204 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



smallest vessel, which, as we have noticed, was placed below 

 the level of the others, certainly indicates a distinction made 

 in the mode of burial of persons of either different ages or 

 sexes. 



The fact, too, that all the larger bones were placed by them- 

 selves at the bottom is worth noticing, and shows that they 

 must have been carefully collected and separated from the burnt 

 earth and charcoal of the pyre. 



About another quarter of a mile off rise two more barrows, 

 measuring exactly the same in circumference as the last, though 

 not nearly so high, being raised only sixteen inches above the 

 ground. Upon opening the southernmost, we soon came, on 

 the east side, upon traces of charcoal, which increased to a 

 bed of an inch and a half in thickness as we reached the 

 centre. Here we found an urn of coarse pottery exactly similar 

 in texture to those in the previous barrow. It was, however, in 

 such a bad state of preservation, and so soft, from the wetness 

 of the ground, that the furze-roots had grown through the sides, 

 and it crumbled to bits on being touched. Some few pieces, 

 though, near the bottom, we were able to preserve. Its shape, 

 however, was well shown by the form which its contents had 

 taken. It seems to have been, though much smaller, exactly 

 of the same rude, straight-sided, and wide-mouthed pattern 

 as the other urns, measuring seven inches in height, and in 

 circumference, near the top, two feet two inches, and at the 

 bottom, one foot four inches. The cast was composed entirely 

 of burnt stones, and black earth, and osseous matter, reduced to 

 lime, in which the furze-roots had imbedded themselves. 



The fellow barrow, which was only about fifty yards distant, 

 and whose measurements were exactly the same, contained also 

 charcoal, though not in such large quantities, and fragments 



