24 ANCESTRAL MAN. 



discovered, perfected and in every stage of imperfection. But - 

 nowhere has come to light the faintest sign of the local production 

 of leaf-shaped or of barbed arrow-heads ; and the presumption is 

 that those beautiful ones that are sometimes, but very rarely, 

 found on the hills we have described, were the weapons of a later 

 people by whom this remnant of Mesolithic man was, perhaps, at 

 last exterminated. 



Whatever may be the answer to this question — and an affirma- 

 tive one cannot, as yet, be given — the Neolithic or Prehistoric age 

 is marked by the advent of a small race, about 5 feet 5 inches in 

 stature, and of delicate features. 



Sepulchral remains indicate excessive development of the 

 muscles of the leg, and show how much time they spent in 

 hunting or fleeing on foot. From the appearance of some of the 

 bones we learn the nature of ills that afflicted them : inflammation, 

 abscess, rheumatic ulceration of joints, paralysis, hip-joint disease, 

 and water-on-the-brain. 



Careful explorations have disclosed the state of their civilisation. 

 They were entirely ignorant of the metals. Many of their stone 

 implements were polished and of excellent workmanship. Their 

 characteristic weapons were the arrow and the axe. They used 

 pottery. They wove flax into tissues. Above all, they cultivated 

 the soil, and ground their grain between two stones. 



The animals they tamed, as the ox, the hog and the sheep, lead 

 to the belief that they streamed down from Central Asia, and 

 passed over Europe like the succeeding waves of Aryans ; like the 

 Celts, Belgae, Greeks, Latins, and the Germanic peoples. They 

 gave origin to the early Iberians, and are represented by the 

 modern Basque, and though the philological researches of Prince 

 Lucien Bonaparte have led him to call this people Non-Aryan, it 

 maybe noticed (1.) that they were acquainted with agriculture: 

 arya means a husbandman, from the root ar, to plough ; (2.) that 

 they came from the same district as the Aryans ; and (3.) that 

 their names for certain implements bear a strong resemblance to 

 words of the same meaning in Sanscrit. In any case, it seems to 

 be agreed that they constituted the early Lake Dwellers of 

 Switzerland, and were the depositors of the ancient Kjokken 

 Moddings of Denmark. Similar lacustrine remains have been 

 found also in Scotland and in Wales ; and it is remarkable that 

 the Welsh Lake Legends all contain the mention of iron as the 

 cause of disaster to the fairies. 



The relics found deep in the beds of the Swiss Lakes are 

 especially interesting, because so well preserved. We see, for 

 instance, that flint arrow-heads were not only bound to the shaft 

 by cord, but were further secured by asphalt. And in this con- 

 nection it is remarkable to be told by Antonio Herrera, in 1601, 



