Troyon.] 4 [January. 



The superposition of the graves is not at all perfect, and it is easy 

 for one to convince one's self that, after having filled once the conse- 

 crated space, they continued to inhume in the same cemetery, but at 

 a little less depth, so as not to disturb the graves of the inferior 

 layer, and finally recommenced for the third time the same operation. 

 Some of the graves of the superior layer have also been reopened to 

 place some new corpse, on which occasion the bones of the preoccu- 

 pant have been swept p^^e mile into a corner, or into a pocket made 

 to receive tbem. 



The dead, stretched on their backs, were placed so as to have their 

 eyes directed to the rising sun. A certain oscillation in the direc- 

 tion of the graves arose, without doubt, from the season at which the 

 inhumation took place. 



The construction is various enough. Sometimes the dead was 

 simply deposited in a coflSn of wood. Forty tombs have been cut iu 

 a bank of rock. The rest were constructed of rubble wall or with 

 great roujrh flag-stones. 



The ornaments gathered in this cemetery, and classified separately, 

 according to the layer to which they belong, witness a sensible 

 development of civilization from the fifth to the eighth centuries of 

 our era, a period during which these inhumations have taken place 

 on the hill of Bel-Air. 



The warrior was accompanied by his arms, lance, arrow, and large 

 cutlass, of iron. Great clasps (agrafs) and plates of iron, incrusted 

 with silver, adorned the sword-belt. Sometimes a vase of glass or 

 clay occupies the foot of the tomb. The child imports its playthings, 

 and the woman her ornaments, necklaces of glassware or of enamel, 

 knitting-needles (broehes), rings, and pins. The artisan preserves, 

 also, the instruments of his profession. Many graves, however, con- 

 tained nothing but a skeleton. The whole presents characters of 

 present society, the rich and the poorj and it is to be remarked 

 that the grave of the old man, accompanied by less regrets, is 

 also furnished with fewer ornaments. 



The Helveto-Burgundian population, whose tombs I discovered, 

 professed Christianity, and left many signs symbolic of their faith;- 

 as, for instance, on the plates of bronze, the image of Christ bless- 

 ing, of the prophet Daniel in the den of lions, or of a personage 

 adoring the Cross, and turning the back on a fantastic figure, symbo- 

 lizing the conversion of the heathen. On the other hand, the traces 

 of the superstitions of the ancient worship are numerous enough. 

 It is not rare to find fragments of glassware and pottery, which have 



