“Where Orinoco in his pride
Rolls to the main no tribute tide;”
and on the banks of the Amazon they are also to be seen perched on piles driven into the muddy bottom. The delta of the Parana, which is scarcely above high-water mark, is called the Venetia of South America. Here the houses are built on piles in order to keep the flooring free from the sudden rising of floods. Near Rosario, in Buenos-Ayres, gauchos, who have given up horses and horse stealing and taken to canoes and petty larceny, have constructed rude abodes in the swamps along the banks of one of the tributaries of the La Plata.[29] Captain Burton mentions an African tribe who had erected their dwellings in the same way at a great distance from the shore.[30] Lake Moyhrga or Realmah, in Central Africa, presents at the present day the characteristic features pertaining to the descriptions of an ancient Irish lacustrine site. Cameron[31] describes this lake as lying in a small basin embosomed in low-wooded hills, interspersed with patches of cultivated ground. The lake is small—only two miles in length by one in width—the margin girt with floating vegetation corresponding to the reeds, flags, and aqueous growth of more temperate climes. Three villages, besides detached huts, were scattered irregularly over its surface: the huts were built on platforms raised about six feet above the surface of the water, supported on stout piles driven into the bed of the lake; underneath the platform canoes were moored and nets hung to dry. Some huts were oblong in shape, others round, with occasionally, a projecting roof over the door, and they were constructed in a manner precisely similar to those on terra firma. The inmates live in these dwellings with their fowl and goats, only going ashore in their “dug-outs” to cultivate their small patches of tillage, and to allow their goats to graze. These lake-dwellers were very unapproachable when on land, always running to their canoes and paddling away on the appearance of a stranger. The paddles are described as resembling large circular shallow spoons with long straight handles, the canoes about 25 feet in length. In Eastern Africa also pile dwellings are to be found, as at Mayunga, in Madagascar. At Mirambaus, in Eastern Africa, the score or so of houses composing the village are constructed on posts raised some 8 feet above the ground,[32] whilst in the neighbouring village of Mujurumbe huts formed of bamboo and cocoa-nut leaf are erected on piles. Thus we see that a habitat on the water has been, or is still, used by races of men not having the slightest affinity to each other, as the boat-living population of China, the lake-dwellers of Central Africa, Europe, New Guinea, Great Britain, Ireland, &c.
Although in 1810 a lake-dwelling in Ireland had been discovered by Mr. William Trench near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, its original use was not known, no interest was excited, nor was the importance of the event appreciated; and it was not till 1839[33] that the archæological value of the investigation of lacustrine sites was perceived. The following year Mr., afterwards Sir William, Wilde published an account of the discovery at Lagore, Co. Meath, of the first great lacustrine retreat noticed in Ireland in modern times. It had been anciently the residence of the chief of a small territory in Meath. The formation or eruption of the lake is chronicled in the Irish Annals as having occurred A.M. 3581. Under dates A.D. 848, 933, 967 mention is made of the destruction of the Lagore crannog, and from its being situated near the village of Dunshaughlin, either name is indiscriminately applied to it in the present day. W. F. Wakeman, the only archæologist probably now living who can speak from personal knowledge of the circumstances connected with the original discovery, relates that, when he was with Petrie in the office of the Topographical Department of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, he recollects how a dealer in Irish antiquities, named Underwood, made his appearance day after day, bringing for sale objects of more or less archæological interest, which he stated had been found near Dunshaughlin. Struck by the frequency of the dealer’s calls, Petrie decided to unravel the mystery by visiting the place; accordingly, accompanied by Wilde, he reached Lagore House, and there, carelessly thrown on the floor of a barn, he saw a large and miscellaneous collection of antiquities, consisting chiefly of weapons composed of iron—swords, daggers, spear and axe-heads, saws, chains, shears, small culinary vessels, &c. &c; pins and brooches of bronze, articles of bone, and even of wood, all of which had been found by labourers engaged in making a drain through the ancient lake bed. Petrie endeavoured to procure some of these for his collection, but the steward, or caretaker, in the absence of his employer, would not part with any; and when the dealer returned after a short lapse of time the collection was already greatly scattered: many objects had been presented to curiosity-seekers in the neighbourhood, and many, it was supposed, went to England. A few, however, found their way to the Royal Irish Academy, to Dean Dawson, Lord Talbot de Malahide, and Petrie.
For some years after the drainage operations, the soil of Lagore remained unturned by the spade; but in 1846, 1847 and 1848, the site of the crannog was reopened by men engaged in the process of turf-cutting, and, as on the previous occasion, quantities of bones were exhumed, and with them a surprising number of antiquities, together with remains of the ancient stockading, and the ruins of several structures evidently used as huts; one of them is thus described by W. F. Wakeman: “Let the reader imagine a foundation formed of four roughly-squared planks of oak, each about twelve feet in length (so arranged as to enclose a quadrangle), the ends of which were carefully fitted together. From the angles of this square rose four posts, also of oak, to the height of about nine feet. In these grooves were cut, into which roughly-split planks of oak had been slipped so as to form the sides of the house; the irregularities between the boards were tightly caulked with moss; a low and narrow opening in one of the sides had evidently served as an entrance. There were no traces of window or chimney.”[34]
Lagore crannog differed from others brought to light at a later date, in not being either submerged or surrounded by water at the time of its discovery. Wilde describes it as consisting of a circular mound of about 520 feet in circumference, slightly raised above the surrounding bog or marshy ground, which forms a basin of about a mile and a-half in circuit, and is bounded by elevated lands. “The circumference of the circle was formed by upright posts of black oak, measuring from six to eight feet in height; these were mortised into beams of similar material laid flat upon the marl and sand beneath the bog, and nearly sixteen feet below the present surface. The upright posts were held together by connecting cross-beams, and (said to be) fastened by large iron (?) nails: parts of a second upper tier of posts were likewise found resting on the lower ones. The space thus enclosed was divided into separate compartments by septa or divisions that intersected one another in different directions; these were also formed of oaken beams in a state of great preservation, joined together with greater accuracy than the former, in some cases having their sides grooved and rabbeted to admit large panels driven down between them.”
It may be inferred that fire was the final agent of destruction, as almost everywhere amongst the timbers lay half-consumed logs and numerous pieces of charcoal. Unfortunately, investigations on the site do not seem to have produced results such as might have been expected, owing principally, as was supposed, to want of friendly co-operation on the part of those engaged in searches. The “find” is now widely dispersed, and can never be re-collected; but the Petrie Museum deposited in the Royal Irish Academy, as well as some private cabinets, would still furnish material for scores of illustrations.
At about the same date as the Lagore crannog, that of Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, became visible when the waters of the lake were lowered. The existence of this artificial island in ancient times was traditionally known to the neighbouring peasantry: the stones by which it was overlaid were in places distinctly visible to a person passing over them in a boat when the lake level was low and the water calm. A large tripod composed of iron was at times plainly to be seen, and had attracted Mr. Wakeman’s attention; but, from superstitious feelings on the part of the boatmen by whom he was accompanied, no attempt at its recovery was then made; it is said to be now in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. A number of antiquities have been from time to time obtained from the site, and there was a vast collection of bones; but, according to the evidence of a clergyman then living in the neighbourhood of Bruff, there does not appear to have been any vestige of staking on or around this crannog. Other remains of the same class were brought to light in rapid succession, so that in 1857 no less than forty-seven of them had been recorded: since that time the number has increased to about 200, and every succeeding year adds to the total.
In 1853-4, owing principally to the writings of Keller, the entire attention of archæologists was attracted to the lacustrine remains of Switzerland, and it was the more easily diverted from the Irish sites by the pronouncement of Sir William Wilde, that no stone, and but few bronze weapons, had been found in them: he also suggested, that from the ninth to the seventeenth century might be considered the probable date of the lacustrine period in Ireland. These theories have since been abundantly confuted; but they served at the time to check investigation, because detracting from the impression of antiquity.