368 LECTUEE XII. 



raft into a platform raised on piles above tlie water, so that 

 the billows could not reach it, and this is the origin of the 

 pile-works." 



Thus the squatters travel leisurely from east to west, from 

 Asia to Europe, along the coasts and up the rivers. It is, 

 however, thinks Troyon, difficult to say whether the first inha- 

 bitants of Switzerland ascended the Rhone or passed over the 

 Rhine. We much fear that this question will remain unsolved, 

 but we should like to know how these clumsy rafts could have 

 ascended a river, which feat, between Seyssel and Greneva, 

 cannot be effected by steamers. But as faith removes moun- 

 tains, rafts can no doubt ascend the Rhone. 



There is another hard nut for Bible believers to crack, 

 namely the knowledge of metals. The stone people of Europe 

 knew of no metal. But Tubalcain, the Biblical Vulcan, was 

 an artificer in brass and iron before the Mosaic deluge, and 

 as, according to the sage remark of Troyon, man must acquire 

 by labour all that is requisite for his comfort, he cannot have 

 commenced with being a blacksmith. "But," continues M. 

 Troyon, "^we need only imagine these first migrations towards 

 the West, to comprehend how a people can lose the knowledge 

 of metals. There is no doubt that these families, at their 

 departure from Asia, possessed metalhc instruments, but their 

 nomadic life did not permit them to work mines, to establish 

 forges, or to acquire the social organisation requisite for dif- 

 ferent handicrafts. The further these families penetrated into 

 unknown regions, the ways behind them were cut off, and 

 they were no longer able to communicate with the centres of 

 Oriental civihsation." Thus the poor people necessarily forgot 

 the working of metal and had recourse to stones. 



At a later period came the Bronze people, also from Asia, 

 and killed their unfortunate predecessors, burnt their huts, 

 and established themselves, worshipping the moon. There 

 were discovered some pieces of clay or stone in the form of a 

 crescent belonging to the Bronze period ; these, it was said, 

 indicated moon worship. These things were perhaps only 

 head-pillows, for many people even now use a crescent-shaped 

 block of wood or stone for a pillow. 



