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generations, and which are called Celtic and Druidical monu- 

 ments, though both Figuier and Lubbock are agreed that they 

 arose long antecedent to the incursion of the Celts in Europe, 

 and must have been as great a puzzle to them as they are to 

 us. There exists not the slightest doubt but that they are se- 

 pulchral, and that the majority were originally covered with 

 earth and constituted mounds or tumuli, from which the earth 

 has gradually become detached ; some, however, as for instance 

 Stonehenge, were probably never covered. These Dolmens, 

 as they are called, exist in large numbers in Brittany as well 

 as in England, the Channel Isles and various other parts, and 

 even in India we find their exact counterpart. Their essential 

 construction appears to be two or three upright stones with 

 others laid along the top. Numerous skeletons with flint 

 implements and even fragments of dress and bronze arms 

 have been discovered in these Dolmens. Perhaps no dis- 

 covery has given us so clear an insight into the life and 

 customs of the Stone and Bronze Ages, as the discovery of 

 Swiss Lake Dwellings ; this discovery was quite accidental, 

 and resulted from an exceedingly dry season, which so lowered 

 the water in the lakes that numerous piles, ancient canoes, 

 pottery, &c. became visible. Explorations were made which 

 demonstrated the fact that in remote ages dwellings had been 

 erected on piles driven into the bottom of the lake, planks 

 had then been laid over them and the wooden huts constructed 

 on the flooring thus made. The object of their construction 

 was, probably, safety from attack ; the labour of driving the 

 piles without adequate machinery must have been immense. 

 Herodotus mentions a lake building, of a similar character, 

 which existed over the lake Prasias in Thrace. He says 

 their habitations are built in the following way : " On long 

 piles sunk into the bottom of the lake planks are placed 

 forming a floor, a narrow bridge gives access to them. These 

 piles used to be fixed by the inhabitants at their joint expense, 

 but afterwards it was settled that each man should bring three 

 for every woman he married. On these planks each has his 

 hut, with a trap door down to the lake, and lest any of the 

 children should fall through, they took care to attach a string 

 to their legs. In this lake fish was so abundant that if a 

 basket was let down from the trapdoor it might be drawn up 



