In a small valley among the heights above Bex, adjoining the Rhone
valley, there were found, in 1791, while a canal was being dug for
facilitating the cutting of peat, some industrial remains which point
to the existence of a lake-dwelling of the Bronze Age. At the north
of the basin, and at a depth of 6 feet, a quantity of bones (some
human), grains of corn, bronze rings, the tip of a scabbard, and three
remarkable swords (from 23 to 26 inches in length) were encountered
(=Fig. 19=). The swords are still preserved, and indubitably belong
to the most flourishing period of the Bronze Age. In the summer of
1859 Mr. Troyon made excavations in the turf of the former bed of this
lake, but found only a portion of worked wood, which might have been
used as a handle for a stone hatchet. According to an old tradition in
the neighbourhood, a château once existed here which had been engulfed
in the lake. (B. 31.)
[Illustration: =Fig. 19.=--LUISSEL. All ⅓ real size.]