12 



cromlechs which he had seen opened, was led to make excavations 

 which resulted in the discovery of the vast storehouse of curious 

 ohjects similar to those now before us. 



The soft and yielding nature of the sandy cliff offers but little 

 resistance to the pick and spade, and at the distance of little more 

 than three feet from the surface, are found the baked clay clumps, 

 to which have been given the name of " Hand-bricks," because, as 

 will at once be observable upon inspection, they have been formed 

 by simply moulding in the grasp a handful of kneaded clay, and 

 then stamping the ends upon flat boards or stones, in which state 

 they have been fired ; and their surface still bears the imprint of 

 the cuticle and fingers which were employed in their manufacture. 

 They are found, not lying indiscriminately, but packed together 

 with evident order, care, and arrangement, lying transversely over 

 and across one another, and, at intervals, as if to support the 

 weight and pressure, are placed a sort of rude flat bricks, shaped 

 as if formed without a regular mould, but merely pressed together 

 with boards ; the length I was not able to ascertain, having failed 

 in procuring a perfect example, but probably 14 or 16 inches. 

 Associated with these is a great abundance of broken pottery, 

 both baked and unbaked, mostly coarse and of the rudest manu- 

 facture, but here and there portions occur which bear marks of 

 the wheel, and of more careful elaboration. I have unfortunately 

 lost the only specimen illustrative of this fact which I possessed, 

 but it was apparently sun-dried, and of finer clay than any of the 

 examples now before us. Limpet shells innumerable are profusely 

 distributed throughout the deposit, which, from age, have parted 

 with their animal matter, and adhere more or less to the tongue. 

 The accompanying stone* was disinterred at the same time ; to 

 which I draw attention, as it will be seen, upon examination, that 

 it is not in its normal condition, but bears marks, in its bevelled 

 edge and smooth surface, of having been subjected to friction, and 

 made use of probably as a muller, in the manufacture of the clay 

 for the accompanying pottery. 



The old fisherman who was my guide attributed the fabrication 

 of the " Hand-bricks" to the Druids, who, like other representa- 

 tives of unknown powers, are occasionally made responsible for 

 facts which cannot be referred to any known origin. Amongst 

 ourselves, Julius Caesar and " Old Scratch" divide the honour of 

 similar ascriptions. Mr. Lukis, however, informs me that the 

 period to which they may most probably be referred is the 

 feomano-British or Gaulish, but that this point is doubtful and 

 requires further elucidation. 



It seems possible, indeed, looking to the isolated situation of 

 these islands, that their inhabitants may have remained in a rude 

 and barbarous condition, and have retained their primitive habits, 

 uses, and customs, for a considerable period after the tribes in- 



* The Stone here referred to, together with specimens of the Hand-bricks 

 and Pottery, were laid upon the table at the time this paper was read, and are 

 now deposited in the Museum of the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester. 



