By the Rev. G. 8. Master. 279 
sank by its own weight into something soft underneath. Investi- 
gation here brought to light a cist or coffer, formed of hard Roman 
cement, 4ft. 3in. long by 38ft. 3 in. broad, and about 2ft. in depth, 
buried in the natural clay at a depth of about 2ft. from the surface, 
and filled with fine white lime, as pungent to the taste as though 
made yesterday. Nearly adjoining it was a second receptacle of 
the same dimensions, precisely similar in all respects to the first. 
Both lay undisturbed, and, as it were, hermetically sealed in their 
clay beds—no particle of the lime having escaped beyond the cases 
which contained it. We extracted all the lime from the first case, 
and hoped to be able to raise it, entire, for preservation in my 
parochial museum, but rain unfortunately coming on, it succumbed 
to the influence of the atmosphere, and became a massofruin. The 
second cist was actually raised, with all its contents, weighing nearly 
a ton, and placed in a cart, but the elements were again unpropitious, 
and I have not been able to do more than preserve portions of the 
easing, and a sample of its contents, for future reference and ex- 
amination. I am unable to hazard a conjecture as to the purpose 
for which these deposits of lime were made and preserved. I do 
not think that the cases were made previously, and filled, before 
they were buried; but that more probably a basin of the required 
‘size was excavated in the clay, lined with a hard coating of cement, 
and then the lime was “run” into it, as is now done for modern 
plastering, a lid of harder material supplied, and the whole buried 
for future use. The perfect condition of the deposits precludes the 
supposition that they were mere surplus material, left accidentally 
frem an adjacent building, but points rather to the notion that they 
were reservoirs or stores of lime, either abandoned hastily, or 
purposely reserved for exportation or employment on the spot. 
The Heliotype Illustration should properly have accompanied 
a previous paper, for which see p. 33 of this volume, where the 
vessels are described in detail. They were all found in one spot, 
upon an elevated ridge in Holbury Copse, but the stag’s horn and 
objects of bronze and iron, with a single exception, at or near the 
site of the Roman building now described. 
