LEADEN COFFIN FOUND AT CANN. 71 



leaf venation. They turn out to be detached leaves and 

 short sprigs of box, gathered at a season when the venation 

 has not become lignified. They agree exactly with the box 

 now growing in my garden ; but they look very different 

 from the strongly pinnate -veined box-leaves found at Roman 

 Silchester, which correspond with sprays and fallen leaves 

 gathered in the spring. I am convinced that all the Cann 

 specimens belong to box, even the extra large one so like a 

 pod. Perhaps sprigs of box were used in the funeral rites. 

 At Silchester they were merely found in the rubbish pit, and 

 gave no indication of the use to which they had been put. The 

 box has been considered a doubtful native of Britain, but now 

 we have it at two localities associated with Roman remains." 



Ten days after this report arrived Mr. Reid died, and in a 

 letter I have since received from Mrs. Reid she says : " The 

 report which he made for you on the leaves from the Cann 

 coffin was the last he ever made. " l 



The three most interesting features about the Cann inter- 

 ment are : ^ the small size of the coffin ; ^ the cement 

 base or tray on which it rested ; and ^ the box-leaves found 

 inside the coffin. 



With regard to the first point, children's coffins of the 

 Roman period have occasionally been met with, and some 

 have been recorded. One, 3ft. 9ins. in length, was found 

 about a mile west of Sittingbourne ; it contained a number 

 of valuable antiquities. 2 In 1844 two leaden coffins con- 

 taining the remains of children were found in London, one 

 in Whitechapel, the other at Stratford-le-bow. 3 Three small 



1> I take this opportunity of acknowledging the kind assistance 

 Mr. Reid gave me from time to time, extending over a number of years, 

 in examining specimens from archaeological excavations with which 

 I have been connected (including Maumbury Rings, Avebury, and the 

 Glastonbury Lake Village). 



2 - This specimen is in the British Museum. Figured in G. Payne's 

 Collectanea Cantiana, Plate XVIII. ; see also Collectanea Antigua, 

 VII., 186-7. 



3 - C. Roach Smith, Collect. Antiq., III., 55. 



