27 
provided for the dread journey to the next world), elsewhere a 
needle and thread are put in for them to mend their torn clothes, 
while all over Europe (at an Irish wake for instance), the dead 
has a piece of money put in his hand to pay his way with.” 
It was interesting to note that at the grave level at Harlyn 
Bay, near the cists, were found remains of the ox, sheep, horse, 
and pig, which seemed to prove that these creatures were to some 
extent domesticated and used by the occupiers of the cists. 
They were also shown some grass seed that had been found ina 
sort of closed vessel, probably placed there many centuries ago. 
Mr. Mallett had experimented with this, and stated that it was 
still fertile, and he had produced a small crop of grass from it. 
The lecturer here read a letter he had just received from Mr. 
Mallett, in which he said that the two most recent finds were the 
strange cists uncovered in the autumn. Nobody could account 
for the strange arrangement of the skeletons, and no certain clue 
could be gathered as to what the survivors meant by so singular 
a method of interment. They remained a mystery. Prof. J. 
Beddoe, however, considered the remains to be more distinctly 
neolithic than anything yet found. Both cists were rounded in 
shape, and were constructed of lumps of spar and slate, the 
interstices filled up with soil, showing ‘‘ construction ” as distinct 
from the usual slate slab graves. ‘The larger cist (6ft. 3in. by 
5ft. gin.) contained the remains of two mortals, so far as yet 
known, both of whom were decidedly  dolico-cephalic 
(longheaded). The skeletons had been absolutely dismembered, 
a skull being at each end of the cist, and each smashed in on the 
right side ; the lower jaw was missing in each case, and the leg, 
arm, and other bones, fantastically deposited about the gravel, 
with intervening layers of slate rubble. Skull and crossbones 
were clearly discernable—magnificent teeth in each upper jaw, 
one tooth being more than an inch and a quarter in length. 
In the smaller cist, continued Mr. Mallett, the skull was also 
smashed in on the right side, and the lower jaw had been placed 
at the back of the skull. Only the skull, jaw, and shoulder-blade, 
humerus and finger bone, were observable, all resting on a large 
slab, which, he fancied, separated the rest of the skeleton. 
The seeds were found at about eight feet below the present- 
day surface, in a kind of chest made of slate, a fireplace being at 
the side, and midden remains all around ; this sort of slate chest 
was actually in the midden, as part of it. Convolvulus, too, from 
the graves had germinated. He took it that the seed was stored, 
and, the sand having accumulated over the existing surface, it 
retained its fertility in suspension until it was unearthed. It was 
sprouting freely around the chest soon after they broke into the 
spot. The sand seemed to hermetically seal any such deposit, 
preserve the bones, and play other strange pranks. 
Sufficient, continued the Lecturer, had been said to prove 
