15 



projected on a smaller scale, and afterwards made to cover the 

 ground from which material had been excavated. 



In the course of this excavation reindeer horns were found in 

 the northern portion ; and in the southern, 6 feet from the surface, 

 in the solid chalk, some wood ashes, and among them the blade of 

 a knife, with a small whetstone lying beside it. 



Those who are familiar with the published proceedings of the 

 Archaeological Institute, will recollect that an examination of 

 Silbury Hill was carried on in August, 1849, and that a tunnel 

 was then driven into the centre of the hill, and even beyond ; an 

 account of this is given in the Salisbury volume for 1849, and it 

 is recorded that stags' antlers were then discovered. (See pp. 75 

 and 80.) 



The present examination of the hill has been as nugatory as the 

 past in revealing anything that might lead one to infer the 

 original object of its construction; and no trace or indication of 

 any road was found. The direction of the Roman road has, how- 

 ever, been ascertained beyond a doubt. The question whether 

 the Roman road passed underneath Silbury Hill is set at rest for 

 ever, the line of the road having now been laid open, and its true 

 direction ascertained. 



The evening of my arrival I stayed aU night at the " Wagon 

 and Horses," the small inn at Beckliampton, which was the point 

 from which the former examination was conducted by Dean Mere- 

 wether and others who assisted him. Mr. Cunnington, of Devizes, 

 being my companion, I had ample opportunity of talking deUbe- 

 rately on what had been done and what appeared best to do on 

 the day following ; accordingly, as soon as the weather permitted, 

 we set to work to lay out the line of the Roman road which he 

 had examined with some care the evening before. There are 

 generally some " indicia " by which you can ascertain the Track. 

 These, to the uninitiated, would appear trivial, and might be 

 overlooked ; but to the practised eye they are as certain as the 

 prognostics of the storm to the shepherd and to the saUor. In 

 the north of England, over the moorland country in Northumber- 

 land or Yorkshire, you can follow the course of the long-forgotten 



