XXviii. DEWLISH AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



molars of the elephant which were unearthed in 1888 are to be 

 seen in the County Museum at Dorchester, and Canon Mansel- 

 Pleydell was able to add to the interest of this meeting on 

 the hillside at Dewlish by exhibiting a photograph of his late 

 father and the other workers, taken when they were engaged 

 in the excavations of twenty-six years ago. 



After the members had examined the deep cutting and the 

 circular holes found at the bottom of the trench, Mr. Prideaux, 

 as director of the operations, gave a short description of the 

 results attained. He said that they had dug out the trench 

 with every care, plans had been made, and all the finds had 

 been classified as far as was possible. Several bones had been 

 brought to light, but they were unfortunately in a very 

 friable condition and difficult to move. They had also 

 discovered a good molar, and a number of flints which were 

 highly polished by the action of river or desert sand. A few 

 flints might perhaps be regarded as showing signs of human 

 workmanship, but it was a doubtful point. Notwithstanding 

 that the soil had been moved on several previous occasions 

 they were able to obtain some very good sections. 



The party then visited a tent in w r hich Mr. W. de C. 

 Prideaux exhibited and commented upon the various objects 

 mentioned by his brother. 



Mr. Clement Reid, at the invitation of the President, 

 afterwards addressed the meeting. He expressed the opinion 

 that the work then in progress was an important scientific 

 enquiry, which became more and more puzzling as they 

 went on with it. The question of the origin of the trench 

 had again come to the front. His friend, the Rev. Osmond 

 Fisher, thought that it was a pitfall made for trapping animals, 

 as was the practice in the Soudan and elsewhere. He, Mr. 

 Reid, did not share that view, as he believed that the trench 

 was a natural formation ; but he had been assured that the 

 traps in the Soudan were similar in shape, becoming narrower 

 towards the bottom so that the animal was wedged between 

 the two walls. The remains which had been found were 

 not those of the mammoth well known in other parts of the 



