PONT DE LA THIELLE.--Leaving the Lake of Bienne, and following the Upper Thielle, we come to the Pont de la Thielle (Zihlbrücke), which crosses the river at a short distance below where it emerges from Lake Neuchâtel. A little above this bridge and on both sides of the river, Col. Schwab discovered piles, among which he collected some industrial remains at a depth of 5 feet, from which he concluded that there had been here an ordinary pile-dwelling, in what was then probably a bay of the lake. With the exception of one hair-pin of bronze, the objects collected were of the Stone Age. (B. 32.) In 1870 v. Fellenberg made some further investigations, which, while justifying the conclusions previously arrived at, showed that the station had larger dimensions than were formerly suspected, and that the relic-bed was in some parts deeply buried. He enumerates the following relics as the result of his labours:--7 large stone axes and 9 small or imperfect ones, of serpentine, diorite, etc.; 20 implements of bone--pointers, daggers, chisels, etc.; a large number of staghorn axe-hammer heads (perforated); flakes of flint and other flint implements, and one beautifully-worked arrow-head; a knife of polished nephrite. The pottery indicated a coarse paste mixed with rough sand, and some of the vessels were ornamented with knobs. (B. 196, p. 281.) According to Mr. Dardel-Thorens,[5] a Roman station succeeded the palafitte, as many objects of pure Roman origin were found amongst the piles on the right bank. Among these he mentions a lion head of bronze, portion of a girdle, a silver ring like those from Pompeii, knives, chisels, axes, etc., and a tile with the legion mark CLXXI; also a piece of worked horn with figures. LA TÈNE (STONE AGE STATIONS).--Close to the outlet, on its north side, is the celebrated station known as La Tène, which, from the remarkable character and varied assortment of iron implements found on it, has given a name to a well-defined period of the Early Iron Age. Now that the lowering of the level of the lake has left its site on dry ground, and its exploration has become thus greatly facilitated, it would appear that La Tène was more of a stronghold, commanding a bridge which crossed the Thielle at its outlet, than a real pile-village. Its consideration will therefore be deferred till we come to the description of the lake-dwellings of the Iron Age.