TURBARIES. 53 
instrument, in order to obtain the necessary elas- 
tieity. The knob and point on the ends for support- 
ing the string, are the same as we see on the modern 
bows from Owhyhee. Shortly before the death of 
my revered uncle, Mr. Robert Anstice, what I 
considered to be the point of a British ploughshare 
was discovered on the border of the turbary at 
Burtle. It was formed ofstone; and, though nearly 
deprived of sight by extreme age, Mr. Anstice 
carefully handled it with all the zest of an antiquary 
of thirty, and fully agreed with me, that it was 
what I considered it to be. I was sorry to hear the 
observation made by the Dean of Westminster, 
(whose illness we now so much deplore) at the in- 
auguration of our society, that in his opinion “it 
was wrongly described, and he did not consider 
that the Britons used a plough, although he thought 
the antique unique.” It was certainly sufliciently 
strong to make furrows for containing the different 
seeds sown by the natives on the partly reclaimed 
turbary. 
Many other kinds of spears and swords have 
from time to time being found, in the highest 
state of preservation. It appears by the coins and 
other remains, that the Romans at a very early 
period after their settlement in Britain, inhabited 
Edington and the other villages adjoining, on Pol- 
den-hill; and being a very enterprising as well as 
working people, no doubt they considered the lakes 
on both sides the hill, t0 be worth the labour of 
