243 
Switzerland, however, had to contend with the boar, the 
wolf, the bear, and the urus ; and subsequently, when the 
population increased, and disputes arose, the lake habitations, 
no doubt, acted as a fortification, and protected man from 
man, as they had before preserved him from wild beasts. 
Switzerland is not, by any means, the only country in 
which lake dwellings have been used as fortresses. In 
Ireland, a number of more or less artificial islands, called 
" Crannoges,"* are known, historically, to have been used as 
strongholds by the petty chiefs. They are composed of earth 
and stones, strengthened by numerous piles, and have supplied 
the Irish Archaeologists with numerous weapons and bones. 
From the Crannoge at Dunshauglin, indeed, more than 150 
cart-loads of bones were obtained, and were used as manure ! 
These lake dwellings of Ireland, however, come down to a 
much later period than those of Switzerland, and are fre- 
quently mentioned in early history. 
After having chosen a favourable situation, the first step 
in the construction of the Lake-habitations was to obtain the 
necessary timber. To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet 
must have been no slight undertaking. It is, indeed, most 
probable that they made use of fire, in the same manner as 
is done by existing savages in felling trees and making 
canoes. Burning the wood and then scraping away the 
charred portion, renders, indeed, the task far more easy, and 
the men of the stone period appear to have avoided the use 
of large trees, except in making their canoes. Their piles 
were imbedded in the mud for from one to five feet, and must 
also have projected from four to six feet above the water 
level, which cannot have been very different from at present. 
They must, therefore, have had a length of from 15 to 30 
feet, and they were from 3 to 9 inches in diameter. The 
pointed extremity which entered into the mud still bears the 
* See Wilde's Catalogue, V. i., p. 220. 
