GOVERNMENT. 



119 



[No. Ixiii], where the g-rave had been lined out with wood. I 

 have met with other cases elsewhere; for instance, the central cist 

 in a barrow at Ford, Northumberland [No. clxxxvii], was occupied 

 by the skeleton of an infant, having- a ' food vessel ' with it, whilst 

 round the cist were seven burnt bodies, deposited in as many cine- 

 rary urns, in one of which was a flint implement. 



From these and similar instances we may g-ather that the family 

 tie had much influence with these people, and that the child of the 

 chief or other person of distinction held an important position in 

 the estimation of the tribe. The affection of the father mi^ht 

 prompt him to honour with the full ceremonial of the burial rites 

 the child whose early death he mourned, but unless the social im- 

 portance of the infant had been likewise recognised in the eyes of 

 the people, it is scarcely likely that so hig-h a mark of considera- 

 tion as a separate barrow implies would have been accorded to so 

 young a member of the community. Perhaps it may not be con- 

 sidered to be an unfair inference to regard a circumstance like this 

 as indicating that something like an hereditary headship prevailed 

 amongst them. 



The great labour and pains bestowed upon the burial of the 

 dead, the large mound, the deep grave, the various attendant cere- 

 monies of the funeral, may not necessarily show any high advance 

 in civilisation, for in very rude conditions of society the disposal of 

 the body after death has genei'ally been attended with somewhat of 

 care, and regarded as requiring the presence of some rites of burial. 

 But, making allowance for this, we cannot look upon the barrows 

 and their varied contents without being impressed with the belief 

 that the semi-savage state had been well-nigh passed, and that 

 the dawn of an advanced civilisation was approaching. The pot- 

 tery, with its simple and yet effective ornamentation, the bronze 

 knife-dagger and awl, the necklace of jet, the buttons tastefully 

 decorated, the ear-ring of metal, may all be regarded as heralds of 

 cultivation and refinement, even as the east is flecked with streaks 

 of gold and crimson before the morning sun breaks forth in all his 

 splendour. 



There are, on the other hand, some features pointing to a condition 

 of things which ill accords with much advance beyond savagery, 

 though to the practices these would seem to indicate we might find 

 a parallel amongst people who, in some of the processes of mental 

 developement, have been second to few. It can scarcely be questioned 

 that it was the hahit to slay at the funeral and to bury with the 



