BARROW-DIGGING AT MARTINSTOWN. 1 5 



was provided with three rivets (portions of two of which remain) 

 for attaching the blade to the handle, which was probably 

 composed of some perishable material. The greater part of the 

 blade is, unfortunately, much corroded, but those parts not so 

 affected are finely patinated. It has the usual bevelled edges on 

 both sides of the blade, and is ornamented by two indented 

 lines running parallel to the cutting-edges. The thickness of 

 the blade along the median ridge, which is not very pronounced, 

 is about 6 mm. (^ inch). 



The remains of the wooden sheath of this knife-dagger are 

 extremely interesting, and small portions of it still adhere to the 

 corroded bronze. The rest flaked off the blade when it became 

 quite dry. It was, however, closely examined at the time of its 

 discovery, when it was observed that the fibre of the wood ran 

 transversely and formed a broad band round the mouth of the 

 sheath, whilst the fibres of the wood in the remaining parts were 

 seen to be vertical. "The find" was sent without delay to 

 Mr. C. H. Read, F.S.A., of the British Museum, who, after a 

 careful examination, wrote : 



" There was a carefully-made mouth to the sheath, but I do 

 not quite understand it, for there are no signs of a rebate 

 joining the transverse portion to the vertically-fibred part." 



Through his kindness the dagger and remains of its sheath 

 were sent to Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, K.C.M.G., Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, where the wood was microscopically examined 

 by Mr. L. A. Boodle, who wrote the following report : 



"The wood belongs to a species of Salix (willow). The 

 determination is based chiefly on: (i) The arrangement and 

 .size of the vessels, the simple nature of the perforations of the 

 latter, the size and shape of the bordered pits; (2) the large 

 proportion of fibres in the remainder of the woody tisSue ; (3) 

 the numerous medullary rays one cell in thickness, the propor- 

 tional size of the two kinds of cells forming the medullary rays, 

 and the nature of the pitting of the shorter of these cells. The 

 wood of Populus is very similar, but the proportional size of the 

 different cells of the medullary rays sufficiently distinguishes it. 



