[HOWLEY ] OLD BASQUE TOMBSTONES AT PLACENTIA 87 
true that there are now two distinct stones; but the first thing I no- 
ticed was that being of a laminated structure like slate they are quite 
easily split, and are in fact all coming away in thin slabs. I saw at 
once that the backs of both stones as they now stand are quite new and 
fresh and also irregular in thickness. I immediately came to the con- 
clusion that the stone had recently become split or cleft in twain. On 
measuring the stones, I found them both to be of exactly the same 
width (2 ft. 9 in.). The thickness of each piece is about three inches, 
and, allowing an inch or half an inch to have “spawled” off, if both 
were put together it would give a thickness of nearly seven inches. 
This may seem abnormal. However, on measuring another of the 
stones there present I found it to be seven inches in thickness. The 
objection, that it is not customary to have an inscription on {wo sides of 
a tombstone, vanishes before the actual fact of the Basque stone de- 
scribed above. 
Finally, to make assurance doubly sure, I took a small piece from 
each of these stones, a sliver from the back of each, and submitted 
them toa geological expert, J. P. Howley, Esq., F.G.S., asking his 
opinion of them. The following is an extract of his letter: 
ST. JOHN'S, 
Jan’y 14th, 1902. 
“. . . . Ihave again carefully examined the two pieces of stone with 
“a microscope, and lam convinced beyond doubt that both mineralogically 
“and lithologically they are identical in every respect. It is almost equally 
“certain that they must have been derived from the same stratum, if not 
‘ from the same slab.’’ 
(Sgd.), JAS. P. HOWLEYx. 
Let us now take up the consideration of the inscription on the 
stone. The date is 1694, some nineteen years before the French 
abandoned Placentia, at the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713; and some eigh- 
teen years later than the Basque stone of 1676. This French stone 
is of historical value as showing the transitionary state of the popula- 
tion at the time. Although it is erected to the memory of a Basque, 
yet the language is French. We find in the historical records of 
Placentia, about this date (1684) a despatch or Report from Governor 
Parat in which he complains of the “ insolence ” of the Basques (“ als 
font mille insolences”), and he threatens to chastise them. It is 
evident that they were beginning to lose ground and to give way 
before the French and Breton population. 
The whole of the inscription on this stone as far as legible, is in 
French, except the name of the person over whose remains it was 
erected. The name, as we shall see, is pure Basque. The ortho- 
