is, that in many instances they afford 

 valuable evidence as to the rate of the filling up of lakes by vegetable 

 growths, and hy the accumulation of sediments or alluvial deposits. 

 From the evidence collected by Mr, Lee it would seem that of the 



