1882-1883.] ^73 



present year a most valuable book has been published by Dr. 

 Munro on Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings. Upwards of fifty 

 have now been recorded. Their construction is almost identical 

 with the Irish ones, and the objects found in them are very 

 similar. A classification of the localities in which they exist 

 shows pretty conclusively, that crannog building was almost 

 entirely confined to the Celtic race ; and that none have been 

 found in those parts earliest settled by the Angles, whilst the 

 great majority being in what was the Romano-British Kingdom 

 of Strathclyde, would point to the inference, that the North 

 British Celts took to crannog building during the disturbed 

 times which followed the departure of the Roman power. In 

 Ireland, however, as the Romans were never here, their de- 

 parture can have had nothing to do with crannog building. It 

 is therefore possible that crannog building may have been 

 adopted earlier here than in Scotland, and the elaborate struc- 

 ture of some of the Scottish ones would favour this view. 



The mode of life of the occupants of those half-submerged 

 islands would seem at the first glance to have been wretched in 

 the extreme. Nevertheless, they had a considerable degree of 

 civilization. The multitude of tools and weapons of bronze and 

 iron, the pins, the skewers, the buckles, and the shears, all speak 

 of an amount of clothing, and a variety of wants and purposes 

 and domestic requirements which are far removed from a savage 

 state ; the quantity of pottery speaks of a cuisine, and its orna- 

 mentation of an artistic culture, even more decidedly civilized 

 in its character, of which the numerous bronze medals give still 

 further proof. That the crannog builders relied largely upon 

 agriculture for their subsistence, is indicated by the number of 

 querns, or handmills, which have been found ; whilst the combs 

 and brooches indicate a regard, both for personal comfort and 

 adornment beyond what we might have expected from their 

 other surroundings. The crucibles for the melting of bronze, 

 silver, and gold, and many other of the articles, indicate a pro- 

 longed residence in the crannogs, and no mere temporary or 

 casual occupation of them. In judging of the extent of their 



