the Scandinavians may easily have mistaken Atlantean books and bells for
Irish books and mass-bells. They do not say that there were any
evidences that these relics belonged to a people who had recently
visited the island; and, as they found the island uninhabited, it would
be impossible for them to tell how many years or centuries had elapsed
since the books and bells were left there.

The fact that the implements of the Bronze Age came from some common
centre, and did not originate independently in different countries, is
proved by the striking similarity which exists between the bronze
implements of regions as widely separated as Switzerland, Ireland,
Denmark, and Africa. It is not to be supposed that any overland
communication existed in that early age between these countries; and the
coincidence of design which we find to exist can only be accounted for
by the fact that the articles of bronze were obtained from some
sea-going people, who carried on a commerce at the same time with all
these regions.

CELTS

Compare, for instance, these two decorated bronze celts, the first from
Ireland, the second from Denmark; and then compare both these with a
stone celt found in a mound in Tennessee, given below. Here we have the
same form precisely.

LEAF SHAPED BRONZE SWORDS

Compare the bronze swords in the four preceding illustrations-from
Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark-and then observe the same very
peculiar shape--the leaf-shape, as it is called--in the stone sword from