the people who dwelt in these lake dwellings, we get a considerable amount of information from the various implements, refuse, etc., which fell through the imperfectly closed platforms into the lake, and which have been preserved in the mud at the bottom.  They were fishers, hunters, shepherds, and agriculturists.  Skeletons of fish are found in large abundance, and in some settlements even the fishing nets, and hooks made of boar’s tusks, have been discovered.  Then again there is an abundance of remains of the hunter’s feast; bones of the stag, wild boar, bear, wolf, otter, squirrel, and many other wild animals are found in rich profusion, and often these are split and the marrow extracted.  These ancient men, however, did not entirely rely on such precarious provision for their wants, but were so far advanced in civilization that they kept cattle and domestic animals of various kinds.  They possessed dogs in great numbers, as well as cows, sheep, goats, and pigs, and in winter time had these housed on their settlements, as among the remains found are litters of straw, etc., which had evidently served as bedding for these animals.  This, of course, necessitated the gathering of grass or other material for their food.  They also cultivated wheat, barley, flax, and a number of other vegetable products.  Their methods of cultivation were no doubt very rude, consisting of a mere scratching of the ground with crooked branches of trees or with simple instruments made of stags’ horn; but, nevertheless, they succeeded in getting very good results.  Among the relics which they have left are found stones for crushing corn, the grain which they used, and even the very cakes or bread which they made.  There are also fruits, such as the apple, pear, nut, etc.; so that the bill of fare of prehistoric man was by no means contemptible.  He had fish, game, beef, mutton, pork, bread, and fruit, besides a plentiful supply of water from the lake at his door.  He was acquainted with the potter’s art, and manufactured earthen vessels of various kinds.  He seems to have produced two kinds—­a coarser and a finer; the former made from clay mixed with a quantity of grains of stone, and the latter of washed loam.  These he ornamented in an elementary fashion with certain lines and marks.  Some of the vessels he used have been found with a burnt crust of the porridge which he had been making adhering.  As to his clothes, these were probably formed in great part from the skins of wild or domestic animals, but he also used fabrics made from flax, which he had learned to weave, as remains of cloth, twine, rope, etc., are not infrequently found in his dwellings.