290 



free admission, all trace of the body has disappeared. This 

 explanation is, I confess, not satisfactory to my own mind, but 

 I cannot suggest any other which appears to be more reason- 

 able. I have also opened several oblong mounds in Yorkshire 

 and Westmoreland with the like results. In Westmoreland 

 they are called ' giants' graves/ and are very numerous ; the 

 size is, however, very much less than those you refer to in your 

 locality, being not more than from 20 to 30 feet long, and from 

 6 to 8 wide, and about 1^ to 3 feet high. All those I opened 

 had never suffered from the action of the plough or from any 

 other disturbance." 



As stated above, all the examinations which have been made 

 lead to the conclusion that these low mounds on Minchin- 

 hampton Common are not sepulchral. On finding how in the 

 case of one small circular mound the pottery, &c., lay on the 

 original surface, it occurred to me that this was possibly a place 

 on which the pit-folk assembled for feasting, and that all these 

 low mounds occuring as they do in the midst of so many hut- 

 shelters, may have been constructed and used for special social 

 purposes. The practices of modern savages throw light on the 

 subject of hut-shelters. The inhabitants of Tierra-del-Fuego 

 in our own day have various descriptions of wigwams. — "First, 

 the winter wigwam, or ' Gool'ucurh,' which means log-house, 

 is substantially built of logs, laid as closely together as possible, 

 converging to a point at the top, and in the centre about eight 

 feet high. The floor is sunken within, and is generally about 

 two feet lower than the surface of the gTound without. The 

 second class of wigwam is the ^Murana,' or summer wigwam; it 

 is made wholly of boughs and branches. The third class is the 

 'Keena,' which is a long shed, built of large logs but open at 

 both ends. This is used in the summer and is wholly set apart 

 for celebrating religious ceremonies, and superstitious practices."* 

 In the description of the Hazlewood Copse Camp, mention 

 was made of the flints found in the adjoining fields. Similar 

 flints are scattered over the surface of the whole of the district 

 under consideration. They are met with sparingly in the valleys, 



* " Sovith Americau Missionary Magazine," July, 1869. 



