439 



shaped crotals, and some other articles in the rough state after 

 being cast. The unfinished bells sent for inspection, and 

 marked X and Y, yet contain a portion of the core, which ren- 

 ders unnecessary any conjecture as to the substance such core 

 was composed of. It seems to have been a composition of tough 

 clay and sand. The amorphous lump of metal, marked A a, 

 also bears testimony that the place where it was found was 

 the workshop of a manufacturer. What travelling merchant 

 would encumber himself by carrying about with him the resi- 

 due of the contents of the crucible ? If we suppose him to 

 have done so, we must at the same instant admit that he car- 

 ried it for sale to some person capable of forming it into some 

 more useful shape. 



" I must not here omit noticing the rub-stones which were 

 found. They, too, point out that the whole belonged to a 

 resident operative rather than to an itinerant merchant. In 

 fine, the great quantity of things found, their variety, their 

 being in an unfinished as well as in a finished state, the amor- 

 phous mass of spare metal, and the rub-stones, all tend to the 

 conclusion that Dowris was the site of a manufactory of bronze 

 utensils. A farther and remarkable proof of the existence of 

 a foundry where these relics were found is added by the luxu- 

 riance of the vegetable matter on the spot. When the field 

 was first shown to me, I, without further information, led 

 those that accompanied me to the particular part of it. I was 

 right in my conjecture, which was confirmed by the man 

 already written of, who was privy to the finding. Charcoal 

 must have been much used in combining the copper with 

 zinc or tin ; and carbon being an ingredient entering largely 

 into the composition of vegetables, and also serving as a stimu- 

 lant to their growth, the grass and weeds on the site of the 

 foundry were marked by a vegetation exceeding in rankness 

 that on any other part of the field. 



" The golden colour of the Dowris bronze is very remark- 

 able. The ancient Romans were acquainted with a kind of 



2 L 



