Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-11-13
THE LAKE DWELLE EleS.

.i-
Many years ago tho people Of Europe
were obliged to build their houses and
villages id the middle of lakes and
pools, or in some place surrounded bv
wafer In this way they protected
themselves against wild boasts that in-
tested the woods around them. and
from the savage men. who were more
cruel than the beasts. = w..
1t is probable chat ut this time En-
gland, Franco and Germany were near
~ covered with forests, through which
monstrous animals wandered. Great
bears, wolves, and possibly the i'm
mense mammoth, drove men and wo-
men before them. They took refuge in
the lakes and ponds OF water; they
built their toWDs ON piles or stakes driv-
en- into the bottom of tho lake.
All over Europe the remains OF these
singular retreats are found, but the
most remarkable are in Switzerland.
Here, where The waters OF the lakes
are low, great numbers of these viii
lagos may be traced. The piles on which
they were built arc still there; some
times even remains Of houses arc found.
The people who lived in them were OF
small size, apparently. They used
stone axes or hatchcts, and fought
with arrows pointed with flint 1t is
no wonder that thoy fled from the wild
beasts of the forests.
These lacnstrine villages, as they are
called, could not have been very COM
Portable. The piles or stakes on which
they rested were cut in the woods near
by, and then dragged to the water side.
where tney were driven into the deep
| mud and fastened together. A floor Of
logs Was laid upon them. 1t seemed to
have been covered with brushwoou,
leaves and grass. The houses were
built above, probably wooden huts,
scarcely sheltered from the wind anu
rain.
The people who lived in Them knew
how to weave y coarse linen or WOODEN
cloth, but usually must !.,ve been
clothed III skins. Rude Ornament of
different kinds-rings, chains of cop
per or bronze, weapons, stone knives,
hammers OF stone. beads-are found.
Fire was evidently used, and the bones
Of the OK. hog and goat are proofs that
the lacustrine people were not vegeta-
rians. But it is easy to imagine how
uncomfortable were their dwellings.
The floor Of the brusnwood must al
ways have been damp and unhealthy;
the chill winds Of the Swiss and Ger
man lakes pierced through the huts;
sometimes foods overwhelmed them;
sometimes stealtny enemy broke into
their detenseS aud burned the whole
village as 1t 1t We're nest of venemous
Insects. The ashes of many OF the
towns are found ut the bottom of the
lakes, showing that they were des-
troyed by fire. They were usually join
cd to the shore by i bridge of stakes,
over which an enemy could pass.
Many OF these towns are found in the
lakes and ponds of Ireland and Scot
land. Here they are called 'scranno-
ges." They seem to have been less
carefully built than those of Switzer-
land, but they still show that the peo-
pie who planned them must have
laborcd hard to provide themselves
with sale home They had canoes
followed cut from trunks of trees, or
which they carried their piles ont into
the lake. They cut down oak trees of
considerable size with their hatchets of
stone or bronze. in one "crannoge''
recently discovered in Scotland more
than 5000 trees, some of great size,
had been cut down aud used in build
ing one of these villages in the midst of
a lake.
We who live in safe and pleasant
cities or country houses can scarcely
believe that people could exist in these
wild retreats in the midst of the
waters. Yet it seems that they were
inhabited bya large population, even
in Scotland. Here mon, women and
children lived aud died, sometimes per-
haps rs happily as if they had lived in
New York or in Boston. They caught
fish from their house doors; the child
ren swan III the waters; they some
times lived, like squirrels, On the nuts
in the forests.
Men have not, even yet, given up
these lake dwellings,. The savages in
South America. Africa, New Guinea
and Borneo still build them. but they
are said to be not so skil]ful as were
the builders on the Swiss lakes. -Har-
per's Dung People.