1870.] of the Channel Islands. 163 



It is just possible that such implements may have accompanied 

 immigrations of nomadic tribes (Indo-Scythians ?) from beyond the 

 Caspian Sea, but at the same time they may have been exchanged 

 or bartered, and thus have found their way so far west as Brittany. 

 It appears evident that there was some commerce in such tools and 

 weapons, which must have been highly prized, as many bear un- 

 doubted marks of having come from the same locality if not from 

 the same manufactory. I use the word manufactory advisedly, 

 for it is almost certain that at particular spots in Europe (where 

 favourable geological formations gave ready access to valuable 

 material, such as quartz, serpentine, porphyry, jasper, granite, green- 

 stone (diorite aphanite), steatite, actinolite, flints, chert, agate, &c), 

 great numbers of celts were manufactured by the resident tribe, 

 and exchanged with the neighbouring tribes for food, peltry, &c. 

 Nilsson shows from glass heads being found among similar remains 

 that the savage aborigines of Scandinavia had commercial inter- 

 course with more civilized nations. 



There is one peculiar celt made of a scarce mineral substance to 

 which I must allude, as its presence in this part of the world seems 

 unaccountable. It has never been particularly noticed, as far as I 

 know, by any archaeologist except Mr. Lukis, who long ago re- 

 marked upon it, and great interest must attach to it. I mean the 

 celt made of Fibrolite ; celts of this material have been found 

 throughout France, the Channel Islands, and in England, and 

 doubtless (although I have not seen any of the continental collec- 

 tions) throughout Europe ; I am almost certain that there is one in 

 Col. Lane Fox's collection from the Eiver Irawaddy, and if so, that 

 one came from much nearer its original home than those found 

 here, for it is not known where any of this substance occurs in 

 Europe ; indeed, the nearest spot where it is attainable seems the 

 Carnatic. If I am right in the above surmises it opens out a 

 pregnant field for investigation. Similar observations apply with 

 regard to the Jade* instruments, which are found in the Lake- 

 villages of Switzerland. I may say that M. Schlagintweit relates 

 the curious circumstance that Oriental jade-stone, when first taken 

 from the quarries, is comparatively soft, not acquiring its extreme 

 hardness until some time afterwards. The vulgar name for the 

 celt among the peasantry of the Channel Islands is " Coin de 

 Foudre," as it is "La Pierre de Tonnerre" among the French 

 countrymen, and the Thunderbolt of our English common-folk. The 

 Swedes also, in common with the Irish, Scotch, and Welsh, have 

 the same superstition as to their electrical origin. It has e^ver been 

 a source of inquiry as to the spot where it (the celt) could be 

 picked up after a thunderstorm ; this idea has been confirmed in 



* See Sir John Lnbbr>ok's ' Pre-historic Times,' p. 134, on the presence of 

 nephrite in the Lake-dwellings. 



