[Illustration: Fig. 212.--Bronze Arrow-heads, found in a Lacustrine Settlement of Switzerland.] We shall now pass on to the consideration of the relics found in the tombs of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland and France; which remains will throw some light on the subject of the weapons and warlike instruments belonging to the bronze epoch. The Scandinavian States (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) are very rich in instruments belonging to the bronze epoch. The workmanship of the swords and other weapons of war is much more elaborate here than anywhere else, on account of the tardy introduction of metal into these countries. These weapons are nearly always adorned with somewhat complicated designs, among which curved lines and spiral scrolls are the most prevalent. The Danish swords of the bronze epoch (figs. 213, 214) are of quite a peculiar shape. The hilt is firmly fixed to the blade by means of two or more rivets. The daggers and poniards only differ from the swords in the smallness of their dimensions. [Illustration: Fig. 213.--Scandinavian Sword.] [Illustration: Fig. 214.--Hilt of a Scandinavian Sword.] Some of the hatchets seem to have been copied from models belonging to the Stone Age; these are probably the most ancient, and their ornamentation is of a very scanty character. Others are winged or with sockets, and a few have been found perforated with a transverse hole, like those which have long been used by civilised nations. In this hole a wooden handle was inserted, which was fixed by means of a strap, or merely forcibly driven in. The rarely-found specimens of this kind are sharply defined in shape and splendidly ornamented. Figs. 215 and 216, taken from Sir J. Lubbock's work, represent the probable way in which handles were fitted to the various kinds of hatchets used in the North. [Illustration: Fig. 215.--Mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet.] [Illustration: Fig. 216.--Another mode of fixing the Handle to a Scandinavian Hatchet.] The blades of the bronze knives found in Scandinavia are, like those of Switzerland, somewhat curved in their shape, but the handles are much more richly ornamented. Two of these knives have furnished us with the only examples known of any representation of living beings during the bronze epoch. We may notice that on one of these knives, which is represented in fig. 217, taken from Sir J. Lubbock's work, a swan is roughly carved at the offset of the blade. [Illustration: Fig. 217.--Danish Bronze Knife, of the Bronze Epoch.]