160 /. Lubbock on the Ancient Lake Habitations of Switzerland. 



18, 1567) : ' For castles, I think it be not unknown unto your hon- 

 ors, he trusteth no point thereunto for his safety, as appeareih 

 by the raising of the strongest castles of all his countreys, and 

 that fortification that heonly dependeth upon is m^ar/m/m*^- 

 water logfies in his country, which from the sea there come nei- 

 ther ship nor boat to approach them : it is thought that there 

 in the said fortified islands lyeth all his plate, which is much, 

 and money, prisoners and gages : which islands hath in Avars to 

 fore been attempted, and now of late again by the Lord Dep- 

 uty there, Sir Harry Sydney, which for want of means for safe 

 conducts upon the water it hath not prevailed.' " 



Again, the map of the escheated territories, made for the Gov- 

 ernment, A. D. 1591, by Francis Jobson, or the " Piatt of the 

 County of Monaghan," preserved in the State Paper Ofl&ce, con- 

 tains rough sketches of the dwellings of the petty chiefs of Mon- 

 aghan, which "are in all cases surrounded by water."* In the 

 "Annals of the Four Masters," and other records of early Irish 

 history, we meet with numerous instances in which the Crannoges 

 are mentioned, and some in which their position has not preser- 

 ved them from robbery and destruction ; so that we need not be 

 surprised to find that most of the Swiss Lake habitations appear 

 to have been destroyed by fire. Though, however, these latter 

 resemble the Irish Crannoges in their position and use, they differ 

 considerably from them in their construction. In one or two 

 places, indeed, as for instance at the Steinberg, in the Lake of 

 Bienne, it is possible that an island may have been formed, the 

 bottom of the lake having been artificially raised. It is curious 

 that a canoe laden with stones, was actually found near this spot 

 it having, apparently, sunk with its load, at the time when the 

 Steinberg was in process of construction. After all, however, it 

 seems probable that even in this case, the object was only to ob- 

 tain a firmer foundation for the piles. At the present tirae the 

 highest part is eight feet below the surface of the water, and 

 nothing justifies us in looking back to any such alteration of level- 

 Moreover, even now the piles project two or three feet above the 

 surface, upon which, therefore, the cabins cannot have been in- 

 tended to stand. A small island in Lake Inkwyl, however, re- 

 produces almost exactly the Irish Crannoge. 



After having chosen a favorable situation, the first step io *^^ 

 construction of the Lake habitations was to obtain the necessary 

 timber. To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet must ha've 

 been no slight undertaking. It is, indeed, most probable taat 

 they made use of fire, in the same manner as is done by existi"| 

 savages in felling trees and making canoes. Burning the ^vooa 

 and then scraping away the charred portion, renders, indeed tJe 

 task far more easy, and the men of the Stone period appear to 



