Notices of Books. 
399 
1878.] 
The remains of the common fowl have not been met with in 
the lake dwellings, and this gives us an approximate date for the 
latest of those belonging to the bronze age, as it is not men- 
tioned by Homer, and is first referred to by Greek authors about 
400 B.C. In the time of Pericles it was known as the Persian 
bird, from which we may gather it was brought from that country 
to Europe. It was unknown to the ancient Egyptians, and is 
not mentioned in the Old Testament. It had, however, spread 
into Western Europe before the Christian era, as it appears on 
the earliest of the Gallic coins, and was found by Julius Caesar 
in Britain. Probably, therefore, we may place the date of the 
latest of the settlements of the bronze age at from 2400 to 
3000 years ago. 
It is often stated that Europe was peopled diredtly from Asia, 
but the relics found in the earliest of the lake dwellings do not 
favour this conclusion, but rather show an intimate relation with 
Egypt and the shores of the Mediterranean. Rye, which was 
cultivated in the east in the bronze age, is not found in the lake 
dwellings, and it was equally unknown to the ancient Egyptians. 
The cereals cultivated by the lacustrine people were all Egyptian 
or Italian. The eastern hemp was not used by either the lake 
dwellers or the ancient Egyptians ; flax was largely grown, spun, 
and woven by both. Even the weeds introduced with the seed 
flax and corn point to the southern origin of the people. Dr. 
Heer finds the seeds of the Cretan catchfly in the remains from 
the lake dwellings. This plant does not now grow in Switzer- 
land or Germany, but is found everywhere in the flax fields of 
the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The corn blue- 
bottle, a native of Sicily, also grew in the fields of the lake 
dwellers ; and the water chestnut had probably been introduced 
from Italy. 
The influence of Egypt is shown in another way. A number 
of large crescent-shaped objecfts, made of pottery and wood, have 
been found amongst the remains of the lake dwellings. At first 
some thought these were indications of the worship of the moon, 
others that they were rude representations of the heads of bulls. 
Similar crescents have, however, been discovered in abundance 
amongst the Egyptian antiquities, and there is no doubt but that 
they were used as pillows by a people who wore their hair in the 
form of thick plaited head-dresses. The sleeper rested his neck 
in the hollow of the crescent, so as to prevent his carefully pre- 
pared head-dress from being disarranged. That the lake dwellers 
really wore their hair in thick plaited masses is proved by the 
discovery of very many long hair-pins. Even at the present day 
similar pillows are used by different tribes in Africa and Poly- 
nesia, who fasten up their hair in thick masses with pins 9 inches 
long. 
The only facft pointing to a communication with the east is the 
presence of celts made of jade. This stone must have been 
