Eee n at 
20, 1873] 
the summit. Immediately under the turf was a bed of 
stones, 3 ft. deep, and lying on a stratum of hard clay 
brought from a neighbouring valley, It contained a 
few human bones and ashes without any protection, 
and was 5 ft. deep. Under this was a second layer of 
stones, 3 ft. deep; and lower still an immense slate 
Stone on a level with the natural soil, and covering a 
vault measuring 5'17 ft. long from N.W. to S.E., 2°8 ft. 
broad, and 2°25 ft. deep. The bottom was a pavement 
6 in. deep, on which lay a human skeleton on its left side. 
The head was at the north-east corner nearly a foot from 
the end wall; the legs were bent at the knees, the arms 
stretched out so that the hands must have, at least, 
nearly touched the knees, and the body was contracted 
into a length of 4 feet. 
Mr. Borlase holds that the Menhirs, or “ Long Stones,” 
of which there are many in various parts of the county, 
were sometiines tombstones merely, Sometimes memo- 
rials of important events, and that they ranged from a 
romote antiquity far down into modern times. 
In the hope of throwing some light on their origin the 
author recently exainined the ground immediately around 
‘ther. The Pridden Stone, close td the farm-house of 
Pridden, in the parish of Buryan, near Penzance, is an 
extremely rude mass of granite, 11°5 ft. above the ground, 
neatly 20 ft. in girth where broadest, and tapering to- 
wards the top. Below the natural level of the ground, a 
shallow pit, covered with a flat stone a foot in diameter, 
contained a few splinters of human bones, charred wood, 
and a layer of burt brownish mould, the whole not suffi- 
cient to fill a quart pot. : 
On the farm of Tresvennech; in the parish of Paul, near 
Penzance, stands a granite menhir on the summit of 
elevated ground 11°5 ft. above the surface, and 4 ft. 
below. Though unhewn it is tolerably square at the 
angles, symmetrical, and perfectly upright. In 1840, a 
farmer, Working near it, accidentally struck his~ tool 
against a horizontal flat stone 18 if. square, beneath 
which was a pit cut out of the clay soil, having its sides un- 
protected, and containing an urn 19°4 in, high, and 14°3 in. 
wide at the mouth. It stood mouth upwards, and con- 
tained the larger fragments of the calcined bones, and a 
molar tooth, of a human body ; whilst the smaller pieces, 
together with Wood ashes, were scattered throughout the 
pit. The uri was hand-made, and consisted of yellow 
clay found in the Vicinity. Its interior was hard and 
"black, but the exterior was not well baked. The handles 
Were remarkably large and neatly put on, but differed in 
shape and size. A smaller urn, 5°5 in, high and 4 in. 
wide at the mouth, found 18 inches from the former, was 
also standing on its base, but without protection of any 
. Sort. It was filled with snuff-coloured powder. 
_ The Sepulchral Mounds, or Barrows of Cornwall, 
whether of earth or stones, range from 15 to roo ft. in 
diameter, and from 2 to 25 ft. in height. They resolve 
themselves into Céne, Boil, Bell, Flat, and Ring bar- 
rows, but there is no instance of the Long, Druid, Egg, or 
Twin form, z @. two surrounded by the same trench. The 
author recognises two pretty well-defined varieties of Ring- 
barrow :—i. Where the stones stand o# end, at some 
distance from each other, and enclose only a piece of 
vevel ground. 2, Where the stones are set 0% edge (rarely 
‘on end) contiguous to each other, and enclose either a 
7 
NATURE 
379 
large rock, a few small mounds, or an area of uneven 
ground. i“ 
Ofthe first kind, there aré four distinct exaiiples within 
a circuit of eight miles in the Hundred of Penwith. Mf. Bor- 
lase is of opinion that all circles of evect stones owé their 
origin to the same design which attained its perfectién in 
Stonehenge, and that the only question remaining is how far 
they can be regarded as sepulchral in their origin oF Use. 
He remarks that whatever may have been their origin, 
history and tradition seem to point rather to a civil than 
areligious se of them, ahd in confirmation quotes the - 
“Tliad” (xviii, 503), a passage thus translated by Mr. 
Wright :— 
‘“ Heralds the people checked. Elders meanwhile 
On polished stones in sacred circle sate.’’ 
The Ring Barrows of the second variety range from 
Io to rooft. in diameter. The author has little doubt 
that they were originally sepulchral, and that they are 
cairns or barrows in an incomplete or demolished state, 
At Trigganeris, in the parish of Sancreed, on thé top 
of a hill, are two erect stones 17 ft. apart in a direction 
from N.N.W. to S.S.E., 7°3 ft. and oft. high respectively, 
Nearly midway between them, but entirely on one side of 
a line joining their centres, a grave, 6 ft. long in an almost 
east and west direction, 3:25 broad, and about 5 ft. deep, was 
found cut with much precision in the natural clay. It 
contained nothing but the disturbed fine subsoil of the 
neighbourhood. 
In 1818, a grave 8 ft. long, 3'5 broad, and 3 high, was 
found under a pile of stones 30 yards in diameter, near 
the “ Cheesewring,” in the parish of Linkinghorn, in 
East Cornwall. The bottom was one long flat stone ; 
each side consisted of three stones, each end of one, and 
it had a cover of a single stone. Within it lay the re- 
mains of a human skeleton extended, having near the 
breast an earthen pot, containing, according to the work- 
man who found it, a golden cup. The vessels were 
covered and protected with a flat stone 16 inches square, 
which leaned diagonally over them against the west wall 
of the grave. In this grave the following relics were also 
found, but subsequently lost :—a small piece of orna- 
mental earthenware, a bronze spear head to in, long, a 
metallic rivet, as is supposed, and a few glass beads. 
The gold cup has been preserved, and is 3°75 in. high, 
3°375 in. in diameter at the mouth, 2°5 ounces in weight, 
and its bullion value is 10/7, It is perhaps worthy of 
remark that before the discovery of the cup there Was a 
tradition in the neighbourhood of a “ golden boat” having 
been dug up in a stone cairn near the Cheesewring. 
It does not appear necessary to attach a nautical 
meaning to the word deat, for, unless we are in error, 
vessels for containing melted butter, sauce, &c., were 
formerly termed Jva/s in Cornwall, as well as elsewhere. 
Before quitting this cup it may be as well to add that 
we have elsewhere seen 1837 mentioned as the date of 
the discovery, instead of 1818, as given by Mr. Borlase. 
Well-authenticated instances of inhumation are stated 
by the author to be extremely rare in Cornwall, and 
amongst these only two or three examples of the ex- 
tended position actually occur, whilst only one of 
the contracted position can really be cited. He in- 
clines to the opinion that the British copied the practite 
of cremation at 4 period not earlier than that of their con- 
