STONE HATCHETS, 



69 



FIG. 73. 



That they were fixed in wooden handles is evident, in many 



specimens, from peculiar polished spaces, which have been 



produced by the friction of the wood. In almost all cases, 



the wooden handle has long perished, but there are one or 



two instances on record, in which it has been 



preserved. Fig. 73 represents a stone hatchet, 



found, some years ago, in the County of Mona- 



ghan ; the handle was of pine, and was 13Jin. 



long. Horn handles have been frequently 



found in the Swiss Lakes. To us, accustomed 



as we are to the use of metals, it seems difficult 



to believe that such things were ever made use 



of; we know, however, that many savages of 



the present day have no better tools. Yet, 



with axes such as these, and generally with 



the assistance of fire, they will cut down large 



trees, and hollow them out into canoes. The 



piles used in the Swiss Stone age Lake-habi- stone celt m handle. 



tations were evidently, from the form of the cuts on them, 



prepared with the help of stone axes ; and in the Danish 



peat bogs, several trees have been found, with the marks 



of stone axes, and of fire, upon them, and in one or two cases 



stone celts have even been found lying at the side. 



That they were also weapons of war is probable, not only on 

 d priori grounds, but also because they have frequently been 

 found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze daggers. 

 About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, 

 popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King Aldus M'Galdus, 

 was removed by a farmer. "When the cairn had been re- 

 moved, the workmen came to a stone coffin of very rude 

 workmanship, and on removing the lid, they found the 

 skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones were in 

 such a state of decomposition, that the ribs and vertebrae 

 crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them. The remain- 



