298 W. p. JERVIS, F.G.S., PREHISTORIC REMAINS, 



the object intended to be conveyed, perhaps indeed find definite 

 words, but not letters of any alphabet. Should such be sub- 

 stantiated, we might be led to a more distinct notion of these ancient 

 people. The rubbings are reproduced with the utmost skill and 

 accuracy, nothing is wanting but the proper arrangement, and there is 

 yet time to do that also. Mr. Bicknell has been most conscientious 

 in his task. 



" If uncertainty exists as to the people by whom these engravings 

 were so carefully made, we learn that the authors at least were 

 quite unacquainted with any art representations, and had never 

 seen the roughest artistic work. They are the result of uncultured 

 genius. 



" But as to their age we can form some definite clue. There are 

 likewise representations of arms, such as tomahawks, strikingly akin 

 to Pacific Island forms, arrowheads of various short designs, showing 

 the precise manner of fixing as the prehistoric people so generally 

 adopted. Then there are short, straight daggers, evidently of 

 bronze, being far too long and slender for us to imagine them to 

 have been made of stone, like the arrowheads were. This seems to 

 me to prove sufficiently that a tribe or race of men is indicated as 

 having preceded the bloody and cruel Eoman conquests, at least 

 of these poor mountaineers. The representations of bronze, 

 perhaps even ironwork, find a date even subsequent to what is 

 generally called the Neolithic age. For though stone implements 

 were employed by many of these Alpine mountaineers, from want of 

 knowledge of metallurgy, which is really the reason why simple people 

 were obliged to have recourse to them, these metal arms might 

 have been obtained at the coast from merchants trading from some 

 southern country. 



" There are figures of wheels, and many undesirable objects, but 

 all is carefully executed. Issel presumes that it is the work of 

 successive generations of men. The most remarkable objects to my 

 mind are men shown in excellent positions, throwing tomahawks to 

 a considerable distance ; for not only is this instrument shown while 

 the man's arms are still uplifted, but a faint straight line connects 

 the man's arm with the weapon, while at short equal distances this 

 line is divided by a firm circular mark. This I interpret to signify 

 the trajectory, as likewise the number of units of distance to which 

 the man was able to throw the weapon itself. There is here ample 



