13 
habiting the neighbouring continent may have been converted to 
a more civilized mode of life. Thus it may not be impossible that 
the ancient processes of manufacture, together with religious rites 
and modes of interment, may have come down to a much later 
date than even the Roman occupation of the adjoining continent. 
We see instances in point now, amongst the barbarous tribes of 
the Polynesian Islands, who, in spite of steam navigation, and 
continual intercourse with more civilized nations, still cling to 
their axes of jade and arrows tipt with bone; and I have read, 
that, within the last century, Pagan rites were celebrated upon 
the Isle de Batz, and other islands upon the northern coast of 
Brittany. 
The purpose served by these “Hand-bricks” would seem to be 
explained in some measure by their association with the broken 
pottery, which goes to substantiate the supposition that they 
were in some way used in the process of its manufacture, possibly 
as a sort of rude furnace, which would have afforded a means of 
economising wood, which is, and always must have been, scarce 
upon those rocky islets. 
Mr. Lukis informs me that similar substances, that is “ Hand- 
bricks” and “ Pottery,” have been found associated in Lincoln- 
shire and in Romney Marsh—in the former place, it is said in 
company with Roman fictile vessels. In Herm, he states, that 
one fragment of true Samian ware was discovered in 1841. All 
this would seem to point to the Romano-British period, were it 
not that these same “ Hand-bricks” have been found within more 
than one cromlech, associated only with stone implements of the 
rudest description. One such is mentioned by Mr. Lukis in his 
second paper on the Primeval Antiquities of the Channel Islands, 
in the 1st vol. of the Archeological Journal. The cromlech re- 
ferred to was opened by him on the plain of L’Ancresse, in the 
northern part of Guernsey, in which he states, “He found many 
pieces of clay, of a peculiar form, from three to six inches in 
length, made by rolling a piece of clay in the hand, and striking 
each end against a board, and still bearing the mark of the inside 
of the fingers and impression of the skin of the maker.” “ With 
these,” he adds, “were found no vestiges of any metal,” “and the 
many rude stone implements found with them made it evident 
there were none then in use.” 
Hence arise doubts which can only be solved by further investi- 
gation; and when last I heard from Mr. Lukis, he informed me 
that he was about shortly to undertake the exploration of a 
hitherto undisturbed cromlech, in the hopes of finding further 
evidences to elucidate this intricate subject. 
In conclusion, I have only to state that I am mainly indebted 
to Mr. Lukis, and to his published Papers, for any information 
I may have been able to lay before you this evening, which, under 
ordinary circumstances, I should hardly have ventured to attempt ; 
but, as we number amongst us many who are interested in 
Archeological pursuits, I trust that the novel and peculiar nature 
