REVIEWS. 
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instances was formed of split trunks, in others of branches, but over these 
was a sort of “ concrete ” layer composed of mud, which had been worked or 
“ puddled ” into the interstices, and upon this floor was placed a large stone 
slab, which, from the charred and sooty appearance of all the specimens 
examined, must have formed the hearth of the lake-dwellers’ domestic 
economy. It must not be supposed from what we have said that the 
pfahlbauten were invariably constructed in the manner we have described. 
The “ fascine dwellings ” were made upon a very different and much simpler 
plan. In these the platform was not supported by stakes or piles, but rested 
upon a series of layers of sticks, pine branches, mud, and stones, which were 
built up above the surface of the water. The Irish cranuoges too, a chapter on 
which occurs in Dr. Keller’s book, were of a mixed character, possessing 
some of the features of the pile and some of the fascine dwellings. But in 
all the more perfectly constructed settlements the understructure, platform, 
and superstructure were as we have described them. 
"What were the habits of the races who built, and lived in these curious 
habitations ? This is the question which has been so well answered by the 
numerous explorations of Dr. Keller and his Swiss colleagues. And how 
have they answered it ? By giving us a thorough and carefully compiled 
account of the relics which their investigations of the lake-dwellings have 
brought to light. This account is to be found in the several chapters in 
which the many settlements examined are described. We find that these 
early Europeans presented a strange mixture of savagery and civilization. 
They cultivated cereals, and reared domestic animals ; but their most perfect 
weapons and implements of household use were made of stone, wood, and 
bone, bronze being extremely rare ; and while their utensils of pottery were 
of the roughest hand-made character, they were able to weave flax into a 
species of fabric of no ordinary quality or complexity. They must have 
lived upon fish, corn, and the flesh of their domestic animals ; for the remains 
of all these have been found abundantly among the piles. Probably, too, 
they clothed themselves in skins, fastened round their bodies with bone pins 
or skewers. 
It is the history of these singular people — some of the earliest inhabitants 
of Europe — that Dr. Keller’s work opens up before us, disclosing long vistas 
into bygone ages, when Europe was inhabited by human beings who were 
of the group intermediate between the ape-like men of Darwin and the more 
civilized races which sprang from the Kelts. In its pages we find the re- 
sults of the antiquary’s exploration of Meilen, Mooseedorf, Bobenhausen, 
Wangen, Niederwyl,Wauwyl, Allensbach, Morges,Lake of Bourget, Peschiera, 
Marin, and several other celebrated settlements ; and elaborate accounts of 
the Irish and Scotch crannoges, by Sir W. Wilde and Mr. J. Stuart. Dr. 
Oswald Heer describes the plants of the lake-dwellings ; Professor Riitimeyer 
does the same for the animal remains ; while Professor von Fellenberg takes 
up the bronze implements, and discourses ably anent their origin and signi- 
ficance. There are nearly a hundred artistically-executed lithographic 
plates, which in themselves unfold the tale of the pile-dwellings to the lazy 
student, and thus is completed a volume such as never has been before pub- 
lished upon its own or any other subject. Alike interesting to the geologist, 
antiquary, and general reader, it must necessarily be much sought after, 
YOL. Y. NO. XXI. 2 K 
