472 
blade with rivets, is a decisive and unmistakable characteristic. 
This sort of rapier, it appears, is only an extension of the 
dagger which has been frequently found both in England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, with a similar handle attached in a 
similar way. 
‘* There is one class of weapons to which I am particularly 
anxious to call your attention, and of which you possess nu- 
merous well-arranged and interesting specimens. This is the 
weapon which is commonly called the ‘ celt,’ or ‘kelt,’ but 
which, for purposes of distinction, it may be as well always 
to spell with a C, while we reserve the hard letter for the 
name of the nation. The origin of this word ‘celt’ is a Latin 
word, of what has been facetiously called ‘ middling and in- 
famous Latinity,’ namely, ‘ celtis,’ a chisel; and there can be 
hittle doubt that this name is also very indicative of the uses 
to which it may occasionally have been turned. You are well 
aware that this is a novel point amongst archeologists; but 
it is one that, in my humble opinion, can give no difficulty. 
There can be no doubt that, according to the nature of the 
handle with which it is furnished, it may bea chisel, or a hoe, 
or a war-axe. Now, let me call your attention to the impor- 
tance of consulting the habits of those tribes which are in a si- 
milar state to our forefathers at the period when those weapons 
were in use. Along the whole of the upper tracts of Siberia 
the Mongul tribes are in the habit of carrying a weapon formed 
in every respect like our celts, both in the shape which we 
call the socket, and that which, in imitation of our Danish 
friends, we have named palstave. The mode of fixing this 
with a handle is simple, but effective. A piece of bent wood, 
for which ash or blackthorn is admirably adapted, is fastened in 
the lower groove of the palstave ; another piece of flat wood is 
placed within the upper groove; and the whole is then care- 
fully wound round with the strong sinew of some animal ; and 
thus is formed an implement which, from personal experience, 
I can assure you is capable of dealing a most deadly blow. 
