TtlE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. xlv. 



the hillside near its summit. The skeletons fully extended in the supine posture, 

 their heads lying westwrards, were enclosed, as usual, by thin slabs of undressed 

 stone arranged coffin-Tvise, after the bodies had been placed in position, so that 

 theii- contour was closely followed. Two of the skeletons were those of women, 

 and with one of them were the bones of a child in its first dentition, whose skull 

 had been thinned out by hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain." No ornament, 

 or weapon, or pottery was found in the graves, but from a similar interment on 

 an adjacent hill I obtained from a man who discovered them portions of a wheel- 

 made vase. This vessel indicates the Saxon period. Some trenches made for 

 building a house between Portesham and Abbotsbury, on rising ground that 

 commands an incomparable view, have shown that from the earliest times man 

 has selected this spot for a dwelling-house. Worked flint, rude pottery, the 

 point of a bronze implement, fragments of later earthenware, and a piece of ii'on 

 demand for the site not only an ancient, but a continuous, occupation. 



Since the last annual meeting the Club has lost by death and resignation 

 20 members, and has been joined by 28 new members, including those elected 

 to-day, so that the nett increase is eight. The total number of members 

 May 12th, 1903, is 333. There remains only the subject of the Hon. Secretary's 

 finance. It was necessary to provide for the stipend of the Assistant Secretary, 

 and, besides that, it seemed proper that the cost of such matters as ijrinting and 

 distributing the programmes of field meetings should no longer be cast upon the 

 general fund of the Club. By raising from Is. to 2s., the sum asked for 

 incidental expenses from the members who joined those excursions, the required 

 amount was obtained, and, in addition, a substantial balance has been carried 

 forward to the account of the new year. Lastly, the Hon. Secretary's financial 

 statement has been most kuidly audited by Mr. S. Balmer Covill, a cashier at the 

 Wilts and Dorset Bank, to whom I now ask permission to send the cordial thanks 

 of the Club. 



The Hon. Treasurer's Report. — Captain Elwes, in 

 making his report as Hon. Treasurer, said — 



That the past year had been a very satisfactory one for the finances of the 

 Club. They began the year with a balance of £96 7s. 6d., and, in spite of the 

 heavy claims made upon their funds by the production of the large and expensive 

 volume, which cost the Club £130, they had now a balance in hand of £95. He 

 wished members could remember that their subscriptions were payable in 

 advance. Only that day he had received £20 in subscriptions. If the members 

 would instruct their bankers to pay their subscriptions to the credit of the Club 

 early in January, the interest would accrue on the money, and it would improve 

 the Club's financial position. With reference to the Plate Fund, he remarked 

 that Mr. W. de C. Prideaux had generously given two guineas towards the Plate 

 Fund, and the Eev. E. C. Leslie had also made a donation. The smallest 

 amounts would be acceptable. Captain Elwes added that for this year S7 

 members had not yet paid and for last year 18. 



