168 ABANDONMENT 



crescents, made of earthenware, and with the convex side 

 flattened, to serve as a foot. They are compressed at the 

 sides, sometimes plain, sometimes ornamented, from eight to 

 twelve inches from one horn to the other, and from six to 

 eight inches in height. They are considered by Dr. Keller 

 to be religious emblems, and are taken as evidence of moon- 

 worship. He refers to Pliny, xvi. 95 : " Est autem id 

 (viscum) rarum admodum inventu et repertum magna re- 

 ligione petitur et ante omnia sexta luna, quge principia 

 mensium annorumque his facit, et saeculi post tricesimum 

 annum, quiu jam virium abunde habeat nee sit sui dimidia ; 

 omnia sanantem appellantes suo vocabulo." This passage he 

 translates as follows : " The mistletoe is, however, very rare, 

 but when it is found it is gathered with great religious cere- 

 mony, especially on the sixth day of the moon, at which 

 epoch begin their months, years, and divisions of thirty 

 years, because it has then sufficient force, and yet is not in 

 the middle of its course ; calling it Heal-all in their lan- 

 guage/' This name has generally been referred to the 

 mistletoe.* But the Swiss archaeologists consider that this is 

 a mistake, and that it properly refers to the moon. 



The Pileworks of Switzerland appear to have become gra- 

 dually less numerous. During the Stone age they were 

 spread over the whole country. Confined, so far as we at 

 present know, during the Bronze era to the Lakes of Western 

 Switzerland ; during that of Iron they have as yet been 

 found only on the Lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel. In 

 these settlements not only has a new substance made its 

 appearance, but the forms of the implements are different. 

 We have, indeed, copies of the bronze axes made in iron, 

 just as we found before that some of the earlier bronze celts 

 resembled the stone axes in form, but these are exceptional 

 cases. The swords have larger handles, and are more richly 

 * See The Celt, Roman and Saxon, p. 48. 



